Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: A Case Study Part 2

April 24, 2009 By

This is Emily Bernard’s second post about the NLP personal breakthrough session we did to address the PTSD she was experiencing after having been stabbed 14 years ago. If you’re just joining the story you can get the Introduction and Part 1 here:

Emily Bernard writes:

“Mark and I began our first session with an interview. He asked me a series of questions about the problems—anxiety, fear, dread—I have experienced since I was stabbed in 1994.

His questions made me think.

They weren’t the usual “What happened? And then what happened?” kinds of queries. Mark’s questions put me in the center, if that makes sense.

Immediately, he was guiding me to reframe the event—and the enduring negative feelings created by my memory—so that I could see myself as having a role—not in what happened (the past is the past, of course), but in my subsequent reactions to it.

I once read somewhere that humans use only a small fraction of their enormous brain power throughout their lifetimes. It wasn’t that I felt my brain expanding as Mark and I talked, but his questions led me to a new doorway in my mind. Suddenly, the literature he sent me about the powers of the unconscious mind began to make sense. We have more control over what goes on inside of our heads than we often believe we do.

After more than an hour of this intensive interview, Mark and I broke for lunch. Again, I was impressed by his gentle spirit, his warmth and sparkle. He was as eager to get back to work as I was. So, after this short break, we began again.

The second part of our session involved reconstructing a timeline. Mark guided me back in time as I explored the roots of negative emotions and limiting decisions. We went further back than I was honestly comfortable with—at first. For me, I think the strength of this work is how much it pushed me to do and think things that I wasn’t comfortable with. It pushed me out of my comfort zone, and all those habitual ways of understanding and narrating myself and my relationship to the world.

Mark and I went into the recesses of my memory, and I found myself able to recount experiences that I had thought I had buried. I was able to speak about things that I had talked only to a few other people about.

Mark was not judgmental; his demeanor was calm and relaxed the entire time. Because I felt safe, I went further and further back. And before I knew it, I was ready to be hypnotized.”

- Emily Bernard

In part 3 I’ll share what those questions were that I asked Emily as well as key ways what I do is different from traditional therapy.

In part 4 Emily will share her experience of being hypnotized…

In the meantime if you’d like to:

Defeat the Dark Side and Master Your Mind For A Change.
Discover How You Can Learn NLP in 17 Minutes A Day For Less Than A Latte

Filed Under: agoraphobia, anxiety, clear the fear, hypnosis, nlp, panic attack, trauma Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Panic Attacks

March 9, 2009 By

My Dad forwarded an e-mail to me today with an article from the Health Sciences Institute News letter. It was a story about a panic attack sufferer who got a major amount of relief by taking a supplement called Inositol (a natural substance found in the human body). Interestingly, she also used a specific mind control technique to take command of her thoughts.

“I came to realize the panic attacks were not uncontrollable once I understood how they started and grew. I was basically creating my own panic by bouncing back and forth between past guilts and fears, to future non-existent terrors. Back and forth, again and again.

“Now I anchor myself in the present. I force myself to think about what I’m saying, force myself to stop recalling past ‘nasties’ and force myself to stop imagining them as even nastier future outcomes. I stay right here, right now, in the present. It takes determination and effort, but it works.”

Read the Full Health Sciences Institute News Letter Article

In my experience the more tools you have at your disposal the greater your chances of drug free relief. If a small dose of a supplement can help I’m not against it. I am against the pattern in our culture of treating the symptom but doing nothing for the cause.

The work I do with clients one on one and in my “Crush Anxiety” calls is all about clearing the root cause and having a full arsenal of easy to use tools to master your mind for a change. Using the NLP and Time Line Therapy™ processes I teach as well as Self Hypnosis and EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) it is often possible to eliminate phobias, anxiety and panic attacks in a very short period of time. Everything I do is designed to put the client in a place of power where you are in charge of your own mind. Another point I want to make is that by working with your unconscious mind instead of fighting it, you don’t have to necessarily use “force” to control your mind.

