Open Minds

Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy is a very effective tool for achieving long-term change to disruptive or dysfunctional cognitive, behavioural and emotional patterns.

People experience anxiety in a variety of different ways including feelings of irritability, panic attacks and insomnia. Common to most sufferers is a sense of having lost control.

Besides being very relaxing, hypnotherapeutic techniques can effectively help clients to conquer their anxiety and regain control of their thoughts, feelings and behaviour, also having a knock-on effect on their physiology.

Sessions are tailor-made and may include assertiveness training, visualisations, and desensitisation to triggers.

Effective Self-Hypnosis and Autogenic Training will be taught, free of charge, to all clients wishing to empower themselves. Practising this wonderful skill enables rapid long-lasting achievement of desired results.

Research:

This research refers to preoperative anxiety but similar techniques would also apply to anxiety triggered by a host of other stimuli.

"We found that patients in the hypnosis group were significantly less anxious postintervention as compared with patients in the attention-control group and the control group. Moreover, on entrance to the operating rooms, the hypnosis group reported a significant decrease of 56% in their anxiety level whereas the attention-control group reported an increase of 10% in anxiety and the control group reported an increase of 47% in their anxiety. In conclusion, we found that hypnosis significantly alleviates preoperative anxiety."
(Saadat H, Drummond-Lewis J, Maranets I, Kaplan D, Saadat A, Wang SM, Kain ZN (2006). "Hypnosis reduces preoperative anxiety in adult patients." Anesth Analg. 2006 May;102(5):1394-6. PMID: 16632816)

There is currently no cure for Asthma but most sufferers can control their symptoms to an extent that enables them to function.

In acute asthma attacks, the airways can constrict so severely that oxygen is prevented from reaching vital organs.

As relaxation is an intrinsic part of any hypnotherapy session, asthma symptoms can be reduced using a variety of hypnotherapeutic techniques, including Self-Hypnosis and Autogenic Training, taught, free of charge, to all clients wishing to empower themselves. Practising this wonderful skill enables rapid long-lasting achievement of desired results.

Although people who do not have any mental disorder may occasionally experience episodes of overeating, frequent binge eating is often a symptom of an eating disorder and is a central feature of bulimia nervosa.

Traditional and Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy are both very effective tools for achieving long-term change to disruptive or dysfunctional cognitive, behavioural and emotional patterns.

Effective Self-Hypnosis will be taught, free of charge, to all clients wishing to empower themselves. Practising this wonderful skill enables rapid long-lasting achievement of desired results.

Bruxism often occurs during sleep and can even occur during short naps.
Most bruxers are not aware of their bruxism and only 5-10% go on to develop symptoms such as jaw pain and headache.

Bruxism is one of the most common sleep disorders with millions of people grinding their teeth during sleep, with the grinding sound often disturbing their partners.

As relaxation techniques are known to reduce Bruxism (see statistics), hypnotherapy is very effective in achieving long-lasting results.

By using Self-Hypnosis, taught free of charge to all interested clients, Bruxers can help themselves reduce symptoms before going to sleep. Practising this wonderful skill enables rapid long-lasting achievement of desired results.

Self-confidence decreases with the loss of trust in one's ability to perform. This may be as a result of past failure, or as a result of a more general self-doubt. Either way, if not conquered, it can lead to debilitating shyness and a reluctance to try new or unfamiliar experiences, often becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy is extremely effective in helping clients increase their confidence levels.

Sessions are individually tailored to each client so they can feel comfortable with the pace of their own progress.

By using Self-Hypnosis, taught free of charge to all interested clients, clients can feel more empowered as they help themselves every day. Practising this wonderful skill enables rapid long-lasting achievement of desired results.

Those suffering from erythrophobia usually experience anxiety, stemming from concerns about being the focus of attention which may lead to embarrassment. Many who try to hide blushing usually end up making the condition worse.

As a result, Erythrophobia sufferers try to avoid social gatherings, public speaking engagements, and other situations involving large groups of people.

