Category Archives: General

Phobia of crossing bridges: Hypnotherapeutic approach

Posted on by
Reply

The German Hypnotherapist Stefan Hammel walks a high bridge with a phobic patient in order to support her to overcome her fear of heights (systematic desensitation in hypnotherapy). About three weeks before this in vivo session there has been a 60 min preparatory session in the therapy office. After crossing the bridge no further session was needed.


By starting the YouTube video, personal data, such as your IP address, is transmitted to YouTube in the USA. Furthermore, cookies are set by YouTube. By clicking on the Start Video link, you agree to the data transfer and the use of cookies.

On the Effects of Last Rites

Posted on by
Reply
In my work as a chaplain I have been at many dying beds. I find it notable that people don’t want to call the pastor unless their Family member is really dying. Maybe they think that when the pastor’s been there, there’s no way back. You could take that as a superstition. But there’s some evidence that they may be right. I’ve seen people survive when the medical staff said they would die in the next few hours. I’ve seen one person survive for three days after the doctor told the relatives that according to brain death diagnostics the patient is already dead. I have not seen a single person survive after the pastor was there for a last prayer. I remember saying to a colleague: “I’ve always got a bad conscience. I feel as if I’m killing these people with my prayers. They all die within hours after I’ve been there.” He replied: “Oh, you as well?”
I remember being at a dying bed of an old woman. She was in coma, had an oxigene mask but still had trouble breating. There were about eight relatives around her bed, a tight-knit family clan. I spoke with them and I did a little ceremony. When I spoke the Lord’s prayer everyone spoke it with me real loud. It was quite a powerful experience. After I left the room one of the relatives said to me: “Did you see? When you came her heart rate was at 90 but during the Lord’s prayer it was at 140.” The nurse said: “It can take hours or days, we don’t know.” I remember answering: “It’s a strange thing. Mostly people die within hours after these prayers.” She left that uncommented. 15 min later I got a phone call that the lady had died and the relatives wanted to see me once again. The same nurse opened the door. “I had to think of your words”, she said.

Start early

Posted on by
Reply

Another story by my colleague Katharina Lamprecht who will be part of the faculty at the International Festival of Therapeutic Storytelling near Kaiserslautern, Germany in October…

An architect told me recently that he was more and more occupied with designing accessible housing for young families. He thought this precaution and foresight nowadays to be very applaudable.

“Yes, that’s true”, I agreed, “ The sooner we start with getting older, the sooner we can enjoy it.”

Des pieds engourdis

Posted on by
Reply

Un jour d’hiver alors que tu as fait une longue randonnée, il peut arriver que tu ne sentes plus tes pieds. Et au début quand tu arrives au chaud tes pieds sont encore engourdis. Peut-être les poses-tu sur un radiateur – ce qui est bizarre c’est qu’ils commencent juste à faire mal une fois que le froid est passé et non avant dans la glace et la neige. Un fou pourrait dire : je ne décongèle pas mes pieds alors ils ne font pas mal. Pourtant celui qui a de l’expérience sait : La chaleur endolorit les pieds froids seulement un moment. Il faut dépasser cette phase. Une fois la douleur surmontée on passe à un moment de chaleur agréable.

¿Qué es ipnosis?

Posted on by
Reply

El siguiente audio en mp3 dura aproximadamente 17 minutos y usted puede bajarlo sin costo a su computadora. Para escucharlo póngase cómodo y procure que nada le interrumpa, ni el teléfono ni nadie. Al escuchar el audio ponga atención al efecto que ejerce sobre su cuerpo y su mente. En esa breve presentación hipnótica se trata de llamar su atención a los fenómenos naturales del trance. Lo único que se le sugiere en esa demostración de hipnosis es que sea feliz.

Le deseo que disfrute la experiencia!