A recent example of this is the client I worked with on Friday. Emily had been physically attacked in a public place some 14 years ago and up until Friday, whenever she went anywhere she fully expected to be attacked and hurt. Here’s the voice mail message she left me a day later:

“I feel great! I walked to the bank today and had no feeling of fear about getting shot. And I owe this to you. The old pattern is just a distant memory. I’m feeling really excellent and really happy.”

Notice she did not say, that as she walked to the bank she forced herself to think positive thoughts. The changes we make sometimes require conscious awareness but almost never “force”. The beauty of NLP and hypnosis is that once the changes are made on the unconscious level things just become different.

BTW Emily and I had a great time doing her foundation breakthrough session from 10 am-4 pm. The way i work is relaxed and safe. She has agreed to write about her experiences working with me so watch for a several part article by her in the near future.

If you or someone you know needs help with panic attacks, anxiety, phobias, self sabotage, procrastination, PTSD etc. I can be contacted at: mark[at]markshepard.com or 203-495-8808.

I’m also doing two “Crush Anxiety” teleseminars this week Wednesday at Noon and Thursday Evening at 7:00 pm US Eastern Time

The cost is $97 and comes with my “Crush Anxiety” e-book and audio series. There are also a few scholarships available so please contact me by phone or e-mail if cost is an issue for you.

  • Register for this month’s CRUSH Anxiety Call
    Wednesday, March 11 at Noon Eastern Time

    or

    Thursday Night, March 12 at 7:00 pm Eastern Time

    For a one time fee of only $97 you get to work with me over the phone in a small group as well as get my Crush Anxiety E-book and complete audio set as my gift ($197 value). If you’ve been on one of these calls before you are welcome to come back any time or as many times as you want for free. Lines are limited so register now.

    Courage!

    Mark

    p.s. If you or someone you love is suffering from phobia, anxiety, or panic attacks please stop waiting to contact me. In light of our economic crisis I am willing to consider payment plans, barter or any other creative way to value the help I offer and create a fair exchange that is a win/win for both of us.

    E-mail: mark[at]markshepard.com

    Telephone: 203-495-8808

    • Filed Under: agoraphobia, anxiety, clear the fear, nlp, panic attack, performance anxiety, time line therapy, trauma Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

    Anxiety Culture

    January 19, 2009 By

    www.AnxietyCulture.com - a great site!I found a great site today that I think you might want to check out. It’s called Anxiety Culture www.AnxityCulture.com in particular there was a great article on “How To Stop Worrying” that offers some very helpful techniques along with quite a bit of welcome humor.

    Because I know you have so much to worry about right now and probably won’t click through to read the article I’ll do my best to summarize it for you.

    According to the author, there are 2 obstacles to getting over worry.

    1. Happiness has to be earned and therefore we don’t “deserve” to be happy:
      “Centuries-old cultural conditioning has given us a nasty neurosis: the belief that happiness must be “earned”. It can be “earned” only by enduring unpleasantness (eg work, pain, misery). But how do you know if you’ve endured enough unpleasantness to deserve happiness? Another unspoken game rule: “responsible adults” can never endure enough unpleasantness to truly deserve happiness.”
    2. The idea that worrying serves a purpose.
      “You won’t stop worrying if you think it serves you. So it’s a good idea to distinguish the fight-or-flight response (a healthy bodily reaction to immediate danger) from worry (a psychological problem). By making this distinction, you’re less likely to overrate the value of worrying.”

    In my own experience with anxiety (really just a more intense form of worry) as well as working with hundreds of anxiety sufferers over the years is that one of the key beliefs is that “if you care about someone then you will worry about them.” This is particularly true of parents and their children. Nobody wants to be thought of as “uncaring”. My mom used to tell me she would lie awake worrying about me imagining me lying in a pool of blood…Essentially that kind of worrying is like a “negative prayer.” So letting go of some of these old beliefs and cultural “programs” is essential in worry and anxiety relief.

    The author of the article then goes on to give two techniques to reduce worry.

