Comprehensive Theory of Mind.

                  Comprehensive Theory of Mind.

    As humans evolved, so did their brain's and all its functions. This in turn, allowed the mind to function at a more higher and efficient level. In other words, humans were able to develop and use more deeper levels of their mind. Since the mind is not observable, in a direct way, this theory is used as a cognitive concept to understand, one's  mental states i.e. beliefs, intents, desires,  knowledge, etc.—in oneself and others.

This theory (CTOM) postulates, that the mind has five areas or tiers. Each area has its own function and ability. Let us start by looking at the first and most primitive area of the mind, also known as the Fight/Flight/Freeze, or also known as the Reptilian brain this part of the mind will only react when triggered, regressed or threatened beyond the point of reason.  The second area is the Collective Unconscious, this contains the Archetypes, Universal Blueprint, culture etc. Coined by Carl Jung. It is proposed to be a part of the unconscious mind, expressed in humanity and all life forms with nervous systems, and describes how the structure of the psyche autonomously organizes experience. The third area or tier is the Personal Unconscious , this contains all past events and happenings attributed to that person alone. It is the source of new thoughts and creative ideals, and produces meaningful symbols, this is also represented by the Limbic System.  

The fourth area is the Modern Memory area, which is active in object imprinting, immediate and short term memory. The fifth area is the Conscious Mind, or Neo-Cortex which is the critical thinking area, and the executive functioning process. It includes such things as the sensations, perceptions, memories, feeling and fantasies inside of our current awareness. These  five areas or tiers must function in unison for optimal mental states.  

Comprehensive Theory of Mind 

Therefore it is apparent to us that the Comprehensive Theory of Mind is a very important milestone for the complete development of a human being throughout the lifespan. This reminds us of systemic theory, which provides us with a theoretical framework for understanding human emotional systems in concordance with evolutionary theory and neuroscience. Thus the hierarchical system of the mind has its beginnings in systems  theory and functioning, comprehensive in nature. Therefore the comprehensive theory of mind can only be understood from the perspective of systems theory. This leads us to the postulate that the mind is a self-organizing system, a developmental unfolding at progressively higher levels of complexity. 


This leads us to a very important concept of individuation, Jung, stated  that Individuation, was the quest for wholeness that the human psyche invariably undertakes, the journey to become conscious of his or herself as a unique human being, but unique only in the same sense that we all are, not more or less than others humans.

Adult Development and Hypno-Coaching

 

 




          Why do some hypnotic-coaching strategies fail to help the client no matter how hard the hypnotist tries . No matter what technique he/she uses , the session turns out to be unproductive for the client. One of the reasons could be connected to the developmental stage the client is in . This means what stage of meaning making the client is in. According to psychologist Robert Keegan of Harvard University , people have five stages of meaning making , they range from:

   Incorporative: The sense of self is not developed at this point in time. There is no self to speak of because there is no distinction occurring yet between self and other

2.       Impulsive: suggest that the person is now embedded in impulses, which are those things that coordinate reflexes. The sense of self at this stage of life would be at ease saying something like, "hungry", or "sleepy", being fully identified with these hungers

3.       Imperial: The person as  autocrat is born. In the prior impulsive self, the self literally is nothing more and nothing less than a set of needs. There isn't anyone "there" having those needs yet. The needs alone are all that exists. As awareness continues to rise, person now starts to become aware that "it" is the very thing that has the needs.

4.       Interpersonal: Starts with the first moment when the person becomes aware that there are actually other people out there in the world whose needs need to be taken into account alongside their own.

5.       Institutional:  Those who achieve this level of social maturity understand the need for laws and for ethical codes that work to govern everyone's behavior. This is the first moment that a person can be said to have values, or commitments to ideas and beliefs and principles which are larger and more permanent than its own passing whims and fears.

            This process of becoming progressively less subjective as you mature, and thus more able to appreciate the complexity of the social world, repeats itself multiple times in a given lifespan (assuming people do continue to mature as they age and don't simply get stuck). Each new layer of awareness; each expansion of perspective that a person grows is simultaneously both more objective; offering a better, wider perspective on the social world than did the prior understanding, and also less objective then the understanding that logically follows next.  This could be a reason that the hypnotic session becomes valid or invalid.

