Are you suffering from PTSD or other intrusive, traumatic memories? Do you have nightmares or flashbacks? Do negative incidents keep replaying in your mind? Hypnotherapy for trauma uses powerful techniques to free you from the past and help you get back on with your life.
On this page we’re going to look at what causes trauma and why some people get traumatised while others don’t. But more importantly, we’ll look at what you can do to end the nightmare of trauma and PTSD and regain control over your life.
Specifically, we’ll be looking at how hypnotherapy is used in the treatment of trauma, including a technique that can quickly de-traumatise your brain from PTSD, flashbacks, and other traumatic memories (including memories of sexual abuse and assaults).
Don’t click away from this page! Freedom is closer than you think…
- What causes trauma?
- The 3 core emotional needs in childhood
- The 4 trauma responses – fight, flight, freeze, and fawn
- The waking REM state
- PTSD and army veterans
- Memories stuck in the amygdala
- Changing emotional memories
- The danger of Critical Incident De-Briefing
- The importance of calmness in the treatment of trauma
- Hypnotherapy for trauma: How I treat PTSD
- The Rewind technique
- Re-coding traumatic memories
- Getting help for trauma: next steps
What causes trauma?
Despite the nightmare scenarios happening throughout the world (wars, famine, pandemics, disease, accidents and natural disasters etc.) research tells us that three quarters of people have the ability to bounce back from traumatic incidents without becoming traumatised. (1)
The obvious question from this stat is: How is it that some people (around 25%) develop PTSD whilst others do not? What makes the difference? This is a question that has intrigued me over the years and I believe a major factor is unmet emotional needs.
If you’re suffering from the effects of trauma the first thing to ask yourself is, “Were my emotional needs met when the incident(s) occurred?”
Unmet emotional needs puts the ‘survival brain’ in charge and, if this is ongoing, results in a dysregulated nervous system. What this means is that you live constantly in a fight/flight/freeze/fawn response (more on this below). And this, in itself, interferes with your ability to use your innate resources correctly. We simply don’t function to the best of our ability if we’re in constant states of alertness or shutdown.
Thus, what we can conclude from this so far is that trauma is not caused by events themselves but by how we responded to those events (and whether we were in an emotionally healthy state at the time).
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The 3 core emotional needs in childhood
When it comes to trauma (especially childhood trauma) there are 3 core emotional needs involved. If these needs are met you are less likely to go on to develop symptoms of trauma. If unmet, there is a greater chance of emotional overload and the resultant nervous system dysregulation.
The 3 core needs are…
- The need for boundaries: was this modelled to you in a healthy way by your parents so that you knew what was right, wrong, acceptable, unacceptable etc? Were you yourself allowed to say ‘no’? Were you given personal space that was respected?
- The need for safety and security: did you grow up in a safe, non-threatening environment? Did you have a place you could always go where you knew you were safe, such as your own room?
- The need for love, attention and affection: did you receive emotional support, especially during difficult times? Were you nurtured, cuddled and held? Did you feel truly loved as a child?
If these 3 core emotional needs were unmet early in life, a blueprint gets laid down in the subconscious mind. Then, later in life, when difficult and/or traumatic incidents occur, we respond from that blueprint, seeing the incident through the eyes of a wounded child.
Indeed, we can confidently say that most trauma responses in adulthood have their roots in unresolved childhood events that continue to echo into the present.
The 4 trauma responses – fight, flight, freeze, and fawn
So, whether you experienced trauma in childhood or later, in adulthood (and if your core needs were unmet) there’s a good chance that your nervous system was de-stabilised.
The 4 typical responses to trauma are…
- Fight: the first of the well-known fight/flight responses, where the survival brain fills you with adrenaline to fight back in anger (many people suffering from PTSD have a low anger threshold. It is as if they are always ready for combat)
- Flight: again, high levels of adrenaline make you want to run away, escape or avoid situations
- Freeze: this is where we ‘play dead’, unable to act at all. This often leads to mentally dissociating from what’s happening
- Fawn: we develop roles, such as the ‘People Pleaser’ and become subservient, just to keep the peace or other people happy, giving in to their demands or wishes
Again, in time, these ‘survival responses’ become automatic. Something triggers you and the response gets wheeled out without any conscious thought. It just happens.
