Hypnotherapy as a tool can be clinically beneficial

Hypnotherapy is a treatment that uses hypnosis to help in a variety of ways including to modify behaviour, perceptions, and emotions and we utilise it at Reduce Stress Now for different situations and areas. 

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The history of hypnosis dates back to the late 18th century when Franz Mesmer, a German physician, developed mesmerism and has been established over time to be able to assist a number of areas.

 

According to Cleveland clinic. Org

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‘Hypnotherapy is a heightened state of concentration and focused attention. Guided by a trained, certified hypnotist or hypnotherapist, hypnosis allows you to be more open to suggestions to making healthful changes in your perceptions, sensations, emotions, memories, thoughts or behaviours.’

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The National Library of Medicine website stipulates that;

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Suggestions during hypnosis can cause dynamic changes in brain activity. Areas responsible for processing cognition and emotion show greater activity during hypnosis, as well as hypnosis-induced changes in functional connectivity between anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the large neural network. 

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Hypnotherapy utilises hypnosis to help individuals reach a state of total relaxation and during a session here it is believed that the conscious and unconscious mind are able to focus and concentrate on verbal repetition and mental imagery better. 

The mind here, as a result, is said to become open to more positive suggestion and open to change with regards to behaviours, emotions, and habits relating to weight loss and image.

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Hypnotherapy as a tool can be clinically beneficial

According to a report on pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34050891/ the national library of medicine abstract they write;

The Use of Self-Help Strategies in Obesity Treatment. A Narrative Review Focused on Hypnosis and Mindfulness - PubMed (nih.gov)

 

Other research on hypnosis has also shown some promise for treating obesity and it is claimed may be more effective than diet and exercise alone for people looking to lose weight and the idea is that the mind can be influenced to change habits like overeating. 

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Exactly how effective it may be is still up for debate. You can also use hypnotherapy to reinforce healthy attitudes, correct cultural and personal beliefs that hold you back, and reduce your desire for foods you want to limit or eliminate from your diet and for many other matters.

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According to other reports;

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Hypnotherapy is a psychological therapy that uses hypnosis to treat health conditions, per the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Typically, hypnotherapy begins with a review of your medical history and a discussion of the condition you’d like to address with a hypnotherapist (there are no current standard licensing guidelines for hypnotherapists in the United States). From there, you’ll be guided through hypnosis, where the hypnotherapist will use a series of mental images and suggestions intended to help you change behaviors and possibly relieve your symptoms, according to the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

 

What Specifically Is Hypnotherapy and Hypnosis?

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Current thinking and teaching in Psychology generally agrees that we all have a Conscious Mind and an Unconscious Mind and for a change to happen it needs a two-pronged approach to the Conscious Mind and the Unconscious Mind. 

As in psychology, we work on the premise that there is a sub-conscious and conscious mind operating and your attitudes, beliefs and values are generally operating how you act and working from here and it may not simple to change them or adapt, but is possible.

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Hypnosis is believed to facilitate this by making the Unconscious Mind more amenable (open, willing, responsive) to suggestion from the Hypnotist or even by you that you can make changes 

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The Process & Benefits of Hypnotherapy

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The process of relaxation to deeper relaxation and hypnotherapy is quite remarkable and used for many issues and concerns from; to stop smoking, create greater eating habits, stop nail biting, reducing anxiety and fears and for many other issues.

In the state of hypnosis there is calmness where the hypnotherapist aims to be able to tap into parts of the brain (the unconscious mind) where resides one’s thoughts, beliefs, perceptions, sensations, emotions, memory and behaviours originate and enhance them. 

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In a particular hypnotic state, when you’re seemingly more open, or impressionable, here one can give gentle guidance and this is where your hypnotherapist can help to modify or replace the unconscious thoughts that are driving your current behaviour of way of being.

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Issues that may be assisted by Hypnotherapy

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We utilise hypnosis during our hypnotherapy sessions to assist in a wide range of problems including but not limited to;

•    Addictions

•    Anger & Frustration

• Anxiety

• Stress

• Nail biting

• Decision making

• Resolving Anxiety & Nervousness

•    Motivation and lack of 

•    Back Pain & Headaches

•    Greater Sleep - Insomnia

•    Grief, Loss & Trauma

•    Mediation & Work Disputes

•    Child Issues & Abandonment

•    Divorce & Separation

•    Problem Solving & Procrastination

•    Chronic Pain Relief & Pain Management 

•    Personal Problems & Energy Loss 

•    Eating Problems – Body Image

•    Heart Palpitations & Breathing Problems 

•    Weight Loss & weight Control

• Scratching 

•    Court Issues anxieties and preparation

•    Self-esteem & Confidence 

•    Work & Career Concerns

• Energy loss

•    Relationship & Family Worries

• Etc.

 

How Does Hypnosis Work?

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Basically, how hypnosis and hypnotherapy works isn’t completely understood, however, it is commonly thought and believed that in the deep state of focus and relaxation that’s achieved with hypnosis one’s conscious mind is calmed. 

We do know that a simplistic approach and the aim is for the individual to achieve a calmer state of mind during a session where the aim is to also modulate brain waves from beta to alpha to theta.

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Throughout a session the client sits comfortably or lies down and makes themselves as relaxed as possible and is assisted in this regard to relax by the hypnotherapist.

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During the process of a Session

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During a session the client has their eyes closed with the aim of being as relaxed and suggestible as possible.

The hypnotherapist is generally talking and either reading a script or citing from notes taken during the pre-hypnosis session and the client is hopefully intently listening and being positively affected by the process and communication. 

The client may feel different sensations during the session from light-headiness, tingling, cold or hot or experience other feelings of which are hoped to be positive.

