{"id":527,"date":"2009-08-05T19:11:49","date_gmt":"2009-08-05T19:11:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/integrativemedicine.org\/go\/?p=527"},"modified":"2024-06-28T19:14:17","modified_gmt":"2024-06-28T19:14:17","slug":"healing-after-a-childhood-of-trauma-local-woman-finds-solace-in-hypnotherapy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/integrativemedicine.org\/go\/healing-after-a-childhood-of-trauma-local-woman-finds-solace-in-hypnotherapy\/","title":{"rendered":"HEALING \u2013 After a childhood of trauma, local woman finds solace in hypnotherapy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Los Angeles Daily News
\n05-08-2009
\nSource hyperlink<\/a><\/p>\n

HEALING \u2013 After a childhood of trauma, local woman finds solace in hypnotherapy<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sasha Carrion will tell you from firsthand experience: It takes a lot of strength to overcome a lifetime of trauma.<\/p>\n

But nearly 30 years after her mother disappeared \u2013 murdered, she believes, by her own father \u2013 the 32-year-old former Torrance resident has figured out a way to put the past behind her.<\/p>\n

She did it through hypnosis.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy whole life was absolutely centered on getting justice for my mother\u2019s murder,\u201d said Carrion, who was so moved by her emotional transformation that she became a hypnotherapist. \u201cIt had consumed me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hypnosis, a process by which a person enters a state of deep relaxation and heightened suggestibility, helped Carrion heal by allowing her to let go of her past.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t an easy past to relinquish.<\/p>\n

Carrion\u2019s life has been a series of struggles \u2013 tragic events that began 27 years ago when she awoke one day to find her mother, Rosa Maria Marquez, missing from their Bell Gardens home.<\/p>\n

She was 5, and her parents were separated and in the process of getting a divorce.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember calling out to my mom and she didn\u2019t say anything,\u201d said Carrion, now a stunning woman with deep brown eyes and coffee-color hair. \u201cThe next thing I remember is the cops were there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carrion\u2019s father, Raphael Marquez, whom Carrion described as abusive and volatile, was questioned about the disappearance but never arrested.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe police were asking me questions,\u201d said Carrion, who chose to take her mother\u2019s maiden name. \u201cMy dad showed up and he quickly pushed me to the side and said, `Don\u2019t tell them that I ever hit your mom or you.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

Her father fled to Mexico shortly afterward, leaving Carrion and her 3-year-old sister in the care of their widowed grandmother.<\/p>\n

Because her mother\u2019s body was never found, police never categorized her disappearance as a murder. Consequently, Carrion wrestled with the possibility that perhaps her mother had left them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew it was either A, my father had killed my mother, or B, she had abandoned us,\u201d Carrion said. \u201cYou can\u2019t win with that. Either way you lose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finding family
\nWhen Carrion was 19 and ready to face her past, her paternal uncle agreed to take her to her father.<\/p>\n

They flew to Mexico, where had remarried and had two more children.<\/p>\n

Shortly after their reunion, Carrion asked her father: \u201cDid you kill my mother?\u201d<\/p>\n

He said no.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe told me that she had left him for another man,\u201d Carrion said. \u201cI was so desperate for a family that I believed him.\u201d<\/p>\n

For almost a decade, she maintained a relationship with her father and his new family. She sent gifts. She visited often. Then one day, her uncle came to her with a confession.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe told me, `I\u2019m afraid if I die I\u2019m going to have to face your mother on the other side,\u2019 \u201d she said. \u201cThen he tells me how my father killed my mother.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carrion suspected her uncle\u2019s words were true.<\/p>\n

\u201cI called my father to confront him about this. He didn\u2019t admit it; he just told me to (expletive) off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carrion tried to get legal action taken against her father \u2013 she even got her story featured on the Web site of \u201cAmerica\u2019s Most Wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n

