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Unconscious
Responding to People Who Have Unusual Encounters
Disturbing hallucinations sometimes can be resolved with therapy alone.
Posted May 27, 2023 Reviewed by Gary Drevitch
Key points
- In can be very useful to help patients navigate through unusual experiences as if they are real.
- Labelling hallucinations as pathological can lead to development of anxiety or depression.
- Disturbing hallucinations sometimes can be resolved with cognitive therapy alone.
In my work with children’s counseling and hypnosis I invite young people to be candid about their experiences and thoughts so that I can best guide them to better understand themselves and improve the course of their lives. Sometimes, my patients’ reports describe events that fall well outside usual experiences. In those cases, I have found it very useful to help my patients navigate through their experiences at face value, as if they are real, which has helped many of them deal well with their challenges.
In contrast, I am concerned that similar patients may encounter other health providers with different clinical orientations that lead to less than desirable outcomes. For instance, if experiences involving hallucinations are attributed to a mental illness, the affected patients may come to fully believe they are ill. This belief can cause patients to view further hallucinations as indications of pathology, which can lead them to become anxious or depressed. Further, treatment of hallucinations with anti-psychotic medications can lead to the development of significant side-effects that can adversely alter the course of the patients’ lives.
This post describes the outcome of three patients whose hallucinations were treated at face value.
A Girl and Her Ghost
A 12-year-old girl reported that she was being visited by a ghost every night, who told her that she should kill herself. The girl had attempted to commit suicide on two occasions, which led to prolonged hospitalizations for psychiatric evaluation and treatment. When I met her, she was receiving therapy with anti-psychotics, anxiolytics, and anti-depressants. Nonetheless, she was still experiencing nightly visitations from the ghost.
I suggested that talking to the ghost may be helpful, and the girl permitted me to question the ghost through her while she was in a state of hypnosis. The ghost told me that the girl had gone through a difficult childhood, and that killing herself would allow her to relive it in a better way. I suggested that the girl was learning how to better deal with her childhood through our counseling work, and that when (rather than if) she died of old age she could elect to relive her childhood at that point. The ghost accepted this logic, and asked if it could now turn into the girl’s guardian angel. The girl agreed to this request, and the ghost was never seen again. Over the subsequent several months she was able to discontinue all her medications except for her anti-depressant.
A Boy and His Demons
A 14-year-old boy presented with insomnia and refusal to go to school. According to his subconscious, he did not want to go to school because his best friend had left him, and he felt lonely. A few months after we worked through that issue my patient reported that he was being followed by four demons. He said that he could see them in the shadows everywhere he went, including school. The patient stated that the four demons were Belial, Satan, Leviathan, and Lucifer.
We identified what each demon wanted by interviewing them through the patient’s subconscious. It turned out that each demon had an issue to resolve. Belial wanted to feel worthwhile, Satan wanted to make a deal in exchange for the patient’s soul, and Lucifer wanted to fight the patient; as for Leviathan, the interview with him is recounted here. At the conclusion of the interviews, once each demon’s issue was addressed, the patient stated that the demons disappeared and never returned.
The patient experienced no further hallucinations over the subsequent 7 years. He did receive helpful guidance from his subconscious throughout his adolescence about various issues.
A Boy With Visions
A 9-year-old patient was referred for evaluation because he had become very anxious when he saw an apparition of a strange woman in his room. He said he knew the woman was unreal, but was certain she was there and that he was not asleep. He calmed down when I explained that other children also have reported to me that they have experienced visions or seen spirits.
Three months later he told me that on a vacation trip his family ran into a lot of road traffic. He then felt some beings inside him and through the beings he was able to control the traffic. He said that while on vacation he felt something hug him, and his subconscious explained that this was his guardian angel. I suggested that this knowledge can help the patient feel more secure.
Over the subsequent several months, during therapy visits, this patient reported additional unusual experiences that he was able to interpret calmly. This helped him become more self-confident as he gained mastery over the experiences.
People With Gifts
Thousands of years ago, some people with extraordinary perceptions were revered as prophets. However, later such people were viewed with suspicion, and some were accused of being possessed by evil. By the late nineteenth century, many people with visions were thought to be mentally unstable and were institutionalized. In the modern era, as illustrated in the case of the girl and her ghost, patients have been treated with medications intended to suppress hallucinations.
Certainly, some patients have significant mental illness, including psychotic processes for which they require intensive medical therapy. However, I believe that for many patients we can do better. I view my patients with extraordinary mental perceptions as being gifted. In that light, I accept their reports, help them work through any anxiety that arises when their perceptions disturb them, and then teach them to embrace and incorporate their abilities into their lives.
