Clinical Hypnotherapy

Hypnosis or trance describes times when we experience a shift in our conscious awareness. Trance used during hypnotherapy is very different from the kind of things we might see in ‘stage hypnosis’.

In our day to day lives we all naturally go in and out of trance states many times during the day – perhaps when we are driving, reading a good book or even washing the dishes. In this relaxed state, we experience changes in our conscious awareness – almost like being in a day-dream. During this time, the unconscious mind is more aware and can focus on helpful suggestions and thoughts.

Trance is a very natural and safe state. Contrary to what you might see on the television, trance is not mind-control! When you are in a trance state you are still in control. Your unconscious mind will process and decide whether the information you receive is useful to you or not and it will not accept or do anything against you will.

Being in a trance is a very relaxing experience – and it is something that all of us will frequently experience in our daily lives. In fact, experiencing changes in our conscious awareness is a vital part of our existence as humans – we need times where we can relax, reflect and consolidate information, and utilise different parts of our brains for different activities.

From a scientific perspective, changes in conscious awareness can be demonstrated using Electroencephalography or EEG, which is a method of recording electrical energy in the brain. Our brain wave activity changes all the time, particularly as we enter different phases or when we go to sleep.

When I use guided relaxation and mental imagery you will be encouraged to go into a trance state, which causes a natural shift in your brainwave pattern. This means that you may shift from being in a fully alert mental state (like when we are hectic and busy working during the day – as shown by beta brain wave activity) into other states. As you are guided into deeper levels of relaxation, the brain demonstrates more alpha and theta wave activity, where you will feel calmer and more relaxed but can also visualise images and reflect on different ideas that may be useful to you.

This is why Solution Focused Hypnotherapy can be so beneficial, because it combines powerful solution-focused discussions, followed by encouraging a relaxing trance state so that the ideas and solutions discussed earlier in our session can be explored and utilised by the brain for positive benefits to your everyday life.

A phobia is an extreme, irrational fear of something that develops from a negative past experience. The word ‘phobia’ originates from the Greek word phobos which means fear or horror. For example, if you remember your first injection as a child as a negative and scary experience, your brain reacts with an emotional response and then associates this with fear which causes a negative thought pattern that is difficult to overcome.

Using hypnosis, phobic responses can be easily and effectively removed in just 4 sessions. I use a natural technique that allow you to process your past, negative experiences that have caused your phobia or fear, and remove the emotional response associated with it. I will help you process that template, remove the emotional response from it and then help you see the once fearful situation as one you can now easily deal with. By the end of our final session together, you fear or phobia should just feel like a distant memory, replaced by an ability to just respond to the situation appropriately and rationally.

Common Types of Phobias I Can Help you Overcome

• Acrophobia – fear of heights
• Arachnophobia – fear of spiders
• Trypanophobia – fear of medical procedures involving needles
• Claustrophobia – fear of confined spaces
• Fear of flying – a phobia associated with flying on aeroplanes
• Fear of public speaking
• Hydrophobia – fear of water
• Plus many many more…

Anxiety is a feeling of worry or fear which is a normal, primitive reaction to stressful or worrying situations in life. There’s a part of our brain whose job it is to kick in when it feels like our life is in some sort of crisis or emergency. Thousands of years ago, its sole purpose was to ensure our survival, however, symptoms of anxiety often set in at times when we don’t want them to, when it’s either not appropriate or there is no threat, emergency or crisis.

Anxiety usually happens due to a build-up of stress in our lives, coupled with our inability to process that stress. Sometimes, this unwanted residue comes in the form of an anxiety disorder or panic attacks.

Anxiety symptoms include: 

• Feeling light-headed or dizzy
• Being unable to sit and feeling restless
• Backache, headaches or other aches and pains
• Faster breathing
• An irregular heartbeat
• Inability to sleep
• Suffering from panic attacks
• Changes in your sex drive
• Sweating or hot flushes
• Grinding your teeth

Hypnotherapy has proven to be an extremely effective anxiety treatment. Research has shown that hypnosis sessions can relieve fear, stress, and anxiety. The scientific research associated with Hypnotherapy reducing anxiety is overwhelming, with many success stories from many backgrounds of phobias, fears or habits.

Anxiety is a feeling of worry or fear which is a normal, primitive reaction to stressful or worrying situations in life. There’s a part of our brain whose job it is to kick in when it feels like our life is in some sort of crisis or emergency. Thousands of years ago, its sole purpose was to ensure our survival, however, symptoms of anxiety often set in at times when we don’t want them to, when it’s either not appropriate or there is no threat, emergency or crisis.

Anxiety usually happens due to a build-up of stress in our lives, coupled with our inability to process that stress. Sometimes, this unwanted residue comes in the form of an anxiety disorder or panic attacks.

Anxiety symptoms include: 

• Feeling light-headed or dizzy
• Being unable to sit and feeling restless
• Backache, headaches or other aches and pains
• Faster breathing
• An irregular heartbeat
• Inability to sleep
• Suffering from panic attacks
• Changes in your sex drive
• Sweating or hot flushes
• Grinding your teeth

Hypnotherapy has proved an extremely effective anxiety treatment. Research has shown that hypnosis sessions can relieve fear, stress, and anxiety. The scientific research associated with Hypnotherapy reducing anxiety is overwhelming, with many success stories from many backgrounds of phobias, fears or habits.

When we lack confidence in our abilities, we often have negative views of the future or negatively introspective about the past. With solution focused hypnotherapy anxiety can be reduced, unwanted behaviour patterns eliminated and subconscious processes developed to be more optimistic and motivated to succeed. I will encourage you to consider questions to imagine and prepare for a more confident future where other goals become much easier to achieve day-by-day.
Once your confidence increase so will your self-esteem.

I also use a very natural technique that can help with upcoming problems such as public speaking, interviews and exams.

Hypnotherapy is highly effective for the treatment of low self-esteem and confidence.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that arises after being involved in, or witnessing, a traumatic event. If you’re having trouble recovering from serious trauma and you regularly have flashbacks relating to these events, you may be suffering from this mental health condition. PTSD is classified as an anxiety disorder, and it was initially associated with war veterans and soldiers. These days, there are a whole host of traumatic experiences that can trigger PTSD and its symptoms.
People who are regularly experiencing disturbing events, or have been repeatedly traumatised in the past, may be diagnosed with complex PTSD or C-PTSD. The symptoms of complex PTSD are similar to those of post-traumatic stress disorder; however, they may not manifest until years after the event(s).

Hypnotherapy for PTSD uses similar techniques to those used when treating fears and phobias. This helps to process the trauma and make it feel like a distant memory so that you can regain control over it and your life, once again.

Any situation that a person sees as traumatic or disturbing can cause post-traumatic stress disorder. This can vary from one individual to the next, however, some of the common events that can trigger the condition include:

• Severe road accidents
• Traumatic childbirth
• Abuse, serious violence, or bullying
• Loss of someone close to you
• Sexual assault
• Situations where you fear for your life or a loved ones’ life

Common PTSD symptoms include:

• Hyperarousal or feeling ‘on edge’
• Flashbacks or re-living the trauma
• Avoidance, or emotional numbing
• Physical symptoms such as chest pain, aches and dizziness

Some of these symptoms are also associated with acute stress reactions, which is often linked to PTSD.

Stopping smoking can seem incredibly difficult, particularly if you are a heavy smoker or have smoked for a number of years, however hypnotherapy has shown to be effective in helping people quit smoking allowing them to make positive changes in their life. Although banishing your smoking habit takes a lot of willpower it will reduce your risk of getting lung cancer, having heart attacks, and has many other health benefits.

If you want to stop smoking, the first thing to understand is that smoking is not an addiction, it is a habit and hypnotherapy is a great way of changing well-entrenched habits by replacing them with new, positive and healthy ones.

A habit is just the brain’s continued use of a specific super-highway of neurological connections. And as it’s a super-highway, it’s the easiest and most convenient route for current to flow. So, you need to re-route those connections so that the one becomes the easiest route for current to flow, which forms a new habit and so the thing you now do is not smoke.

It also makes the thought of smoking absolutely repellent, as well as accessing the part of the brain that puts you in control of your decision making. Which, as you can imagine, has enormous knock-on benefits for other parts of your life.

The key to weight control and weight loss is relatively simple, you need to be consuming the right amount of calories for your body based on your current weight and your goal. Life, however, can sometimes get in the way of your weight loss goals, making it difficult to reach them. You may be someone that has a slow metabolism and struggles to shift weight, leaving you feeling disheartened.   

Although there is no instant, magic wand to fix weight issues, weight loss hypnosis can aid your weight loss by allowing you to envision yourself at your goal weight. It works by training your mind to gain back control over your eating habits, whether you tend to overeat or simply have an unhealthy diet or relationship with food; weight hypnotherapy can introduce positive, healthier patterns in your brain that can then have a direct impact on your weight.

Most weight issues come down to one simple concept: control. The two main parts of our brain – the conscious part and the primitive part are constantly competing with one another to determine our decisions and outcomes in life. This also applies to our weight. Ideally, we want our conscious brain to be in control as this encourages us to make positive and healthy decisions regarding our weight. However, when our primitive part is in control, we give in to temptation as we are in the mindset of ‘one more won’t hurt’ or ‘I deserve this as a reward/comfort’.

Through hypnotherapy, we can train our brains to think more consciously so that we remain in control of our decision-making, allowing us to make positive progress with our weight; whatever our goals may be. Resistance to change can be an obstacle when trying to lose weight, however, this is simply the primitive part of our brain telling us that change is dangerous. Hypnotherapy can reassure our primitive part that change is fine and is not going to endanger us.

And the great thing is, that those nice things like comfort and reward and one-more-won’t-hurt, are fine as long as the decision comes from the conscious part. Because when that happens, we know we are in control. And being in control becomes our new, good habit.