Well known in the community as being effective for giving up smoking and for weight management, Clinical Hypnotherapy is also powerful in many areas of life in which people experience symptoms of pain, stress, anxiety and tension - some examples are listed below.
At your first session you will be given a questionnaire about basic matters such as your health history and whether you have been hypnotised before. The therapist will then ask you more questions in order to get to the root of the problem as some issues require a great deal of dialogue before the hypnosis is performed.
Gaining permanent, positive outcomes from Clinical Hypnotherapy can take anywhere from one or two sessions to many weeks of therapy. This depends upon the complexity of the problem and the nature of the underlying subconscious beliefs that are causing or contributing to the problem.
Your hypnotic experience will be unique to you but all clients agree that the process of hypnotherapy is very enjoyable.
See also the side panel for a range of our special programs and services
Stress
Examples of stress include pre-exams (including university and college exams and driving tests) and public speaking. Stress is exacerbated by the mind-set. As tension increases, the ability to perform decreases and so the stress increases. Hypnotherapy stops this viscous cycle.
Anxiety & Panic Attacks
Anxiety can be a generalised feeling that people have from the moment they wake until they go to bed. It's vague but always there, or it can be in the form of a complete panic attack.
A panic attacks can come on out of the blue - for instance in a shopping centre. There is a feeling of the heart speeding up, clammy skin and feeling of panic takes over. This feeling in turn causes anxiety which then adds to the feeling of panic until it can result in a complete collapse.
A panic attack is always within a few minutes. We teach techniques that enable you to stop the panic attack and also resolve the issues that gave rise to these feelings in the first place.
Depression
Depression has been called the malaise of the twenty-first century. One of the most frequent reasons for visiting a doctor is depression in one form or another. Doctors will usually prescribe one of the many anti-depressants that are available, but this does not resolve the root cause of the depression.
As with most issues that present themselves, we can usually achieve a fairly quick resolution, at least compared to visiting a psychiatrist or psychologist. Although obviously some issues take a few sessions to resolve, most people will see some improvement even after the first few sessions.
Pain Relief
There are techniques we can teach people that will reduce pain intensity considerably. It's possible to train people to reduce pain to such an extent that major surgery can be performed whilst the client is hypnotised. In fact, surgery done under hypnosis is much safer than when performed under a general anaesthetic.
We can also provide a recording that you can use to reduce your own pain.
Motivation
Lack of motivation can take many forms.
Motivation for exercise: Many people get into a routine of exercising which they really enjoy. The problem comes when they stop for a period and find it very difficult to 'get back on the bike', to get back into the routine of regular exercise.
It's common that people who have built a company up, often very successfully, get to a point where they lose the will to keep up the pace. It's as if, having achieved their goal, they lose motivation.
We can restore that feeling of being motivated and enjoying the feeling of exercising or of going forward with a new venture.
Sleep Problems & Nightmares
Inability to sleep is a major issue for many people. The thoughts that pass through the mind during the day can't always be easily stopped at night. Sleep problems include inability to get to sleep, waking up in the night and still feeling tired in the morning, even after a night's sleep. Hypnosis can aid relaxation of the mind and body.
Nightmares frequently affect children but often adults can suffer from them too. They can be caused by stress, anxiety and strong emotions. Common themes include being trapped, being chased, suffocating, drowning or falling.
Hypnosis can enable you to regain control over your dream state.
Bedwetting
Children who still wet their bed after the age of around seven can benefit enormously from hypnotherapy. We have had very good success with a wide variety of bedwetting problems.
Nail Biting
Nail biting is a habit that people get into when quite young and simply find it difficult to shake off. In adults, there is usually no deep psychological cause: it's simply a habit and can be resolved very easily within two sessions.
Alcohol Addiction
Many people who are not alcoholics drink to excess. Even drinking one glass of wine a night could be an addiction if you feel that you have to drink it - it's not in you control. It's often simply a matter of time before one glass goes to two glasses, then half a bottle and so on.
We deal very successfully with people who drink, say, a bottle of wine every night, or who binge at weekends. Full blown alcoholism is less easily treated with hypnotherapy however, although we have dealt very successfully with addiction to methylated spirits.
Drug Addiction
One of the most common drugs we deal with is marijuana, which we deal with very successfully. There are many people who smoke one or more joints or 'bongs' every day and often this is associated with a lifestyle - a social group who smoke together and in dealing with the habit we often have to look at the whole environment.
Other drugs we deal with are heroin, amphetamines (speed), cocaine (coke) and ecstasy (E).
One aspect of drug dependancy is that addicts lose the ability to control their own moods - they depend on the drug to bring them up and are unable to deal with the down moods without it.
Note that anything said to the therapist is in strict confidence.
Gambling
Gambling addiction can be dealt with very successfully with hypnotherapy. Gambling takes may forms:
- Poker machines
- Horse racing
- Casinos
- Cards
Lotto generally does not produce an addiction as the payback period is too long to produce the quick response necessary to form an addiction.
Learning Difficulties
Although hypnotherapy can not usually be used to raise IQ, it can be used to remove obstacles to learning. Often people develop a mental block to learning. For instance, adults who are unable to read often see reading as a very difficult task that becomes even harder as they get older. Under hypnosis they can learn to see it as a number of small hills, each of which is very easy to overcome.
Shyness
Shyness can be quite debilitating. In fact it can ruin a person's life. Shyness can be vicious cycle. A person gets tense when meeting people for the first time; this tension causes the mind to go blank which causes more tension etc. Hypnotherapy can assist in breaking this cycle.
Public Speaking
Even people who are very familiar with their subject can get tongue-tied when speaking in public, sometimes even when speaking to friends.
