Comfort Zone
By David J. Norton, LPC and Paula Norton, MA
I got a call from Leo who was in extreme leg pain, asking if I could help with pain
control. He was a construction worker, aged 52, and he had had a heart attack.
His legs were in constant pain, and at that point he was bed ridden. I offered him
an appointment, I told him my office was handicapped accessible and with some
hesitation, he declined and ended the call. He seemed skeptical about Hypnosis,
and I had a fleeting moment of thinking it was a crank call. There was something
mean or rough in Leo’s tone of voice. I pictured him as a cowhand out of
“Rawhide”, the old TV series.
During the following week he called a few more times, and finally he asked me if I
would consider making a house call. I checked his address and it was over an hour
away, in the middle of nowhere. He made several appointments, then cancelled
at the last minute to try shots of morphine and other medical interventions.
Nothing worked, he continued to be in terrible pain, losing weight, depressed,
and mad at the medical world of doctors.
I was not sure if Leo was serious. He seemed angry on the phone. All I could
imagine was driving to his remote location and ending up in the fridge like one of
Dahmer’s victims. This was way past my comfort zone, plus he could not pay… I
made the appointment for a Saturday, my usual day off, for early in the
afternoon.
His home was a modern style, with large windows in a country setting at the end
of a long driveway and hidden by woods. I had to let myself in because he
mentioned on the phone that he could not open the door and no one else would
be there.
Sure I was about to be killed, I went in. I followed the sound of his voice through
well-lit rooms until I came to a large room with a massive stone fireplace, a
hospital bed, and one wooden chair. Leo obviously had home care, but he had
not left his bed in over 6 weeks. He looked emaciated, depressed, but open to
conversation. He told me the tale of his heart attack and his subsequent
unyielding leg pain. I listened, and then explained my course of treatment. I told
him that after a heart attack it was common for the body to reroute blood flow

through new channels – this is called plasticity - sometimes turning veins into
arteries. I told Leo that this is commonly the way the body heals itself and that by
now he should be well into that process.
I explained to him that his nervous system had learned the pain from the heart
attack, and it was continuing to use those old circuits and not making blood flow
route changes for some unknown reason. I drew an analogy to new wiring going
into an old house, but the old wiring staying in use somehow - the new wiring
system not connecting to the main power source. In much the same way through
hypnosis his brain and nervous system would reroute its activity, and bypass the
pain.
After a long and lazy trance induction I began to bring up an old Erickson story
about the moment a baby moves out of its comfort zone and pulls on something
and stands up for the first time. What a moment of exhilaration and discovery.
Erickson used this imagery to help himself after episodes of polio rendered him in
a painful state of debilitation. Babies love new sensory experience - smells, tastes,
the wonder of spice and sugar, discovery. Walking follows carefully and slowly as
the child’s nervous system develops new circuits. Eventually one step follows
another and YOU REMEMBER HOW TO WALK. I went on about how babies fall
and get over the pain quickly as their minds find something fascinating to focus on
immediately. New pain free circuits are created instantaneously as baby steps
ensue. Babies who are in constant states of movement and discovery have good
appetites, are thirsty and full of boundless energy and curiosity.
I ended with the imbedded suggestion that Leo would remember the infant urge
of hunger that demands satisfaction. Leo would be moved to get out of bed and
to satisfy his hunger. This would be a natural time for his body to use baby steps
and activate new circuits.
Leo got out of bed in an eyes open trance, and moved wobbly like a toddler, at
first holding on to things, then taking a few steps. He made his way into the
nearby kitchen to get something to eat. His sister arrived unexpectedly and
screamed in delight when she saw that he was on his own two feet and eating. It
was then that he came out of trance.

I left silently, and drove home with the thought of Milton Erickson in the
passenger seat, feeling grateful for his knowledge and the example of a mentor
who pushed himself beyond his comfort zone.