What is Hypnotherapy?
The NHS website describes hypnotherapy as “the use of hypnosis to try to treat conditions or change habits.” The client is put into a relaxed state making them more susceptible to take suggestions and help to change behaviours, altering the way a client thinks.
Hypnotherapy can seem scary because of the hypnosis acts we see on the television used for entertainment purposes. Hypnotherapy is very far from the “entertainment” version and clients are fully in control; they do not have to take the therapist's suggestions if they do not want to.
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How does hypnotherapy help me?
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Hypnotherapy is a great tool to treat a number of mental conditions such as anxiety, depression, phobias and also helps with alcoholism and weight loss.
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It is a non-invasive treatment, that helps you access your unconscious mind to help you address any concerns or goals that you want to achieve.
​How does hypnotherapy differ from Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP)?
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While both hypnotherapy and NLP aim to facilitate personal change and improvement, hypnotherapy works by accessing the subconscious mind through hypnosis to implement therapeutic suggestions, whereas NLP operates through conscious strategies and behavioural modelling.
Benefits of Hypnotherapy
Benefits of hypnotherapy depend on the needs and goals of the client however it is widely used to help improve the mental wellbeing of the client. Hypnotherapy is often used to treat the following:
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Anxiety in both adults and children
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Depression
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Phobias
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Pain reduction
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Behaviour changes (quit smoking / weight loss)
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along with a host of many other challenges.
How long do hypnotherapy sessions last?
A 30 minute consultation is usually undertaken initially to understand the goals of the client, ensure the client understands the process and to ensure there is true belief and commitment from the client which ensures the hypnotherapy can take place.
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A session will then usually take around 40 minutes to 1 hour depending on the tools and techniques used. Different approaches are available as every client has different needs / requirements to reach their goals.
How many hypnotherapy sessions would I need?
Again, this depends of the nature of the challenge being addressed and the client’s responsiveness to hypnosis. Usually a set of sessions would be agreed upon, which, on average, would be around four or five depending on the goal such as weight management or quitting smoking. Phobias can be treated in as little as one or two sessions depending on the client’s response to the hypnosis.
