Brain based therapy
The 2 main parts of the brain that we focus on in solution focused hypnotherapy are the 'intellectual mind' and the 'primitive mind'.
The intellectual mind is logical, rational, sensible and positive. It's good at finding solutions and decision making.
The primitive brain is the part that's essential for our survival, it's negative and it's emotional. It is wired to flight, fight or freeze in the event of a threat to life, and it also likes to operate based on previous patterns of behaviour. Whatever you did yesterday kept you alive so why not do it again today? This includes unhelpful and unhealthy habits- remember the primitive brain isn't logical and doesn't think long term!
In solution focused hypnotherapy we use the metaphor of the 'stress bucket'. This is where all of our negative thinking is stored, things we dwell on from the past and things that we worry about that will never even happen. When our bucket reaches our limit, (we're doing too much negative thinking) we lose control from the logical intellectual mind and start operating from the negative emotional mind. This part of the brain reverts to the primitive parameters of depression, anxiety and anger. These are all ways to keep ourselves safe- depression is us pulling the rug over our heads and hiding away from the world. anxiety is living on red alert ready to press the panic button, and anger is the primitive way of defending ourselves.
Luckily, we do empty out our stress buckets at night when we're asleep, during our REM pattern. What also helps is what we refer to as the '3 P's'.
Positive activity, positive interaction and positive thinking. All of these get us producing serotonin which makes us feel good!
Positive activity is anything you enjoy, and if it's exercise; even better! Positive interaction is talking to people. You may have noticed you feel good after you've been out and seen people or had a chat on the phone. Positive thinking can be a little trickier- unfortunately our brains produce more negative thoughts than positive! By asking clients each time I see them "What's been good?" starts to get them to focus on the positives rather than dwelling on the things that haven't been so good. Gratitude diaries and journalling use the same concept.
The aim is to limit what we are piling in our stress buckets, do more of those things that make us feel good and therefore spend more time using the intellectual mind where we are coping with life in the way we want to.