    The first one is:

    “The trick is that whenever you feel plagued by a worrying thought, note it down on a “worry sheet” (a piece of paper set aside for the purpose) – you can then forget about it, knowing that you plan to worry later.”

    I have not personally tried this technique but I’d love to hear from any of you out there in cyber space you might want to give this a try.

    The second one is based on the understanding that  your mind can’t process a negative (something I’ve said about a gazillion times before). Even though you consciously don’t think you want it, telling yourself to not thinking about crashing the car causes your unconscious mind to think about crashing the car. So the Anxiety Culture author uses the analogy of drinvg a car with one foot on the brake and one foot on the accelerator…and your feet are tied together. So in order to stop one you have to stop both but your mind refuses…so the author suggests the solution is

    “You somehow have to persuade (or con) your brain into thinking it’s safe to lift both feet from the worry pedals.”

    No solution is given on how to do that…which is fine because that’s where I come in. In my r experience, the way to persuade your mind to lift both feet off the pedals is available through the combined modern jedi mind mastery tools of NLP, Time Line, EFT and Hypnosis.

    Of course if you’re like most anxiety sufferers you worry that NLP, Time Line Therapy, EFT and Hypnosis are effective for other people, you worry that you won’t be able to afford it...or you’ll worry that you’ll pay a lot of money but not get the relief promised...do you see how worrying just messes with your mind?

    If you sincerely can’t stand being controlled by the worry, anxiety, panic monkey on your back any longer and are willing to let go of some of the old notions that “worry” is noble or good or whatever. Then drop me an e-mail at mark [at] MarkShepard.com or call my office at 203-495-8808 (9-5 Eastern US Time)

    In the meantime if you’re curious how the media feeds your worry every day check out www.AnxityCulture.com

    or Read the full article “How To Stop Worrying”

    As always, please leave a comment below and share this post with “Stumbleupon”, “Digg”, Facebook etc.

    Yours truly,

    Mark Shepard, NLPT

    Filed Under: nlp Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

    Anxiety Treatment Questions

    November 12, 2008 By

    Natural Anxiety Treatment

    I got a comment today on my “How To Stop Anxiety in 10 minutes” video series. The questions were so well put and a perfect example of the questions I often get on this natural anxiety treatment nlp technique that I thought it would be helpful to share with you.

    Mark, I think this is a very interesting NLP Jedi Mind Trick and I’ve been facing some difficulties but I truly want to master it.
    1. What happens if the fear that it won’t have a positive outcome comes back to you?
    2. Also, when you go 15 minutes into the future should you float above that event or imagine literally you being 15 minutes into the future?
    3. Also, should you imagine the stressful event as not stressful when you float above it?

    – badskroy71

    Thanks for your questions!

    1. What happens if the fear that it won’t have a positive outcome comes back to you? Fear that using the technique won’t have a positive outcome is exactly what you do that creates anxiety in the first place. It’s a catch 22 and a negative double bind. First do the technique on the technique itself! go out 15 minutes after the successful experience of using the technique and look back seeing it work.
    2. Also, when you go 15 minutes into the future should you float above that event or imagine literally you being 15 minutes into the future?When you are out in the future up above the event you want to be 15 minutes farther out looking down and back rather then right above the event.
    3. Also, should you imagine the stressful event as not stressful when you float above it? And yes, instead of imagining the stressful event as stressfull which your body experiences as real, use your powerful imagination to create a positive, desired outcome.

    The whole point of this exercise is that we are creating anxiety with our “worst case scenario thoughts” but because of the position above and beyond the event on the time line this tool is 100 X more effective than positive thinking.

    Your body will feel the difference.

    Sometimes I have to go waaaaaay out and look waaaaaay back. Play with that and leave a comment below to let me know how it worked for you.

    Thanks again for your questions and have an awesome day!