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The waking REM state
All of these survival brain responses are types of trance states – states of locked attention. And ‘locked attention’ is one of the definitions of hypnosis…
And what happens in this ‘locked’ state is that we begin to enter REM (Rapid Eye Movement), the same state in which our dreams occur at night. (2)
We now know that we enter the REM state when daydreaming and when highly emotionally aroused (and especially when the survival brain kicks in). Thus, a traumatic situation can put us into the REM state during which the brain desperately tries to make sense of what’s happening.
Whilst in a waking REM state, the brain registers images, sounds, words, smells etc. in the environment and stores these details for future reference. This serves as a template, just in case something similar happens again. This is why we can be triggered by something that is similar to a past event.
Thus, it is in how we make sense of what’s happening (and if our emotional needs are met/unmet) that determines whether traumatic events become embedded in the brain – or not.
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PTSD and army veterans
If you’re suffering from PTSD it doesn’t take much to trigger an embedded memory pattern and the powerful emotions that go with it.
An example of this is perfectly demonstrated by a client I once treated. He’d returned from fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan but was now suffering from PTSD. A mis-firing car exhaust would have him diving into shop doorways for protection!
This also explains the phenomenon of flashbacks and intrusive memories. Because the brain hasn’t fully processed the memories, we remain on high alert waiting for danger. A scene on TV or a picture on the internet can trigger the alarm reaction, re-evoking the power of those emotions once again.
It’s the same for people who suffer from phobias.
Other ex-service men and women with PTSD struggle with fireworks and choose to stay indoors, unable to cope with the sounds of the explosions which puts them straight back into the war zone.
These are all examples of faulty pattern-matching, where the brain makes a mistake, assuming something happening now is like something that happened in the past.
Memories stuck in the amygdala
If you’ve developed PTSD or other possible trauma-related symptoms like depression, anger, addiction) the traumatic incident has become embedded in your amygdala – part of the ‘survival’ brain – and is unable to go anywhere else (until you get the right treatment).
Those who do not become traumatised have been able to process the incident(s) themselves, perhaps by having their emotional needs met and having a more regulated nervous system in general.
What this means on a neurological level is that the memory isn’t stuck in the amygdala but instead has made a connection to the higher cortex where it can be given context and narrative.
Put simply, when you can process the memory using the language and reasoning areas of the brain, you’re no longer processing it solely on an emotional level. In effect, you’re able to view it from a larger perspective and your brain fully understands the incident is over; it belongs in the past.
Changing emotional memories
Once emotional memories are shifted out of the ‘survival’ brain and given a narrative they will be stored alongside other ‘normal’ memories.
Doing so puts the memories into context; the brain understands that the memory really belongs in the past and that you no longer need such a powerful emotional reaction anymore.
In other words, once you can access the higher cortex and give language to the incident you are processing the events in a different, more holistic way, free from the old blueprints that got laid down (possibly years ago).
This is one of the reasons hypnotherapy for trauma works so well…
By using hypnotic techniques, we work directly with the survival brain – the part that controls the often intense emotional reactions.
But a word of caution here…
The danger of Critical Incident De-Briefing
When I say ‘give language to the incident’ I’m not talking about Critical Incident De-Briefing (CIDB) – a technique used until quite recently in the treatment of trauma. (3)
This approach was based on the same idea I’ve just mentioned – adding a narrative to the memory – but it was carried out far too soon after an incident. The victim hadn’t been given time to process it themselves.
In Critical Incident De-Briefing, victims of traumatic incidents were asked to retell the memory of the event (in vivid detail, often more than once) which only served to embed the trauma deeper into the amygdala.
Knowing that 75% of people recover naturally from trauma given sufficient time, all CIDB did was reinforce the emotional impact of the incident in the brains of newly traumatised people.
Research shows that if we’re given time, say a few weeks, the brain will process traumatic events naturally. We don’t all go on to develop PTSD. (4)
The importance of calmness in the treatment of trauma
The other problem with Critical Incident De-Briefing is that it lacks a vital component when it comes to recovery from trauma; calmness.
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As we know, when you ask a traumatised person (who has not processed the memory) to tell their story it stirs up the emotions again and embeds the memory even deeper. The nervous system becomes even more dysregulated. Unfortunately, there are many therapists who still use this approach.
