Mickel Therapy

What is Mickel Therapy?
Mickel Therapy is a specialist treatment for the conditions of chronic fatigue, ME, fibromyalgia, insomnia, anxiety, depression and irritable bowel syndrome.

It is an holistic treatment which (a) helps clients to understand why their body is creating the physical / mental symptoms they are experiencing and then (b) gives them tools to use so that their body no longer needs to create symtpoms.

Mickel Therapy requires no medication, dietary change or use of supplements. The process is unique in that it interprets the nature of the symptoms from a body-mind perspective and puts the ability to heal back into the hands of the client. This is true healing for the 21st century.

Due to its success, Mickel Therapy is now offered in 62 centers around the world. Kim was the first therapist to be trained in Auckland during New Zealand Practitioner Training in 2006.

How Mickel Therapy works
Mickel Therapy works by teaching clients about the nature of our body intelligence and how it uses symptoms to communicate with us. By interpreting and translating the message behind the symptoms, Mickel Therapy then coaches the individual in allowing the body to stop sending them.

Whatever the presenting condition, the message that the body is trying to send through to the mind is usually the same - it is just manifesting different symptoms (ie, for some people chronic fatigue, others IBS, others anxiety, or a mixture of several).

Initially client and therapist work on interpreting and translating the message that has been masquerading behind the symptoms, so that the client can at last hear what the body has been trying to communicate to them. Then the therapist instructs the client in the use of specific ‘tools’ which they use when symptoms arise so that the body can see that it does not need to send symptoms anymore.

What does treatment involve?
Mickel Therapy is an holistic treatment for the body-mind and is not a form of psychotherapy. It is a specialised treatment that requires no medication, dietary change or use of supplements. Mickel Therapy proceeds by interpreting the nature of the symptoms from a body-mind perspective and showing the client how to apply techniques to prevent the body from having to send symptoms anymore.

Once the message the body has been sending via the symptoms has been revealed, clients are asked to keep short notes that record when, where and how often any symptoms occur, in order to elicit more information and to ensure the appropriate action is being taken to prevent the need for the body to send further symptoms. This also enables client and therapist to monitor a reduction in symptoms and identify the required next steps.

Sessions consist of one to one consultations which last an hour. Sessions are arranged with a variable interval between them, the average interval being 1-2 weeks. Treatment length varies but about 80% of cases will be complete after 6-8 sessions while the other 20% will take longer.

Is Mickel Therapy a form of psychotherapy?
No. Mickel Therapy is a body-mind healing process. This means that we work with physical symptoms in order to clear the messages that are linked to them. Unlike psychotherapy, we do not investigate thoughts in order to treat the mind. This makes sense since CFS/ME and FMA are physical illnesses and not psychological. In contrast to most forms of physical therapy we do not try to remove symptoms through massage, diet or drugs that merely ‘shoot’ the messenger. The key to the work is to teach clients how to work with their innate body intelligence to the degree that it is then allowed to stop sending symptoms.

The physiological causes of CFS, ME & FMA
The basic idea behind Mickel Therapy and the conditions of CFS, ME and FMA is that symptoms are created by a dysfunctional Hypothalamus gland, which then produces its physical effects through the Nervous, Endocrine and Immune systems. This is described in Dr Mickel’s book as the state of ‘Hypothalamitis’ which translates simply as ‘an inflammatory condition of the Hypothalamus’.

It is important to note that CFS/ME and Fibromyalgia are physical illnesses based on body-mind learning and although mood tends to be lowered eventually, they are not examples of depression.

The first step is to brief clients so that they understand how ‘Hypothalamitis’ is created and how the symptoms of CFS/ME and FMA are produced by the condition. This is the main focus of the first session. This part of the Mickel Therapy process is made easier if clients have firstread Dr Mickel’s book ‘Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, ME and Fibromyalgia - the long awaited cure’.

Client and therapist start by translating the unconscious messages that trigger the Hypothalamus to produce the symptoms. The process of Mickel Therapy is designed to give the client the resources necessary to understand body intelligence and therefore stop the return of symptoms in the future.