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The session can be stopped at anytime and the client can open their eyes and stop the process at any time. 

During the session the aim is for you to feel as relaxed and comfortable as possible and be able to get into what is a ‘trance like state’ and feel almost a little drowsy.

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You will hear the hypnotherapists voice and be led on what feels like a journey.

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Hypnotherapy - After A Session

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At the conclusion of the session the person opens their eyes and is hopefully feeling very relaxed and ‘generally’ is, able to recall things said during the session. 

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The person tends to feel quite relaxed and may have a relaxed tingling sensation in parts of the body like the hands and the feet which is normal having been sitting or resting for a period of time. 

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At the conclusion of the session you may feel a little drowsy, light headedness but then return to normal within a few minutes. 

After a session we suggest if and where possible to take some time for yourself to reflect on the session and some people find that making notes is useful whilst others just prefer to go and relax or go about their day. 

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Hypnotherapy and Life & Executive coaching

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We find that Hypnotherapy can be used to assist with Life and Executive Coaching and can be a great tool as it can assist for a multitude of things and reasons. 

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For Life Coaching we focus on helping the person to cope with life and help them to assist in a wide variety of ways relating from communication, anxiety release, pain management, relationships, grief, loss or stress and those already stated above and specifically not work related. 

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There is an obvious overlap when focusing on either Life or Executive Coaching but for Executive Coaching it may be for simple matters at work or for preparing for difficult areas, meetings, speeches, or television engagements.

 

Essentially both life and executive engage in dialogue and Hypnotherapy can assist during a Executive Coaching session in many areas including improving or enhancing;

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• Interpersonal skills 

• Leadership capabilities 

• Communication skills 

• Time management and timeliness 

• Relationships

• Balancing work and personal issues 

• Dealing with conflict 

• Identifying gaps and obstacles – and overcoming them 

• Strategic planning 

• Increasing productivity 

• Motivation – knowing limitations, exploring boundaries 

• Change management

• Pain, anxiety, and stress management 

• Skill acquisition 

• Accounting – raising funds, managing, delegating

• Talent management 

• Travel considerations

• Time away from home management

• Behaviours 

 

In all contexts, results depend upon an infinite array of things but the person’s commitment and honesty within the process and the therapy and coaching is also key.

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Benefits of Hypnotherapy

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We have assisted people for in a variety of ways using hypnotherapy for issues related to both life and work and enhancing areas such as;

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• Anxiety – prior to delicate discussions or meetings – confidence building

• Communication – problems at work, feeling deflated, lack of confidence 

• Mediation – preparing for court matters and avoiding court altogether 

• Finances – asking for a raise, managing funds, achieving targets

• Promotion – asking for a promotion, dealing with greater responsibilities

• Studies – enhancing abilities, gaining results 

• Self-esteem – general overall improvement, stopping nail biting or scratching

• Positive self-talk – affirmations

• Confidence building – as in overall and general or to engage specific ways 

• Weight management – control, body image, losing weight

• Exercise & Fitness – greater motivation, determination, attaining specific goals

• Procrastination - Problem solving & decision making

 

Sub-modalities 

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Hypnotherapy can be used alone or with other methods like dietary advice, stress reduction, or cognitive behavioural therapy and we like to utilise NLP (neuro linguistic patterning) and a substantial amount of questioning.

 

When you come in for a hypnotherapy session we go through a number of techniques in order to gain a history of you the individual (client) and the actual matters that you have come in for in detail. 

During a session we will more than likely ask about sub-modalities and it feels like a whole new world is opened up to you through your ‘sub-modalities’. 

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Sub-modalities feel like tricky things to get a hold of and are much easier to access when someone is asking you the questions rather than trying to do it by yourself. 

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One of the first questions I will ask is, “in your mind’s eye, what do you remember about the event?” And then we proceed to understand certain memories and sub-modalities related to the event or incident which involves visual, auditory, and kinaesthetic (what is sensed and felt).

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Visual sub-modalities refer to the visual aspect of something and here are some, just to name a few;

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• In black or what or colour

• A still picture or moving

• Clear or blurry

• 2D or 3D – or see through

• Associated or dissociated 

• Bright or dim 

• Near or far

 

Auditory sub-modalities are things like;

• Volume

• Pitch 

• Timbre 

• Vibrato 

• Mono or stereo

• Loud or soft 

• Near or far

 

Kinaesthetic sub-modalities refer to;

• Hot or cold

• Location of the feeling

• Smooth or rough or silky

• Light or heavy

• Strong or weak

• The size

• The shape 

• A sensation 

 

Because of how our mind remembers information, memories tend to change over time and with reference to them such as recalling one’s home when you were growing up with often evoke emotions.

 

What is fascinating is that you can change certain sub-modalities with different techniques during a session so that the memory when evoked does not have such a strong or negative connotation. 

 

What is also interesting is that sometimes people have small black-outs during recollection or during every day life and it is important to get to the root of this.

 

I say this as importantly I have noted that some people when recalling information or talking about their sub-modalities have black-outs or dots during a recollection and sometimes I have found that this could be a sign of something more significant occurring neurologically. 

 

In the Mind’s Eyes

 

When referring to sub-modalities we are not referring though to what we see, we are relating it to what we recall in memories or when we think about something and not the state of our eyes.

 

We have also often seen clients who when recalling sub-modalities have blanks in memories and during the day mention that they feel like they are blacking out. If this occurs, I refer to see their medical practitioner or a specialist. 

 

Life and living is such a fascinating thing to explore and when recalling memories and sub-modalities it is important and interesting to see that they can change quite significantly during the therapy process itself, in positive ways.