Applied Behavioral Health Care owner Bill Ronan is a medical hypnoanalysis practitioner and State Licensed Psychotherapist, (LICSW). Bill possesses many degrees, certifications, memberships and affiliations in professional, social, and community service organizations.
Medical Hypnoanalysis is a form of deep relaxation and focused awareness that was introduced in the late 18th century by Dr. Franz Anton Mesmer. A soothing tone of voice and repetitive stimulus, such as the sound of a metronome (a device that marks time in a steady beat), can induce the hypnotic state in susceptible individuals. This relaxed state can lead to lower blood pressure, a decreased heart rate and slower brain wave activity. The practitioner of Medical Hypnoanalysis requires a training background in the basics of psychology, developmental psychology, psychopathology, and psychotherapy as well as in hypnosis.
Medical Hypnoanalysis is dynamic, short-term, and directed. It is dynamic in that the treatment approach emphasizes causes rather than just symptoms, explanations rather didn't descriptions and unconscious forces rather than conscience forces as the being the ultimate origin of the psychopathology. It is short-term in that in most situations thirty or fewer sessions are required for the completion of treatment procedure. It is directed therapy in that the psychotherapist, upon makings a diagnosis, follows a medical mode of psychotherapy aimed at alleviating the symptoms by means resolving the underlying unconscious causes.
Medical Hypnoanalysis first examines the presenting symptoms of the patient by means of a case history, observing verbal and nonverbal communication, while seeking unconscious clues to the ultimate causes of the symptoms in order to make a psychodynamic diagnosis. After the patient is introduced to hypnosis, the majority of the therapeutic sessions are conducted with a patient in the hypnotized state.
The therapist investigates the unconscious by using the following procedures:
Such procedure allows identification and re-interpretation, adjustment or re-evaluation and desensitization of the specific casual events. This procedure is directed and correcting the symptoms and the unwanted behavior, which causes suffering and disease. For example, depressions, phobias, obsessions, psychosomatic disorders, self-destruction and anti-social behavior and other emotional and psychological problems can be relieved. There are a variety of methods and procedures of applying the basic Hypnoanalytic method. Individuals berries varieties are based on the specific training and treatment of circumstances of the clinician.
In hypnosis the “critical” or analytical” part of the mind becomes relaxed or disengaged. Suggestions are then received more deeply without criticism and thus, have a far greater impact. The human mind is extremely suggestible and is being bombarded daily with suggestive stimuli from external sources, and suggestive thoughts and ideas from the inside. A good deal of suffering is the consequence of “negative thoughts and impulses invading one's mind from subconscious recesses. Unfortunately, experience, guilt feelings, and repudiated impulses and desires are constantly pushing themselves into awareness, directly or in disguised forms.
These thoughts become feelings that sabotage one's happiness, health, and efficiency. By the time one has reached adulthood, there has been a build-up of “negative” modes of thinking, feeling, and acting which persist as bad habits. Like any habit, they are hard to break or change. However, using hypnosis, we can transform negative attitudes into more positive ones. For some, change does happen quickly if they believe change can happen quickly. Other times, it often takes time to extinguish old behavior patterns, so do not be discouraged if there is no immediate effect. Even when no apparent changes happen on the surface, much is happening on the inside.
An analogy may be useful: imagine if you were to hold a batch of white ink blotters above the level of your eyes so that you only see the bottom blotter. Then, if you were to begin to dribble drops of ink blotters on the top blotter. As you do this, you observe nothing happening to the bottom blotter until sufficient ink has been poured to soak through into the entire thickness. Eventually, the ink will come down. During this period while nothing seemingly has happened, changes were always occurring. Hypnotic suggestions are like ink poured on layers of resistance, namely, one's limiting beliefs about oneself. One must keep repeating the suggestions before they soak in to begin to influence old destructive patterns.
The Psychological Autopsy of Elvis by William J. Ronan can be purchased thru Amazon, The American Psychotherapy Association, Published by the American College of Forensic Examiners Institute (ACFEI) or The American or from the Author at this site.
In “A Psychological Autopsy of Elvis Presley,” Bill Ronan has created a fascinating vortex of ideas and theories, all of which swirl around the ever-engaging life and death of Elvis Aron Presley. Ronan posits a set of psychological circumstances as the cause of Presley's death, including issues around self-image, his relationships with others, the death of his mother and twin brother, and his own feelings of detachment and “death” prior to mortality. The author then connects these circumstances to several specific case studies, suggesting ways in which the “deaths of Elvis” can be used to bring the psychological distress of others into focus.
