Wouldn’t it be marvellous if we as Solution Focused Hypnotherapists had access to a MRI scanner to be able to measure the changes made in the brain?
Well a couple of years ago, I had the privilege in working with a woman, who had been paralysed by such a serious stroke, it had left her unable to walk, and the reason I was called in – she was unable to swallow. This may have been due to the anxiety she was experiencing, but equally the scans of her brain showed this region had been damaged too. Working with damaged brains is not straight forward, but having read and heard talks by Vilayanur Ramachandran I was optimistic that some form of visualisation would have some effect, after all, if rehearsing basket
ball or golf in your mind can keep your hand in a sport, why not something like swallowing?
I focused on getting my client to visualise swallowing, feeling nice and relaxed
and allowing the liquid and more importantly – her medication – to be swallowed
easily. When I went to her house to carry out session 3, she was beside herself.
The good news was she was swallowing, she could now go into hospital for a
very important operation, but the icing on the cake for me as a therapist were
the scans she had that week. That part of her brain had physically changed. Her
doctors knew something major had happened.
AT the present time I have been working with a client who experienced brain damage after an attack. When I first met him he was stuck in the city, too afraid to leave it. He stayed in after dark as he was terrified of going out. 2 years in, and he’s travelling out of the city by bus, he’s horse riding, he’s out in the evening making new friends participating in activities that he’s interested in. He still feels he has got some distance to go, but his recovery has been noted by friends, family and other residents of the sheltered accommodation he lives in. It shows how much damage to the brain can effect one’s life, but at the same time give us hope in making enough of a recovery we can start fulfilling our needs.
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