Copyright © Donald Robertson, 2010.  All rights reserved.

In 2006, Steven Jay Lynn collaborated with the Buddhist teacher Lama Surya Das, and two other researchers, in an attempt to explore the possibility of combining elements of Buddhist mindfulness meditation practice, cognitive therapy, and hypnosis, drawing on recent research in cognitive psychology.

Mindfulness versus Thought Suppression

Over the past couple of decades, enthusiasm for mindfulness meditation techniques derived from Buddhism has flourished among cognitive-behavioural therapists, inspired by the early success of Jon Kabat-Zinn’s meditation programme for stress management. Meditation and acceptance strategies have been used to counteract the tendency of many clients to try to suppress, control, or “fight” distressing thoughts. Lynn et al. refer to the recent study by Wegner and his colleagues, which found that when people tried to deliberately suppress a thought there was evidence of a “rebound effect” in which they subsequently experienced more intrusions of the thought than a control group who were simply asked to think freely about the same thing. Other studies have found evidence that emotional suppression can inhibit memory and problem-solving and increase physiological signs of nervous arousal. Lynn and his colleagues report that of nearly a hundred subjects who were asked to keep their minds blank while listening to hypnotic suggestions, only one reported any success.

Where thought-control strategies backfire, mindfulness and acceptance have been seen as offering an alternative way of responding to distressing experiences. Lynn et al. follow other contemporary cognitive-behavioural therapists in contrasting non-judgemental mindfulness and acceptance with the unhealthy suppression of thoughts and feelings. (However, they fail to mention that experimental studies on this “rebound” effect in thought suppression have produced some mixed results – q.v. Clark & Beck, 2010, for a more detailed review.) Lynn et al. also cite a 2003 meta-analysis of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and stress reduction approaches by Baer, which found a mean effect size of 0.59 (a medium-sized treatment effect) for this approach across various emotional problems and medical conditions. In other words, it probably works, but the effects are comparable to those of other therapies and not dramatically superior to them.

Mindfulness & Metacognition

Lynn et al. appeal to a cognitive model combining elements of Adrian Wells’ influential metacognitive theory and Lynn and Kirsch’s own “response set” theory to explain the mechanism underlying mindfulness meditation and its relationship with hypnosis. Contrary to Beck’s earlier cognitive therapy model, Wells introduced a focus on the notion of “metacognition”, thinking about thinking, or beliefs about beliefs. According to this model, negative automatic thoughts aren’t particularly unhealthy in themselves, but rather they become so because of our attitude toward them. In plain English, whereas Beck’s original cognitive therapy assumed that negative thoughts play a central role in the development of emotional disturbance, Wells points to the fact that many people experience lots of negative thoughts without becoming upset by them, whereas patients with severe emotional disorders appear to be unusually disturbed by individual negative thoughts and worries. Mindfulness meditation, likewise, can be seen as an attempt to adopt a more detached attitude toward our stream of consciousness, and thereby to modify our thinking about thinking, i.e., to see automatic (spontaneous) thoughts as relatively transient and harmless, rather than important and dangerous. Indeed, Beck has recently assimilated many aspects of Wells’ metacognitive approach into his revised cognitive therapy for anxiety (Clark & Beck, 2010).

Curiously, Lynn et al. don’t mention the fact that Wells’ metacognitive model raises serious problems for hypnotherapy because it suggests that the assumptions often made by hypnotherapists about the “power of thought” risk reinforcing maladaptive (metacognitive) assumptions held by many clients, i.e., the assumption that thoughts (including suggestions) are inherently powerful, whereas Wells teaches his clients that ideas are only as powerful as we believe them to be and we can learn to dismiss them as “mere thoughts”, lacking any real power or significance. Likewise, Lynn et al. cite the recent research by Twohig (2004), which found that by repeating a negative thought to oneself one hundred times, like a mantra or autosuggestion, subjects made it seem less believable rather than more so, as some hypnotists might assume. To borrow Wells’ terminology, hypnotism itself can be seen as a set of metacognitive beliefs rather than an altered state of consciousness or “hypnotic trance”. The belief that autosuggestions are powerful when phrased in certain ways and the strategy of attending to their meaning for a prolonged period, to the exclusion of distractions, are ways of “thinking about thinking” (metacognition), which it’s the aim of most “hypnotic inductions” to instantiate. In a sense, mindfulness meditation can be seen as a kind of “de-hypnosis” or “counter-hypnosis”, which aims to develop a metacognitive mind-set that weakens the hold of certain thoughts or suggestions, e.g., “Imagine that you are transparent, and disturbing thoughts and emotions cannot penetrate you or have any power to control your actions” (Lynn et al.), which contrasts sharply with typical preliminary hypnotic suggestions to experience certain ideas (suggestions) as powerful, controlling, and deeply penetrating into the mind, etc.

Combining Hypnosis & Meditation

Lynn et al. summarise the relevance of hypnosis to mindfulness training as follows,

1. Suggestions can be used to motivate clients to persevere with meditation practice on a regular basis.
2. Suggestions can be used to generate a patient mind-set, so that when the attention naturally wanders this is seen as normal and accepted.
3. Suggestions can be given about acceptance of things that cannot be changed.
4. Hypnosis can be used to help people avoid identification with thoughts and feelings.
5. Hypnosis can help clients to become more tolerant of unpleasant feelings.
6. Clients can be hypnotised to perceive negative thoughts as transient and unimportant.

They specifically recommend the use of the following hypnotherapy techniques in conjunction with mindfulness meditation, which generally involves exposure to aversive feelings and events in CBT,

1. Mental (“covert behavioural”) rehearsal of previously avoided situations.
2. Cue-controlled relaxation to help facilitate exposure to feared situations.
3. The use of hypnotic desensitisation to facilitate mental (“imaginal”) exposure .
4. The use of hypnotic regression or reliving as a form of imaginal exposure to traumatic memories (as in PTSD treatment).
5. The use of suggestion to help clients tolerate the discomfort and repetition of exposure therapy.

They add that the most basic use of hypnosis in combination with mindfulness-based CBT would be in the use of suggestion to directly develop an ongoing state of mindfulness. As Lynn et al. emphasise, virtually all modern researchers now take it for granted (following several well-known studies) that hypnosis does not necessarily entail any form of relaxation, although it is frequently accompanied by it. The same applies to meditation and Lynn et al. refer to a recent EEG brain imaging study in which subjects trained in relaxation showed markedly different brain activity from those trained in mindfulness meditation.

Negative Reactions

As an aside, Lynn et al. also note that a considerable body of research demonstrates the existence of transient, relatively superficial, negative reactions following standard hypnosis, i.e., things like headaches, feelings of nausea, anxiety, etc., in up to 29% of subjects. This is comparable to the rates of negative responses reported by control groups who are simply asked to sit with their eyes shut, without being hypnotised, for the same amount of time. However, similar negative reactions are also reported following meditation training, and may even be more frequent, being reported in up to 63% of subjects. Hence, we might say that although negative reactions can occur following hypnosis it may be as harmless (generally speaking) as common meditation or relaxation techniques.

References

Lynn, Steven Jay; Das, Lama Surya; Hallquist, Michael N.; Williams John C. (2006). Mindfulness, acceptance and hypnosis: cognitive and clinical perspectives. IJCEH, 54(2), 143-166.

