What do I treat with Hypnotherapy?

I work with people to empower them to clear most, hopefully all their problems - RAPIDLY. Below is a list of the most common things people see me for.

There are problems put in a particular section below may actually fit in several, a couple of of these would be IBS and weight management. There are some of these disorders that need traditional hypnosis methods.

In some situations I will need to seek permission from your GP or consultant to work with you. I take my work very seriously and will only work within the guidelines set by regulatory bodies.

CHANGING UNWANTED BEHAVIOUR/S
We are all creatures of habit, both good and bad. When it is a good habit we are happy with it but when it is a bad one, (although we may have thought it was a good one when we started it), then we seem to be a prisoner of our past. We find that normal will power is not enough to shift it; logical minds know that we should change our behaviour but we can't. Every time we try and fail reinforces in us a feeling that we are unable change.

Both WILL-STOP Hypnotherapy and RAPID MIND Hypnotherapy provide excellent ways of breaking this cycle of failure so can help you to achieve the change you want to make. Here is an important point -- you must want to make the change -- and it is not sufficient for somebody else (e.g. a parent, spouse or boss) to think that you should make the change. If your heart is not in it the change is very unlikely to happen.

Examples of behavioural change:

Smoking cessation and other addictions e.g. gambling
Overeating and weight reduction
Insomnia
Nailbiting
Shyness/Blushing

Etc.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
Confident and better motivated people are far more likely to achieve their objectives. We often look at others and 'know' they are no more intelligent than us but they are far more successful. In their own mind they have convinced themselves that they will succeed and so do. Achieving a more positive attitude of mind is a normal part of any hypnotherapy session. Your goals must be reasonable bearing in mind the skills that you have and the effort that are are prepared to put in.

Under the wide heading of personal development I can list:

Building self confidence and self-esteem
Encouraging relaxation
Stress reduction
Emotional difficulties
Relationship problems
Reduction of anxiety
Exam preparation
Driving test preparation
Assertiveness
Life coaching and goalsetting
Sports or artistic performance enhancement

STRESS & ANGER REDUCTION. I have included this in the personal development section as the client has to develop many of the things given in the list above. Failure to achieve our goals, or a conflict between work pressures, life pressures and the time available, can lead to stress. The more stressed we feel, the worse we perform and a vicious circle develops so anger starts to kick in too. Hypnosis, with its emphasis on relaxation, can be a potent force for change when allied with better goal and priority setting, leading to management and reduction of stress and anger.

PHOBIAS
Phobia is a common codition I help peopel with. A phobia is an extreme reaction to fear triggered by a stimulus. We can also say that a phobia is a fear of a fear, (anticipatory anxiety), as the unwanted feelings can often be created by simply thinking about the unwanted situation. Some people may be quite happy to live with their phobia as it does not disturb their daily lives. However, if it leads to unreasonable or disabling behaviour their lives may be happier if the phobia can be removed.

Phobias may be acquired as a result of a single trauma (possibly when a child), or by a gradual learned response (possibly influenced by parental behaviour), or by avoidance following a traumatic event (e.g. refusal to get back on a horse after a fall), but in every case it is the unconscious mind which provides the response and which needs to learn a normal pattern of behaviour.

Examples of phobias are:

Acrophobia - fear of heights
Agoraphobia - fear of open spaces
Anthrophobia - fear of people
Achlophobia - fear of crowds
Aquaphobia - fear of water
Astraphobia - fear of lightning
Aviaphobia - fear of flying
Bacteriaphobia - fear of germs
Brontophobia - fear of thunder
Claustrophobia - fear of closed spaces
Hematophobia - fear of blood
Lalophobia - fear of public speaking
Mysophobia - fear of dirt
Ophidiophobia - fear of snakes
Panaphobia - fear of everything
Xenophobia - fear of strangers
Zoophobia - fear of animals

ANXIETY & PANIC ATTACKS
People often do not know why they have the anxieties that are affecting their lives. Sometimes is is a 'generalised anxiety' about most things in life or may be just in a particular situation.

Panic attacks can give sufferers severe physical symptoms when an irrational fear triggers the "fight or flight" response. The symptoms can include sweating, shortness of breath, raised heartbeat, feeling shaky, faint or nauseous, together with sensations of unreality or fear of losing control. There are a number of possible causes of panic attacks, including phobias (particularly agoraphobia), a traumatic event in the past, and drug and alcohol abuse.

Hypnotherapy may help remove the underlying causes which are triggering fear in the unconscious mind, so there should be no symptoms in the future.

