The Subconscious Mind and Changing Behaviour
Alternative Therapies Like Psych-K Explore a new way of Thinking
Sep 16, 2009
As the universal trend for self discovery and improvement continues, many people are now looking towards alternative therapies that target the subconscious mind as a method to break undesirable patterns of behaviour, while creating new ways of being.
Psych-K is one such therapy. This therapy is said to teach simple and powerful processes that allow a person to communicate directly with the subconscious mind, enabling the individual to change old negative beliefs and behaviours into positive ones.
What is the Subconscious Mind?
An exact definition of the subconscious mind is difficult to provide as it is a concept which remains the subject of much conjecture in the scientific and academic fields. However, as anyone who has benefitted from alternative therapies would know, what is real and effective for one person, may simply not work for another and no one person’s experience is more valid than another’s.
It may help to first take a look at the subconscious mind’s opposite: the conscious mind. According to Doctor and Hypnotherapist Kathy Doner, a conscious state of mind is a clear awareness of one’s thoughts, feelings and actions, as they occur. The conscious mind is where short term memory exists and provides the ability to reason. When someone takes in information, it is here that they decide whether or not it is true.
By contrast, the subconscious mind is explained by Dr. C S Shah as a set of instinctual tendencies to act or think a certain way, based on emotional impressions left on the mind by past events. The subconscious thought process is something a person is unaware of as it is happening and controls things like breathing, or seemingly ‘automatic’ behaviours that a person carries out without even thinking about.
The Power of the Subconscious Mind
Many subconscious mind studies, such as the one featured in a 2007 New York Times article, have concluded that the decision-making process is actually performed from the "bottom-up." This means the areas of the brain related to subconscious thinking are the first to analyse the potential merits and drawbacks of a decision and the higher-level, conscious regions only come into play afterwards, when the decision has essentially already been made.
This order of thinking would help to explain those times when people are at a complete loss to explain their own behaviour. Almost everyone would be able to identify with this scenario – when they intended to say or do one thing and ended up saying or doing the complete opposite. Perhaps this is an example of the power of the subconscious mind at work.
How Does Psych-K Work?
Psych-K stands for Psychological Kinesiology. This form of therapy was developed by Robert M. Williams in 1988. Its primary focus is changing beliefs in the subconscious mind, to help people transform old beliefs which are no longer serving them, into positive ones which add real value to their life. Psych-K aims to align subconscious goals with conscious intentions.
So does it work? That’s something that can only truly be answered by the individual who tries this form of therapy. If the subconscious mind does control the majority of thoughts and behaviours, then cognitive therapies which target only the conscious mind won’t be accessing the area of the brain most able to create real and lasting change. Given this proposition one can see the merit in exploring therapies which target subconscious mind power.
Are Alternative Therapies Like Psych-K Effective for Everyone?
As with all alternative therapies there will always be those who bemoan a lack of concrete scientific evidence and medical data. Their arguments are well worth hearing as well before one decides if a particular therapy could be of use to them, if for no other reason than making a decision from a reasonable, well-informed perspective.
Psych-K and other alternative therapies that target the subconscious mind do have the potential to work
for anyone who tries them. However as many practitioners will often state, a key element which needs to be present from the beginning for any level of success to occur, is the individual's belief that this therapy can be effective.
Sources
Carey, Benedict. 2007, "Who's Minding the Mind?", The New York Times [online], available at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/31/health/psychology/31sub.html
Donor, Kathy. 2008, "Understanding Hypnosis", [online], available at www.kathydonermd.com/understanding.htm
O'Brien, Mary. "Create Powerful Lasting Change with Psych-K", Quantum Creations [online], available at www.quantumcreations.com.au/psych-k
Shah, CS. 2000, "Subconscious Mind", [online] available at www.boloji.com/spirituality/040.htm
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