In A Psychological Autopsy of Elvis Presley, Bill Ronan has created a fascinating vortex of ideas and theories, all of which swirl around the ever-engaging life and death of Elvis Aron Presley. Ronan posits a set of psychological circumstances as the cause of Presley's death, including issues around self-image, his relationships with others, the death of his mother and twin brother, and his own feelings of detachment and “death” prior to mortality. The author then connects these circumstances to several specific case studies, suggesting ways in which the “deaths of Elvis” can be used to bring the psychological distress of others into focus. Ronan does not shy away from any rhetorical device or from leaps over the intellectual chasms that typically divide fields of inquiry. Hypnotherapy, traditional psychology, social science research techniques, biomedical ethics, and several other disciplines and avocations collide in his work, all casting light on the strange but hardly unique life of Elvis Presley. The book is a journey through original thoughts in original combinations, a journey on which neither the faint of heart nor the hidebound need embark. Even if every hypothesis ends up dismissed, the journey itself is well worth the effort. Dale Alan McGowan, PhD Associate Professor of Music, College of Saint Catherine
Observing this “documentary” does add to my understanding of Medical Hypnoanalysis and informs me about how MH can be used in the trreatment of every person out there who has any kind of problem. It makes you wonder how this therapy could have helped Elvis at any and all levels of chronological growth and development as he progressed throughout his life. MH has a place to changing the world one person at a time. Tom Zurkowski, MD Psychiatrist, Batesville, AR
The Elvis “hypothesis” analysis seems applicable on a nember of levels and toward other theories. It is a very convincing argument for what we now know the nature of trauma - how the psychological affects the physiological, how the body then “remembers” even if the brain and heart do not and then how these “memories” continue to “act themselves out” in behaviors - so seemingly bizarre and unexplaoinable to those atching.”The power of an idea to change one's heart, mind, body and behavior. Bill's work underlines how unawareness of this emotional numbness principle can lead to a low level of self directiedness and in Elvis' case, a wasteful tragic death. Excellent teaching tool. Kade Haviland, MA, CACII | Arapaho House, Inc, Denver Outpatient Cllinic, Denver, CO
Medical Hypnoanalysis allows subconscious knowledge and inner wisdom to emerge into conscious awareness. Allows you to access the subconscious mind to return to the time an attitude, belief, behavior or action was learned and to change it if you so desire.
Medical Hypnoanalysis allows the healing power of the subconscious mind to emerge and be consciously focused. Gives you access to traumatic memories to examine and transform them to release the pain of the event from the very cells of your body. You can also understand and change fears, phobias, anxieties, sadness, pain, hurt, and negative thoughts and beliefs. You can change your responses and feelings so they no longer control you in any way. It can assist you in uncovering the causes of many physical symptoms and psychological patterns which are hidden in the subconscious mind.
While we have personally seen some clients make remarkable and rapid change, Medical Hypnoanalysis is not a magical cure. It has not worked for everyone. I attribute this, mostly, to an incomplete history of the client.
Medical Hypnoanalysis can help people change habits, learn to relax, heal old hurts, get in touch with inner strengths, learn to look at things differently, or discover solutions to problems. Persons must then take responsibility and change their behavior. Without that commitment, the benefits of Medical Hypnoanalysis will probably be small and short-lived. Occasionally, clients express discomfort with hypnotic work on religious grounds. Among the concerns we have heard is the belief that during hypnosis clients surrender their free will and self-control to the therapist. A few people have stated that trance and dream-states are places where God speaks, so we should remain “hands off.”
The first concern assumes that hypnosis has far more power than it really does. As has already been said, people will not do anything in or after trance that they would not otherwise do. The second issue, and other concerns like it, are more complicated. There are many Scripture references to God communicating with people in dreams or in trance. (John's visions, detailed in Revelation, are noteworthy examples.) We respect clients' spiritual convictions and religious traditions and will never attempt hypnotic work with clients who don't think it's appropriate.
We will work on clients' concerns in other ways that they find acceptable, perhaps using biofeedback, relaxation training, or some form of “talk therapy.” This likely has to do with religious tradition, views of pastors past and present, and individual upbringing. Our job as therapists, however, is to respect clients' spirituality, not to challenge or try to change it. While Medical Hypnoanalysis is not as magical as some people believe, it is a powerful tool in helping people grow. It is especially useful in working with problems that seem “automatic” and outside our conscious control. (For example, certain habits or the sleep disturbances, flashbacks, and upsetting memories often caused by abuse or other trauma). By studying and mastering Medical Hypnoanalysis, we seek to be more and more helpful to the people we are privileged to serve.
There has never been a documented case of harm coming to anyone from Medical Hypnoanalysis. The harm is that Medical Hypnoanalysis is not used enough by people to bring about their own self-improvement.
