The Rev. John Lentz on hypnotic CDs for assisting in ministry

Forgiveness Through Hypnotic CDs

As a prison chaplain, I saw many people who had a difficult time feeling forgiven. Most clergy know how hard it is to convey the idea of forgiveness. Simply saying, “You are forgiven,” doesn’t necessarily give someone the real feeling, even though they may have the thought in mind.

I also saw many people in my private counseling practice that were not able to feel forgiven, no matter what they knew in their heads. Desperately wanting to find ways that would help give people relief, I searched for answers. Some of those came through experience and some came from the work of Milton Erickson M.D. His style of experiential clinical approaches came from a perspective that saw even dysfunctional behaviors as attempts to solve real problems, even if they didn’t do so effectively.

I worked with many people who did not want to dredge up the past; they wanted to believe they had left behind feelings about an abortion, promiscuity, the time they were raped or molested, etc., even though their current behaviors said otherwise.

Throughout Judeo-Christian scriptures, I found examples of how forgiveness was powerfully healing in restoring a person to making good choices for their life.  I decided to create a CD that would help people to experience the healing aspects of forgiveness. I made a hypnotic tape for a man with much sexual shame. I found that the tape really helped him when his regular psychotherapy didn’t.

Using a hypnotic approach made this task more achievable. I used reframing, guided imagery, implied meanings, symbolic suggestions, associational meanings and symbolic imagery as well as intellectual arguments that are scripturally-consistent and accurate, whether the person is in a trance while listening or not. However, I used an induced trance state to magnify the results of the linguistic tools.

The result has been very powerful and effective with my clients. The best proof is in their changed behaviors. The self-destructive behaviors of people struggling with not feeling forgiven stopped showing up, and in their place were life-enhancing decisions, decisions that have brought about more of a sense of self-worth and dignity.

At about the same time that I began implementing my homemade CDs with my clients, I met a man who could edit and create professional CDs. He wanted to assist in a ministry, and so we teamed up to produce a series of CDs for a variety of issues. The Feeling Forgiveness CD was our first and has had much success.

Creating a company http://www.healingwordspress.org/ to publish and distribute the products, we put all the money we make back into producing more materials, so that more people can be helped. Designed to assist the work of clergy and therapists helping people overcome personal difficulties, we have created CDs for dealing with migraine headaches, anger, financial difficulties, criticism, loneliness, management of chronic pain, as well as one for chronic illnesses that are worsened by stress.

I have found this therapy very helpful for my clients and welcome the opportunity to discuss it with anyone who has an interest in this type of pastoral work. It does make a difference.

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