Usually when we speak to people ideas come from our subconscious mind with no blockage. We want to recall some information and it simply comes. Often, though, when speaking in public this process gets blocked. We try to hard and the more we try the more the flow of information gets interrupted, We become very aware of people looking at us and expecting us to say something.
Sexual Issues
Many issues of sexual dysfunction have a psychological base. Hypnosis can be invaluable in these situations. We deal in confidence with a wide range of sexual issues including:
- Impotency
- Vaginismus
- General lack of desire
We can also deal with these issues as part of couples counselling.
Premenstrual Syndrome
Premenstrual Syndrome is caused by hormone imbalances produced as part of the monthly cycle. As with many physical issues, by relating to the deep subconscious mind, we can influence the body and PMS can be treated very successfully with hypnotherapy.
Menopausal Issues
Like PMS, menopause changes hormones that can affect the body adversely. Hot flushes, difficulty sleeping and weight gain are typical symptoms. Hypnotherapy can deal with the body's release and balance of hormones.
Eating Disorders
As well as obesity, a wide range of eating disorders afflict mainly young people. Anorexia (where the person eats very little and often over exercises in order to lose weight), and bulimia (where the person over eats and then purges by vomiting) are among the most common.
Hypnotherapy is successful in changing someone's attitude towards food and their body. There are a number of issues that are behind the eating disorder, for instance these could be lack of self esteem, bullying at school, poor family relationships etc. Hypnotherapy is successful in getting to the root of these issues.
General Health
The relationship between mind and body is slowly being acknowledged by the general medical profession. For instance, new research shows that the integrity of the immune system is very much dependant on the mental state, and new work indicates that a cancer releases hormones that induce depression.
Hypnotherapists have always known that apparently physical issues can be resolved through hypnosis.
Plastic Surgery
When considering plastic surgery, it is often useful to consider the reasons behind what it is you want to change. People often go to expensive (and potentially dangerous) surgery only to find that the they are dissatisfied with the results. It is sometimes the case that what they disliked about themselves was not simply a physical feature but has a psychological basis.
Hypnotherapy can be useful in building an awareness of what it is you are dissatisfied with and whether surgery will resolve it, or sometimes the hypnotherapy can give you that good feeling without the expense of surgery.
Relationship Issues
Problems with relationships can be alleviated by changing your attidue to the other person or people - we teach people how to treat us. By changing your automatic reactions to other people you can change the nature of the relationship.
Many of these attitudes are automatic - we are unaware of the message that we give out. Typical kind of relationships we deal with are:
- Partners
- Parents and Children or teenagers
- Siblings
- Work colleagues, employers and employees
Counselling
As part of the hypnotherapy process, we do counselling. Talking about the issues cognitively as well as under hypnosis.
Self-Esteem
Self-esteem is at the root a number of other issues. Hypnotherapy can be used to assist the client in changing their self-image. It can also be used to get to the root of what is causing the self-esteem issue.
Negative Thinking
Many people have developed the habit of seeing the negative aspect of many things they encounter in life. A new opportunity becomes an ordeal; every purchase becomes something to regret or to go wrong. Even a car drive is an opportunity to expect something to go wrong with the car or an accident. People often bring about what they fear. The person who fears their partner is cheating will drive them into the arms of someone else. The person waiting for a car accident will find it.
Hypnotherapy is successful in changing these deep-seated thoughts by bringing them up to the surface where they can be seen and removed.
Sports Performance
Sports people know how much the mental state affects sports performance. A golfer knows that he is really only playing against himself. Sports professionals know the importance of being in 'the zone' where they are fully concentrated on their goal.
Hypnotherapy can be successful in enhancing concentration and in removing bad habits, many of which are introduced subconsciously.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Hypnosis can be used in PTSD. The actual technique depends very much on the individual. In some cases the client may be taken back (using a procedure known as 'regression') to the incident that caused the trauma, or other techniques can be used to release the trauma. Sometimes the trauma is better left alone and techniques can be used to isolate the traumatic event so that it no longer affects the present.
Recovering Memories
A technique known as 'regression' takes the client back to an earlier time. This can be so real that the person re-lives the event, even talking as a child when regressing back to a childhood event. It is a useful technique as it allows a person to remember otherwise forgotten events, but has to be executed carefully to prevent 'false memories' being implanted in the client. These memories may even go back to 'past lives'.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Hypnosis has been proved to very successful in the treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome. In one recent study, Dr. Olafur S. Palsson and colleagues at the Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia provided 24 IBS patients, 15 women and 9 men, with seven sessions of hypnosis treatment. In addition, the patients used hypnosis audiotapes at home. At the end of the 14-week study period, 21 of the 24 patients "rated themselves improved in all central IBS symptoms after treatment," the researchers report.
Stammering
Because stammering is a habit that has been ingrained, usually from an early age, hypnosis can be very successful in changing the habit. Stammering can be exacerbated by stress and hypnosis is very successful is relieving stress.
Phobias
Phobias are many and varied. Among the most common are fear of confined spaces (Claustrophobia), fear of open spaces (Agoraphobia), fear of spiders (Arachnephobiba), fear of snakes (Snakephobia) and fear of vomit (Emetophobia).
You would be amazed at the different types of phobias that come to the hypnotherapist. All can be treated very successfully with hypnotherapy, usually within one or sometimes two sessions.
List of phobias
And much more
If you have an issue that doesn't seem to fit into one of these then please send us an email or ring. We deal with a huge range of issues and it's is very possible that however odd or bizarre the issue seems to be, we have probably seen it before and even if we haven't - we know how to deal with it.
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