A Therapist who is paving the way with a groundbreaking new therapy for patients with Bipolar Disorder
Today’s challenging times have led to a lot of us looking for help in a professional capacity—counsellors, therapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists. There is a lot to unpack in the mental battlefield and emotional and mental health is something we need to address as we continue to explore this journey of healing.
A positive force in the therapeutic world today, Meera Duncan started her healing journey after encountering a devastating experience in 1998. An enthralling tale of emotional and physical trauma, then reclaiming her life and eventually finding her true-calling.
On March 24th, 1998 a catastrophic event took place in Meera’s life, when she stepped into an elevator, little did she know how her life was going to change in the next few moments. As she got into the elevator at her workplace, it fell 6.5 stories, went up, and dropped a second time 5.5 stories. Although no one wishes to contemplate such a horrific event, the trauma is palpable. Meera explains, “ I sustained a long list of severe physical injuries, many that are permanent in nature: Severe concussion, severe cervical strain, nerve damage, fractured jaw, herniated, bulging, and shortened discs, and post-traumatic syringomyelia (a fluid-filled cyst in the centre of my spinal cord damaging nerves and possibly eventually causing permanent paralysis). I was soon diagnosed with PTSD and clinical depression from searing daily chronic pain levels and emotional trauma.”
Over a decade of procedures, medications, experimental treatments, and therapies but nothing changed in her condition. The excruciating pain levels were locked in a continuous debilitating loop, rotating throughout her countless injuries each day.
In the midst of her deepest despair, a new vision suddenly crystallized in her mind: a clear and vivid scene, an image of herself overflowing with happiness and health. Actually living! Pain-free. This was in fact hypnosis, and not only the pivotal catalyst to her journey of healing, but a gift shared by the Universe to instruct Meera to heal herself. Void of any evidence, any proof, any facts. Completely against the skilled team of physicians and specialists who clearly stated in unison that she would never work again, the damage is permanent, the intense pain levels and extreme restrictions on her ability to walk and function would never resolve or improve. And yet, this was the gift of knowing, a powerful life-changing vivid visualization. A form of self-hypnosis called Auto Suggestion.
Her life was immediately changed and enlightened, as stated by Meera, it was the pivotal catalyst in her healing journey. “The subconscious mind controls all of our physiological responses, all of our involuntary body functions. If it receives clear instructions to reduce inflammation levels it will comply, and chronic pain levels will therefore reduce and resolve.”
“I was able to reduce my chronic pain levels by 80%, and completely resolve my PTSD, and clinical depression associated with this trauma through self-hypnosis and other additional changes,” she says. “Hypnosis helped me to reduce my inflammation levels, in addition to other changes such as adopting a strict plantbased diet, incorporating yoga, and pilates.”
Powering through her challenges, Meera fostered her healing abilities as a therapist and began on this new path to become a Clinical Hypnotherapist. “If hypnosis could resolve the emotional trauma and physical injuries I sustained, what couldn’t it do? The possibilities fascinated me.” During her experience as a Clinical Counselling Hypnotherapist, her major breakthrough came when a client sought treatment to reduce symptoms associated with Bipolar Disorder. She had never worked with a client with this disorder before, so began to search through mounds of research, clinical textbooks, reading study after study; but there were no psychotherapeutic treatment protocols that incorporated hypnotherapy for clients with BD. Meera began researching Bipolar disorder and Environmental Stress-Targeted Therapy (EVSTT) was formed, targeting the stress-response Meera identified to be linked to manic, hypomanic, and depressive episodes. The results were life-changing and dramatic for this client.
Cradled in the bounds of her research this led to her clinical research study, followed by her published book, A Therapist’s Guide to Treating Bipolar Disorder with Hypnosis: An Introduction to Environmental Stress-Targeted Therapy, available at all major bookstores worldwide. Her work is now impacting thousands of individuals who live with this complex diagnosis.
A passionate humanitarian, Meera has also been donating $5 Canadian dollars from every book sale for the entire year of 2022 to the Canadian Red Cross Ukraine Crisis Appeal.