When a new client comes I fill out a confidential client form. I prefer to fill it out rather that have the client fill it out because as we go through it I can ask questions and pick up on issues that I think may be important. Among other questions, I ask the following:
If we take a number from zero to ten where zero represents a completely still mind, crystal clear with no thoughts, and ten represents a mind that’s so jammed with thoughts that you couldn’t get another thought in there. Where are you on that scale?
If this number is high it gives rise to issues such as anxiety, depression and insomnia. The thoughts go to where they want to go and the client is like a passenger on an express train that’s running down a track out of control. We use mindfulness and hypnosis in order to slow the mind down. Technically, we shift the focus of the brain from the left side to the right side. (I’ll go into this more later).
It’s a good question to ask yourself at any time. When you ask this question you have step aside from your own thoughts in order to answer it, so simply by asking the question you will gain some control over the ‘train’ of thoughts. In therapy we don’t attempt to stop these thoughts. You can’t stop a speeding train thats hurtling down a track. Instead we show the client how they can step aside from the thoughts so they are not controlled by them. In time the thoughts diminish because we are not feeding them.