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Over the next couple of articles, I’ll be introducing you to a variety of treatment modalities designed to free people from anxiety, phobias, deeply rooted negative beliefs, and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).

We will also review the pros and cons of each approach and compare them to my One Belief Away™ Method.

Before developing my particular approach, I experimented with every alternative therapeutic tool available to test its short and long-term effectiveness.

Thus, I’m drawing from 29 years of personal research and would have stuck with other techniques if they had performed as well as my OBA™ Method.

The two methods we are reviewing today are the One Belief Away™ Method and EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing).

The One Belief Away™ Hypnosis Method rapidly identifies and upgrades unconscious beliefs that keep the symptoms of trauma (negative thoughts, emotions, behaviors) alive. It also gently replaces toxic emotions (guilt, shame, anger, resentment, remorse, rage) with self-love, inner peace, and contentment.

Finally, the OBA™ Method provides a set of emotional intelligence strategies and conditioned responses so an individual can manage the uncertainties of life with passion, confidence, and intentional resolve.

Pros:

1. Direct Access to the Unconscious: This method utilizes hypnosis to bypass the conscious mind’s resistance, allowing direct access to the unconscious where limiting beliefs and traumatic memories reside.
2. Rapid Resolution: By identifying and addressing the root cause of an issue, clients can experience profound shifts and breakthroughs in a relatively short period (often within 30 minutes).
3. Personalized Approach: The One Belief Away™ Method is tailored to each individual’s unique beliefs, experiences, and goals, ensuring a customized and client-centered experience.
4. Lasting Change: By replacing negative beliefs with empowering ones, clients can maintain their newfound mindset and behaviors long after the treatment sessions.
5. The OBA™ Experiences are so compelling that even a novice practitioner can help clients produce significant and measurable positive outcomes.

Cons:

1. Hypnosis Misconceptions: Some individuals may have reservations or misconceptions about the nature of hypnosis, which could hinder their openness to trying the approach.
2. Suggestibility: While rare, some individuals may not respond well to hypnotic regression and might have difficulty uncovering repressed memories or beliefs.
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EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing):

EMDR is a form of psychotherapy designed to help people heal from trauma or other disturbing life experiences. During EMDR treatment sessions, the client briefly focuses on a traumatic memory or negative thought while simultaneously experiencing bilateral stimulation, typically in the form of side-to-side eye movements guided by the therapist.

Bilateral stimulation: Imagine someone waving their index (pointer) finger in front of you, moving back and forth from left to right, as you follow the finger with your eyes. It’s like watching a stopwatch swing back and forth in the old Hypnosis movies. That action causes people to feel relaxed and even s-l-e-e-p-y.

The theory behind EMDR is that this bilateral stimulation helps the brain reprocess the memories and beliefs related to the traumatic event in a more adaptive way.

By causing your eyes to look up, down, and sideways in specific patterns, it internally causes you to think, feel, and interpret information (memories and beliefs) in new ways. This reprocessing can allow the memories and associated feelings to resolve, reducing their lingering influence and associated distress.

EMDR does not involve extended exposure to the traumatic memory itself. Instead, the clinician guides the client to revisit the disturbing issue through a structured eight-phase approach focusing on past and current situations that cause distress while developing more positive cognitive and emotional associations related to the event.

In simple terms, if you review an upsetting situation but feel relaxed while going through it, this changes the experience. When you can review that experience from a different head space or perspective, more empowering meanings (beliefs) can emerge that replace anxiety or anger with harmony and closure.

Pros:

1. When hypnotic regression fails, EMDR can be an effective tool for accessing buried unconscious beliefs, feelings, or memories.
2. Modernized Approach: Besides eye movements, EMDR incorporates electronic bilateral stimulation techniques such as tapping or audio tones to aid in memory reprocessing.
3. Empirical Evidence: EMDR has been extensively researched and recognized as an evidence-based treatment by numerous professional organizations.
4. Non-Invasive: EMDR is a non-invasive, non-pharmacological approach, making it a suitable option for those seeking alternative therapies.​

Cons:

1. Intensity: The process of repeatedly revisiting and reprocessing traumatic memories can be emotionally intense and overwhelming for some individuals.
2. Time Commitment: EMDR may require a longer treatment duration compared to other therapies, as it involves multiple sessions to process and integrate traumatic experiences fully.
3. Sterile Procedure: Staring at someone’s finger or listening to audio cues can feel impersonal when the practitioner relies too heavily on technology for the transformation.
4. Limited for Non-Trauma Issues: EMDR is primarily designed for trauma resolution. Thus, its efficacy for building strong self-esteem and providing effective coping strategies is limited compared to other approaches.

​Although effective, I found using EMDR too impersonal, with waving my finger in my clients’ faces. Plus, the reprocessing portion requires a lot more time because the client uses a form of free association to conjure more empowering meanings for traumatic events.

EMDR can produce great results compared to traditional “talk therapy,” but the One Belief Away™ Method is more relaxing, personal, and direct. Clients experience deep mental and physical relaxation while going straight to the source of the issue and resolving it while feeling emotionally uplifted and supported.

Plus, the OBA™ Method provides additional mental health strengthening and resources that EMDR doesn’t offer, making it a more comprehensive therapeutic tool.

Tim Shurr 🙂

*If you need help attaining a goal, breaking a bad habit, or overcoming a past hurt, schedule a Free Hypnosis Screeningand determine if OBA™ Hypnosis is right for you.