Magazine
for Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy
A Modern Hypnosis Dictionary:The Letter F
Fascination -
The process of bringing about a hypnotic state by fixing
the gaze on a point (typically a small shiny object). Also animal hypnosis.
Fight or Flight -
This is not a threat to get a nervous passenger onto
an aeroplane. The fight or flight response represents the two basic choices
(supervised by the autonomic nervous system) that we have in response to
an alarming development. These instinctive choices were once necessary
to our survival in an early predatory environment but are largely obsolete
in the modern civilized world. They remain as options that can rarely be
taken and severe stress can result from these natural impulses being thwarted.
Filter Theory -
The theory that the hypnotic state is a result of the
mind's attention becoming more and more selective and narrow in it's focus.
Whether this is fixation on an external object, the sound of the therapist's
voice or fixation on the process of relaxation, the subject can eventually
filter out almost everything - including the critical faculty. The mind
becomes absorbed in the 'tension' of attention.
Fixation -
In hypnosis, focusing of the attention at a singular
point. In psychoanalysis, the arresting of development at a particular
point.
Free Association
-
Technique originating in psychoanalysis which is now
commonly used in many therapies where the intention is to arrive at memories
and ideas that are not available to conscious recollection. Stimulus words
are given to which the patient responds with the first word that is evoked.
Sometimes used in Hypno-analysis.
Fractionation -
In hypnosis, this is a method of induction (Vogt's fractionation
method) where the subject is partially relaxed then roused and asked to
recount the sensations experienced. Then the hypnosis/relaxation continues
again, often with the therapist 'feeding back' the recounted experience
and leading the patient still deeper. The patient is then roused again
and his experiences sought, before the hypnosis resumes once again. The
process continues until a deep trance state is obtained.
Freud, Sigmund -
Born in Morovia (1856 - 1939), he studied and spent most
of his life in Vienna.
Trained with the emminent neurologist J. M. Charcot and
experimented with hypnosis. Freud established the practice of psychoanalysis
and spent the rest of his life contributing to it's theory.
Frigidity -
Lack of sexual desire in a woman. Can have organic or
psychological origin.
Functional disorders -
Thes are problems which affect the physical body but
have a psychological origin.
Fusion -
In hypnotic practice this is the process of joining two
or more normally disparate concepts, feelings or even memories of experience
to form a new experience.
For a simple example - if a patient feels anxiety at
the sight of a cat but can clearly remember the feeling of happiness at
receiving a special gift then ideo-fusion can be used in hypnosis to connect
the image of a cat to the feeling of pleasure at receiving a gift, by having
the patient summon both image and sensation at the same time.
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Tom Connelly© connelly@hypnos.co.uk
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