Wake Up and Go To Sleep

Ben was referred to me by a local hospital for treatment of REM (Rapid Eye
Movement) behavioral disorder. In his case (due to age) a part of his brain had
degenerated and resulted in loss of muscular control during REM sleep. Both Ben
and his wife were fearful that his wild movements would result in her being
inadvertently kicked or hit while sleeping next to him, as well as possible self-
injury. After nearly 50 years of marriage and sharing a bed, Ben’s wife had
resorted to sleeping in the guestroom.
Ben was seventy years old, a lively and interesting recently retired factory worker.
He had looked forward to enjoying his retirement. He had a keen sense of history,
read a great deal about Native American culture, and he longed to visit ancient
Native American sites and national parks. I enjoyed our chats exchanging
knowledge in those areas, a favorite interest of mine as well. He had purchased a
Winnebago, and was ready to go - except for the very narrow single bed and his
REM disorder.
A man like Ben who had used his hands and mind as a master toolmaker to
produce work his whole life was looking for a simple concrete solution to his
problem. The fact that his disorder felt as if it was beyond his control was very
upsetting and embarrassing to him. His mechanical engineering training and
tactile problem solving that were so valuable in his professional life characterized
the personality of one who could be reluctant to consider Hypnosis as a tool
toward wellness
Matching, Pacing, Leading are the cornerstones of good Hypnosis. During my
conversations with Ben on Native American Indians, I frequently brought up
“trance healing ceremonies” and their similarity to modern day Hypnosis. Ben
gradually became open to using Hypnosis to help his REM symptoms.
As part of my early hypnotic training with Steven Heller, PhD, I learned Erickson’s
technique, “creating an unconscious generative part”, which meant that with Ben
I could create a post hypnotic suggestion to occur during his sleep cycle to wake
just before the uncontrollable movements would begin. There are many
references in experimental Hypnosis literature to studies that show the success of

this type of suggestion. Erickson demonstrated this therapeutic intervention in
several cases, most notably “February Man”. In trance he created a positive male
character for his female client. This male character appeared in her dreams
during difficult memories of childhood neglect and loneliness. He would appear
in her dreams bringing gifts on her birthdays and holidays, bolstering her self-
esteem, and helping her to progress developmentally. His job during her sleep
was to strengthen her ego resources. In my own experience, an image of Milton
Erickson has appeared in my dreams over a period of 44 years and periodically
given me very helpful advice. I decided to place a generative suggestion to be
triggered, a post hypnotic suggestion, in Ben’s unconscious that would interrupt
the REM pattern and disrupt the threatening behavior that occurred in sleep. He
would wake up briefly before flailing, and then peacefully fall back asleep.
I thought of an old Three Stooges episode. In it Curley, Moe and Larry are in one
bed. Larry begins to snore and Moe hits him and says, “Wake up and go to sleep”.
Larry wakes up briefly and then falls silently back to sleep. Then Curley begins to
snore and a frustrated Moe hits him and says, “Wake up and go to sleep”.
Groggily Curley falls back to sleep and Moe smiles in silence. However, like most
Stooge tales, it soon turns chaotic. Curley and Larry begin to snore and Moe is
going from one to the other slapping and shouting, “Wake up and go to sleep”.
In my next session with Ben, I discussed the idea of a generative suggestion and
the old Three Stooges scene. He remembered it as well, and we were both
laughing. I suggested we put Moe in his unconscious dream world to wake him
up right before any sleep behavioral disorders or thrashing occurred, and he
agreed.
The next week Ben and his wife came to his session together and they wondered
if it would be alright to attempt to sleep together as the violent episodes had not
occurred all week. I agreed. I continued to see Ben through the summer, and he
and his wife worked together on getting ready and organized for their road trip. I
repeated the induction with Ben each week, and his wife called me several times
to report that they were sleeping peacefully together in their marital bed.
They left on their adventure out West. I had Ben check in with me every week for
5 weeks. In his words, “We followed the blueprints, installed the boilerplate, and
the new circuitry was working well.”

By David J. Norton, LPC and Paula Norton, MA