Hypnotherapy in Cheltenham or Online
Is hypnotherapy the right therapy for me? And what to expect
Have you heard of hypnotherapy but you’re not sure if it’s for you? Perhaps you’ve seen stage shows or you feel it is not evidence-based? Firstly hypnotherapy is very different from a stage show. A stage show is designed to be a ‘show’. Hypnotherapy, on the other hand, is a safe one-to-one therapy supported by research.
Hypnotherapy is suitable for many issues and goals. It is particularly well suited for mild to moderate anxiety and low mood. I trained in hypnotherapy when working as a nutritional therapist because I noticed so many of my clients had anxiety. I wanted to offer another layer of support, aside from diet and lifestyle advice. I also noticed that many of my IBS clients could link their symptoms to stress. Hypnotherapy has been shown to help improve symptoms of IBS, possibly by supporting the nervous system. However, hypnotherapy can also help with pain management.
Hypnotherapy is effective for building confidence and self-esteem which can be useful for supporting you at work, in sports performance, or just with your general confidence and feeling good in yourself. For example, if you are a woman in midlife experiencing trouble with anxiety, sleep, and self-confidence -possibly peri-menopause-hypnotherapy can be very supportive. Hypnotherapy has good success with habit reversal and mild addictions too. For example, if you’re finding it difficult to stick to a healthy diet, hypnotherapy can help to break unhealthy habits and embed new ones. Hypnotherapy supports behaviour change. This goes well with nutritional therapy where we might change the diet and ‘know’ what to eat, yet we struggle to break unhelpful habits. Hypnotherapy is also useful for supporting fears and phobias.
Some people are drawn to hypnotherapy because they think they just sit there and the hypnotherapist ‘hypnotises’ them and that fixes the problem. However, it is more involved than that. Hypnotherapy is a collaborative process. It’s important to talk through your issue thoroughly and assess the problem to build the right treatment plan. I incorporate CBT skills into my practice where appropriate. Hypnosis is a trainable skill. So don’t worry if you think you can’t be hypnotised. It just requires willingness and practice. We incorporate suggestions into your hypnosis that support your goal and that are personal to you. It is important that you listen to your hypnosis recordings several times a week to help practice hypnosis and embed the suggestions.
If you are interested in finding out more, I offer hypnotherapy in Cheltenham and online. Please feel free to call me and leave a message or contact me via email and we can arrange a chat to see if hypnotherapy is for you.