BRIEF THERAPY CASE STUDIES WITH PATIENTS SUFFERING FROM OBSESSIVE NEGATIVE THINKING
By Ronald Soderquist, Ph.D., MFT
(Published in the AAMFT California Division Newsletter)

The following are three case studies of patients with habitual negative thinking and behavior which affected the entire family. In each case, I chose a strategy designed to accomplish immediate symptom relief. The studies have been abbreviated for the purposes of this article.

First Case: TOMMY BANGS HIS HEAD

The mother, Julie, called me, and related: “Our Tommy is five years old and we are worried about him.”

“What does he do that worries you?”

“Whenever he spills milk at the table or makes any mistake, he gets out of his chair and bangs his head against the wall while saying, ‘You are stupid. You are dumb.’” I invited them to come in as a family.

It appeared that the parents were a normal couple. There were no red flags in their relationship with Tommy. Nor was there anything of note in Tommy’s body language. Julie reported her son enjoyed kindergarten and played well with friends. He had no other strange behaviors. However, Tommy would bang his head a few times a week on average. This behavior had been going on for “at least several months.”

I first considered recommending testing for autism. But in my experience, behaviors can often be addressed by simple, self-hypnotic suggestions. I began telling a story. I looked directly into Tommy’s eyes. “Once upon a time there was a little boy squirrel named Timmy who felt bad because he couldn’t do anything right.” Tommy nodded his head. “When Timmy climbed trees with his friends he would slip and fall down.” Tommy nodded his head again. “When Timmy hid nuts he would forget where he hid them. He felt dumb.” Tommy nodded his head again. I embellished the story in great detail so Tommy would fully identify with Timmy the squirrel.

Timmy the squirrel’s parents finally bring their little boy to visit the Wise Old Owl who lives in the big oak tree “Because owls have wonderful eyesight he saw them coming from afar, and said, ‘I see you are a squirrel family, how can I help you?’ Mommy and Daddy told the owl that Timmy banged his head against trees and called himself names when he made a mistake.”

“The Wise Old Owl thought for a moment and then he looked right at little Timmy and said, ‘Little Timmy the Squirrel, do you have a belly button? Let me see your belly button.’” At this command, Tommy pulled up his shirt and looked at his belly button.

“The Wise Old Owl continued, ‘Little Timmy, take a good look at your belly button because everyone who has a belly button makes mistakes. From now on, whenever you make a mistake, just look at your belly button and say, ‘It’s OK. Everyone who has a belly button makes mistakes.’” Then I told him, “Now you and your Mommy and Daddy go home and enjoy being part of a loving family.” At that, I ended the session.

Julie called the following week to report Tommy had stopped banging his head.


Second Case: CLINICAL DEPRESSION FOLLOWING LOSS OF A PARENT

An acquaintance had lost her husband seven years ago. She asked me if I would see her thirty year old daughter, Amy, who she believed had never gotten over the loss of her father. The mother reported Amy’s depression was ruining her marriage. When Amy came into my office, she revealed she was working as a nurse in the very hospital where her father died following surgery. At the time, Amy was concerned whether her Dad was getting the medical attention he needed, but she felt powerless to do anything about it. When he died, she berated herself for not doing something. I learned from questioning her that there was a voice in her head that kept saying: “You could have saved his life!” No wonder she felt depressed.

Amy was stuck in the past. She couldn’t enjoy her marriage. She wept as she said: “I can’t stop thinking about him dying and the funeral and that I could’ve done something.” I asked her if it was like a movie running in her mind. Amy agreed that a movie of her Dad’s death played over and over in her head.

I immediately thought, “Change the movie!” I asked her whether her father would like her to remember the good times they had together or whether he would want her to obsess about his death. Amy didn’t know she had a choice. I suggested: “Because we think in pictures and sounds, it’s like we have a TV set in our minds with various channels. You got stuck on the tragic ‘Father Dying Channel’ Just imagine you have a remote control. Now switch channels to the ‘Happy Memories with Father’ channel. Memories he would like you to remember and share with his grandchildren.”
With a sigh of relief Amy did that easily. We practiced the Happy Memory channel for awhile until she felt confident with those positive memories.

The following week she called to report she no longer felt depressed and, in fact, was now enjoying showing photos of her father to her children and sharing father memories with her children, his grandchildren.

Third Case: MY HUSBAND NEEDS TO CHANGE HIS ATTITUDE:

A middle age woman called to say she wanted her husband to come in for hypnosis to change his attitude. “I am sick and tired of his negative attitude.” I was amused and asked her to have him call me. She was right. When Bill came in for an appointment he said: “I grew up in a very negative, unhappy family. There were no ‘atta boys’ in our family. There was only criticism. It was a rare day when Dad or Mom laughed or showed happiness. They were unhappy with their marriage.” He went on: “My wife complains that I come home from work grumbling and complaining. She says I’m just like my parents, and she’s probably right, but I can’t seem to help myself. I don’t see how you can help me change. I don’t like being so angry with the kids, and I don’t like having an unhappy wife. If you can help me change, great.”

After some questioning, Bill identified his parents’ negative voices in his head. I asked if he could imagine a room in his head with the voices coming from a radio or some device over by the wall. He was able to imagine a radio.

Then I wondered whether he would like to go over and turn down the volume or perhaps pull the plug on the radio. As he did so he gave a big sigh. “What’s going on?” I asked. “My head is quiet for the first time ever,” Bill said. I told him, “Since it’s your head, you can put in anything you want. For example, because you are thankful for your family and your health you can fill that room with your own thankful voice, if you wish.” To his surprise Bill discovered he could do that quite easily. We rehearsed him reviewing all his thankful thoughts while driving home from work so he could greet his wife and children with joyful energy. After some rehearsal, he felt confident he had installed new voices in his head. He had changed his attitude.

Bill’s wife called later to report she was enjoying a new, positive Bill.

My concluding comment is that formal hypnosis was not used in any of these cases. Rather, the patient’s imagination was guided to form new patterns of thinking and behavior. Each patient was seen in a single session. The psychological bases for brief therapy can be found in the following resources:

Problem Solving Therapy, Jay Haley, Jossey-Bass, 1976
The Answer Within: A Clinical Framework of Ericksonian Hypnotherapy, Stephen Lankton and Carol Lankton, Brunner-Mazel, 1983
Becoming Solution-Focused in Brief Therapy, John Walter, Jane Peller, Brunner-Mazel, 1992

Author Ronald Soderquist, Ph.D., MFT, has both a family counseling and medical hypnosis practice in Westlake Village. He was a founding faculty member of the Phillips Graduate Institute where he taught for ten years. He was also Director of Counseling and Lecturer at California Lutheran University. He is an elected member of the Board of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, California Division. Ron is co-author with his wife, Elda, of Equality! Secret of Lasting Love, a self-help book for couples, and is a regular contributor to the magazine, Your Health Connection.

You are invited to respond to his articles at drron@westlakehypnosis.com and to call (805) 496-3449 for a consultation. Also, checkwww.sleepnopills.com for “Skills Instead of Pills”.)

Dr. Ronald Soderquist, Ph.D., MFT

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