Category: Cases
Blog: Boundaries: A Case Study
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
When people come into my office with relationship problems, they do not always realize they’re dealing with boundary issues. Many people think if they’re being treated badly in relationship, they must be doing something wrong. This is generally due to a lack of understanding about boundaries, and this lack of understanding usually stems from a place of unworthiness. The person being mistreated believes they’re flawed in some way, and makes compromises to stay in relationships where they are suffering. Boundary issues almost always arise when a person doesn’t feel lovable, and consequently, they’re willing to do almost anything to get another person’s approval. Because they don’t love themselves, they are dependent on others to be sources of love and validation.
Blog: A New Year’s Resolution: Manifesting a Life You’ll Love
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
One of the biggest hurdles in manifesting what you want in your life is creating clear intentions. When it comes to setting goals, many people have a conscious yes operating along with an unconscious no. I often find this to be true of people who say they want to be in a relationship, but cannot seem to manifest one. These people spend lots of time and money on self-help books, dating services, even therapy, but still find themselves alone.
Blog: The Two Truths: Finding Meaning in Difficult Situations
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
In a recent dinner conversation with friends, the Buddhist concept of the Two Truths came up. In Buddhist philosophy, the Two Truths offers an explanation of the nature of reality. The discussion wound around to how I introduced adapted elements of the Two Truths to students in the Depth Hypnosis Foundation Course. This adaptation is a bit like an overview, making the concept a little easier to grasp and apply in a Western context.
Blog: Journey On It: Journeying for Healing
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
In a traditional setting, the shaman would align with the forces of the Earth in order to bring organization and guidance to human affairs. People today are so disconnected from the natural world and from their own inner worlds that the spirit of inquiry for the modern journeyer needs to focus on reconnection. In my Shamanic Journey workshops, I help students address issues of imbalance as they work with the journey to deepen their connection to their own inner guidance and personal power.
Article: Ho’oponopono: Making Right
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
Ho’oponopono is a Hawaiian word which refers to a process of mediation which has been used to bring peace among family and community members in Hawaii for centuries. Ho’oponopono is a key component of the larger school of psychology and healing called Huna.
Huna is a very ancient psychology, which has roots in mystery schools beyond the Hawaiian Islands. Many of the important elements of these mystery schools were relatively well preserved within the shamanic practices of Hawaii until the arrival of Christian missionaries in the early nineteenth century.
Article: Shamanic Counseling Case Study – The Healing Drum
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
In almost all shamanic cultures, both past and present, we see the drum being used as an instrument of healing. Shamans use the drum to address many issues and physical ailments including depression, phobias, addiction, and chronic health problems. Additionally, the shamanic techniques of soul retrieval, depossession, and extraction can all be performed with the drum.
Article: Depth Hypnosis, Soul Retrieval, and Addiction
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
There are many different understandings about the nature of addiction. In working with addiction through my practice of Depth Hypnosis, I have found that it is helpful to apply the diagnostic and restorative methods provided by shamanism to help resolve addictive issues permanently.
Article: Shamanic Counseling Case Study: Soul Retrieval
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
From the shamanic perspective, one of the primary causes of imbalance is soul loss. Soul loss can be caused by any type of trauma: emotional, physical, spiritual, or psychological. And trauma can be the result of many things including verbal or physical attack, surgery, abuse, or a sudden loss. From a shamanic perspective, when trauma occurs, a soul part can become “frozen outside of time.” When this happens, the soul part does not evolve with the person as they continue their life. If this situation is not addressed, many problems can occur, including depression, addiction, and even chronic illness.
Article: Applying Energy Medicine Techniques to an Autoimmune Response
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
A basic principle of energy medicine is that health and well-being are maintained on three levels: physical, mental/emotional, and spiritual. In Western culture, we think of illness as related only to the physical. However, the physical presentation of an illness is usually the last stage of a long-standing problem.
Article: Using Depth Hypnosis Techniques to Treat Abuse
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
In my Depth Hypnosis practice, I work with many survivors of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse. Most survivors have developed defenses around the abuse and the memory of it, and although this may be helpful at the time, it prevents the survivor from fully integrating the emotions of the experience. The key to healing abuse involves remembering the experience, and integrating the emotions that are associated with the abuse – emotions such as fear, pain, or betrayal, for example.
Article: Working with the Shamanic Journey
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
Shamanism is the core spiritual and healing practice of most indigenous cultures. The Shaman serves as the medical, psychological, and spiritual counselor of these cultures. One of the primary responsibilities of the Shaman is to interface between the world of the seen and the unseen. As part of the interface between these two worlds, the shaman uses the shamanic journey. The shamanic journey is a term that is used to describe the primary vehicle that Shamans use to perceive phenomena beyond the conscious mind. It is a method of perceiving the psyche and world of spirit, as well as a means of gaining deeper insight into the world around us.
Article: Using Depth Hypnosis With Eating Disorders
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
Eating disorders are a common presenting problem in the West. Mainstream psychotherapists categorize these disorders according to the specific behaviors involved, providing different diagnoses for someone who binges and purges (a bulimic), as opposed to someone who withdraws from food (an anorexic.) This seems to imply a nascent understanding of the different energetic patterns underlying each disorder. However, mainstream psychotherapy generally fails to trace this understanding down to the origin of the disorder within a person’s psyche.
Article: Using Depth Hypnosis Techniques to Treat PTSD
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome is a surprisingly pervasive disorder suffered by hundreds of thousands of people in the United States alone. Formerly referred to as shell shock in World War I and World War II soldiers, and later named Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in Vietnam veterans coming home from the war, it is now recognized by the American Psychological Association (APA) as a legitimate psychological disorder, affecting many people, military and otherwise. The causes of PTSD vary, but the common factor is usually a traumatizing event. Any long or short-term event, such as an accident or physical abuse, can permanently affect a person and cause PTSD.
Article: Case Study: Combining Energy Medicine and Past Life Regression Techniques
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
My work takes me to many times and places in my clients’ psyches. During this work, I use many tools to help people discover the origin of the problems they seek help with. One of the most valuable tools is the use of rays of energy. Vedic science, tantric Buddhist healing practices, and other schools of energy medicine articulate many methods of working with rays to create change in the psyche. When dealing with deep issues within the psyche, it is often impossible to address them by any other method than with rays. This is because ray work can effect change beyond the realm of words or even images.
Article: Using Integrated Energy Medicine Techniques to Address PMS
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
Most non-Western medical traditions recognize that physical imbalance, particularly in chronic conditions, is just the tip of the iceberg. They recognize that physical illness is the last and most serious condition in a long line of manifestations by a particular imbalance. Non-Western and shamanic healing traditions, including Chinese medicine, all suggest that physical illness originates in the spirit. My work confirms this position as well.