    Yours,

    Mark Shepard, NLPT – Master Practitioner & Trainer of NLP, Hypnosis, Timeline Therapy® & EFT

    See the Anxiety Treatment Videos

    Filed Under: agoraphobia, anxiety, clear the fear, nlp, panic attack, performance anxiety Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

    How To Stop Anxiety Without Harmful Drugs or Endless Therapy

    October 30, 2008 By

    Sometimes this takes a little while to load so please be patient. Hang in there and watch all 9 short videos. They should play one right after the other. Oh, and remember to breathe! – Mark

    How’s it working for you? have any quesitons? You get extra credit for leaving a comment or question below. Bonus points for e-mailing this to a friend or bookmarking it with Stumbleupon or Digg etc.

    Filed Under: agoraphobia, anxiety, clear the fear, panic attack, performance anxiety, time line therapy, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

    NLP Solution For Anxious Voters

    October 20, 2008 By

    Stop worrying! the past does not equal the futureAs I went to check my e-mail on Yahoo.com today I noticed this headline. “Voters say anxiety increasing” Since helping people overcome anxiety with NLP, hypnosis, Time Line Therapy and EFT is a major part of my one on one practice, it got my attention.

    Now normally I advise my clients to stop watching or listening to the news because it bombards your unconscious mind with a constant stream of negative, anxiety provoking, panic attack inducing input.

    Anxiety is created by vividly imagining (consciously or unconsciously) the worst possible scenario. Your unconscious mind does not know the difference between what is real and what is imagined so it creates all the same fight or flight chemicals in your body as if it was real. That’s the mind body connection.

    Those of us who suffer from anxiety are especially vulnerable to the negative news because we have powerful and vivid imaginations. So  if you take into account the huge amount of bad news to come out of the financial markets in the last few weeks before the upcoming presidential election, it adds up to a massive voter anxiety attack.

    So, even though I follow my own advice and avoid actively watching or listening to the news,  the fear is all around us: The economy is in trouble. What’s going to happen? Is it the end of the world as we know it? Will there be mass hysteria? What is the collective power of millions of anxious minds focusing on the worst possible scenario or negative outcome?

    There is so much fear surrounding all of us right now that you can not help but be aware of it.

    All that being said, what can you do right now to lower your own anxiety or to help the people you love who may be suffering from anxiety?

    Here are a couple of links to some NLP techniques you can access for free that might be of help:

    How To Stop Anxiety In 10 Minutes or Less Without Drugs or Endless Therapy

    How To Change Limiting Beliefs With NLP

    My suggestion for today is to visit the links above, watch the videos and actually put the NLP techniques into practice. Right away. Once you lower your anxiety you can then install a new belief or “program” that there is more than enough, that you are okay, that you can even thrive and prosper in these exciting times.

    Please comment below and let me know if this was helpful for you.

    - Mark Shepard, NLP Master Practitioner and Trainer

    Filed Under: anxiety, clear the fear, mass hysteria, nlp, nlp in business Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

    Anxiety In Armenia…

    April 29, 2008 By

    Hey Folks,

    Just so you know that we are not alone here in the USA where millions suffer from anxiety and panic attacks, read this letter I got from Inga in Armenia.

    —– Original Message —-
    From: Inga M.
    To: mark@markshepard.com
    Sent: Sunday, April 27, 2008 1:56:04 PM
    Subject: A comment I want to share.

    Dearest Mark,
    God knows I was looking for someone to finally HELP me with my fear and anxiety! And I finally found you!!!!!!!! Please read until the end!!! My problem appears to be the same as you had experienced in the past. I have a singing anxiety and a VERY STRONG ONE!! The thing is, I have been singing in a choir for more than 10 years and there is nothing I enjoy more in my life!!

    You might think I have anxiety during our concert performances. Nothing of the kind! I’m fine there, maybe only a little nervous at the start and just before going to the stage, but then I regain my normal breath and simply enjoy singing. (though it wasn’t always like that, but I really can’t analyze and tell you what helped me to cope with this one I used to have)

    Now my current problem is more trivial than you can think…. It’s the daily routine rehearsals that we have 4 days a week. Whenever the conductor works on a certain piece that our sopranos do not sing very well, e.g. there’s a tone problem, or something is wrong with the color, or the phrase is not smooth enough, (I’m sure you know what I am talking about)

    So, just when she is not satisfied with our singing she starts asking to sing the same “tricky” phrase ONE BY ONE to spot the guilty one! I am supposed to be one of the leading voices and when we sing all together, like a choir, I’m singing with all my strength and emotions.