Autor: Stefan Hammel

Traducción y adaptación al español: Hans Egli

International Festival of Therapeutic Storytelling 2016 in Germany

Posted on by
Reply

On October 14th to 16th, 2016, the International Festival of Therapeutic Storytelling will be held in Kaiserslautern / Otterberg, Germany. The festival is organized by the Institute of Hypno-Systemic Consultation in Kaiserslautern (Stefan Hammel) and the Milton-Erickson-Institute Luxembourg (Marie-Jeanne Bremer). Congress languages will be German, English and French.

The festival is designed for people working in consulting, educational, medical or psychosocial professions. There will be guests from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Switzerland and other countries. We will also have an open stage for participants presenting their own short lectures or stories.

The Early bird rate of 240 € will end in a few days, on October 15th. After that the price will go up 30 € every three months, with the final fee being 360 €. If you would like to participate or if you need further information write to stefan.hammel @ hsb-westpfalz.de or contact the Institute of Hypno-Systemic Consultation via 0049-631-3702093.

As far as scheduled, these will be te main speakers and topics:

Audeguy, Karine (F): How do our life stories get us into trouble? Playing and transforming them…?
Balsamo, Sandra (L): Workshop with therapeutic puppets: room for creativity in the mourning process
Bremer, Marie-Jeanne (L): Medical herbs on ruins – stories and biographies against hate
Casula, Consuelo (I): How to transform anecdotes into significant stories / La vita e bella (Life is beautiful)
Cukier-Jakubowicz, Mireille (L): Reading “Farewell, little cat” and “Almost not hard at all”
Decocq, Anne (B): Once upon a time… a prescription. Literature as a therapeutic resource
Doutrelugne, Yves (B): May the therapist talk about himself?
Eberle, Thomas (D): Singing bowls and therapeutic storytelling
Freund, Ulrich (D): Active factor Grimm: On fairytales and therapy / Anxiety, fear and overcoming Angst
Fürst, Annette (D): Storytelling with children: A new multifocal, cross-medial approach
Guilloux, Christine (F): Narrative therapy, narrative medicine…?
Hammel, Stefan (D): Stories in the therapy of depression and trauma / Live-Demo „Chairs’ Game“
Hatzelmann, Elmar (D): Generating resources of storytelling and discovering stories
Hürzeler, Adrian (CH): Extemporaneous stories – encouraging the narrative potential in a playful way
Lamprecht, Katharina (D): Energy Psychology and therapeutic storytelling
Meyer, Gabrielle (L): Experiencing loss and saying farewell metaphorically and therapeutically
Niedermann, Martin (CH): Therapeutic comics with autistic persons / Therapeutic puppet-play
Spitzbarth, Alexandra (D): Learning to talk with the body – healing dialogues for somatic ailments
Wessel, Sonja (D): Digital Storytelling: Multi-medial presentation of life stories that move the heart
Wilk, Daniel (D): Trance stories opening the inner treasure chamber
Wirl, Charlotte (A): Finding and inventing individual therapeutic stories and metaphors for trance.

Could I wet your appetite? I would love to hear or read from you!

On the excorcism of depression…

Posted on by
Reply

A Rwandan was talking to a western writer, Andrew Solomon, about his experience with western mental health and depression. He said:

“We had a lot of trouble with western mental health workers who came here immediately after the genocide and we had to ask some of them to leave.

They came and their practice did not involve being outside in the sun where you begin to feel better. There was no music or drumming to get your blood flowing again. There was no sense that everyone had taken the day off so that the entire community could come together to try to lift you up and bring you back to joy. There was no acknowledgement of the depression as something invasive and external that could actually be cast out again.

Instead they would take people one at a time into these dingy little rooms and have them sit around for an hour or so and talk about bad things that had happened to them. We had to ask them to leave.”

From The Moth podcast, ‘Notes on an Exorcism’.

Putin’s Tears

Posted on by
Reply

By starting the YouTube video, personal data, such as your IP address, is transmitted to YouTube in the USA. Furthermore, cookies are set by YouTube. By clicking on the Start Video link, you agree to the data transfer and the use of cookies.

When I saw Putin’s tears I felt reminded of a time 30 years ago, and of this song. Some of you will remember in which situation this song was sung. 30 years later.