   Several hypotheses have emerged in psychology of the developmental process, including those of Freud, Jung, Piaget, Erickson, Maslow, and more recently Wilber (2000). Jung called the process individuation; Maslow called it self-actualization. Spiritual sources refer to it as self-realization.

To remedy this the hypnotic-coach , must have some idea of their clients stage of meaning making , this could be done by an interview , where some open ended questions could give the hypnotist  some feedback as to where the client stands, or by asking the client to write a short narrative about themselves or their presenting issue,  this could open a window into the mindset of the client and their presenting issue. They could also use the E&P Questionnaire created by John G. Kappas  PhD, which would test the suggestibility and sexuality of the client, this could show growth and maturity patterns in a clients behavior. 

             When the hypnotic-coach makes some strides into the clients world of meaning making then he/she can start to formulate a program to help the client to reach their goal by the method of hypnotic-coaching. People become ready to learn something when they experience a need to learn it in order to cope more satisfyingly with real-life tasks and problems. The hypnotic-coach has a responsibility to create conditions and provide tools and procedures for helping learners discover their "needs to know." Hypnotic interventions should be organized around life-application categories and sequenced according to the learners' readiness to learn. If the hypnotic coach can use the power of the clients unconscious to drive these changes as written above , then he/she has a much bigger and better playing field to use his techniques of change in, and will have a rewarding outcome more frequently for himself and the client concerned . 

 

 

 

LIFE COACHING.

What is Life Coaching?

I have been asked this question hundreds of times, and the answer formulated below tries to explain this in concise terms.
Life coaching is a future-focused practice with the aim of helping clients determine and achieve personal goals. Life coaches select from among several methods to help clients set and reach goals. Coaches are not therapists nor consultants and psychological intervention is outside the scope of their practice, Life coaching has its roots in executive coaching, which itself drew on techniques developed in management consulting and leadership training. Life coaching also draws inspiration from disciplines including sociology, psychology, positive adult development, career counseling, mentoring and other types of counseling. Contemporary life coaching can also be traced to the teachings of Benjamin Karter, a college football coach turned motivational speaker of the late 1970s and early 1980s. The coach may apply mentoring, values assessment, behavior modification, behavior modeling, goal-setting and other techniques in helping their clients. Coaching focuses on effecting change in a client's current and future behavior. Additionally, life coaching does not delve into diagnosing mental illness or dysfunction.

How does Life Coaching Work?
Coaching can be done face to face or by telephone. You will meet or ring your coach at a certain time for weekly sessions, which can last between 30 and 60 minutes.
During that time, your coach will establish an issue with you, and encourage you, with a series of questions to set a goal. With guidance from your coach, you will explore various opportunities and avenues open to you that might enable you to take a step nearer to your goal. If you don"t like talking to someone,your life coach could use email as a form of coaching, which can be surprisingly effective, giving both parties the time to think before setting their thoughts, questions and answers down in type.
Whatever method you choose, life coaching will be a challenging experience for you, requiring a high level of enthusiasm and commitment, but well worth the effort.

Why hire a life coach?
You hire a coach to achieve your personal, behavioral, family and business goals, much more effectively, more efficiently, more thoroughly, with more fun, and in less time than any other human improvement system. Life coaches assist you to: overcome obstacles and fears, focus on solutions, have someone to bounce ideas off, no matter how silly they may seem, discover truths about you, and how you can improve, accomplish more than you thought possible, and achieve balance in your personal, work and family lives. Your coach will bring out your best, to become the person you always wanted to be and were capable of becoming.

Coaching has five steps or elements which are needed for your success, these are:

The What: Get clarity around the present and the future.
The Why: Create a vision and mission to live or operate by.
The Who: Discover your brilliance and learn how to leverage it.
The How: Create your goals and support system.
The When: Put it all together and take action.
You can change your life, thousands have, through life coaching!

I hope you enjoyed this introduction to Life Coaching.Iam confident that you will achieve your desires. Nothing can stand in your way to have a fulfilled and happy life.

Organizing Behavior at "The Work Place."

The psychology of behavior at work is so complex that it ranges from, motivation, attitude, personality,stress, the co-operation of management and staff, modes of learning ,group dynamics etc. One of the major factors that play a major role is the "corporate culture", which equates to decision making in this ever changing work force. How to lead and train a new multi ethnic organization and develop a good rapport with most if not all employees. The first topics to consider are motivation and job satisfaction. 1)What motivates a person to work?
2)Could we increase motivation with wage increases?
The answer is yes and no, an increase in wage would allow the employee to perform better but,after some time would lose its effectiveness as the enforcement of schedules would become weak, this is the correct time to change the schedules of reinforcement to variable, which means a random awarding of this enforcer would be set into motion and this would make the employee to continuing displaying good work habits in the hopes of getting the monetary reward which the employee doesn't no when, and would continue elicit a change in motivation, rewards of other types such as food etc, can be used to enforce renewed motivation in the workplace. As far as job satisfaction is concerned it is dependent on many factors such as stress free environment, training and managerial attitudes.
Does the company have ethical behavior in it hierarchy structure?, is group dynamics taken into account, as we can see the new trend is working in teams or groups such as project teams, work groups(managed or self managed) and teams of managers have become a regular mainstay in companies and corporations. The possibility of having an effective team depends on training and understanding the mental process of a group or team , do they think similarly or have opposing views, are strategies put into place to combat this process and foster similar goals or outcomes from the project and most importantly to prevent human error as much as possible and promote a culture of having a safe environment. The "Behavioral Coach" should be able to step into this environment and create cooperation,acceptance ,and understanding for both employee and employer. The coach should take into account environmental issues or stimuli that make it enjoyable or aversive for the employee to perform at the job, has the employee been trained or has previous training for the said position?, is he rewarded for his contingencies of work put forth, does the employee see benefits for performing better , even in the arena of their private life . The behavioral coach has to successfully navigate this sea and smooth the waves and pave the way for training and career development of the employees, use socio-cultural tools to motivate the managers and employees to higher levels of performance and teach them self regulation process so that they see the change in themselves and the environment around. Another important clue is time has the employee or group been given a reasonable time span to complete the project, or are they being stressed or cramped into a high stress atmosphere, which will impede their progress and create stressful situations , affect health and self esteem, and ultimately the quality of output of the group or employee. The coach should guide the managers and staff in justice,fairness and equality, which would lead to a fair expectancy on both sides concerned. This would create much higher self-esteem, happy emotions and motivation which will be self regulated. This will lead to rewards and dignity for both corporation and employee.

THE FEAR OF PHOBIAS

Phobias are usually considered to be triggered by irrational or unknown factors, and when they are experienced by that person, disturb that person's everyday life. People who have a phobia usually react uncontrollably and intensely to the situation because they do not know what the cause is,which maybe either from a previous conditioned stimuli or repressed action or conflict in them which causes this feeling or reaction to take place . The fear of the unknown causes them to have a phobic reaction.Neurotic individuals have a wide variety of phobias, to name a few: Acrophobia(fear of heights), Agoraphobia(fear of open places) Claustrophobia(fear of closed places),Mysophobia(fear of dirt),etc..., sometimes the phobia has such a grip on the persons thinking that they become a social recluse or socially phobic to their surroundings and create severe anxiety in the person afflicted with this condition. Hypnotherapy is one of the better therapeutic modalities which can help a person get over their phobias or fears, the process used could be circle therapy where the client is made to repeatedly face or confront his phobia in a state of hypnosis until the anxiety or perceived danger of the situation is gradually desensitized, and positive suggestions given to the client to strengthen their self image and get rid of this fear.
Regression Hypnotherapy could also be used as a tool to bring the client to the original point or cause of the fear or phobia and remove this feeling thus negating this negative feeling and the anxiety associated with the phobia. Another form of therapy which could also be very beneficial to eliminate phobias is behavioral or motivational coaching, where the behavioral coach gradually introduces the client to his phobia one step at a time till the client is desensitized to this feeling, for example if a person has a fear or phobia of dogs the behavioral coach first introduces a photo of dogs for the client to see, after a while a stuffed toy dog and as the phobia lessens a live canine is brought some distance from the client , then a bit closer and so on and so forth till the client is totally confident that he or she can touch the animal without evoking the original fear or phobia, and thus the phobia is eliminated. It is important for the hypnotherapist or coach to remember during the intake interview to listen very carefully to what the client is expressing about his symptoms and that no other hidden, secondary or important psychological symptoms such as paranoia, delusional thinking, psychosis that are masked by what the client states as a phobia. In these cases the client is better of refereed to a psychiatrist for further treatment.If the client has a personal physican the therapist could also request the physican to send the therapist a bill of good health before any sort of hypnosis or behavioral coaching is started .