    BUT when she starts asking me to sing solo……..that’s where my heart starts beating 200 per minute, I sweat, get red in the face, gasp, there’s a terrible spasm in my throat and I simply can’t make a sound! Then she just insists on me singing and I finally make some croaking sound and she gets frustrated and asks me to do it again and again and everybody is listening very attentively in silence….

    This is simply horrible! I know you told me I must not TALK about my experience, cause this makes things even worse. And you are 100% right!!

    I was so excited as I was going through your videos!

    click here to see How to “Stop Anxiety In 10 Minutes or Less”

    And when you actually reached the point where you were giving the secret I gasped with hope….. Now, I’m finally going to know the secret that will put an end to all my miserable feelings!!! Dearest Mark! I don’t know why, but it just didn’t work with me! NOT AT ALL!!!

    You are asking at the beginning if I have that sour feeling in my mouth and more saliva as I am imagining cutting a juicy lemon, YES! I clearly had more saliva and the sour taste in my mouth! That part was incredible! I got your point very clearly!

    But as you went on explaining how I should go 15 minutes into the future and then look back at me having sung successfully….. I don’t know maybe my fear is SO strong that it blocks my imagination whatsoever! I can’t imagine myself singing well when I am sitting there and the conductor goes: Inga please, now it’s your turn to sing!

    Oh, Mark, I do wish with all my heart that I could do as you are telling me, but I’m trying and nothing happens, Just blank mind….

    I can FEEL that what you are saying simply changes many people’s lives! BUT not mine! Why??? I’m so desperate! Please help me with more advice!!!!

    Very sincerely your patient
    Inga M.

    Here’s my reply:

    Dear Inga,

    You’re right, I can totally relate to your solo singing experience. Remind me to tell the story of how I “tried” to play French horn once in church and got so nervous nothing would come out except very embarrassing “fart” noises… :o )

    The anxiety technique is, as I pointed out in the video series, “the cherry on top.” It’s a technique we usually use at the end of a full day of clearing techniques where we:

    1. apply a whole series of linguistically designed questions to loosen the problem
    2. further loosen the problem by eliciting and interrupting the underlying strategy, the “how do you do it” process.
    3. clear negative emotions using time line therapy
    4. clear the root cause event or limiting decision or limiting belief system underneath the problem.
    5. do the fast phobia model
    6. do swish patterns and anchoring
    7. do EFT
    8. do the anxiety technique
    9. do hypnosis

    Unfortunately sometimes the negative “knee-jerk” response is so intense that you need to work 1 on 1 but it’s usually worth it because we often end up clearing the root cause of this challenge which no doubt has shown up in other areas of your life even though in the other areas it doesn’t trigger quite as intense a reaction.

    One thing you can do immediately is speak to your director in private and explain the problem. You have a right to not be put on the spot and be made miserable. Your director’s intention is obviously to make the performance stronger and better. Not worse.

    If she wants your voice in her choir she has to be willing to be a flexible communicator and learn how to work with you as well.

    A couple of Modern Jedi NLP beliefs:
    a. The meaning of our communication is the results or response we get.
    b. There is no failure only feedback.

    The feedback for your director is that this particular technique of putting you on the spot is not creating the result she wants. The feedback for you is that something needs attention.

    To keep her from getting defensive use the feedback sandwich which I discussed in last week’s blog post at
    basically,

    1. Postive statement: “I love being in this singing group. I love to sing and I love contributing. I truly value your leadership and your desire to encourage us to sing our best.”