Clark, David A.; Beck, Aaron T. (2010). Cognitive Therapy of Anxiety Disorders: Science and Practice.

The Role of Awareness Training in Relaxation Therapy

Copyright © Donald Robertson, 2011.  All rights reserved.

Training in Applied Relaxation can be divided into three broad stages (see diagram).

1. Assessment

Where information is gathered on the problem and its background.  At this stage self-monitoring also begins, which tends to involve increasing awareness of automatic thoughts, actions, and feelings across different situations.  This can often be seen as a form of “awareness training”, which potentially overlaps with everyday mindfulness of the kind acquired through Buddhist meditation practices.  An important goal of this stage is to identify the range of trigger (“high risk”) situations in which the problem tends to occur, modulating factors that make those situations either easier or harder to cope with, and any “early warning signs” that tension or anxiety are beginning to develop. 

2. Skills Training

A variety of coping skills can be learned in therapy and different CBT approaches tend to emphasise different ones, including a variety of different types and methods of relaxation.  However, Applied Relaxation mainly employs a special technique of muscle relaxation known as “Progressive Relaxation” (PR), developed at the start of the 20th century by the physiologist, Prof. Edmund Jacobson.  (See www.progressiverelaxation.org for an excellent sketch of his life and work.)  Progressive relaxation was originally intended as a method of systematically training people to become more aware of the way they use their muscles, leading to greater relaxation.  It therefore complements the goals of awareness training through self-monitoring.

3. Application & Maintenance

During this stage, the coping skills or relaxation techniques learned are systematically applied to the problem situations identified during the initial assessment and self-monitoring stage.  This may be done first in role-play, through mental rehearsal, using the imagination, and, most importantly, through gradually more demanding tasks or situations related to the problem in the real world.  Once the main problem has been dealt with adequately, emphasis may shift on to learning to cope with a wider range of situations.  Finally, treatment ends by focusing on the prevention of relapse and maintaining positive gains over the longer-term.

Self-Monitoring and Awareness Training

This article will focus on the “self-monitoring” stage, as a means of increasing awareness, as this often leads to a reduction in the problem itself, just through mindful observation, without any specific coping skills necessarily having to be learned or used.  People are generally quite unaware of the way they tense their bodies and becoming more mindful and self-aware can sometimes break the habit.  Indeed, people generally complain of “being tense”, phrasing the problem in the passive voice (“I am tense”), rather than talking about “tensing” specific muscles (“I tense my neck”), using the active voice.  Of course, this tension is usually automatic and happens without deliberate effort or conscious awareness most of the time.  By simply becoming more aware of the process of tension, in everyday life, we can reduce its frequency and intensity, replacing mindless automatic tension with mindfulness.  Becoming more aware of your bodily sensations, thoughts, feelings and actions, can be likened to learning to “listen” more closely to the wisdom embodied in your emotions.  For example, Charles Darwin observed that we humans, like our animal ancestors, tend to automatically frown, by tensing the muscles of the forehead, when we meet with some difficulty or frustration.

“Subtle (“low-intensity”) early warning signs are to be treated as “cues to cope”, like a green traffic light, acting as a signal to immediately respond with the coping skills learned in the next stage, so that the problem can be repeatedly “nipped in the bud” at the earliest stage. The development of tension or anxiety can be seen as a sequence of steps, each one representing a “choice point” or opportunity to stop and think, or to engage in alternative behaviour.  A good “socialisation” exercise, to help you understand the concept of spotting early warning signs and begin applying it to your own life, is as follows,

1. “How do you know when other people are tense?” Brainstorm a list of observable signs that other people are becoming tense, e.g., in their mannerisms, facial expression, voice, etc. Try to make your list as exhaustive as possible. Common themes include frowning, staring, anxious speech, rigid posture or movements, etc.
2. “How does that work?” Make notes on what physically causes the changes you’ve listed. For example, if you mentioned people speaking more rapidly, carefully consider how that might be caused by changes in their breathing or muscle use. When people frown, what muscles are they using? What other changes are associated with that? For example, when people frown do they also move their head and body differently, change their gaze, or speak differently?
3. “When do you do that?” Notice where and when you do similar things with your body and behaviour. What does that feel like inside? What thoughts and sensations are you experiencing at the time? For example, notice where you are and who you’re with when you frown and what you’re feeling and thinking as you do so.

Think in terms of shifting your overall “orientation” or attitude toward your body, adopting a more mindful and body-centred way of life.  If you like, you can treat this as a kind of behavioural experiment, taking a “trial-and-error” approach to body-focused mindfulness for a few weeks.  It can be helpful to keep a personal journal, recording what happens and your reflections on the wider significance of what you observe for your individual problems and the rest of your life in general.

Keeping a Tally

One of the simplest methods of self-monitoring is to keep a running tally for a week or more of certain events.  For example, you might simply tick a page in your diary to keep count of how many times you notice tension creeping into your muscles each day.  You might also focus on counting the number of times you tense specific groups of muscles, such as your forehead, neck, jaw, or shoulders, etc.  Doing this will help you keep a very simple measure of your progress as you’ll be able to see whether the habit of tensing muscles decreases in response to learning relaxation coping skills.  It will also help you to become increasingly aware of the typical trigger situations and times of day when tension is most common.  Finally, it usually leads to increased self-awareness of the “early warning signs” of tension, which you will inevitably find yourself on the lookout for.  This will tend to make you more aware of your muscle use in general, throughout the day, as long as you continue to deliberately monitor your automatic behaviour or keep a tally.

Frequent Self-Rating & Running Log

Another good initial strategy involves self-rating your level of tension (or anxiety, anger, etc.) from 0-100% and then noting down in a running log what specific signs of tension you observed that led you to give yourself that specific number as a rating. This should be done carefully, and treated as an opportunity to patiently reflect on your thoughts and feelings, etc. To put it another way, you might pose the question to yourself: “Why didn’t I rate my tension as 0%?” and note down the signs (“cues”) that your self-rating was based upon. How often should you do this? Initially, it’s a good idea to do it frequently throughout the day, but particularly at times when you notice tension or other problems occurring. You might get into a routine of rating your tension every other hour throughout the day, or place post-it notes around your home or workplace as a reminder to self-rate whenever you notice them.

Self-Monitoring Record Sheet

A slightly more elaborate method, used in standard Applied Relaxation, involves keeping a simple self-monitoring record sheet with the following information,

1. The date and time when the tension occurred
2. The situation where the tension occurred
3. The intensity of the tension or anxiety, rated on a simple 0-100% scale
4. The earliest reactions spotted, i.e., early warning signs of tension such as starting to hunch your shoulders, or fidget with your hands or feet, sensations of pain in specific areas, anxious thoughts, etc.

A special effort is made to spot early warning signs of tension and record them, so that the habit can be interrupted at the earliest possible stage.  Eventually another column can be added to record what was done in response to the early warning signs of tension, i.e., what specific coping skills were used, followed by a re-rating the level of tension 0-100%.  In other words, you should eventually begin to record your level of tension immediately before and after using relaxation techniques, so that you have a record of how effective your coping has been.

Mental Imagery Rehearsal

Mental imagery techniques, which make good use of the imagination, can also be powerful ways of heightening self-awareness.  In therapy, it’s common during assessment to ask the client to close their eyes and relive a recent event, describing their responses in detail, with the aid of prompts from the therapist, and perhaps in slow motion.  Sometimes the client might be asked to imagine themselves at the point when tension or anxiety was first noticed, then to go back a few minutes and relive in detail the events, and their reactions, immediately preceding the full problem.  This helps to raise awareness of the sequence of reactions, including early warning signs, and to take away the “automatic” feel of events.  Likewise, the client may be asked to deliberately, in slow motion, make themselves tense or anxious, in the way they normally do automatically, and then to remove the feeling again several times in a row, in order to help them study the sequence of their reactions: thoughts, actions, and feelings.  In a sense, tension-release exercises, such as Jacobson’s “progressive relaxation”, perform a similar function by allowing people to tense muscles systematically and study the sensations in detail – the goal being to raise awareness of their “muscle sense” and reduce automatic tension in daily life.

Excerpt from The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy

Copyright © Donald Robertson, 2010.  All rights reserved.

[The following excerpt comes from The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy: Stoic Philosophy as Rational and Cognitive Psychotherapy by Donald Robertson, available from Amazon UK.]

Seneca provides a wonderful account of the “here and now” orientation based upon the saying of the Stoic philosopher Hecato that, ‘Cease to hope and you will cease to fear’(Seneca, 2004, p. 38).  Seneca interprets this with reference to the basic Stoic discipline of desire and aversion, which sees emotional disturbance as the result of over-attachment, or rather over-concern with external things. According to Seneca, hope and fear ‘march in unison like a prisoner and the escort he is handcuffed to’ and both embroil us in anticipated, and therefore imagined, events.

Fear keeps pace with hope. Nor does their so moving together surprise me; both belong to a mind in suspense, to a mind in a state of anxiety through looking into the future. Both are mainly due to projecting our thoughts far ahead of us instead of adapting ourselves to the present. Thus it is that foresight, the greatest blessing humanity has been given, is transformed into a curse. Wild animals run from the dangers they actually see, and once they have escaped them worry no more. We however are tormented alike by what is past and what is to come. A number of our blessings do us harm, for memory brings back the agony of fear while foresight brings it on prematurely. No one confines his unhappiness to the present. (Seneca, 2004, p. 38)

In this remarkable passage, Seneca makes observations which would not be out of place in modern psychotherapy, but in his uniquely powerful literary style. Indeed, Beck and his colleagues say something very similar with regard to the cognitive therapy of anxiety,

Anxiety is a result of projecting oneself into a dangerous situation in the future. As long as the person is in the present, there is no danger. (Beck, Emery, & Greenberg, 2005, p. 243)

The gift which allows us to contemplate the future and the past, and distinguishes us from other animals, becomes a curse when it allows us to dwell upon troubles that are not present, and may not even be real. When such projection of our thoughts across time runs amok, planning and problem-solving for the future easily become anxious worrying, whereas reflecting on what we can learn from the past may become depressive rumination. The only true reality is the present moment, where our ability to take action is centred. Elsewhere, Seneca quotes the Epicurean maxim, ‘The life of folly is empty of gratitude, full of anxiety: it is focused wholly on the future’ (Seneca, 2004, p. 62).

Another aspect of this “here and now” orientation is brought out beautifully by the Epicureans. When we find ourselves, for the first time, in the presence of something completely and utterly new, we are filled with wonder. We might imagine the world looking this way to a small child, or to a blind man who suddenly regains his sight. Over time, we become jaded and habituated to the world, though, and mundane things cease to excite us. However, by immersing ourselves more fully in the present moment, and thereby ceasing to compare it to the past, in a sense, we recapture something of its novelty. The great Latin poet Lucretius writes, ‘there is nothing so mighty or so marvellous that the wonder it evokes does not tend to diminish in time’,

Take first the pure and undimmed lustre of the sky and all that it enshrines: the stars that roam across its surface, the moon and the surpassing splendour of the sunlight. If all these sights were now displayed to mortal view for the first time by a swift unforeseen revelation, what miracle could be recounted greater than this? What would men before the revelation have been less prone to conceive as possible? (Lucretius, 1951, p. 90)

This contemplative technique also appears in Stoicism, e.g., when Seneca writes,

As for me, I usually spend a great deal of time in the contemplation of wisdom. I look at it with the same stupefaction, with which, on other occasions, I look at the world; this world that I quite often feel as though I were seeing for the first time. (Seneca, in Hadot, 1995, p. 257)

Philosophy, according to Socrates, begins with the sense of wonder, and wonder is therefore the hallmark of the philosopher (Plato, Theaetetus, 155d3). The sense of wonder, in this way, is intimately related to consciousness of the here and now.

However, the philosophical Sage is not merely wide-eyed, but also circumspect and self-possessed. The Chinese Daoist sage, Lao Tzu, said that the wise man was as cautious as someone crossing a winter stream. Epictetus says something virtually identical, when he writes that the Sage walks about cautiously, like a man wary of treading on a nail or twisting his ankle on rocky ground (Enchiridion, 38). Rather than literally being careful of every footstep, of course, Epictetus means that one should mind one’s own thinking. Elsewhere, he says that one who is making good progress in Stoicism keeps watch continually over himself, his thoughts and judgements, as he would his own deadliest enemy, ‘and one lying in wait for him’ (Enchiridion, 48). Hence, ‘you should turn all your attention to the care of your mind’ (Enchiridion, 41).

[This excerpt comes from The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy: Stoic Philosophy as Rational and Cognitive Psychotherapy by Donald Robertson, available from Amazon UK.]

Stoic Philosophy as Rational & Cognitive Psychotherapy

Donald Robertson

Many of us have felt the need for a book that covers the underlying philosophy of the cognitive-behavioural therapies in much greater depth. This book provides us with the missing link between the theory and the philosophy. It is a fascinating read and could be considered as either a prequel or a sequel to the standard textbook read by a trainee or experienced cognitive-behavioural or rational emotive practitioner who wants to understand these approaches to therapy within an historical framework.  (Prof. Stephen Palmer, from the Foreword)

The Philosophy of CBT was published in August 2010 and is the first major text to explore in detail the relationship between modern psychotherapy and ancient Stoic philosophy, particularly in relation to CBT and REBT.  Copies are available online from Karnac, the publisher,

Purchase The Philosophy of CBT Online from Karnac

We have created a dedicated website and blog, which contains a video interview with Donald Robertson, the author, discussing philosophy and psychotherapy, reviews of the book, and many free articles and excerpts,

www.philosophy-of-cbt.com

Excerpts from the book are available on the page below,

http://philosophy-of-cbt.com/category/excerpts/

Some example reviews,

http://philosophy-of-cbt.com/reviews-of-the-philosophy-of-cbt/

Tom Butler-Bowdon, Author of 50 Self-Help Classics and 50 Psychology Classics,

Donald Robertson is blazing a trail to discover the sources of cognitive-behavioural therapy, and Stoic philosophy is prime among these. A fascinating work that should be compulsory reading for all practitioners in the field and interested lay people, providing insights into how ancient philosophy can give us the coping and life success strategies we are all looking for, both as professionals and in private life.  A great read!