No. You are awake and aware of everything going on around you during hypnosis. You are, though, very pleasantly relaxed, peaceful and tranquil. Hypnosis is not a sleep state. While hypnotic trance is different for everyone, it is more like a daydream in which one's attention is focused on things we often ignore. In trance, one may focus attention on mental images, physical sensations, unspoken ideas, emotions or memories. Typically, time seems to pass quickly.
If you have ever been so absorbed in a book or TV show that you lost track of time, you've been in trance. Most of us probably experience some form of trance on a daily basis. Trance is a normal, natural state of mind. Yet, trance is also a state in which people can influence their own “unconscious mind”. This is difficult to do in our usual state of conscious awareness. The unconscious is the part of the mind that does things “automatically”, with little conscious intent or control. The unconscious is the stuff of dreams, of habits, and of physical functions and changes.
Not necessarily. You can remember whatever your mind chooses to remember. You probably won't remember everything, but that has more to do with what you were paying attention to than it has to do with trance itself. Even in a state of full waking consciousness, we don't remember every bit of information that comes our way, because we don't pay attention to everything.
Maybe. People may remember new things in trance, but that is not always the case. Generally speaking, people may recall things that would be good to remember and probably won't remember things that are best left alone. The client's subconscious mind will make those decisions, not the therapist. It is important to realize that “memories” recalled in trance are not always reliable. They may not be true memories. They may really be fantasy images, memories that have been changed by time and experience, or something the person was told by someone else. Much unnecessary heartache has happened when a person acted on hypnotically-recalled memories, believing they were true, only to find out later that they were not.
Medical Hypnoanalysis is very good at reducing stress because hypnosis is so profoundly relaxing. Hypnosis is very effective at elevating and strengthening self-confidence and self-esteem. It is highly successful in helping people overcome fears and phobias, (fear of flying, anxiety/panic attacks, public speaking anxiety and claustrophobia). Hypnoanalytically Enhanced Eating Awareness Training (HEAT) is tremendously successful in helping people get control of their eating habits and lose weight. Motivational hypnosis can help people stop procrastinating, begin exercising or increase sales.
Thousands and thousands of people have successfully stopped smoking using Medical Hypnoanalysis. Medical Hypnoanalysis is also particularly good at helping people stay calm and focused when taking stressful exams, (state licensure exams, certification exams, professional exams as well as SAT's and GMAT's). Today, the field of “sports hypnosis” helping athletes enhance their performance through heightened mental focus is growing exponentially!
The answer to this is extremely important because it may determine whether or not you can benefit from hypnosis. Some people give up on hypnosis after a few sessions because they were disappointed in their reactions, believing they are not suitable subjects. Many people believe they will go through something different, new and spectacular in the hypnotic state. They equate hypnosis with being anesthetized or being asleep or unconscious. DO NOT EXPECT TO GO TO SLEEP OR LOSE TOUCH WITH REALITY. You will be able to hear, remember, and experience everything that is going on around you. Hypnosis is a very pleasant feeling of complete physical and mental relaxation. It is similar to that moment between knowing you are awake and going into the sleep-state. Often, when people are in hypnosis, you find your mind active, you hear every sound in the room, that you can resist the suggestions if you choose to, you realize that you are not asleep, and you are able to remember everything perfectly, all of these factors lead people to believe that they were not hypnotized, when indeed they were.
Yes. The American Medical Association (AMA) approved the use of hypnosis in 1958, as did the British Medical Association. The American Psychiatric Association has approved hypnotherapy for use by professionally trained and responsible individuals. Medical Hypnoanalysis gaining more acceptance and respect because of its effectiveness. Recently, the American Journal of Gerontology published an article regarding the effectiveness of hypnotherapy for Irritable Bowel Syndrome. The value of the hypnotherapeutic process receives more and more recognition and acceptance as its effectiveness is discovered.
In a session, you will feel very relaxed, but also alert and aware. Your subconscious mind remains open and receptive. You retain full conscious awareness and control, while in touch with subconscious memories, emotions and feelings. It is not done “to you”, but is a gift you give yourself. And no one can make you do something you don't want to do! You can come out of your relaxed state any time you want to. You will not do anything that is against your moral, ethical or religious values. You will not experience anything you are not ready to do.
Hypnosis is such a misunderstood phenomenon. For centuries, it has been affiliated with spiritualism, witchcraft, and various other “unexplainable” events. Based on “B” movies, cheap novels and exaggerated claims made by undisciplined persons.
A survey of psychotherapy literature by noted psychologist Alfred A. Barrios, Ph.D. revealed the following recovery rates: