close
Hypnosis or hypnotherapy can be used to treat a wide range of issues, from getting rid of nightmares to helping to ease the pain of childbirth. This complementary therapy is often used to break long term habits which a person is struggling to break by themselves: quitting smoking is one good example. Whatever your issue, why not chat about it with a hypnotherapist to see if they can help you out?
Hypnotherapy is a complementary therapy, so it is often used in conjunction with other therapies such as medication; here, hypnotherapy has a relaxing effect on people who have been diagnosed with a disease. This relaxing effect is said to make hypnotherapy great for treating the symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) alongside conventional medication. Hypnotherapy can also be used by itself to treat anxiety or break habit patterns; it does so by relaxing the mind and gently altering the mind's thought patterns so that they become more positive.
Most hypnotherapists have a background in another type of healthcare, such as psychotherapy. As such, most good hypnotherapists tend to be registered with professional bodies, such as the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) or the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC). Searching for a registered hypnotherapist is easy and can be done online, as both of these bodies have online lists of registered people that you can search through. Search the UKCP's list of registered hynotheraposts here.
Hypnotherapy is often said to work well with people who have medically unexplained symptoms. IBS and chronic fatigue are two examples of this. Symptoms such as chronic fatigue often cannot be treated by a doctor, if the doctor cannot find a medical cause for it. And yet, the patient suffers from it all the same: it is very real to them! Here, a complementary therapy such as hypnotherapy can help where conventional medical treatment could not.
Far from being an outdated form of mystical cure, hypnotherapy is a modern complementary therapy. Research is advancing in this field, and several different types of hypnotherapy have been developed. The most common is suggestion theory where, when you are in a relaxed state of mind, your hypnotherapist will suggest ideas to your deep, subconscious mind (such as 'quit smoking!'). One variation on this is the 'Ericksonian' method, whereby a hypnotherapist will use metaphors instead of direct commands to place suggestions in your mind. A more advanced form of this therapy is Neuro-Linguistic Programming, which is also called NLP, and which is used to treat very severe or strong addictions. NLP works by dissociating your addiction from its triggers: if you are used to having a cigarette and a coffee every morning, for instance, NLP will dissociate these ideas from each other.
