Founded in 1984.
Dr. Longacre was a Diplomat of the American Institute of Hypnotherapy and a Fellow of the National Board of Hypnotherapy and Hypnotic Anesthesiology. He was the author of Client-Centered Hypnotherapy and Visualization and Guided Imagery for Pain Management (both published by Kendall/Hunt in 1995), six other text books and numerous articles about hypnotherapy and hypnotic anesthesiology for pain management. Dr. Longacre was a past president or member of the board of directors of the California Council of Hypnotherapy, American Board of Hypnotherapy, National Society of Hypnotherapists and the American Association of Catastrophic Illness Counselors. He served as the Administrator for the National Board of Hypnotherapy and Hypnotic Anesthesiology.
TRIBUTE TO R. D. “SEAN” LONGACRE 1999
by CHAPLAIN PAUL G DURBIN
I begin my “Tribute to R. D. “Sean” Longacre with what I wrote in the “Forward” to his last book, Complementary Medicine Self-Healing. Since we first met in 1987, I have had great respect for Dr. R. D. “Sean” Longacre, both as a highly regarded clinical hypnotherapist and a close personal friend. Dr. Longacre conducted a seminar at the National Association of Clergy Hypnotherapist (now Clergy Special Interest Group/National Guild of Hypnotists) Convention in California on “The Yellow Brick Road: Working With Hospital Personals.” Following that Convention, we developed a professional and personal relationship that has endure and strengthen with the passing of time.
I was deeply touched when Dr. Longacre called to tell me that he had cancer and since that day, I have said a special prayer for him and his family. I encouraged him to use the techniques that he had been presenting for years. Like the woman who once told me when I was facing a difficult decision, “Practice what you preach.” Dr.Longacre has been practicing what he preached and as a results has come to a new understanding of the power of the mind and the spirit on the body.
Much has been written about the mind/body/spirit connection over the last 40 years, but most have focused on the mind/body with nothing or only a tip of the hat to the spiritual. Since I began hypnotherapy, I have called my hypnotherapy “Human Trinity Hypnotherapy” which happened to be the title of my first book, now out of print. I believe that each individual is a trinity within himself/herself. I am a trinity, you are a trinity. We humans are made up of a trinity of our own: “the human trinity.” We are three-in-one: body (physical), mind (psychological/emotional, and spirit (spiritual). These three aspects of our being are so different and yet so integrated that one part of the human trinity cannot be affected without having some effect on the other two.
The French philosopher Rene’ Descartes is best know for his five-word maxim: “I think, therefore I am.” Another of his revelations and one much less accurate and truthful has had much greater impact of the western world. More than 300 years ago, Descartes concluded that the mind, body, spirit are distinct, autonomous, mutually exclusive entities. This assumption is at odds with his famous statement, “I think therefore I am.” Unfortunately for centuries the Western approach to health, illness and medical treatment has been based on Descartes belief of the mind, body and spirit are separate entities. Today, we are discovering that what we think has a profound effect upon our health. Dr. David Felton, professor of neurobiology anatomy at the University of Rochester in New York said, “I can’t imagine anyone (today) thinking that the mind and body can be separated” To complete the picture of the integration of the mind and body, I would add a third entity which is spirit.
I believe that to be the whole person that our creator meant for us to be, we must develop the spiritual side of our being as well as the emotional and physical. An airplane doesn’t cease to be an airplane when it sets in the hanger or takes off along the runway, but its true nature becomes apparent only when it is airborne. Similarly, a person is a human being even when he or she is functioning only on the physical and psychological planes, but one shows his or her essential humanness when he rises to the spiritual dimension.
A man asked his three daughters how much they loved him. The oldest of them replied that she loved him more than all the gold and silver in the world. The father was noticeably pleased with her answer, through his arm around her and thanked her. The second daughter responded, “I love you more that the most valuable jewels in the world.” The father was pleased with her response so through his aims around her and thanked her. The third and youngest daughter said, “I love you better than salt.” The man was not especially elated with her remark and dismissed it lightly as an indication of her immaturity. Nevertheless, he put his arms around her and thank her. His wife, their mother, overhearing the conversation, left salt out of her husband’s next meal. As he ate, he was thus confronted with the deep meaning of his youngest daughter’s remark. She was saying that he was the flavoring and spice of her life. Developing the spiritual aspect is the life what salt is to food. The spiritual dimension gives flavor and seasoning to life. When one is functioning on all levels (physical, emotional and spiritual), life is more productive and more healthy.
Dr. Longacre has done a magnificent job putting back together the human trinity which Rene Descartes split or so he thought. Dr. Longacre looked at all three aspect of the human trinity and has welded them together through a therapy that will help the individual: physically, emotionally and spiritually. The visualization and guided imagery scripts can be very helpful for people working to regain health, others working with those who are sick and to each one who uses it to maintain health. Read, learn and use the information found in this book for your own well being and to help others balance the physical, emotional and spiritual. Dr. Longacre died in 1999 a short time after he attended his last National Board of Hypnotherapy and Hypnotic Anaesthesiology Convention. He was very sick and attended only a few sessions. I was privileged to spend time with him in his room. We both knew that for each of us death must come and he knew that death was near so we had quality time together that afternoon in his room.