Hypnotherapy for Asperger,s Disorder

Scientific studies show that most outbreaks of anger or temper tantrums for Asperger's Disorder have an anxiety based content to it(1). In other words anxiousness builds up due to external or internal sensory stimuli in the brain of the person who is diagnosed with this Disorder , and this creates tremendous stress in the mind/brain of that person which leads to a chain reaction of outbursts of anger ,tantrums, fear,irritability this then lead into another domain of this person's life ie: social alienation from peers by what is seen as maladaptive behavior or no social skills , when in actuality this person is reacting to a bout of anxiety or even complex inferior which drives them further into social alienation and they could well end up with a phobia for society at large ,instead opting for solitary preoccupation with self.

This chain reaction is like an unbroken circle going round and round without any solution in sight . Hypnotherapy could help such persons to alleviate their stress or anxiety by relaxing the brain/mind and nervous system, as during hypnosis the parasympathetic nervous system is kicked into action and this allows the mind to relax deeply, which in turn relaxes the whole nervous, muscular and circulatory systems of the body. Hypnosis also has many other positive effects with in the person such as raising of self esteem, effective thinking and behavior modification. Hypnosis can also help in insomnia and a myriad of other issues to numerous to mention over here. Having worked with a quite a few adolescents who suffered from anxiety , which was an offset of Aspergers Disorder, the method of hypnosis was employed and in most cases gave the client a lot of relief from anxiety or tension of the mind , eventually the client was taught auto hypnosis to use for themselves when needed. The therapeutic method of hypnosis is not very much studied in connection with asperger's syndrome, as hypnosis is as always mired by metaphysical connotations and until recently not taken seriously as a mode of therapy, but this is fast changing as hypnosis is being proven time and again that it can stand its ground with any therapeutic modality of the day and in some instance surpass the rest.Hypnotherapy as a therapeutic modality has its own distinct forms, methods and patterns which are employed during the session with the client. During a session the hypnotherapist gives the client suggestions for relaxation and calming of the conscious cognitive process, and by passing the critical faculty of critical thinking the suggestions of calmness ,anxiety free are registered in the subconscious or unconscious processes of the client which in turn lead to modification of maladaptive behaviors such as (tantrums, anger, low self worth etc). As the hypnotherapist and client gain rapport after a few sessions, other issues which might be also causing discomfort to the client could be also addressed. Hypnosis is also a great tool to be used by the family members of the person diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorders as they are also in a state of great stress and anxiety, even angry at what happened to their family member and their whole world turned upside down. Group hypnosis sessions could help family member's to cope with feelings of inadequacy or guilt together, and express their feelings in a joint effort, this also allows the feelings of guilt or anger to be evened out and the family feels as a whole unit.

Anxiety, anger, phobias, fears or what ever your situation might be hypnosis can be a powerful adjunct to help you feel better. Please always consult a medical doctor/psychiatrist in case of doubt of any treatment. (For "Asperger's Disorder" diagnosis please consult DSM- IV-TR).

(1) www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/asperger/detail_asperger.htm