By starting the YouTube video, personal data, such as your IP address, is transmitted to YouTube in the USA. Furthermore, cookies are set by YouTube. By clicking on the Start Video link, you agree to the data transfer and the use of cookies.

In Europe and America, there’s a growing feeling of hysteria
Conditioned to respond to all the threats
In the rhetorical speeches of the Soviets
Mr. Krushchev said we will bury you
I don’t subscribe to this point of view
It would be such an ignorant thing to do
If the Russians love their children too

How can I save my little boy from Oppenheimer’s deadly toy
There is no monopoly in common sense
On either side of the political fence
We share the same biology
Regardless of ideology
Believe me when I say to you
I hope the Russians love their children too

There is no historical precedent
To put the words in the mouth of the President
There’s no such thing as a winnable war
It’s a lie we don’t believe anymore
Mr. Reagan says we will protect you
I don’t subscribe to this point of view
Believe me when I say to you
I hope the Russians love their children too

We share the same biology
Regardless of ideology
What might save us, me, and you
Is if the Russians love their children too

Sting, “Russians”

Everything Else

Posted on by
Reply

In a land in our time there lived a man, who read a book and found lots of wonderful stories therein. There were true and invented stories, experienced and pensive, enjoyable and painful stories. There were stories which contained stories, and such which were actually not stories. For every story he read, there occurred to him nearly five which he had either experienced or thought up himself. So the thought came to him, that a lot in the world was a story which could be healing for himself and others; he only needed to absorb the healing stories well and to forget the terrible ones immediately. Then he would learn which story he had used when and for what. So he organised his own stories which he knew, and which had become a help to himself and others, or could become so. Sometimes he noted it down when a new story came to his ears and sometimes when a helpful story occurred to him, he memorised it.

Then he saw before him in a picture the storystories of this life arranged in long shelves, as in a large pharmacy. And behind the counter there sat a man who had learnt to listen to himself and others. He was a master of his subjectspecialty. His talent was that he understood how to tell the right thing at the right time to himself and to those who visited him.

Two Paths

Posted on by
Reply

It had come on suddenly. The right halfside of her body felt numb, as if it were anaesthetised. Anna went to the doctor. He frowned and did not say anything for a long time. “Looks like MS” was his conclusion after he had finished his examination. At the hospital she was given cortisone. Some weeks later she developed dizziness. Some months after that, the left side of her body also became numb, just as the right side had done before. Some months after that, her eyesight became blurry. The doctor saw his diagnosis confirmed. As if in a dream she received her disabled person’s pass. “50 %” was written on it – “for now”, she thought. “The power of thoughts” was the title of a presentation she heard during this time, as she mentioned later. Its topic was not about health in particular but about how we can visualise our future dreams so vividly and real, as if they were already true. She was asked to feel in a highly intensive way how it would be to have reached this wonderful state. She saw herself sitting in a green field, light-hearted and happy. She moved freely and felt light. Inside herself she felt a tremendous energy. So overwhelmed was she by the experience that she cried and cried – and yet this experience felt liberating. Each day, fFrom then on, she imagined each day how she would look, what she would do, and how she would feel as a healthy person She concentrated all her attention on this happy future. She let go of everything that did not seem to fit this image. She learned to notice much more quickly what nourished her soul and what was taking energy away from her. She focused all her life on that which strengthened her. After some time she was able to discontinue her medication. This was nine years ago. Her symptoms disappeared and have not come back.

Thomas lives in Switzerland. “Diagnosis: MS” was what his physicians wrote on his report. He has tried mental training and self-hypnosis. He has visualised how it would be to be healthy and has tried to feel it as well as he could. He has suffered more and more attacks. He says there is only one path on which he can go, and this is his path. He is learning to strengthen his inner self for whatever will come. He is learning to cope with an everyday life, which is harder than that of anyone he knows. He is learning to live in an upright state even though he is lying down. He is learning to live with dignity and self-respect even though others pity him. He is learning to feel strong even though his body is weak. He is learning to live from an energy source that many healthy people do not know.