An example of resistance is when the patient becomes unable to talk to the
therapist any longer, or stops communicating feelings, or does not want to talk
about certain topics. Transference is another problem that sometimes occurs
through the course of the therapy. This problem occurs when the patient feels
certain strong emotions towards the therapist. Certain emotions can be either a
strong feeling of love, or a strong feeling of hate (Antrobus). Psychoanalytic
Therapy is successful for the patient as soon as the patient is comfortable with
himself in relation to his feelings, and having a relatively good sense of being
able to feel feelings without the urge to act them out. As soon as the patient
can relay all of his feelings to the therapist without any resistance, the
therapy is completed. However, achieving complete recovery takes a person’s
lifetime. There is always some area where the person is weak and needs to
overcome different problems that are holding the person back from having the
fullest life possible (Beck). Through diligent work, however, a person may be
able to return to his normal, healthy state of mind and life. Hypnotherapy is
another form of therapy that uses the subconscious and dreaming to understand
and analyze what the patient’s problem could be. Using hypnosis, a psychiatrist
is able to look into the subconscious where emotions that the patient has
experienced, the patient’s memories, and the patient’s imagination are held. The
subconscious also holds the feelings that one has relating to the person’s place
that they hold in the world. This type of therapy can, in time, help the patient
to conquer all of his or her fears, emotional problems, and physical problems
such as a type of pain control. In the seventeen hundreds and early eighteen
hundreds, hypnosis was used very often as an anesthetic during surgery. The
patient would not have any other type of anesthetic in his or her body.
Donald Jackson states: “Since World War II, it has slipped quietly and
discreetly into the clinical mainstream, to the point where the America Medical
Association, many HMOs and even Medicare now recognize it” (Jackson 128). A
patient has to develop his hypnotic skills in order for the best results
possible using hypnotherapy. Hypnosis will help the patient live a much fuller
life with new confidence in himself and the world, and will also improve
concentration and management skills. The use of this type of therapy can
actually spark one’s interest and potential in various activities one engages
oneself in that one finds interesting. Hypnosis has also been used during major
surgery as an anesthetic with no other anesthetics present. Donald Jackson tells
us that psychiatrists, medical doctors, psychologists, and other people who have
tried it have used hypnotherapy for two centuries to treat people with different
sicknesses and pain (Jackson 127-128). Hypnotherapy can give a patient that is
in very bad pain, relief that lasts for a long time. Hypnosis has been reported
to give many people that have been through it feelings of happiness and total
bliss (Churchill). There are many misinterpretations that people pick up that
are related to hypnosis. Many people believe that the patient is “under a spell”
and will do anything that the hypnotist says to do. Instead of the patient
losing control, the person gains more control of his or her life and himself
than he had ever experienced before. During hypnosis, a patient is well aware of
what is taking place. Hypnosis is simply allowing the patient to have the
ability of great concentration on one subject. Hypnosis is an everyday
occurrence in everyone’s lives. People experience hypnosis in reading a book, in
the state of mind right before sleep, and while watching a movie or television
show. Each time one experiences hypnosis, the more in depth the concentration is
for the patient. Though deeper concentration sounds more therapeutic for the
patient, it is not. The deeper the hypnotic state, the more likely it is that
one will experience loss of consciousness and hallucinations. Hypnosis skills
allow the patient to completely relax. Hypnosis slows down all parts of the
body, including the nervous system, respiratory system and the patient’s brain
waves (Churchill). Rosalind Cartwright, Ph.D. has studied dreams for 35 years.
She states that “Dreams give us a chance to face situations from real life while
our bodies are totally at ease” (Williams 99).
Dreams deal mostly with things that one has experienced in the past, or at
the present time of the dream. They help one to solve problems that he or she is
dealing with. Dr. Cartwright calls dreaming one’s “internal therapist” (Williams
99). People who have certain phobias have been known to treat their phobia by
themselves without any psychiatric help just through the wondrous act of
dreaming. Dreams help people to overcome obstacles and help the people learn
more about themselves and the lives that they live (Williams 99). Dream
interpretation has helped hundreds of people to overcome their lifelong problems
as well as daily problems. Through therapies such as hypnosis and psychoanalytic
therapy, people who have suffered great emotional, mental, and physical stress
have moved on to live happier, fuller lives. Dreams do, in fact, represent many
different areas of people’s lives in physical, emotional, and mental ways.
Dreams can relay things to a person about his or her life that he or she are not
even aware of. Interpreting one’s dream is a method of self-discovery that lets
one in on parts of his or her life that he or she never could have imagined.
Dreams can help cure different physical, emotional, and mental problems in one’s
life. People have depended on dreams to guide them in their actions and also for
self-discovery for hundreds of years. People will continue to depend on their
dreams as a means of guidance, just as their ancestors have done for years to
come.
Bibliography
Antrobus, John. Dream Theory 1997: Toward a Computational Neurocognitive Model.
16 Feb. 2000 . Beck, Henry W. What is Psychoanalytic Therapy? . Cartwright,
Rosalind, and Lynne Lamberg. Crisis Dreaming: Using Your Dreams to Solve Your
Problems. Harper Collins Publishers: New York, 1992. Churchill, Randal. “The
Transformational Nature of Hypnotherapy.” Become the Dream: The Transforming
Power of Hypnotic Dreamwork. Transforming Press, 1997. 16 Feb. 2000 . “Dream.”
Collier’s Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. 1984. “Dreaming.” Microsoft Encarta 96
Encyclopedia. Microsoft Corporation. Funk & Wagnall’s Corporation. CD-ROM. 1996
ed. 1993-1995. ---. “Psychoanalysis.” Microsoft Encarta 96 Encyclopedia.
Microsoft Corporation. Funk & Wagnall’s Corporation. CD-ROM. 1996 ed. 1993-1995.
Freud, Sigmund. The Interpretation of Dreams. New York: Macmillan Company, 1923.
Freud, Sigmund. Modern Critical Interpretations: The Interpretation of Dreams.
Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. Garfield, Patricia.
The Healing Power of Dreams. Simon & Schuster: New York, 1981. Jackson, Donald
Dale. “Hypnotism: You Will Feel No Pain.” Smithsonian Mar. 1999: 126-140. Kalb,
Claudia. “What Dreams Are Made of.” Newsweek Nov. 8, 1999. 77. Lukeman, Alex.
What Your Dreams Can Teach You. St. Paul, Minnesota: Llewellyn Publications,
1990. Williams, Gurney. “What do your dreams mean?” McCall’s Aug. 1998: 98-101.
Works Consulted Green, Philip. Hypnotherapy. 8 Mar 2000. . Thornton, Stephen.
The Theory of the Unconscious. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 8 Mar 2000.
.
Words: 2414
