AGE REGRESSION Age regression involves utilizing an individual's memory to intensely go back in to the past, usually at a specific time.

If an individual relieves the experienc e as if it were in the present, it is called revivification. If the individual o bserves the experience in a dissociated state, it is called hypermnesia. Age reg ression techniques are utilized to recover forgotten memories, to retrieve consc ious or unconscious abilities and skills, to reframe old experiences, and to use those earlier capabilities in the present to resolve current problems. Perhaps Erickson's most famous case involving age regression is "The February Ma n". Ericksonian Approaches There are many techniques used to facilitate age regression, and countless numbe rs of variations to each. One such technique would be "The Feeling Connection", more commonly referred to as "The Affect Bridge Technique", which is very effective to regress the client back to the origin of an emotional problem. The Affect Bridge Technique: - Accomplished by asking the hypnotized client to f eel whatever emotion is associated with their problem. The therapist could then count forward, with suggestions to allow the emotion to grow stronger, as he counts forward, and then asking the client, to go back to the ti me he/she first experienced the emotion, with a backwards count. e.g. "Number 1, go deeper into the feeling. 2, let the feeling grow stronger with each number. 3, stronger and stronger. 4, powerful, 5 and 6, feeli ng the emotion more and more with every number you hear. 7, 8, 9, 10! Feel it so totally that it's a relief to go back in time to the first time you felt this w ay. Going back as I count back 10 - 9 - 8 , farther back. 7 - 6 - 5, way back, 4 - 3 - 2, back to the very first time you felt that way. One! Be there. What's h appening?" Although this is a rapid method of getting to the source of a problem, it is sug gested that more uncovering is often required because you may get to the symptom - producing event, but not to the sensitizing event which could have occurred y ears earlier. Another technique for age regression would be: Simple Age Regression: - Done by counting backwards by age, beginning the count with whatever the client's age is minus one year. After deepening to at least a medium level of trance, say: "Now take a deep breath and go deeper and deeper into a deep, pleasant, hypnotic sleep K" Speak slowly and softly. "You are drifting back in time. Just imagine you're going back in time to when y ou were 40 (provided client is over 40 years old) K going back K 35 K farther back K 30 K. let the years fade away K 25 K 20 K 19 K 18 K 17 K 16 K 15 K" Count to the age desired if known, or continue as follows:

"Stop when we get to a very important year K 14 K 13 K 12 K Stop me when something very relevant to that problem happens K 11 K 10 K You feel your body getting smaller K 9 K Your arms and legs become shorter K 8 K going back to a very important age K 7 K 6 K 5 K very small now K 4 K even younger K something important ha

pens K BE THERE!" If client stops you and speaks, listen and proceed accordingly. If he/she displa ys emotion or starts to speak and pauses, stop the script and say: "Make a report. WHAT'S HAPPENING?" If the client does not stop you after you get to the end of the script, continue : "Now you are 4 and getting even smaller K 3 K a very early age .. . you are a todd ler K something very important happens K tell me about it K Something very importan t happens - BE THERE! What's happening?" If there is no answer, tap gently on the forehead or the back of the hand and sa y with more authority: "Answer quickly now - the first thing that comes to your mind - inside or outsid e?" As soon as the client answers, continue with: "Are you alone or with others?" Wait for response. Client may start describing detail at this point. If so, list en to the dialogue and deal with what emerges. If the response is "With others", ask who, but if the response is simply the word "Alone", continue with: "What do you see, hear, or feel?" Similarly one could use: Regression by Calendar Years: - The difference with this technique is the count being by year rather than by age. Again after deepening to a medium trance or gr eater commence with: "Now as you take a deep breath and go deeper and deeper into a deep, pleasant, h ypnotic sleep K" Speak very slowly and softly. Take a long, deep breath before each sentence and "sigh" the words as though you were sleepy. "You are drifting back in time. Just imagine you're going back in time to 1993 1992 K 1991 K 1990 K 1989 K 1988 K going back K 1987 K 1986 K (you may ew years by fives if the client is over 40) going back K 1985 K farther back K Let the years roll backward, going back in time K 1983 K Stop me when we a very important year K (etc.)"

K count the firs K 1984 get to

The continued count and script would be the same or similar to the age regressio n technique. A fairly quick and pleasant manner to begin regression is the: Pleasant Place Technique: - Simply suggest to the client that he go back and rel ive a very happy time in his childhood. After having the client describe the eve nts, we can have the client move either forward or backward to the relevant event. REVIVIFICATION AND AGE REGRESSION Revivification must be differentiated from Age Regression. In revivification, th

e hypnotized person actually relives earlier events of his life, all memories fo llowing the age to which the subject is regressed are eliminated. On the other h and, in age regression, the subject plays a role, there is a simulated pattern o f acting out of past events in the framework of the present. This type of age re gression is called pseudorevivification. The phenomenon of revivification is produced by posthypnotic suggestions directe d toward progressively suggesting disorientation as to the year, the month, and the day, then, by appropriate suggestions, an earlier age level is reached. Some investigators believe that long-forgotten memories are not reactivated but rath er are simulated, and that nonregressive elements are present. However, it has b een demonstrated frequently that in revivification the subjects exhibit many of the personality traits of earlier periods in their lives. Intellectual functioni ng, for example, which is indicated by the manner of speaking and the choice of words, is childlike; the handwriting changes, and there are other objective manifestations that corroborate the validity of the revivification. It is possible, however, that much of the descriptive material revealed during r evivification is due to role-playing or "screen-memories". This "misremembering" can occur in response to a prior suggestion that a specific act took place; lat er the act is reinstated as if it were an original memory. It appears that recal l is not improved for unimportant mnemonic material, but is improved greatly und er hypnosis when strong emotional elements are associated with the memories. The best way to obtain revivification is for the operator to identify himself with a surrogate figure that the subject once knew. If, for example, the operator plays the role of a friendly person, he can remark: "You are now in th e fourth grade. I happened to be talking to your teacher, and she told me how we ll you are doing in school." Some subjects will respond with genuine affection and warmth. There are various degrees of revivification and regression that can occur simult aneously, depending on the depth of hypnosis. This accounts for the diversity of opinions as to their distinguishing features. Nevertheless, the effects of eith er revivification or regression can produce what seem like meaningful emotional experiences that are compatible with earlier age levels. It seems that most spon taneous age regressions contain some facet of revivification as well as regressi on. This has been referred to as retrogression or dynamic regression. To obtain revivification, the subject is told that, upon a given signal, "You ar e soon going to be 10 years of age, and you can see yourself clearly at that age and everything that is happening." (A few minutes are allowed to elapse to allo w sufficient time for the reorientation to take place.) The signal is then given . The subject is asked, "What is the date today? How old are you today? What are you doing? Who are some of the people around you?" Additional conversation in t he past tense will help to establish the regression more firmly.