By Peggy Levinson LCSW, LMFT
A smart man once said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting a different result.
Sometimes, both personally and in my psychotherapy practice, I run up against a problem that seems like a brick wall. All of the usual therapeutic techniques aren’t helping. It feels like I’m running into that brick wall over and over again, but expecting a different result.
This can be incredibly painful. The suffering that we’re trying to heal from gets compounded by a sense of despair. No matter what we do, it feels like things aren’t going to get better. It seems like there must be a missing ingredient – some key thing we could do differently that would result in a different, more transformative, outcome.
Fifteen years ago I put my Mind-Body training at Harvard to work with some patients, using guided imagery. Ten years ago, I incorporated light hypnosis into parts of my work after studying at UCLA. In 2013, I began Past Life Regression training with Dr. Brian Weiss.
All of these tools rely on a simple principle – using deep states of relaxation to tap into different brainwave frequencies (Alpha and Theta states). When we enter these very relaxed states something amazing happens. We get in touch with past experiences and past conditioning in a whole new way. New found insights and creativity emerge that help us shift from dysfunction to health. We are able to connect our past to our present as we move from using our analytical thinking mind to connecting and working with our intuitive unconscious. This process helps in the treatment of a wide range of issues including, but not limited to, social anxiety, phobias, relationship difficulties and eating disorders.
Using this approach, a variety of significant memories come up that help us gain new insights. These moments can be tender and vulnerable. If a past traumatic experience does come up, it’s critically important that a therapist be available to facilitate healing and skilled resolution.
Sometimes, we need to experience new insight, new perception, and new self-knowledge by finding a way to remember and experience key memories and emotions from our past. If we’re ready to put in the work that comes with changing painful habits and patterns, these experiences can be the catalyst to breaking through the brick wall and finding healing on the other side.
Peggy Levinson LCSW, LMFT has been a practicing psychotherapist for over 40 years. Please visit her website at www.claytontherapy.com and call her for a free phone consultation at 314.644.3339.