10 Stress Reduction Ideas For Comatose People By Susan Fox, CH, CBQT © 2007 Susan Gaye Fox Trust hypnoticbraintalk@gmail.com www.clickcaster.com/hypnoticbraintalk   Imagine feeling like you’ve been locked into a tiny space but forgetting how to operate your physical body.  You can hear people talking all around you.  However, your nervous system fails to engage your consciousness.  THAT describes someone in coma or vegetative state.  And maybe you think you’re going crazy, too.  You hear yourself thinking, dialoging inside your brain but no messages get outside.  How does coma happen?  That remains largely a mystery.  But with consistant research, new information is being understood about the human brain.   Currently, as of May 2008, I’m still confirming a theory that people in coma are actually in a fairly constant state of hypnosis.  That’s why they respond to hypnotic suggestions specially formatted with particular language patterns familiar to the 4 brain quadrants.   The brain contains the equivalent of 4 living computer software programs.  (I call them thoughtware programs because we activate them using thought.)  Researchers recognize a unique relationship between the brain’s 4 quadrants.  They actually communicate and learn from each other.  (See The Creative Brain by Ned Herrmann for more fascinating information about the brain.)   As a certified hypnotic consultant since 1988, and brain dialog and brain fitness researcher, I teach people how to think using hypnotic brain dialog.  Hypnotic brain dialog gets your brain to grant your wishes.    Almost anytime we express a strong emotion, we create a hypnotic mind state.  We also naturally and routinely slip in and out of this naturally occurring hypnotic mind state when we do actions we feel very familiar doing. Self-hypnosis regularly occurs (whether alone or with others) at times like driving to work, or reading a book, or watching TV. Once we’ve hypnotized ourselves, we then suggest an idea to believe.  Believe self-limiting ideas and you struggle.  Believe self-empowering suggestions and you effortlessly achieve desired goals.  Hypnotic Brain Dialog combines the brain’s 4 thoughtware programs and includes hypnosis.   I once worked with eight-year-old Jonathan (name changed for privacy). Resuscitated after being drowned for 30 minutes, Jonathan suffered massive brain injury.  Upon initial meeting, I observed him spontaneously and unpredictably crying and breathing in panicked gasps. However, within 48 hours of repeatedly hearing a self-hypnosis script I wrote and recorded for this boy, he calmed himself.  Instead of breathing in panicked gasps, he breathed calmly, through his nose with mouth closed, and he swallowed normally.  He stopped unpredictably crying, and, he looked much calmer, physically.  Will others in coma experience this kind of amazing progress in such a short self-hypnosis session?  Hard to say.  Each person is a unique case.   Recently, in 2006, I worked with Sharon Alexander.  Sharon contracted cancer.  During her last days battling the cancer, unexpectedly, she slipped into a coma.    I talked with Sharon’s mom, June, on the phone.    “She’s restless.” said June.   I coached June, as I do with other clients in this situation, telling her to say certain calming ideas to Sharon.  At this stage, you focus on providing comfort for the client.  Comatose people are already hypnotized.  So they often readily accept hypnotic suggestions that result in almost instant help.    Hypnosis is one of those techniques gaining more and more acceptance by millions of people desiring to take control over their own health care.   That’s because hypnosis works!   Anyway, I waited on the phone as June held Sharon’s hand.  June told Sharon my instructions.  As June spoke to Sharon, June noticed Sharon’s body relax.  Since Sharon was comatose, she couldn’t speak, but she could HEAR June.  By coaching June over the phone, she provided soothing comfort for her daughter’s last days.   While someone exists in a coma, caretakers often feel unsure what to say or do with their loved ones.  Therefore, I’ve supplied the following information.   The guidelines in this article may be interesting and useful in working with someone in coma or vegetative state.  Use this information for stress-reducing and communication improving purposes ONLY after first consulting with a doctor.    1-Learn how to do self-hypnosis.  As explained in my book, Brainview:  What Does Your Brain Think Of You?, I used Hypnotic Brain Dialog suggestions with Jonathan and Sharon to reduce stress.  To learn self-hypnosis, contact the National Guild of Hypnotists at (603) 429-9438 in Merrimack, New Hampshire.   2-Sit down and observe the comatose person.  Write down on paper whatever appears to you to be stressful-looking behaviors.  Remember, this person CAN hear everything you say.  From within, the mind reveals its thoughts and expresses them in the physical body.  Look at the physical body and imagine that you can understand what the mind and brain together are telling you.  Then, gently say encouraging, non-judgmental and supportive ideas to the person in coma/vegetative state. They feel very alone and trapped in their body.  Let the person know you hear him or her using compassionate words.  You can find more help in my book Reducing Stress In Your Comatose Loved One.   3-Focus on ONE of those stressful-looking behaviors.  What could the person in coma be mentally experiencing by exhibiting that stressed-out appearing behavior? Use other personal information you think applies.  