What is regression therapy and can it really help?

Lorraine Gleeson, Hypnotherapy in Portsmouth March 23, 2013

As we are growing up we are learning how to cope with situations in life and we learn from our parents first and foremost and then go on and learn from our teachers our peer groups the environment that we live in. Things that are said to us what we are told have an effect on us and help us to cope with life and the situations we find ourselves in. We develop defense mechanisms to protect ourselves. For example if we grow up in a family where there is a lot of shouting and arguing we may learn that to be heard we have to shout. This can lead us into feeling frustrated and we could develop a feeling that we are not listened to. It is when we are not happy about our lives that we may seek therapy.

Regression therapy can you be used to help us find out what causes us to behave in a certain way for example a client came to me with a drink problem. She is a very successful business lady but when she got home from work she would ‘reward’ herself with a glass of wine. As time went on she found herself drinking more and every day. Using regression therapy we went back to when she was a little girl and she used to go away for a week with her dad on holiday to a fishing cabin and she loved it. It was the best time ever and her dad used to fish and she would play in the mud and have a whole week of freedom Oh! Her dad used to get very drunk and he was so funny! As she grew up she subconsciously associated alcohol with being happy. Because she then understood what caused her to need to drink every night and realised on a sub conscious level that you do not have to drink to be happy she was able to be in control of her drinking.

It may be necessary sometimes to deal with what causes us to respond and behave in a certain way to be able to understand it and move forward. The truth is that whatever has happened to us in the past is not so bad that we died from it and yes some of us have had some horrible experiences that we try not to think about, but we cannot help ourselves it can take over our lives and make us miserable. With regression therapy you do not have to relive that experience again however if you view the experience through adult eyes you can view it differently and move on in your life regression can be very empowering if it is facilitated by a competent and well trained therapist.

Comfort eating we use the term ‘comfort’ and often when I am dealing with clients that ‘comfort’ eat and we look at the causes they can be some wonderful experience that you have forgotten as a child. My experience was just one of those I used to eat loads of biscuits I thought just because I liked them, however when I was regressed to what caused me to eat biscuits I found that biscuits reminded me of my Gran and a game she played with me when I was little. My Gran it seemed to me was always in the kitchen washing up and I would run to her with my big smile and say “Granny what is in the larder” my granny would look at me and say “I don’t know shall we have a look” “Yes I would say” all excited, knowing what was in there. Yes biscuits! My gran would say “how did they get there? Shall we have one”? As I grew up I found that I enjoyed biscuits and actually if I am honest I ate rather a lot of them. Thanks to regression I still do eat biscuits but only want one or two not the whole packet!