    2. Constructive comment: “AND when you single me out It triggers some really deep fear and panic that I’m working on but I’m not yet able to control. It totally freaks me out and I can tell it frustrates you and embarrasses everybody. Is it possible to rehearse in some other way so that for the time being, while I’m working on clearing this, I can avoid being put on the spot?”

    3. General positive statement: “Again, I really enjoy singing with this group under your
    direction. And I so appreciate your sensitivity to this. It means a lot etc.”

    something like that.

    Another thing you can try immediately is to go out a lot further into the future and look back at having resolved this issue. Also make sure you are up above your time line looking down as an observer. Whether you are looking through or own eyes or seeing yourself through the eyes of an observer is crucial.

    It often helps to shrink the other person (or people) involved in the situation down and make yourself huge like the jolly green giant. Be sure to pull the imaginary camera back so you see yourself as an observer towering over the director and the other choir members. See and hear and feel yourself singing so powerfully and joyously that the mountains tremble! I wouldn’t suggest that you see the other choir members trembling as well and being totally intimidated and admiring of you but if it helps go for it.

    If you are serious about clearing this problem and turning the “solo” moment into something you look forward to because it’s your chance to show off and earn the admiration and respect of your fellow singers, let me know and we can set up an appointment to work 1 on 1.

    ( Note: I had no Idea she was writing from halfway around the world)
    - Mark

    p.s. may I have permission to share your story so that other’s can learn and benefit from your experience?

    Inga’s reply

    Dear Mark,
    THANK YOU SO MUCH for answering my letter,you are really helping me a lot already!!!! I truly appreciate it! Now I see why it didn’t work for me the fist time . Because I was not prepared! You are doing lots and lots of things during the sessions that I believe are truly effective!

    I do wish I could come and join your group or even take your wonderful one on one course of therapy! That would be great, ànd thank you very much indeed for offering me help! But the thing is, I’m living far away, in Armenia, Yerevan and this makes the whole thing impossible!

    But what I really intend to do is I am going to follow all your “cool stuff” and read all the newsletters that you give on the site and listen to your great songs and practice what I learned from you and remain your very very grateful patient!

    P.S. And of course you can share my story with others! I don’t mind at all!
    THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART!
    Inga.

    What is most important from Inga’s experience is that

    1. Often the experience of anxiety or panic or phobia is extremely specific. It may happen in only certain conditions and not others. In this case, Inga can sing fine in a concert but not when singled out to perform solo under the critical eye of the director.
    2. Once the right conditions are met it triggers an intense physiological reaction that is beyond the control of conscious, logical thinking process.
    3. Often just talking about it can recreate the negative experience which is why I don’t recommend talk therapy for this (Nothing against talk therapy just not for phobias or panic attacks because it can actually strengthen the negative reaction).
    4. One really good technique, like the one I walk people through on my clearfear.com site ( click here to see How to “Stop Anxiety In 10 Minutes or Less” ) is often enough to totally change the experience. BUT sometimes we need help outside of ourselves in the form of a coach or therapist or fellow NLP student to enable us to get the distance or leverage needed to clear the deeper underlying causes and triggers.

    In the Modern Jedi NLP training my team and I have all been through our own versions of hell and have each used NLP to clear our stuff. There have been times when I called each of my students and had them help ME clear stuff I was having trouble clearing on my own. They’ve helped each other as well.

    That is why I’m so damned passionate about creating a community of practitioners here in Connecticut as well as across the USA and around the world.

    Please forgive me if I quote my own lyrics:

    Can’t do it by myself
    So I’m asking for your help
    Together we can change the world
    Together we can change the world…

    Thanks Inga for being willing to share your story and your challenges so freely.

    -Mark

    p.s. I’m intently at work on creating several multi media NLP lessons that I can hopefully put up on the web in the next few weeks that will give you more tools you can use whether you take the Modern Jedi NLP training in July or not. I’ll set them up so you can do them on your own or with a friend.

    p.p.s Please join the conversation and leave your thoughts and comments below!

     

    Filed Under: anxiety, feedback sandwich, Modern Jedi Launch, panic attack, performance anxiety, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , ,