Hypnosis helps heal
Local therapy takes patients deep to relieve their problems

Cameron Dexter | staff editor

Maureen Finnerty Turner has been using hypnosis for 12 years to help people cure a wide range of disorders, addictions and fears at her practice, Motivation Hypnosis in Burlington.  

Turner is a nurse and psychotherapist who describes hypnosis most simply as focused meditation with a concentration on the unconscious mind, she says.

Hypnosis is the process of addressing the unconscious mind. Turner says the purpose of a therapist is to guide people to a point where the conscious mind is so relaxed that a conversation is possible between the hypnotist and patient while that patient is speaking but also experiencing the unconscious mind.

“I have a method that works for about 98 percent of the population,” she says.

Going under

There are six levels of the subconscious mind Turner recognizes. She describes level one as calm, level two as a deep calm, a feeling one might might experience while on vacation. Turner describes level three as feeling tired and heavy. Four is a deeper calm but one that produces a light feeling. Level five is called som nambulism, after the Latin word for sleep, Turner says.

“In the som nambulism state you are just in touch with your mind,” she says. “You may be aware that you have a body but you're just in touch with your mind; you’re at one with the universe and usually deep meditation or hypnosis happens there.”

Maureen Finnerty Turner in her office where she hypnotizes patients. Cameron Dexter, photo

Level six is equivalent to a person being under anesthesia, and Turner says although she knows how to bring patients there, she does not usually do it.

The first session with a patient is a preliminary session to discuss the client’s issues, reservations, and goals for the hypnosis. Turner also takes the person to level four of the subconscious to establish what she calls “anchor points.”

She describes this as a process of “anchoring” points in the mind to trigger positive and relaxing feelings.

“Once labeled,” Turner says, “ [the points] can be accessed at any time after hypnosis to release feelings of calm, confidence, relaxation, whatever feelings the person has anchored in their subconscious.”

Turner sets the first four anchor points during the preliminary session so the patient can be brought to the fifth level of the subconscious mind quickly during the second session.

Turner says any one can be hypnotized as long as he or she is over 3 years old, can follow directions, is not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and is not mentally retarded or suffering from any kind of organic brain disease.

Age regression

Turner uses a process she calls age regression during hypnosis. After the patient has decided what issues they are going to address while hypnotized, Turner will ask them to dig back into their memories while under hypnosis and remember the first time that they felt scared, anxious or depressed.

“It’s like opening up a time capsule. They’ll see what apron mommy’s got on,” she says.

Turner will then ask the patient what the younger version of themselves needs in that particular moment. The patient literally speaks to the child in his or her memory while under hypnosis to relieve their childhood fears, she says.

“What you’re doing is making that little one feel whole and giving them their dignity back. I have a great respect for making children feel that they have dignity,” Turner says.

Turner says she often tells people to let those younger selves know that they are okay and that they have dignity. This process was labeled by Turner as “rescue missions.”

Motivation Hypnosis is located in downtown Burlington. Cameron Dexter, photo

“This is deep stuff,” Turner says. “This is why you need to be a clinician, you never know what you’re going to find.”

According to Turner, when people are young, they tend to generalize. By fixing the younger self within that first memory,where the first generalizations took place, the build-up of childhood fears over the years will disintegrate.

Sophomore Chris DeLorenzo says he wouldn’t mind being hypnotized for his gambling problems.

“If being hypnotized would stop me from playing so much online poker, I’d be really happy,” he says. “As a college student, I don’t have the money to keep up with the habit.”

The land down under

Jake Hunter, a first-year at St. Lawrence University, has undergone hypnosis to help him quit smoking.

“I really wanted to quit and had tried the gum. I had tried the patch; I tried eating a snack when I wanted a smoke, but nothing really worked.” Hunter says.

Hunter underwent hypnosis with a clinician who claimed to be trained in hypnosis therapy.

“I didn’t really ask if they had a plan or a schedule for the hypnosis, which looking back I should have,” he says, “ and I should have looked into it because the guy just brought me into a room, charged me 200 bucks and hypnotized me, but didn’t fix anything.”

Hunter says that for about a week or two he didn’t want a cigarette, but soon the effects wore off.

“I think that if I had had someone hypnotize me who had a better plan or protocol maybe it would have worked out better, but I don’t regret paying that money because I’ll do whatever it takes to quit smoking and that’s the bottom line,” he says.

As a smoker of about five years Hunter says he thinks he will be able to quit with the help of a more experienced hypnosis, but says he’s skeptical of anyone who says they can treat an addiction in a couple of hours.

“I know we don’t know how the mind works when it’s hypnotized,” Hunter says. “But I also don’t think we know everything about what happens when we are addicted. For some people, I’m sure it works. I’m just not there.”

Turner has a plan for every client that comes to her. She says that with multiple sessions, her age regressions and rescue missions are permanent.