If you’re traumatised, the last thing you should be asked to do is give a detailed description of the event(s).
Although you can feel some relief by ‘opening up’ and sharing your story with a counsellor, this is best done after the memories have been processed properly.
And there is a tried and tested way to do that…
Hypnotherapy for trauma: How I treat PTSD
So, knowing that PTSD is created in a highly emotional trance state, it makes sense to use the same state to get you out of it.
This is what hypnotherapy is about: the therapeutic use of hypnosis and the REM state.
Talking therapies like counselling and psychotherapy (using only the conscious mind) scratch the surface. They can leave you feeling even worse after the session by ‘opening the wound’ without actually taking the necessary steps to heal it.
It is usually not enough just to talk about things with a counsellor in order to resolve trauma and PTSD. You have to actually do something with the memories.
I’ve lost count of the number of clients who have told me of their previous therapist’s asking them to go over and over – in graphic detail – the stories of their woes. To my mind this is abusive therapy.
So, what is the best treatment for PTSD and other trauma-related memories?
The Rewind technique
If you work with me to help you resolve PTSD, negative memories, flashbacks, phobias, memories of panic attacks, abuse memories, birth trauma memories – indeed, any memory that is still affecting you – I won’t necessarily have to ask you details about it. It’s rather like a mental version of key-hole surgery…
RELATED CONTENT: Inner Child Healing – how to heal the wounds from your childhood
Indeed, I don’t even need to know anything about what went on back then because there’s a specialised hypnotic technique that can take the emotion out of the memory. Instead of asking you details about the incident(s), we can do a type of ‘secret’ therapy. All we need is a ‘code’ word for the memory (and you don’t even need to tell me that, either).
The ‘Rewind’ technique is a non-voyeuristic method to help your brain process negative memories without the therapist having to know any details. (5)
So, we can have memory A, B, and C, and do the Rewind technique on each memory, de-traumatising the brain in the process. Talking about the memories and sharing your story is best done (and much easier to do) when we’ve first deconditioned the memories.
RELATED CONTENT: Are you a therapist? Learn the Rewind technique used by thousands of therapists
Re-coding traumatic memories
In a deeply relaxed state (where your nervous system is regulated) you access a part of your brain that is different from the part that holds the traumatic memory. Put simply, you begin to process the memory – in a relaxed state – by using other parts of the brain.
And once you can hold that memory ‘over there’ (in a sort of relaxed, dissociated way whilst remaining calm) your brain learns that, “The fight/flight/freeze/fawn response is no longer necessary here…that event happened in the past…it is not happening now.”
In other words, the Rewind technique not only takes the emotion out of the memories but it puts them in context. On a deep level, your brain realises those incidents are history.
It is only when the brain ‘releases’ the memory from the amygdala, up into the hippocampus (the memory storeroom), that you can tell the story without high emotionality. And when you can do that, you are no longer traumatised.
The ghosts of the past are finally laid to rest and you’re free to start getting back on with your life. At last.
Getting help for trauma: next steps
I hope you’ve found this page helpful and that it’s given you some hope that things can change.
If you – or anyone you know – needs help with with trauma and PTSD please get in touch. You don’t have to suffer in silence.
Remember, you can book a Free Discovery Session if you have any questions about the use of hypnotherapy for trauma – without you having to disclose specific details of traumatic memories.
Notes and references
(1) Most people (75%) recover naturally from traumatic incidents. The other 25% go on to develop PTSD symptoms. Read more about successful trauma treatment from one of my trainers at Uncommon Knowledge
(2) Joe Griffin and Ivan Tyrrell’s definition of hypnosis, cited in the book The Human Givens – a new approach to emotional health and clear thinking is that ‘hypnosis is anything that artificially induces the REM state’.
(3) For more info on the damaging effects of Critical Incident De-Briefing https://www.mentalhelp.net/blogs/the-immediate-aftermath-of-trauma-and-the-dangers-of-psychological-debriefing/
(4) Just because someone has gone through what appears to be a traumatic event doesn’t mean they need counselling! Given a few weeks, trauma can be resolved naturally and doesn’t become PTSD. Find out more at https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mental-health/problems-disorders/coping-after-a-traumatic-event#:~:text=Many%20people%20find%20that%20the,to%20share%2
(5) Find out more about online training for the Rewind technique to treat trauma