Copyright © Donald Robertson, 2003.  All rights reserved.

There are many examples of phenomena reminiscent of self-hypnosis in classical literature. It is well-known, for instance, that the philosopher Socrates had a tendency to enter spontaneous cataleptic trances, in which he was gripped by contemplation of his inner psyche (nous). The best account of this is found in Plato’s Symposium where Socrates freezes in deep meditation en route to a drinking party (the ‘symposium’ of the title). The host Agathon, and the other guests, are left waiting; a slave is sent and returns reporting:

“Socrates is here, but he’s gone off to the neighbour’s porch. He’s standing there and won’t come in even though I called him several times.”

Agathon gives the order, “Go back and bring him in!” but Socrates’ companion, Aristodemus, objects:

“No, no, leave him alone. It’s one of his habits: every now and then he just goes off like that and stands frozen, wherever he happens to be.”

Socrates eventually arrives when the meal is halfway finished, at which Agathon chides him:

“Socrates, come lie down next to me. Who knows, if I touch you, I may catch a bit of the enlightenment (sophia) that came to you under my neighbour’s porch. It’s clear you’ve seen the light. If you hadn’t you’d still be standing there!”

Toward the end of the symposium, the drunken Alcibiades arrives, a notorious playboy who idolises and is in love with Socrates. He begins a speech singing the praises of his beloved mentor, describing how the middle-aged Socrates exhibited surprising sexual restraint by continually spurning his advances, even when he went so far as slipping naked into bed with him. Alcibiades was at this time a youth, famous for his beauty. Socrates, by contrast, was notoriously ugly, balding, and pot-bellied –the Greeks described him as looking like a torpedo fish!

Alcibiades continues by describing various events which he observed during their military service together, when Athens invaded Potidaea. During this campaign Socrates was awarded the ‘prize of pre-eminent valour’, which he declined in preference that it should belong to Alcibiades.

Despite his age, Socrates appeared to be hardier and tougher than any other soldier. He walked barefoot on ice, and in bitter cold wore only the customary grey, light cotton cloak of the ancient philosophers. When supplies were lost he seemed impervious to hunger. He wasn’t partial to drink, but he could drink any man under the table, seemingly unaffected by alcohol. We are also told that several times when Athens was rife with plague, Socrates was the only citizen unaffected by illness.

Socrates was, in earlier years, a man of physical prowess, and fearless during the thick of combat; the ancient historian of philosophy, Diogenes Laertius, reports his rescue of the soldier and author Xenophon, who later became his disciple and founded one of ten distinct ‘Socratic’ sects in Athens,

He paid great attention also to the training of the body, and was always in excellent condition himself. Accordingly, he joined in the expedition to Amphipolis, and he it was who took up and saved Xenophon in the battle of Delian, when he had fallen from his horse; for when all the Athenians had fled, he retreated quietly, turning round slowly, and watching to repel any one who attacked him.

Alcibiades seems to be referring to this incident when he remarks,

“…in the midst of battle he was making his way exactly as he does around town, ‘with swaggering gait and roving eye.’ He was observing everything quite calmly, looking out for friendly troops and keeping an eye on the enemy. Even from a great distance it was obvious that this was a very brave man, who would put up a terrific fight if anyone approached him.”

These are examples of the exceptional physical and emotional self-mastery (enkrateia) attributed to many classical philosophers. (What a contrast with modern academics!) Alcibiades deliberately links this discussion of Socrates’ self-control to a further example of his deep meditative trances:

“So much for that! But you should hear what else he did during that same campaign, ‘The exploit our strong-hearted hero dared to do.’ One day, at dawn, he started thinking about some problem or other; he just stood outside, trying to figure it out. He couldn’t resolve it, but he wouldn’t give up. He simply stood there, glued to the same spot. By midday, many soldiers had seen him, and, quite mystified, they told everyone that Socrates had been standing there all day, thinking about something. He was still there when evening came, and after dinner some Ionians moved their bedding outside, where it was cooler and more comfortable (all this took place in the summer), but mainly in order to watch if Socrates was going to stay out there all night. And so he did; he stood in the very same spot until dawn! He only left next morning, when the Sun came out, and he made his prayers to the new day.”

Hence, just as on his way to Agathon’s symposium, Socrates is described as entering a mystical, cataleptic trance. The difference is that the trance described by Alcibiades appears to have lasted an entire 24 hours, during which extraordinary length of time Socrates remained physically immobile and impervious to his surroundings and the heat of the Mediterranean summer Sun.

It’s reasonable to say, therefore, that Socrates provides one of the earliest and most influential examples of meditative trance recorded in European literature. There are, however, no indications in the writings of Plato or Xenophon (our two main sources for information on him) that these trances were considered similar to sleep, the main factor which would justify us in drawing the analogy with self-hypnosis. Nevertheless, subsequent references to the tradition in which Socrates stood do make this explicit connection. An important reference to ‘sleep-trances’ relates to the Bacchae, the followers of Dionysus, the very god to whom Plato’s Symposium is dedicated. Socrates himself is often considered to have been an initiate of the Orphic mystery religion, a mystical movement which evolved out of the rites of the Bacchae. The great James Braid, in the first book ever written on hypnotism (as opposed to Animal Magnetism), cites a quotation from the Roman poet Horace (c. 65 BC), ‘Exsomnis stupet Euhias‘ (Odes 3:25), which according to Braid’s translation, describes the entranced Bacchae as being possessed by a ‘stupor different from common sleep.’ This remark indicates that the followers of Dionysus were known to experience trance states similar to sleep but distinct from normal, nocturnal sleep.

In a critical text (c. 300 A.D.) on the subject of ‘theurgy’ the ancient study of spiritual rituals and ceremonies, the Neoplatonic philosopher Porphyry discusses many examples of trance states in the Mystery religions and Platonic philosophical practices. In one revealing passage, he refers to the use of imagination (i.e., suggestion) in conjunction with a variety of practical props and techniques (including eye-fixation) as a means to entering trance states:

Others who understand themselves in other respects become divinely inspired through the imagination: some taking darkness as accessory, others employing certain potions, and others depending on singing and magic figures. Some are affected by means of water, others by gazing on a wall, others by the hypæthral air, and others by the sun or some other of the heavenly luminaries. (Iamblichus, Theurgy: On the Mysteries of Egypt, 3: 8)

A more detailed account of the experience of hypnotic-sleep, presumably brought about by these or similar methods, occurs in the Poimandres of Hermes Trismegistus (c. 150 A.D.), a Graeco-Egyptian mystical text which uses the language of Platonic philosophy derived from Socrates. The legendary Egyptian philosopher Hermes begins by reporting the experience of a sleep-like trance during which he contemplates archetypes, or philosophical ‘essences’:

“Once, when my mind had become intent on the things-which-are [a Socratic term for archetypes], and my innermost mind [nous] was raised to a great height, while my bodily senses were withdrawn as in sleep [hypnos] (when men are weighed down by too much food or by the fatigue of the body) it seemed that someone immensely great of infinite dimensions happened to call my name […]‘

This ‘someone’ is revealed to be God, in the form of ‘Cosmic Nous.’ In Greek mysticism, the innermost level of the individual self (nous) is generally assumed to be one with the ‘Cosmic Self’, i.e., the mind of God himself (Nous, capitalised). (This is effectively the ‘archetypal Self’ of Jungian psychology.) Hermes proceeds to give a lengthy and detailed account of his conversation with God/Nous. In conclusion he describes the nature of sleep-trance in a passage absolutely loaded with technical terminology from ancient Dionysian mysticism and Socratic/Platonic philosophy:

‘For the sleep [hypnos] of the body, became the awakening of the mind [psyche], the closing of the eyes became true vision, my silence became pregnant with the Supreme Good, and the utterance of the Word [Logos] became the generation of riches.’

This curious statement, that “The sleep of the body became the awakening of the mind,” provides us with a perfect and concise description of classical hypnotic-meditation. The rest of this final sentence emphasises that through passively withdrawing the sense of vision and the activity of speech Hermes’ mind was illuminated with vision and speech from an unconscious source. In this case, by contemplating the archetypal essence of his own individual self, Hermes’ reports that he experienced contact with an image of the ‘Higher Self’ (Nous). This report is clearly inspired by Socrates’ remarks elsewhere on the aims of meditation and philosophy: to experience a vision of the archetypes.

Nowadays, many people deny any neuro-psychological similarity between hypnosis and sleep. However, one of the most striking features of classical hypnosis has always been the fact that it superficially, or externally, resembles sleep. It is for this reason that the Marquis de Puysegur described hypnosis as ‘artificial somnambulism’, Deleuze described it as ‘lucid sleep’, and Braid as ‘nervous sleep’ (i.e., sleep of the nervous system). These are all crude attempts to define hypnosis as a trance “different from normal sleep,” i.e., as a merely physical, mentally lucid, and artificial form of sleep. These descriptions are all highly consistent with the Neoplatonic experience of a ‘sleep of the body’ which is nevertheless an ‘awakening of the mind.’ Whether this is the same hypnotic-meditation (‘a stupor different from common sleep’) attributed to the Bacchae, we will probably never know for certain. Hermes, on the other hand, does describe it in terms which sound very similar to the cataleptic trances of Socrates, and it is clearly intended to stand in the same philosophical tradition.

Braid himself was apparently unaware of these links to Socrates and Neoplatonism, however, he rightly guessed that the Greeks had experience of something akin to hypnotism. He believed, in fact, that the ancient Greek sculptors worked upon hypnotised subjects in order to achieve such startling representations of the static human form. If Braid had further investigated the tantalising references to such ‘sleep-trances’ in Greek literature, it could have transformed modern hypnotism. Although we know little of their practical exercises, the ancient philosophers left us extensive theoretical writings on their mystical trancework. I would like to believe that the beautiful and sophisticated metaphysics of trance found in writers of the Greek philosophical tradition may yet provide a comprehensive framework for the development of a genuine ‘philosophy of hypnosis.’

Excerpt from The Discovery of Hypnosis: The Complete Writings of James Braid

www.James-Braid.com

I shall now cite from a paper [the middle section of “Magic, Hypnotism, Mesmerism, etc., considered historically and physiologically”] actually published by me in The Medical Times for December 28^th 1844, a few of the wonders recorded in Ward’s “History of the Hindoos”, which they represent as facts and as special gifts imparted to them in token of the great superiority of their religious system, of inducing a state of self-hypnotism, or ecstatic trance.  They produce this condition by certain postures or modes of sitting – the minds of the devotees being engaged in acts of fixed attention, by looking at some parts of their own bodies, or at inanimate or ideal [i.e., imaginary] objects; at the same time holding their breath, i.e., suppressing their respiration.  My modes of explaining these alleged marvels are given within parentheses.  I may premise, however, that whatever idea occupies the mind of the subject before he passes into the condition, or whatever may have occurred to it accidentally or through the suggestion of others subsequently, will ever after be realised, under similar combination of circumstances, in consequence of the power of suggestion and double-conscious [dissociated] memory, as manifested in some patients even in the sub-hypnotic or waking condition, when what have been called the vigilant or waking phenomena are producible; and still more certainly during the full, active, double-conscious condition.  These principles alone, and the vivid state of the imagination, explain most of the marvels; but, with the parenthetic explanations, I trust to make them sufficiently obvious to any candid and intelligent person.

The Yogee [i.e., master of yogic meditation] who has perfected himself in the three parts of sungyamu [yogic “self-mastery”] obtains a knowledge of the past and of the future (quickened memory and excited imagination); if he apply sungyamu to sounds, to their meaning and to the consequent results, he will possess, from mere sound, universal knowledge (hypnotic patients imitate, with the utmost precision and with the greatest facility, the vocal enunciation of any language, but do not understand the meaning of the words which they utter).  He who applies sungyamu to discover the thoughts of others will know the thoughts of all.  (He will believe and talk as if he did so.)  He who does the same to his own form, and to the sight of those whose eyes are fixed upon him, will be able to render his body invisible, and to dim the sight of the observers. (Through the force of imagination, or fixed attention, or suggestion.)  He who, according to these rules, meditates on his own actions, in order that he may discover how he may most speedily reap the fruits of them, will become acquainted with the time, cause, and place of his own death.  He who, according to these rules, meditates on the strength of the powerful, so as to identify his strength with theirs, will acquire the same.  (Through concentrated attention and conviction of their physical energy, there is a most amazing manifestation of increased muscular power.)  He who meditates, in the same manner, on the sun as perfect light, will become acquainted with the state of things in every place.  (He will believe and speak as if he really did.)  By similar application of sungyamu to the cup at the bottom of the throat, he will overcome hunger and thirst; by meditation on the basilar suture, he will be capacitated to see and converse with deified persons, who range through the aerial regions; by meditation on extraordinary presence of mind, he will obtain a knowledge of all visible objects; by meditating on the seat of the mind, or on the faculty of reason, he will become acquainted with his own thoughts and those of others, past, present, and future; by meditation on the state of the Yogee who has nearly lost all consciousness of separate existence, he will recognise spirit as unassociated and perfect existence.  (Belief and vivid imagination.)  After this he will hear celestial sounds – the songs and conversations of the celestial choirs; he will have the perception of their touch in their passage through the air, his taste will become refined, and he will enjoy the constant fragrance of sweet scents.  (All this I can easily cause hypnotic patients to realise, through suggestion and their fervid imagination.)  When the Yogee, by the power of Samadhi [meditation], has destroyed the power of those works which retained the spirit in captivity, he becomes possessed of certain and unhesitating knowledge; he is enabled to trace the progress of intellect through the senses, and the path of the animal spirit through the nerves.  After this he is able to enter into any dead or living body, by the path of the senses – all the senses accompanying him, as the swarm of bees follows the queen bee; and, in this body, to act as though it were his own.  (Now, all this extravagance I can easily make hypnotic patients imagine themselves accomplishing – but, of course, it is only imaginary, just as such feats are accomplished in dreams.)

The collected power of all the senses is called the animal soul, which is distinguished by five operations connected with the vital air, or air collected in the body.  The body of the Yogee who, according to the rules of Dharanu, Dhyanu, and Sumadhee [concentration, meditation, and mystic union], meditates on the air proceeding from (…) to the head, will become light as wood, and will be able to walk on the fluid element.  He who, in the same manner, meditates on the ear and its vacuum, will hear the softest and most distant sounds, as well as those uttered in the celestial regions, etc.  (This accords with my proposition, that calling attention to any organ or function will exalt the activity of the function positively, as well as excite ideas con­nected with such organ or function.)  He who meditates on vacuum will be able to ascend in the air.  (Imaginary ascent.)  He who meditates, by the rules of sungyamu, and in a perfect manner, on the subtle elements, will overcome and be transformed into those elements; he will be capacitated to become as rarefied and atomic as he may wish, and proceed to the greatest distance; in short, he will be enabled to realise in himself the power of Deity, to subdue all his passions, to render his body invulnerable, to prevent the possibility of his abstraction being destroyed, so as to subject himself again to the effects of actions.

“By applying sungyamu to the division of the four last minutes of time, he who perfects himself in this will obtain complete knowledge of the separate elements, atoms, etc., which admit not of division of species, appearance, and place.  This knowledge brings before the Yogee all visible objects at once, so that he does not wait for the tedious process of the senses.  (Imagination, lively faith, and fixed attention, until ideas became too vivid to be corrected by an appeal to the senses and sober reason.)

The following paragraph is from the “Dabistan” [Dabistān-i Mazāhib, a 17^th century Persian religious text of a syncretistic nature]:–

The Sipasian [an ancient Zoroastrian sect] and the historians relate that, whoever carries this process to perfection rises above death; as long as he remains in the body, he can put it off and be again reunited to it; he never suffers from sickness, and is fit for all business.

So much for the lively fancy and fervid faith of these religious enthusiasts, during their dreams, in the state of self-induced hypnotism, through fixing their thoughts or sight upon some part of their own bodies, or on some ideal [i.e., imaginary] or inanimate objects, and holding their breath, or suppressing their respiration.  By an appeal, therefore, to the feats of the Hindoos, I might claim for hypnotism, or self-induced trance, quite as high pretensions for its capability of inducing clairvoyant marvels as anything adduced by the animal magnetists or Mesmerists, with all the exoteric or alleged aid which they profess to communicate or impart to their subjects, by whatever name they may call it – whether magnetic, Mesmeric, odylic, nervous, or vital force transferred from the operators into the bodies of their subjects.

Excerpt from the NCH August Research Snippet by Donald Robertson

See the rest of this article online at the NCH website,

http://www.hypnotherapists.org.uk/1502/mindfulness-metacognition-and-hypnosis-august-research-snippet/

In 2006, Steven Jay Lynn collaborated with the Buddhist teacher Lama Surya Das, and two other researchers, in an attempt to explore the possibility of combining elements of Buddhist mindfulness meditation practice, cognitive therapy, and hypnosis, drawing on recent research in cognitive psychology.

Mindfulness versus Thought Suppression

Over the past couple of decades, enthusiasm for mindfulness meditation techniques derived from Buddhism has flourished among cognitive-behavioural therapists, inspired by the early success of Jon Kabat-Zinn’s meditation programme for stress management.  Meditation and acceptance strategies have been used to counteract the tendency of many clients to try to suppress, control, or “fight” distressing thoughts.  Lynn et al. refer to the recent study by Wegner and his colleagues, which found that when people tried to deliberately suppress a thought there was evidence of a “rebound effect” in which they subsequently experienced more intrusions of the thought than a control group who were simply asked to think freely about the same thing.  Other studies have found evidence that emotional suppression can inhibit memory and problem-solving and increase physiological signs of nervous arousal.  Lynn and his colleagues report that of nearly a hundred subjects who were asked to keep their minds blank while listening to hypnotic suggestions, only one reported any success. 

Where thought-control strategies backfire, mindfulness and acceptance have been seen as offering an alternative way of responding to distressing experiences.  Lynn et al. follow other contemporary cognitive-behavioural therapists in contrasting non-judgemental mindfulness and acceptance with the unhealthy suppression of thoughts and feelings.  (However, they fail to mention that experimental studies on this “rebound” effect in thought suppression have produced some mixed results – q.v. Clark & Beck, 2010, for a more detailed review.)  Lynn et al. also cite a 2003 meta-analysis of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and stress reduction approaches by Baer, which found a mean effect size of 0.59 (a medium-sized treatment effect) for this approach across various emotional problems and medical conditions.  In other words, it probably works, but the effects are comparable to those of other therapies and not dramatically superior to them.

See the rest of this article online at the NCH website,

http://www.hypnotherapists.org.uk/1502/mindfulness-metacognition-and-hypnosis-august-research-snippet/

Socrates in Aristophanes' The Clouds

Copyright (c) Donald Robertson, 2010.  All rights reserved.

(This is a brief excerpt from my book, The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy: Stoic Philosophy as Rational and Cognitive Psychotherapy, published by Karnac and available for order online now.)

Plato has a fine saying, that he who would discourse of man should survey, as from some high watchtower, the things of earth.  (Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations) 

Take a moment to settle into your posture and make yourself comfortable…  Close your eyes and relax… [Pause.]  Be aware of your breathing…  Notice the rhythm and pattern of the breath…  Do nothing for while, just be content to contemplate your breathing more deeply… [Pause.]  Now, begin by paying attention to the whole of your body as one…  From the top of your head, all the way down into your fingers and down into your toes…  Be aware of your body as one… every nerve, muscle and fibre… Don’t try to change anything.  Don’t try to stop anything from changing…  Some things can change just by being observed… 

Just be content to notice whatever you notice, and feel whatever you feel…  Be a passive, detached observer…  As you continue to relax, turn your attention deeper within, and become more aware of your body… until you can almost imagine how you look right now…  Begin to picture yourself as if seen from the outside… Now just imagine that you are taking a step back and looking at yourself.  It really doesn’t matter how vividly you can picture yourself, it’s just the intention, just idea that matters.  Imagine your body posture… your facial expression… the colour and style of your clothing…

Now keep looking at the image of yourself resting there, and imagine your own feet are gently leaving the ground.  You begin floating serenely upwards, slowly and continuously, rising upwards.  All the while your gaze keeps returning to your own body, now seated there below you as you rise above it.  Keep looking down toward your body as you float higher and higher….  The roof and ceiling disappear, allowing you to float freely upward.  Gazing down you see yourself seated comfortably below in the building, looking contented and contemplative.  You see all the rooms, and any other people around.

As you continue to float gently higher and higher, your perspective widens more and more until you see the whole surrounding area.  You see all the buildings nearby from above.  You see the people in buildings and in the streets and roads.  You observe people far below working, or walking along the pavement, people cycling or driving their cars, and those travelling on buses and trains.  You begin to contemplate the whole network of human lives and how people everywhere are interacting with each other, influencing each other, encountering each other in different ways…

Floating higher, people become as small as ants below.  Rising up into the clouds, you see the whole of the surrounding region beneath you.  You see both towns and countryside, and gradually the coastline comes into view as your perspective becomes more and more expansive…  You float gently up above the clouds, above the weather, and through the upper atmosphere of the planet Earth…  So high that you eventually rise beyond the sphere of the planet itself, and into outer space…  You look toward planet Earth and see it suspended in space before you, silently turning… resplendent in all its majesty and beauty…

You see the whole of your home planet… the blue of the great oceans… and the brown and green of the continental land masses…  You see the white of the polar ice caps, north and south…  You see the grey wisps of cloud that pass silently across the surface of the Earth…  Though you can no longer see yourself from so far above, you know and feel that you are down there on Earth below, and that your life is important, and what you make of your life is important.  Your change in perspective changes your view of things, your values and priorities…

You contemplate all the countless living beings upon the Earth.  The population of the planet is over six billion people…  You realise that your life is one among many, one person among the total population of the Earth…  You think of the rich diversity of human life on Earth.  The many languages spoken by people of different races, in different countries… people of all different ages… newborn infants, elderly people, people in the prime of life…  You think of the enormous variety of human experiences… some people right now are unhappy, some people are happy… and you realise how richly varied the tapestry of human life before you seems.

And yet as you gaze upon the planet Earth you are also aware of its position within the rest of the universe… a tiny speck of stardust, adrift in the immeasurable vastness of cosmic space…  This world of ours is merely a single planet, a tiny grain of sand by comparison with the endless tracts of cosmic space…    a tiny rock in space, revolving around our Sun… the Sun itself just one of countless billions of stars which punctuate the velvet blackness of our galaxy…

You think about the present moment on Earth and see it within the broader context of your life as a whole.  You think of your lifespan as a whole, in its totality…  You think of your own life as one moment in the enormous lifespan of mankind…  Hundreds of generations have lived and died before you… many more will live and die in the future, long after you yourself are gone…  Civilisations too have a lifespan; you think of the many great cities which have arisen and been destroyed throughout the ages… and your own civilisation as one in a series… perhaps in the future to be followed by new cities, peoples, languages, cultures, and ways of life…

You think of the lifespan of humanity itself…  Just one of countless billions of species living upon the planet…  Mankind arose as a race roughly two hundred thousand years ago… animal life itself first appeared on Earth over four billion years ago…  Contemplate time as follows…  Realise that if the history of life on Earth filled an encyclopaedia a thousand pages long… the life of the entire human race could be represented by a single sentence somewhere in that book… just one sentence…

And yet you think of the lifespan of the planet itself…  Countless billions of years old… the life of the planet Earth too has a beginning, middle, and end…  Formed from the debris of an exploding star, unimaginably long ago… one day in the distant future its destiny is to be swallowed up and consumed by the fires of our own Sun…  You think of the great lifespan of the universe itself… the almost incomprehensible vastness of universal time… starting with a cosmic explosion, a big bang they say, immeasurable ages ago in the past…  Perhaps one day, at the end of time, this whole universe will implode upon itself and disappear once again…  Who can imagine what, if anything, might follow, at the end of time, in the wake of our own universe’s demise…

Contemplating the vast lifespan of the universe, remember that the present moment is but the briefest of instants… the mere blink of an eye… the turn of a screw… a fleeting second in the mighty river of cosmic time…  Yet the “here and now” is important… standing as the centre point of all human experience…  Here and now you find yourself at the centre of living time…  Though your body may be small in the grand scheme of things, your imagination, the human imagination, is as big as the universe… bigger than the universe… enveloping everything that can be conceived…  From the cosmic point of view, your body seems small, but your imagination seems utterly vast… 

You contemplate all things, past, present and future…  You see your life within the bigger picture… the total context of cosmic time and space…  The totality is absolute reality…  You see yourself as an integral part of something much bigger, something truly vast, the “All” itself…  Just as the cells of your own body work together to form a greater unity, a living being, so your body as a whole is like a single cell in the organism of the universe…  Along with every atom in the universe you necessarily contribute your role to the unfolding of its grand design…

As your consciousness expands, and your mind stretches out to reach and touch the vastness of eternity…  Things change greatly in perspective… and shifts occur in their relative importance… Trivial things seem trivial to you…  Indifferent things seem indifferent…  The significance of your own attitude toward life becomes more apparent… you realise that life is what you make of it…   You learn to put things in perspective, and focus on your true values and priorities in life…  One stage at a time, you develop the serenity to accept the things you cannot change, the courage to change the things you can, and the wisdom to know the difference…  You follow nature… your own true nature as a rational, truth-seeking human being… and the one great nature of the universe as a whole…

Now in a moment you are beginning to sink back down to Earth, toward your place in the here and now…  Part of you can remain aware of the view from above, and always return to and remember that sense of serenity and perspective. 

Now you begin your descent back down to Earth, to face the future with renewed strength and serenity…  You sink back down through the sky… down… down… down… toward the local area… down… down… down… into this building…  down… down… down… You sink back gently into your body… all the way now… as your feet slowly come to rest upon the floor once again…

Now think about the room around you… Think about action… movement… think about looking around and getting your orientation…  raising your head a little…  Begin to breathe a little bit more deeply… a little bit more energetically… let your body feel more alive and ready for action… breathe energy and vitality into your body… breathe a little deeper and deeper again… until you’re ready to take a deep breath, open your eyes, and emerge from meditation… taking your mindfulness and self-awareness forward into life… beginning now… take a deep breath… and open your eyes now… when you’re ready… entering the here and now with deep calm and serenity…

Copyright (c) Donald Robertson, 2009-2010.  All rights reserved.

Visit the website of Solutions: London Cognitive Therapy Centre

The short handout below is based on the AWARE acronym used by Aaron Beck and his colleagues in their cognitive therapy for anxiety and phobias.  For more information see Beck, Emery, & Greenberg, Anxiety Disorders & Phobias: A Cognitive Perspective (2005).  In his recently-revised manual for treating anxiety, Beck writes,

[T]he objective of cognitive therapy is not to teach people more effective ways to “control their anxiety”.  Instead cognitive therapy focuses on helping individuals develop a more “accepting attitude” toward anxiety rather than a “combative (i.e., controlling) attitude.”   When thoughts like “I can’t let these anxious feelings continue” are replaced with “I can allow myself to feel anxious because I know I’m exaggerating the threat and danger,” then the intensity and persistence of anxiety are greatly diminished. (Clark & Beck, 2010, p. 195)

This self-help advice to clients can precede typical cognitive therapy to modify negative automatic thoughts.  It can also be seen as a “role definition”, describing the best mind-set or attitude for the client to adopt toward their problem at the outset of therapy.  Similar acceptance and self-awareness strategies have been used in hypnotherapy and humanistic psychotherapies for many decades, especially in Gestalt psychotherapy, and are central to the new “third wave” approaches to CBT. 

Your First Job: Being AWARE

At the beginning of therapy it helps to start learning a whole new attitude toward your anxiety, which has been summed up in the acronym “AWARE” to help you memorise the instructions.  You can think of this as defining your initial “role” in therapy, or as a kind of job description.  Paradoxically, learning to accept anxiety tends to help overcome it.  People sometimes describe this as stopping “battling against” or “fighting with” their symptoms, taking the pressure off themselves, being non-judgemental, or forgiving themselves for feeling anxious. 

• Accept that your anxious thoughts and feelings are natural.  Allow yourself to feel anxious without becoming annoyed or frustrated with yourself.  Say “hello” to the thoughts and feelings, think of them as being fairly normal, acknowledge the fact that they exist, and adopt a patient attitude toward change.
• Watch your anxiety from a distance.  Observe your thoughts and feelings non-judgementally, without making strong value judgements about them being bad, or about yourself for having them.  Just imagine you’re observing your thoughts and feelings from a detached perspective, from a distance, without placing too much importance on them.  You are not your thoughts or your feelings; rather you’re the person observing them.  Observe your thoughts and feelings as if they’re transient things, like clouds passing across the sky, instead of becoming absorbed in them.
• Act despite your anxiety.  Act as if you’ve overcome your fears, act as if you’re in control or you’ve already achieved your goal of getting better.  Reverse your avoidance behaviour and face your fears in steps and stages, dropping any unnecessary signs of anxiety such as gripping objects for safety or averting your gaze from people.
• Repeat as much as possible.  Keep accepting your anxiety, watching it from a detached perspective, and acting as if you’re better until it becomes second nature and your feelings change.
• Expect realistic improvement.  Be hopeful and confident but don’t rush things.  Be realistic and expect possible setbacks but see them as temporary, surmountable, and opportunities to improve your coping skills.  Expect that anxiety may return, because it’s human nature, but also expect that you can learn to cope and make more and more progress if you persevere.

In other words, begin by accepting things, watching the symptoms of anxiety without worrying about them, and acting as if you were feeling better already.  To begin with, adopting this mind-set might take some effort and you’ll need to keep reminding yourself to do it, but it soon becomes easier and easier until it has evolved into a habit and something you’ll find yourself doing automatically.  It takes a lot of fuel to get a steam engine to start moving but a lot less fuel to keep it going once it’s started rolling.  It sometimes takes a lot of motivation to begin learning new thinking habits but it takes less and less effort with each attempt – the main thing is to take the first step and get the process started.  So why don’t you begin right now and see what happens if you put the AWARE strategy into practice as often as possible over the next few days or weeks?

Visit the website of Solutions: London Cognitive Therapy Centre

Ramakrishna (1836-1886), a contemporary Indian mystic

Copyright (c) Donald Robertson, 2009.  All rights reserved.  www.UKhypnosis.com

For more information see my longer article on this subject,

James Braid on Hypnotic Meditation

Most scholars assume that hypnotism originated in 1841, in the work of James Braid, as a psychological and physiological system contrasted with the more “occult” or supernatural theories of Franz Mesmer and his followers, the “animal mangetists”.  Braid originally saw Mesmerism as the predecessor and closest analogy to his method of hypnotism.  However, within three years of his discovery, the similarities between hypnotism and various Oriental meditation practices was brought to Braid’s attention.  At this time, in the 1840s, knowledge of Oriental meditation was very limited in England.  However, Victorian soldiers and officials of the East India company sent word back from the further reaches of the empire.  Braid explains, in his final essay, On Hypnotism (1860), written as a summary of his life’s work for the French Academy of Sciences,

I had already worked for three years to define hypnotism, the process which consists in fixing the eyes on a point and concentrating the attention, and I had demonstrated that it was an influence of a subjective nature which caused the sleep, when, in 1844, by carrying out research for a history of magic and witchcraft, as well as Mesmerism and hypnotism, I discovered in The History of Hindoos by [William] Ward and in the Dubistan (History of the religious sects in India) [Dabistān-i Mazāhib, a 17^th century Persian religious text] developments which, through the practices of Fakirs and Yogins [Sufi and Hindu mystics], wholly confirmed my subjective theory.

Braid contrasted his “subjective” theory of hypnotism with the older “objective” theory of the Mesmerists.  By this he simply meant that whereas the Mesmerists believed that they were putting their subjects into a trance by channeling an invisible force, “animal magnetism”, into their bodies, Braid and other sceptics disputed the objective reality of this force and argued instead that hypnotism was mainly the result of the psychological (subjective) activity of the hypnotic subject themselves.  In other words, as many hypnotists put it today, “All hypnosis is self-hypnosis.”

Indeed, it is notable that there was no such concept or even expression as “self-magnetism” or “self-mesmerism”.  Braid, as well as introducing the concept of hypnotism, also coined the term “self-hypnotism” to refer to the fact that one could hypnotise oneself, and he recounts, in a memorable passage, how he used self-hypnotism to manage his own severe attacks of rheumatic pain.  Indeed, as Braid defined hypnotism as a state of focused attention upon a single dominant idea or mental image, accompanied by expectation of a response, hypnotism and self-hypnotism were never really two distinct activities.  Hypnotism was seen by Braid as a process whereby someone, the hypnotist, assists someone else, the hypnotic subject, to focus their attention for a prolonged period on a single train of thought with a sense of growing confidence in some response occuring.  Hypnotism is really just assisted or guided self-hypnosis according to this, the original theory.  The analogy with yogic meditation soon became obvious to Braid,

The Fakirs and Yogins have caused ecstatic trance in themselves for 2,400 years, for religious purpose, by a process quite similar to that which I taught my patients so they could hypnotise themselves using, i.e., continual fixation upon the end of the nose or another part of the body or an imaginary object, and with intense attention and while holding or slowing down their breath. 

Indeed, Braid usually helped people to focus their attention, inducing hypnotism, by asking them to stare patiently at a single point, e.g., the tip of his silver lancet case, or the top of a bottle, or a chandalier in one case.  However, he felt the object of concentration, in this initial (induction) stage, was irrelevant, so long as it was relatively “unexciting”, simple and bland enough for one to focus upon without distraction, to the exclusion of other things.  Braid observed that when this was done for a few minutes, the eyes would close and people would often report very vivid and spontaneous bodily sensations of an unusual nature, especially if their attention was drawn to their body and their awareness and expectation heightened.  However, he also observed that this “diamond glare” of attention, as one of his followers put it, could be transposed onto some positively therapeutic idea suggested by the hypnotist, or chosen by the subject, such as the idea or image of the body healing some disease or simply a general sense of confidence and wellbeing.

Moreover, even in his earliest writings, Braid refers to hypnotism being induced by means of focusing the gaze on the tip of one’s own finger, or some other part of the body, including the centre of the forehead.  He was struck by the similarity between this method and the Oriental practice of focusing attention upon the tip of one’s nose or the centre of the forehead in meditation that he soon came to see Oriental meditation as the true precursor of hypnotism, and a closer analogy to it than Mesmerism.  Both hypnotism and meditation could be practised by oneself, and were understood as psychological and physiological activities inter-acting, mind-body techniques, whereas animal magnetism was (falsely) assumed to require the presence of a skilled Mesmerist.  Hence, the analogy with meditation provided Braid with unlikely support for his debunking of Mesmerism.

I did not know of the practices of Fakirs and Yogins, when I published my method of hypnotising; they confirm, in the most satisfactory manner, my subjective theory, at the expense of the objective theory of the magnetisers. 

From the point at which he discovered these books on meditation and began writing articles about them, Braid was undoubtedly encouraged to define hypnotism more and more as a form of “mental abstraction” or “monoideism”, as he later called it, meaning focused attention upon a single idea, image, or train of thought.

Many hypnotherapists today, and their clients, have been exposed to yogic or Buddhist meditation techniques, etc., and immediately intuit some similarity between the theory and practice of hypnotism and those of meditation.  It should further reinforce that observation for them to realise that the founder of hypnotherapy, almost from the outset, was aware of this connection and that hypnotism itself evolved, in part, under the influence of Oriental meditation techniques.