Self-help Articles

by Jon Robinson Dip.CBH

From time to time, most of us have experienced anxiety-provoking scenes that we've replayed in our minds, over and over until we were wound-up and blue in the face. This article will list a number of visualization techniques which can help us regain control of intrusive thoughts and free ourselves from unnecessary worry.

1. Do Not Try Not To

One of the most important things is to not try to forcibly suppress the thoughts. Forcing ourselves not to do something often leads to an increase in us actually doing it; for example, an insomniac might try and force themselves to sleep, but the more they try to do this, the harder it becomes! Likewise, the more someone obsesses over not saying the wrong thing, usually means they will end up doing just that. An entire behavioural intervention (negative practice) has stemmed from this peculiar observation.

2. Mindfulness

One technique, ever increasing in popularity, is mindfulness. Mindfulness is a tricky concept to pin down, but it essentially refers to being mindful (aware) of our thoughts and the affect they have on our feelings and behaviour. This is sometimes known as meta-cognition.

Although mindfulness is too extensive a topic to cover here, there are a number of visualization techniques we can use to encourage a mindful mindset. One such technique is to imagine each thought as a frame of film, going from left to right (or vice versa) through your mind's eye. Another, more elaborate technique, is to imagine each thought is being carried on a banner by a fleet of people, one after the other, or that each thought/scene is a photograph flowing down a fast moving stream.

3. Distancing

How do you see your visualizations? Are you actually 'inside' of them, witnessing them through your own eyes, or are you watching yourself from an outside perspective, as though you were a character on a television screen? By imagining our anxiety-provoking scenes at a distance, the emotional resonance is often lessened. Perhaps you could imagine you are sitting on your favourite armchair, watching yourself on a television screen, or from a seat in your own private cinema. Try playing around with these perspectives to initiate a sense of emotional detachment.

While not as effective in the long term as the other techniques, people occasionally find altering the modalities (the 'default settings') of a memory useful as a quick-fix distraction technique. Another example is to pay attention to the colour, the size and positioning of the visualization. If it is large, central and extremely bright, imagine altering these settings like you would on a television screen until it is small, to the side, and dull.

4. Desensitisation

Perhaps the simplest and most effect technique for reducing the anxiety of an intrusive thought or memory all is desensitisation. Desensitisation was first mentioned in Lewis Wolberg's 'Medical Hypnosis' (1948), and later termed systematic desensitisation by the psychologist Joseph Wolpe.

Using the principles of behavioural psychology (classical extinction), the client is encouraged to relax. This can be achieved through breathing techniques or hypnosis — or very often a mixture of both (for a guide on how to induce self-hypnosis, please refer to my previous article, 'The Secrets Of Self-Hypnosis In Six Easy Steps').

Once they are suitably relaxed, the client is asked to repeatedly visualise the distressing scene. it is important that this sequence is given a definite beginning, middle and end; In other words, the scene begins at a time when they were initially relaxed, goes through the anxiety-provoking content in the middle, and ends at a time when the client is relaxed once again.

Try it for yourself, but remember to induce deep relaxation before doing so. On a scale from 1-10, how anxious are you about that scene? The more you repeat the visualization while completely relaxed, the more you will find the number decreases. Continue doing this until you have either 1 or 0. It usually takes around 10/15 times, although I have known clients to get their level of anxiety down to 1 after as little as 4 repetitions.

5. Mastery

Another effective technique is to visualise yourself being in that scene once again. This time, however, see yourself a little more relaxed, a little more in control, thinking more positive and helpful thoughts. Don't see yourself as having mastered that scene straight away — this fosters unrealistic expectations and perfectionism. Gradually, with each repetition, see yourself getting better and better and more in control. Spend as long as you want doing this.

It is important to note that none the above techniques require hypnosis, but hypnosis often tends to help facilitate relaxation and increases imaginative/visualization abilities. It is recommended that you experiment with each technique and see which one(s) work best for you.

References:

(1) Emile Coue - Self-Mastery Through Conscious Auto Suggestion (1922)

(2) John Kabat-Zinn - Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life (1994)

(3) Richard Bandler & John Grinder — Frogs Into Princes (1979)

(4) Lewis Wolberg — Medical Hypnosis (1948)

About the Author:

Jon Robinson is a writer and clinical hypnotherapist with a private practice in Trafalgar Square, London, specialising in phobias, confidence-boosting and smoking cessation. He uses an evidence-based, cognitive behavioural model of hypnotherapy. You can contact him through his website www.hypnosis-in-london.com.