Treatments

What Can Hypnotherapy Help With?

Anxiety & Stress

Hypnotherapy is considered to be a very effective treatment for anxiety and stress. It continues to become increasingly difficult to deal with. Recent reports show over 9 million people suffer from anxiety during their lifetime. Many people have heard of the fight/flight response, this is a primitive response , which is necessary for modern day living.

Solution Focused Hypnotherapy uses proven techniques that work, and you will be given explanation as to how stress and anxiety is created and why we suffer the way we do and what we can do about it. During therapy you will learn how to prevent / manage negative thoughts and stress, and how to deal with situations effectively, how to prevent anxiety and stress escalating in a positive way.

Are you experiencing these common behaviours:?

• A feeling of anxiety every day and not know why? We refer to this as “free floating anxiety”
• Are you impatient
• Irritable
• Frustrated
• Increased smoking, drinking or eating

Symptoms can include :

• Poor sleeping pattern
• Excessive sweating
• Tight chest
• Dry mouth
• Racing / increased heart rate
• Migraine or tension headaches
• Butterflies in your stomach

Depression

Depression is a natural response that we may feel during times of stress. Many people feel stressed and low at times in their life and this can often lead to depression. Depression is a common condition that will affect one in three people at some time in their life. It can be extremely debilitating and all-consuming, affecting all areas of our life. When feeling depressed we often feel alone in the world and that nothing can help our situation, but the good news is that depression can be helped very effectively with Hypnotherapy.

Hypnotherapy can help you to reduce stress levels and to effectively lift yourself out of depression. We focus on moving forward positively, taking steps towards how you want things to be in your life and start doing all the things you wanted to do. You can have more control of your thoughts, feelings and behaviours enabling you to deal with any situation life has in store for you.

Symptoms of depression

Often characterised by feelings of tiredness, lethargy, feeling sad, tearful, lack of motivation, sadness, lack of interest in life in general, not wanting to see people or interact, lack of appetite, or comfort eating etc. Sometimes depression is also often experienced alongside anxiety, anger and panic attacks.

Weight Loss

Our weight is becoming an issue for most people. We are now learning more and more about the damaging effects excess weight can have on our health, more and more people feel the need to achieve their ideal weight than ever before.

A diet / weight management programme is simply where the body takes in less energy in the form of calories than it expends.
When we reduce our calorie intake or use up more calories by exercising for example then we lose weight.  So why are you not losing weight?

There 5 key steps for losing weight for the long term:
• Diet
• Honesty
• Exercise
• Realistic Goals
• The 5th and final step being the subconscious.

When the subconscious agrees with the goals then long-term weight control can be achieved.

Using hypnotherapy you will learn why you may have found losing weight a problem in the past, how your subconscious mind works and how to regain control of your weight in a relaxed, enjoyable and logical way. We are totally committed in helping you achieve your goal.

Fears and Phobias

We have all experienced fear during our lives, for example when hearing a sudden loud noise. Fear is our natural defence mechanism to protect us from danger. We understand the potential problems the recipient of a fear or phobic response can have on their lives, we understand the restrictions it can bring. We are able to help with almost all phobias and fears, and you will be pleasantly surprised how common they can be.
If we are in danger, the fear response prepares us for ‘fight or flight’ and is therefore helpful. If we are not in danger, our intellectual mind can switch off the fear response by assessing the situation sensibly – so we realise the loud noise is just a door slamming.

However, sometimes our mind can create irrational fears, for example a fear of enclosed spaces, or buttons. Even though we know we are safe, we cannot switch off the fear response. This is a phobia. Hypnotherapy can help to gently and effectively rid you of fears and phobias. By using hypnotherapy we are more often than not able to break down these thought patterns, and prevent them recurring.

Stop Smoking / Vaping

Hypnotherapy can be very effective at helping you give up smoking. The New Scientist has reported on a recent study by the University of Iowa covering 72,000 smokers/ex-smokers from America and Europe. It concluded that hypnosis is the most effective way of giving up smoking.
Nearly nine years ago The Which? Report concluded that of all the methods available for stopping smoking, Hypnotherapy was the most successful, and the only one with no cravings, no irritability, no bad temper and no weight gain.

