Working with Asperger’s Syndrome

QUESTION:

Good morning, Del, I was wondering if you could help me regarding a teenager that I am using hypnosis with. The issue at hand is that this young man has always struggled with several symptoms of Asperger's syndrome. He is struggling with his ability to communicate comfortably with his peers and knows something is not right. He has experienced a few panic episodes, has difficulty looking you in the eye, and is fearful of not being able to control his anger (even though he has only acted out twice his entire life).  I have been reading up on Asperger's but was wondering, with your immense amount of work with children, have you worked with this syndrome and would you have any scripts appropriate for this situation?

So far, I have worked with him on breathing properly, relaxation cues, building self-esteem, feeling more comfortable around his peers, relaxing the mind becoming an excellent observer, growing appreciation for who he is, etc. Also, I have found your Induction for the Very Anxious and Relieving Depression most helpful. I do a lot of "coaching" with him and present different scenarios to discuss regarding "normal" social interactions, etc. What else would you suggest?

ANSWER:

First of all, you seem to be doing well, so I am simply adding a few other possibilities that might help you in further work with him.

(1) About his communication - Using a recording method, tTry having him go only as deep as needed for you to be able to talk together, and have him “role-play” by responding by you asking and him answering questions or discussing something with him about what he enjoys doing.  Then play the recording back to him when he comes out of hypnosis and see if his communication is much freer than he experiences. Hearing what he is able to do under hypnosis can be a powerful convincer to him of his “hidden” ability.

(2) Regarding the few panic episodes he has had, have you asked him what is happening that triggers the episodes? What goes on just before they happen? Do they emerge “out of the blue” or are they related to something specific?  If it is specific, then the script, “Anxiety and Panic Attacks”, (Great Escapes, Volume 2) can be very helpful, especially when you repeat paragraphs 4 & 5 by pulling the particular incident through those paragraphs:  “So, when you find yourself facing __________, you’ll enter it, knowing that ________”, etc. You are going through it first, generally, but then you are making it very specific to whatever situation is triggering his panic.

If there is no particular trigger that can be discerned, you might try creating a  story for his child-self to go on a great adventure, in which he faces a huge beast and finds a way to conquer it, thus empowering  himself to always be able to face whatever fearful beast enters his life from now on. Also, there are a number of scripts concerning anxiety and fears in my books and as single scripts that could be helpful with him, all available on my web site’s e-store.

(3) Regarding his fear of not being able to control his anger, I am sure you are helping him understand that anger is a common experience for most everyone. All of us have many things going on our minds, but we don’t have to act upon them.  He is obviously afraid of losing control.  The more he fears it, the more it will be pronounced in his life.  Perhaps getting him to visualize what his anger looks like, and then having him imagine putting it in a box and putting on the shelf in his closet might take away some of its power.  There is a script I created that is also helpful called “The Room of Fears” (Great Escapes, Volume 6) that allows him to take fear out of  box and speak to it and have it become smaller. This is easy to adapt to "anger". 

Another way to handle it is to suggest he do this little exercise whenever he begins to feel angry (when there seems to be no need for the anger).  First, he needs to understand that Anger is a good part of himself. Ask what life would be like if he never had the angry part of him  (becomes placid, uninterested in changing anything that is wrong, etc.) He needs to understand that each part of us, our various emotions and aspects of our personality, is trying to help us.  But sometimes that important part of us overdoes its job when it’s unnecessary. So, the second step is to tell that angry part of him that he loves it and that he appreciates the work it tries to do for him.  The third step of the exercise is to tell the Angry Part that it is over-working when it doesn’t need to, so please take a back-seat and rest. The last step is to call out the Calm, Peaceful Part, asking it to take over for awhile. (The word “Part” should be replaced with your client’s first name.) He needs to practice this, while you introduce it in a hypnotic way, as well.

(4) As to his difficulty looking you in the eye, along with his insecurity about communication, sounds like some hypnotic doses of self-confidence and deepening his self-esteem would be in order.  For ideas, if you run out of your own, there are many scripts I’ve created on this subject in my books and as individual scripts on my web site.  Good luck.