An Ericksonian Approach To Chronic Fatique Syndrome

One of the challenges of working with people in the capacity of a coach or consultant

is that you never know what baggage someone is going to bring through the door with them. A client may have already told you that they want specific help with one particular problem and when they enter my office, it becomes clear that in order to resolve that problem there are others which need to be worked with.

This client was one of those cases. She had told me she wanted help in deciding what to do with her life. She contacted me by email, we arranged a time and she visited my office. We started talking and she told me almost immediately what she wanted to do, it was something she had always wanted to do.

'Then, what was it that has prevented you from doing it in the past?' I asked.

'Well, you see,' she explained, 'I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome...'

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is a good reason not to do most things. It can be varied in its symptoms but the most significant problem associated with it is extreme tiredness and the inability to maintain anything approaching a normal life for more than a couple of weeks at a time. It is caused by the Epstein Bar virus and cause mononucleosis and glandular fever... people either recover from it relatively quickly or are affected by it for years. Its symptoms can include a sensation that the brain is 'foggy', extreme tiredness, impatience, proneness to muscle injury and proneness to illness in general. In its later years Chronic Fatigue Syndrome becomes something very similar to depression and it is very hard to tell one from the other. The illness also seems to be particularly potent against people who are active and motivated exactly the sorts of people who don't like spending time in bed recovering from illnesses. Its effects on the individual and their families are dramatic and often life changing.

For this young lady to achieve her goals in life, she really needed to overcome her illness. I was reminded of a case back in 1952 of congenital ichthyosis (http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119756349/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0). This is a genetic disease in which victims suffer from not having any pores in their skin. Consequently, they cannot sweat. The skin cracks creating horrible, suppurating wounds which then become infected. There was no cure for this disease. The father of a 16 year old boy, who suffered from this disease, took him to a hypnotist, who made some generalised suggestions that the skin on a certain part of his body would heal. It did so. Over a period of three years with one treatment a week, the boy's skin disease went into almost complete remission. Looking over my notes and thinking about what my client had said about chronic fatigue I decided that the best approach would be Ericksonian. The main principle behind Ericksonian therapy is to help the client by getting the client to do something that they are already very good at. My client had an excellent imagination and the language she used seemed ideal for trance work.

During the trance we explored and came up with a possible reason for the illness and furthermore, my client came up with a reason to heal and a reason why she could heal. This was extremely important. People who have suffered from Chronic Fatigue are so used to treatment not working that they no longer believe it is possible to heal. My client had given up hope of ever being able to heal and that's why she had wanted my help in choosing a new career. What happened in trance was that she gave herself the motivation and the belief that it was possible to recover.

Since this session her health has improved remarkably, she is much more active and much more positive about life. She has started on her career and it looks hopeful that she will make a full recovery. And what part did I play in her recovery? None, I simply helped her find the belief and resources that she needed to become her potential. The rest was her doing.

Peter Campbell, 2010

NLP Master Practitioner,

Mind Design, Christchurch.

info@mind-design.co.nz

www.mind-design.co.nz

by: Peter Campbell

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