But there was no evidence. No body. Nothing she could do. In 2007, her father died from a rare form of lymphoma and cirrhosis of the liver.<\/p>\n

Carrion said she didn\u2019t mourn.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe moment he died, it was as if I was free,\u201d she said. \u201cI had that weight taken off my shoulders. It was to the point where it had completely taken over my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alleviating the pain
\nBy that time, years of distress had taken its toll. Not yet 30, Carrion was suffering from a host of ailments including migraines, hair loss, stomach pains and backaches.<\/p>\n

Doctors couldn\u2019t help her, she said. Antidepressants didn\u2019t work either.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until, on a whim, she decided to try hypnotherapy that she began to feel better.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was finally able to let go,\u201d she said. \u201cI felt better almost immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carrion said becoming a hypnotherapist herself (at the time she had been working in the fashion industry) was a natural step.<\/p>\n

Within months, she was certified by the International Hypnosis Federation and the Omni Hypnosis Training Center, the first accredited school of hypnosis.<\/p>\n

She had found her calling.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I did my first class of hypnosis, it was huge,\u201d said Carrion, who practices out of her home in Marina del Rey and an office in Redondo Beach. \u201cThey asked for volunteers, and every chance I could get I would put my hand up.\u201d<\/p>\n

How hypnosis works
\nFor most people, hypnosis conjures images of swinging pendulums and sleeplike trances.<\/p>\n

In reality, it is more aptly described as a state of focused attention and heightened suggestibility, during which the patient is completely aware of what he is doing and saying.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a fear that with hypnosis you can make the client do whatever you want them to do, but it doesn\u2019t work that way,\u201d said Torrance psychiatrist Isabel Puri. \u201cThe person who is in control is the patient. At any point, if you want to stop the hypnotic state you can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Puri, who has a certificate in hypnotherapy, said hypnosis can be an effective treatment, particularly for mild depression and anxiety disorders.<\/p>\n

\u201cTypically, the milder disorders are more likely to respond to hypnotherapy,\u201d she said. \u201cThat is because all hypnosis is actually self-hypnosis. Once you learn the techniques, you need to practice by yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hypnotherapy is often used to help people stop smoking, lose weight and overcome phobias. It also has proven helpful, as in Carrion\u2019s case, in overcoming trauma.<\/p>\n

To break the trauma cycle, a hypnotherapist must replace negative thoughts with positive, reassuring thoughts and feelings.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes it\u2019s like being freed from a curse,\u201d Carrion said.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how it felt for \u201cJoan.\u201d<\/p>\n

An Orange County attorney who preferred her real name not be used, Joan, 27, had been suffering from anxiety and panic attacks for several years before going to see Carrion.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was to the point where I literally could not eat in a restaurant, not even a Subway or McDonald\u2019s,\u201d she said. \u201cBasic things like going grocery shopping and running errands was a struggle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joan had heard about Carrion through a friend who had gone to see her. She said she was skeptical at first, but decided to give it a try.<\/p>\n

It worked. After only two sessions, Joan said, she started feeling better. Carrion also taught her self-hypnosis, which she used at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight away, I noticed that I wasn\u2019t as agitated,\u201d Joan said. \u201cInstead of going to the bad place where everything is a crisis, it\u2019s more like, `Things are going to be OK. Things are fine. I\u2019m in an appropriate amount of control.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Los Angeles Daily News 05-08-2009 Source hyperlink HEALING \u2013 After a childhood of trauma, local woman finds solace in hypnotherapy Sasha Carrion will tell you from firsthand experience: It takes a lot of strength to overcome a lifetime of trauma. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hypno"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/integrativemedicine.org\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/integrativemedicine.org\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/integrativemedicine.org\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/integrativemedicine.org\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/integrativemedicine.org\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/integrativemedicine.org\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":528,"href":"https:\/\/integrativemedicine.org\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527\/revisions\/528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/integrativemedicine.org\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/integrativemedicine.org\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/integrativemedicine.org\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}