However, a smoker will have years of information built up in his memory store, such as ‘I am a smoker’, ‘I can’t stop smoking’, ‘I have to smoke to alleviate stress’, ‘It gives me confidence’. These are subconscious responses and we know the subconscious has been incorrectly programmed. We will explain to you about the workings of the mind in relation to smoking, and how you can use this information to put your foot down once and for all, not just today or next week or next month, but also years into the future.

Because, naturally, we know that smoking is a major cause of mental and physical stress. We also know that we have much more control than we believe we have. With the help of hypnosis the subconscious mind can be reprogrammed, thereby enabling us to do whatever we consciously want to do. We use the power of trance to allow your intellectual mind to reassess the smoking template, and to make a better and more healthy decision for you as you move forward as a non-smoker.

Anti-smoking therapy is completed in one session lasting up to 2 hours. It includes a CD/MP3 file to help you continue in your new role as a non-smoker, no initial consultation is required. This one off session costs £150.

Panic Attacks

A panic attack can be a frightening experience, usually consisting of some or all of the following symptoms: sweating, racing or irregular heartbeat, shaking, feeling dizzy or faint, shortness of breath or finding it difficult to breathe, churning stomach or nausea, tingling or prickly feelings in limbs (legs turning to jelly), ringing in the ears, tightness in the throat, chest pains and a feeling of disconnection from the body. Panic attacks are sometimes confused for heart attacks due to similarity of symptoms.

A panic attack happens when the body is in fight or flight mode and powerful chemicals are produced, such as stress hormones, adrenaline and cortisol, to help you escape from a dangerous situation. Panic attacks can be triggered by a traumatic experience, or by a build up of stress. Panic attacks can be so unpleasant, people that suffer them often find themselves in a vicious circle of fearing the next panic attack, causing more stress and worry, leading to a higher likelihood of further panic attacks.

It is common for someone who has experienced a panic attack to fear or to avoid the situation in which they experienced the attack. This can lead to the person being reluctant to travel on the bus or train, in a car, to go into a lift or tunnel, or to social gatherings.

Hypnotherapy is especially effective at reducing stress and anxiety, and calming down the responses to triggers that have lead to panic attacks. We will help you to learn how to relax and remain calm, to build confidence that you will be able to deal with whatever comes up and put you back in control. We will help you to cultivate a more positive outlook, and thereby increase levels of happiness and wellbeing, and ensuring you continue to move forward positively.

Confidence

Confidence is having a belief in yourself, having faith in your talents, abilities and personal strengths. Confidence comes from within. You may have a raft of qualifications, a high-flying job or successful business, all the external trappings of success, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you are confident. Even very successful people seek help with confidence issues. Lacking confidence can affect your relationships with others or it can prevent you from developing to your fullest potential. If you lack confidence you may feel the need to apologise inappropriately or seek reassurance from others. You may only focus on perceived criticism and ignore praise. You may be perfectionist. These behaviours can be debilitating and affect your enjoyment of life.

Hypnotherapy can help you become more confident by helping you to identify your strengths and focus on what you can do, rather than what you can’t. Then, by using Solution Focused techniques we help you to visualise what it would be like to be more confident – what does confidence mean to you?  We gradually build on your success to enable you to engage in day to day life and activities, social or work situations, free from self-doubt and able to enjoy life to the full.

Sleep / Insomnia

Many people suffer insomnia at some point in their lives, about a third.  This includes difficulty falling asleep, waking up during the night or early in the morning. Lack of sleep can cause fatigue, lack of motivation, irritability, reduced problem-solving skills, inability to cope with stress, reduced immunity, weight gain and long term can seriously impair a person’s ability to function normally.  Often in life sleep is the first thing to be affected in our busy lives and its so important for us to sleep well.  This is a time when the body repairs itself, restores energy levels and allows REM sleep to occur which processes our daily events and stresses and is vital for learning and memory.

Anxiety is a common cause of insomnia and the more you worry the more the problem gets worse, now you are in the grip of a vicious circle and makes it harder for you to sleep.

Hypnotherapy can help by identifying any underlying anxieties which can be caused by many things such as relationships, money worries, work or health and all these worries seem so much bigger in the middle of the night whilst trying to get to sleep.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)

Irritable Bowel Syndrome is disorder of the digestive system and is quite common, it affects up to 1 in 5 people in the UK, with symptoms including bloating, stomach cramps, indigestion, acid reflux, diarrhoea and constipation. Doctors now recognize that psychological factors play a considerable role in IBS, with stress being the biggest contributing factor.  If our lives are constantly stressful, and we never really switch off the stress response through relaxation and stress management techniques, such digestive symptoms can persist almost constantly.

Hypnotherapy is extremely effective at reducing stress and anxiety, and helping you learn how to relax. Relaxation is vital for our overall well being, including proper function of our immune system, and the body’s ability to repair itself. By learning to move out of the constant stress response and into the ‘relaxation response’, your body will be able to resume proper function again.

Hypnotherapy can also help you manage and cope with medical conditions such as Diverticulitis and Crohn’s Disease.  IBS is regarded as a medical condition, and it is advisable to consult your doctor for information, advice and a diagnosis.

Chronic Pain

Chronic pain refers to pain that has lasted for a number of months or years. It can be ongoing, continuous, or it can come and go and can be mild or excruciating. Chronic pain may persist as a result of an initial injury, or it may be connected with an ongoing illness or condition. Sometimes there is no clear cause of the pain. Chronic pain can be debilitating, limiting and restrictive, affecting all areas of life. When we feel pain, our body responds in the same way as it does to stress: our muscles tense, our heart rate increases, our blood pressure rises, and so on.

There is often an emotional element to our pain, especially if we have been suffering for a long time. This can cause us to feel stressed and depressed.  The key is relaxation. When we relax, our heart rate and blood pressure come down, our muscles relax and we stop producing stress hormones. Our sense of well-being and happiness is elevated, and we effectively feel pain less.

Hypnotherapy is very helpful at managing pain. Hypnotherapy has been shown to have a positive effect on post-operative recovery times and pain management and it can help manage chronic pain.  Hypnotherapy will help you to relax and to switch off the stress response, produce the neurotransmitter serotonin which has a very beneficial effect on pain relief.

Sports Performance

Many top sports personalities and performers have been using hypnotherapy to help them achieve their full potential in their chosen field. We can’t expect to play at a peak all the time, we have all had times when things just seem to go wrong. There are three main areas involved with sports performance therapy that we can work on: confidence, motivation and method.

We know that a good level of stress can help in producing optimum physical and psychological shape. However too much stress can lead to a drop in our ability to perform, plus causing muscle tension, which could lead to injury. General stress levels or a negative experience can adversely affect your confidence. Hypnotherapy can help to restore and improve your confidence and enable you to bring out your best performance. Hypnotherapy will help reduce general stress and enable you to remain calm and to relax. Hypnotherapy can have a major impact to improving or restoring performance by allowing you to take control of your stress levels, and to adequately prepare you mentally for that winner’s edge.

When feeling low, sad or depressed or have just been out of the game for a while  motivation can be affected.  Hypnotherapy can help you get back into practice and training.  With hypnotherapy, you will learn how to increase your motivation levels, to feel more energised and enthusiastic, and to derive more pleasure from working towards your goals.

The power of visual rehearsal cannot be over-stated. When we rehearse something in our mind, we actually improve at it mentally and physically, as well as greatly enhancing our confidence and self-belief that we are able to execute the performance. With hypnotherapy, we can rehearse the method and execution of your performance, working through each move in as much detail as required. We do this while you are in trance, and the mind and body are relaxed and highly suggestible to learning.

 

PTSD

Hypnotherapy can be extremely effective in the treatment of the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). If you suffer from severe trauma, nightmares, sleep problems, flashbacks, lack of concentration, as well as anxiety caused by something that happened in the past, hypnotherapy can help to eliminate these symptoms.
PTSD can be a debilitating condition in which we are constantly reliving past traumas. It is a kind of anxiety disorder. It is likely that a person with PTSD may also be suffering from depression, anxiety, panic attacks, phobic responses, OCD and any number of other anxiety related conditions.

 

With PTSD, the survival part of the mind is reliving the trauma as if it is still currently happening. Due to extremely high levels of stress, the intellectual part of the mind has not been able to assess this memory and file it away as being finished and over with.
Hypnotherapy can help you learn to relax, reduce the stress in your life and this in turn will allow the intellectual mind to deal with past events and de-traumatise them so that you began to take steps moving forward. Hypnotherapy will help to rebuild your confidence so you can be the person you want to be, regain control of your life and get the real you back.
All clients are treated with the utmost sensitivity, respect, and confidentiality. It is not necessary to disclose any details you do not wish to – therapy will still be effective even if you wish to keep the past events to yourself.

Coming up

Hypnobirth – Early 2020