Prior to the coma, did the person enjoy calming activities like lying on a beach or listening to rain falling?  (Jonathan looked like he was reliving the drowning incident.  So, one suggestion in his first self-hypnosis script included the information that he was safe now, being cared for and in a bed.)  Imagine what soothing-sounding words the person in coma would like to hear.  Write out some of those words on paper and use them in a script for him or her to hear.   4-Use a thesaurus. Look for similar words to include in the script for the listener.   5-No matter WHAT age the comatose person is, use words an eight-year-old child could understand.  For clues to what these words might be, contact a second or third-grade teacher or refer to the special dictionary word list within my book Reducing Stress In Your Comatose Loved One.   6-Write out simple UPLIFTING ideas.  Focus on writing a script with “can do,” optimistic, present tense ideas.  Omit any focus on what ISN’T happening.  When you use “not” or “n’t” contraction words (can’t, don’t, won’t, etc.,) you create confusion in the listener’s mind.  Lead with ideas of possibilities.  As appropriate, only vaguely acknowledge something in the past unexpectedly happened. If necessary, use short and NON-descriptive words like the incident, or the accident, to refer to what happened.  For further information on stress reduction scripting for a person in coma, please contact me. In my comatose relief book, I outline how to write scripts to reduce stress and encourage people to come out of coma.  Also, you’ll find many scripts already written for your use.   Lead away from the drama, or the details that might cause or relive shock or damage. Repeating aloud your personal worries, any negative projections or diagnosis, will be counterproductive.  Think through what ideas you desire to convey.  Then, convey them in simple words.  The simpler the better.    Example of correct wording:  The worst is over. You can feel very safe now, to relax here, and focus completely on feeling calm and happy.  With every breath you feel happier and healthier…   7-Assume the person can hear EVERYTHING you say.  Talk to the person looking into the eyes when possible.  Touch the person’s hand or shoulder if that is appropriate.  Touch can be an important stimuli as long as touching is appropriate, and there has been no past sexual abuse involved.  Sometimes he/she will act consciously aware.  Especially during Locked-In Syndrome coma, look directly into the eyes. Look for eye movement in response to asking simple “yes” questions.   8-There is no way to predict when the person will come out of a coma, if ever.  For this reason, providing gentle, hypnotic, stress-reducing scripts and playing them on an auto-reverse tape player can be healthy, mental stimuli.  Record the same script on each side.  Scripts should only be about 5 minutes long.  To hear a podcast about the first script I used with Jonathan, please visit my site at www.clickcaster.com/hypnoticbraintalk.   9-You experience trial and error with the person in coma as you write self-hypnosis scripts. If the possibility exists that your loved one will cross over, you can find very helpful information in the audio book The How To Guide To Crossing Over available for ordering on my website.  To continue about scripting ideas, think of terms and phrases said commonly by the person now in coma.  For greatest effect, use these or similar words in his/her script.   Think how the person in coma usually spoke.  Fast and upbeat?  Slow and thoughtful?  Whatever the pace, record your script in the speech tempo of the one now in coma. This pace will feel comfortable and normal to the person listening.   Normally, the subconscious mind fully understands and accepts new ideas anywhere from 7-30 days.  Your suggestions will be heard by the person’s subconscious mind and the comfortable sounding words in the script may 1) reduce the time their brain takes in accepting and using new information, and 2) increase the effectiveness of the suggestions. After a month of listening to one script, if the person acts unresponsive to it, rewrite the script.  Keep suggesting new soothing ideas in additional scripts.   10-For more information on coma see http://www.biausa.org/Pages/coma.html.   To get Susan’s products or arrange for public appearances, readings, seminars, etc., contact her at hypnoticbraintalk@gmail.com.  Ask her for her programs called:  Brainview:  What Does Your Brain Think Of You?  Hypnotic Brain Dialog Gets Your Brain To Grant Your Wishes, The “How To” Guide To Crossing Over, Reducing Stress In Your Comatose Loved One or leave a message on her 24-hour voicemail at (740) 399-9333.     Imagine being able to communicate with your comatose loved one.  Most people feel unaware that people in coma are hypnotized and eager to hear hypnotic suggestions to improve their situations.  If you work with terminally ill clients or are a caregiver for someone in coma, this book's cutting edge research will be very helpful for you.  Contains several scripts that engage all the 4 brain quadrants, instructions on how to provide stimulation to encourage the comatose person to communiate and personal experiences with coma clients.  Unavailable anywhere else, this is a MUST HAVE book.  Should you desire a group training in this material, please contact me by calling (740) 399-9333. (Pre-recorded CD copies of scripts will be available soon.) Only $35