CLINICAL DEPRESSION and SADDNESS
People with clinical depression, (Unipolar and Bipolar), needing treatment with antidepressant drugs, will need to see a doctor or psychiatrist for treatment. However, once that has been done, and with their consent, hypnotherapy may offer a complementary approach by encouraging the client to change their outlook, set themselves goals, focus on positive thoughts and move forward, or calm some of the mania symptoms.

If someone is feeling 'down' or melancholy it is a normal state but not depression. Hypnosis is can be very effective helping people out of these low moods.

EATING DISORDERS
Both anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa can be extremely dangerous conditions. People with anorexia have a body weight more than 25% below their ideal weight, together with an intense desire to be thin. This is a compulsion which is stronger than the individual. It will often have an emotional cause, and age regression under hypnosis may reveal a cause of which the conscious mind is no longer aware. Anorexia can lead to premature death, often due to heart attack.

People with bulimia nervosa usually have a normal weight but feel a compulsion to overeat (bingeing) but with self induced vomiting 10 or 20 times a day. This can have severe medical consequences.

I will need permission to work in these areas. Eating disorders usually need some Hypno-analysis work before the rapid techniques can be used.

DERMATOLOGICAL DISORDERS
At first sight it may seem surprising that hypnotherapy can help sufferers with skin problems. However, because both the skin and the autonomic nervous system have a common origin in the ectoderm apparently physical problems can sometimes have a psychological aspect and therefore, potentially, a psychological solution. This is not always the case and the only way to find out is to try hypnosis and see if it helps.

Examples are:
Eczema
Psoriasis

GASTROINTESTINAL DISORDERS
Some disorders, depending upon their origin, may be susceptible to hypnotherapy. In some cases it may be possible to relieve the symptoms.
Examples include:

Irritable bowel syndrome
Inflammatory bowel disease
Colitis
Peptic ulcers

PAIN CONTROL
One of the hypnotic trance phenomena is analgesia and anaesthesia. Hypnosis has been used in operations for over 200 years. Because pain can be an important indicator for the medical profession I would not remove or reduce pain without prior asking you GP if you are receiving treatment for the problem. If you have regular period pains or tension headaches, etc. then I will work with you to reduce their severity.

Uses include:
Childbirth
Preparation for surgery and post-surgery recovery
Dentistry, both removing the fear beforehand and reducing the pain during treatment.

CANCER AND PSYCHONEUROIMMUNOLOGY
People with cancer often find that, in addition to the conventional treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, they can be helped by complementary therapies, e.g. hypnotherapy, which work with the mind as well as the body. While more clinical studies are needed there is some evidence that hypnotherapy may improve the prognosis and it can certainly improve the quality of life of a person with cancer. I CANNOT CURE CANCER.

Hypnotherapy can help in several ways;

1) it is good at improving relaxation and so reducing stress. This is a stand alone benefit for everybody, but it also assists the immune system to work better.

2) By using visualisation and suitable imagery the client can encourage there immune system to be more effective. This is the basis of psychoneuroimmunology, a relatively new area of research into the relationship between the mind and the immune system.

3) Hypnotherapy may help to alleviate some of the side effects of treatment, such as nausea in the case of chemotherapy.

OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDERS
These are repetitive thoughts or actions which a person feels compelled to carry out even though a rational bystander would regard them as quite unnecessary. They can include repetitive washing of hands (to remove germs), collecting of rubbish or unwanted items, and counting, organising or checking procedures (for example, before leaving the house).

Disorders such as these can make it impossible for a person (and sometimes other members of the household) to lead a normal life. OCDs are difficult to help with by any method. However, hypnotherapy usually produces some improvement in the condition and in milder cases removes it completely.

PSYCHOSEXUAL DISORDERS
Once organic causes for sexual problems have been eliminated, any psychological causes can be addressed by hypnotherapy. Before I will see you for any of these problems I will need confirmation from your GP/consultant that all physical causes have been ruled out.

Examples include:

Erectile dysfunction
Premature ejaculation
Orgasmic dysfunction
Dyspareunia
Vaginismus

PSYCHOSOMATIC DISORDERS
These are a physical sensation or pain in the body caused by your own mind. Once organic/phyical causes for the problems have been eliminated, any psychological causes could be addressed by hypnotherapy.

Examples include:

Back pain due to stress
IBS
Rashes and Hives
Lethargy and Tiredness
Headaches and many other problems.

This list is by no means exhaustive but gives you an insight into the problems we may be able to help you with.