Change is rarely smooth. On paper it might look like a simple before-and-after: old life → new life. But if you’ve ever been through big transitions — loss, a breakup, a career shift, or just breaking free from an unhealthy habit — you know that the emotional journey is anything but linear.
One of the most powerful tools to map this emotional journey is the Kübler-Ross Change Curve. Originally developed to describe the stages of grief, it has since been recognized as a universal model for how humans process change. It will help us gain perspective of what we’re going through and just knowing that “it’s normal to feel this and that” is reassuring it itself.
But here’s the key: understanding the curve is only half the story. Knowing where you are on the journey doesn’t always mean you know how to move forward, and I’ve seen many people getting stuck in unpleasant emotional states for far too long (sometimes years!). This is where Hypnotherapy — and especially Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT) — comes in.
RTT helps you uncover and reprogram the subconscious beliefs that keep you stuck in the various stages of the curve, allowing you to move through the valley of change with more clarity, ease, and empowerment, getting you faster and easer to the stage of acceptance, where we can start to enjoying the change.
Let’s walk through the curve, stage by stage, and see how hypnotherapy can make all the difference.
______________________________________
1. Shock & Denial: “This Can’t Be Happening”
At the start of change, we often reject reality. We tell ourselves:
• “This can’t be happening. (or this can’t be happening to ME)”
• “Things will go back to normal.”
This denial can feel protective, but it also blocks us from taking action.
How RTT helps: Hypnotherapy works by quieting the conscious mind and connecting with the subconscious, where denial often lives as a defence mechanism. With RTT, you can uncover why your mind resists change — maybe it believes that change equals danger, or that you’re not strong enough to handle it. Once you see this clearly, you can reframe it and install new beliefs such as: I am safe. I am capable. Change can be my ally.
______________________________________
2. Anger & Frustration: “Why Me?”
As reality sinks in, denial gives way to anger. We might lash out at others, blame ourselves, or feel frustrated that things aren’t the way they used to be.
Anger carries energy — and if we channel it, it can be powerful. But if we stay stuck here, anger can harden into resentment, bitterness, and self-sabotage.
How RTT helps: Often anger is a mask for something deeper — fear, hurt, or a long-held belief of unfairness (“Life always works against me” or “I’m not worthy of good things”). Through RTT, you can trace anger back to its root cause. Many clients are surprised to discover that the belief fueling today’s anger was planted years, even decades ago. By reframing the original event in hypnosis, the charge is released. The anger loses its grip, allowing us to move forward.
______________________________________
3. Depression & The Low Point: “What’s the Point?”
This is the valley of the curve, where energy drops. Motivation disappears. It can feel like nothing matters, like you’re stuck in quicksand.
This stage is painful — but it is also a doorway. Because when the old way no longer works, and the new way isn’t yet here, you’re standing in a powerful place of possibility.
How RTT helps: Depression in the curve often connects to subconscious programming that whispers:
• “I’m powerless.”
• “I’m not enough.”
• “Things never work out for me.”
Hypnotherapy allows you to identify these beliefs not just intellectually, but emotionally — to see them in vivid clarity as the untrue stories they are. RTT then helps you replace them with empowering truths that sink deep into your subconscious: I am enough. I am resourceful. I am free to create a new chapter.
This shift is often the turning point. Clients describe it as some big is shifting inside of them.
______________________________________
4. Experimentation & Acceptance: “What If…?”
Once we manage to move out from the Depression stage, Acceptance kicks in. We stop resisting what is, which in itself is a huge liberation. With this also curiosity awakens and we start to see possibilities where before we just saw obstacles. You begin to test new paths, explore new possibilities, and start to see how the change could lead to something better.
How RTT helps: The subconscious loves familiarity. Even when we consciously want something new, our inner programming can keep pulling us back to the old. RTT strengthens new, empowering neural pathways, making the unfamiliar feel safe and exciting. In hypnosis, your subconscious can rehearse new behaviors and mindsets, so when you try them in daily life, they feel natural instead of forced.
______________________________________
5. Integration & Growth: “This Is Who I Am Now”
This is where transformation takes root. The change is no longer something you’re adjusting to — it’s part of you. You’ve integrated the lessons, built resilience, and stepped into a new identity.
How RTT helps: Hypnotherapy accelerates integration by reinforcing your new beliefs and wiring them deeply into your subconscious mind. This ensures that growth is not just temporary “motivation” but a genuine shift in identity. You’re no longer someone who tries to adapt — you are someone who thrives in change.
______________________________________
Why Hypnotherapy Works So Well with the Change Curve
The reason RTT is such a powerful partner in navigating the Change Curve is that the subconscious mind is where most of our resistance lives.
• Denial is the subconscious trying to protect us.
• Anger is the subconscious guarding old wounds.
• Depression is the subconscious replaying limiting beliefs.
When you work only on the conscious level (through willpower, logic, or self-talk), progress is slow. But when you speak directly to the subconscious mind— which is exactly what RTT does — you can release these blocks at the root.
The result? The curve still exists, and while some days can be an emotional roller-coaster, you will definitely move through it faster, with more awareness, less suffering, and a deeper sense of empowerment and feeling a sense of relief, knowing that one day (soon) you WILL come out one the other side of it.
