Clinical Hypnotherapy and Psychotherapy
Clinical Hypnotherapy and Psychotherapy
Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy have been with us for many years, it is nothing new and it is a perfectly natural and powerful process that can assist you to help you change your life and realise your true potential.
Today we have scientific scanners and a catalogue of worldwide evidence-based research that helps us to measure and understand the neuroscience of the brain’s plasticity (reorganising its structure and function) and how hypnosis can help to create change within each and every one of us.
What is hypnotherapy
Hypnotherapy is the therapeutic process in which a trained or skilled professional introduces a variety of techniques to help address specific psychological and emotional problems and physical or behavioural problems, such as, habits, phobias, anxieties, confidence, self-esteem, IBS and OCD to name but a few.
Hypnotherapy can help people overcome mental and physical barriers that can lead to profound changes and transformation. It’s about addressing limiting beliefs and regaining control over thoughts, emotions and addressing habits such as, smoking, drinking or gambling that may be unintentionally holding you back.
What is hypnosis
This is a million-dollar question and if you ask it, you will receive many definitions but think of it like this, Hypnosis = Focused attention + Belief + Expectation + Imagination.
Hypnosis can produce an extraordinary state of relaxation (physically, mentally and emotionally) often referred to as trance or focused attention. This state of altered consciousness is characterised by a highly attentive subconscious element of your mind which can become adaptive to well-structured positive suggestions and a host of many other trance directed techniques, all of which enhance the recipient’s capacity to respond in a manner of their desire.
Some people remain fully aware during the entire experience. They recall everything that happens and are even able to have conversations while under hypnosis. Other people may experience states of relaxation that are so deep that they may even feel detached from what is happening.
Reaching a hypnotic state is a perfectly normal process and it is a natural state of the mind that everyone experiences in their everyday lives. As soon as you start to daydream you begin to enter into this relaxed state of mind, for instance, when you become intensely focused watching TV, reading a book or experiencing that deeply relaxing state you encounter just before dropping off to sleep.
You can read more about the fascinating subject of hypnosis and hypnotherapy in our blog.
What hypnosis is not
Hypnosis is nothing like what you have seen on TV or witnessed at the local holiday camp. You will not be made to jump around like a rabbit or asked to give away any confidential information. This is a form of stage hypnosis which relies on extrovert members of a captivated audience, specifically selected by the hypnotherapist.
The conscious (critical) aspect of the mind
The conscious mind is our active mind and occupies the left side of the brain known as a hemisphere. This mind is logical, rational, critical, analytical and mathematical, objective and abstract. It has no emotion and is based on intentional memory. This is the thinking mind of the moment, in other words, it’s your working mind making decisions about what you do and how you go about doing it. It gives you a choice about what you do and how you do it. It can also create self-sabotage.
The subconscious (emotional) aspect of the mind
The subconscious mind occupies the right side of the brain also known as a hemisphere and is based on involuntary memory. It is governed by our feelings, emotions, instinct, intuition, imagery, and metaphor.
This mind is unique as it never needs sleep and records everything that the five senses have awareness of such as, what you hear, see, taste, smell and touch. It stores all memories and records all your thoughts and feelings (from which your belief systems and patterns of behaviour arise).
Therefore, just like a PC tower block it holds and stores a massive amount of information. This is the strongest aspect of the mind and it has an incredible influence over what you want to achieve and how you do it.
Mental health benefits of hypnotherapy
1. Reducing Anxiety and Stress
2. Addressing Fears and Phobias
3. Improving Focus and Mental Clarity
Emotional health benefits of hypnotherapy
1. Healing Trauma
2. Building Self-Esteem and Confidence
3. Emotional Regulation
Physical health benefits of hypnotherapy
1. Chronic Pain Relief
2. Improving Sleep
3. Boosting Immune Function
What is psychology
Human psychology is the study of people, the brain, the mind and our social behaviour. It examines through a variety of models how people think, act, react and interact. It's concerned with all aspects of behaviour and feelings and the motivation underlying such behaviour.
What is psychotherapy
"a problem shared is a problem halved"
Psychotherapy is an integrative therapeutic approach which embraces many forms of talking therapies such as, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Person Centred Therapy (PCT) and Hypno-Psychotherapy. Good coaching and mentoring have a place here too. These modalities can be useful in helping clients to identify and change negative thoughts and maladaptive behaviours.
What is neuroscience
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the components, functions and disorders of the nervous system, such as the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nervous system and the autonomic nervous system which has two branches, the Sympathetic system (which prepares the body for fight or flight) and the Parasympathetic system (which helps regulate bodily functions at rest and during non-stressful situations).
What is brain plasticity
Brain plasticity (neuroplasticity) allows the brain to change and reorganise its structure and function in response to learning, storing experiences and adapting to damage through its biological, chemical and physical capacity.
While it was first thought that neural plasticity was limited to a phase when the nervous system was developing, the current knowledge is that neural plasticity is not restricted to infancy but retained by the individual throughout their entire life.
Neural connections in the brain, known as synapses can and do constantly communicate with each other and change to form new pathways of learning. Therefore, phobias, anxieties, habits and unwanted conditions are formed in this manner via these neural networks. And most importantly, this is how the brain responds to hypnotherapy.
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What is epigenetics
The study of epigenetics allows us to understand the heredity and variation of our inherited characteristics. Allowing us to comprehend how genes can change and demonstrate “gene expression”, none of which affects or alters our underlying DNA sequence.
For example, genes are not static as once believed but are actually dynamic in responding to and being influenced by environmental factors, lifestyle and behaviours. Research has lead us to begin to understand how hypnosis can help by interacting with the brain and creating changes than influence epigenetic changes.
