I have long held the view that most of us who are wanting to resolve past traumatic experiences would probably rather not talk about and revisit the experiences again in their lives, in their minds or in their therapy sessions. Most of my clients suffering from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) may well have had many sessions of counseling, psychotherapy and retold their story over and over again revisiting each of those traumatic experiences in detail.
Now many people may prefer to talk through their issues and that is fine but in my view at the end of the day we are using therapy to let go of the past so that we can fully engage with our present and future. I am of of the opinion that continuing to visit those old traumatic experiences will only trigger more anxiety and stress.
This is why I use a mix of Hypnosis, EFT, and EMDR. (Emotional Freedom Technique/Eye Movement Reprocessing and Desensitisation. The real value of using these three together is that they can guide the client into a state of altered awareness or trance, both of which I would class as a form of hypnosis. However that is an argument for another day and has been going on for decades!
Once we engage the creative part of the brain on a deep hypnotic level we no longer need the conscious mind to do the work. This means that the client is free to let the unconscious mind do the work instead. Then the changes and release of past sensitive material can be processed unconsciously beneath the conscious awareness which is far less distressing.
Also, a lot of traumatic material is not, and never could be available to the conscious mind. I can’t remember being born and neither can you but that would have been a major traumatic experience at a time when we were at our most vulnerable.
I regularly work with clients with these issues and many times at the end of a few sessions they will have turned this issue around and I still know very little about the events they have been through because they would rather not talk about it. If a client wishes to talk through the past it is important to do so but certainly not necessary.