Traditional hypnotherapy techniques can help suffers control the extent of their blushing and Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy ensures that they change their perception of the condition, enabling them to achieve their full potential, socially and professionally.

For those people suffering with excessive exam nerves, it is important to keep on top of reactions by learning stress-reduction techniques such as the use of Self-Hypnosis and Autogenic Training, taught free of charge to all interested clients. Practising this wonderful skill enables rapid long-lasting achievement of desired results.

Fear of flying may be a distinct phobia in itself, or it may be an indirect manifestation of one or more other phobias, such as Claustrophobia (a fear of enclosed spaces), Acrophobia (a fear of heights), fear of not being in control, fear of having panic attacks in certain places where escape would be difficult and/or embarrassing (agoraphobia), fear of hijacking or terrorism, fear of turbulence, fear of flying over water, fear of flying at night or fear of crashing, resulting in injury or death

This widespread fear receives more attention than many other phobias because air travel is often difficult for people to avoid - especially in professional contexts.

A previous traumatizing experience with air travel or somehow connected to air travel can also trigger a fear of flying.

Traditional hypnotherapy uses techniques such as systematic desensitisation to specific triggers, whilst inducing a wonderful state of relaxation. Clients can also be taught relaxation techniques, Autogenic Training and Self-Hypnosis, taught free of charge to all interested clients. Practising these wonderful skill enables rapid long-lasting achievement of desired results.

Stress before making a presentation may also affect relationships with loved ones, and performance anxiety may prevent the realisation of dreams and future goals.

Symptoms may include:

• Fear of losing control

• Fear of embarrassment in front of others

• Heart palpitations

• Panic Attacks

• Anxiety

• Fear of blushing

• Insomnia

• Fear of forgetting what to say

• Stress

• Constant monitoring of bodily symptoms

• Hyperventilation

How many opportunities have already been missed due to performance anxiety? Imagine how far you could go with more confidence.

Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy is extremely effective in helping clients increase their confidence levels and, as its name suggests, works on emotions, beliefs and behaviour.

Sessions are individually tailored to each client so they can feel comfortable with the pace of their own progress.

Self-Hypnosis and Autogenic Training, taught free of charge to all interested clients, can help them to feel more empowered as they help themselves every day. Practising this wonderful skill enables rapid long-lasting achievement of desired results.

And as a wise man once said "You don't have to be great in order to start, but you have to start in order to be great".

It may be possible to relate the occurrence of a headache to particular triggers such as stress or particular foods, which can then be avoided.**

Traditional hypnotherapy and autogenic training are very effective in helping clients control tension headaches due to its relaxing nature.

Clients will find daily use of Self-Hypnosis, taught free of charge to all interested clients, extremely beneficial. Practising this wonderful skill enables rapid long-lasting achievement of desired results.

As all my clients come with different goals and lifestyles, sessions are tailor-made to each individual client to achieve optimal, long-lasting results.

Clients will also find daily use of Self-Hypnosis, taught free of charge to all interested clients, extremely beneficial in maintaining their motivation levels. Practising this wonderful skill enables rapid long-lasting achievement of desired results.

Call now to book an appointment and start to feel the benefits in the following weeks.

Much research has been carried out into the effects of relaxation, hypnotherapy, autogenic training and behaviour therapy, used in the treatment of IBS, showing that these methods are indeed very effective.

Research:

"There is a strong brain-gut component to IBS, and cognitive therapy may improve symptoms in a portion of patients in conjunction with antidepressants."
(Kennedy T, Jones R, Darnley S, Seed P, Wessely S, Chalder T (2005). "Cognitive behaviour therapy in addition to antispasmodic treatment for irritable bowel syndrome in primary care: randomised controlled trial". BMJ 331 (7514): 435. PMID 16093252 )

"This study demonstrates that the beneficial effects of hypnotherapy appear to last at least five years. Thus it is a viable therapeutic option for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome."
(W M Gonsalkorale, V Miller, A Afzal, P J Whorwell (2003). "Long term benefits of hypnotherapy for irritable bowel syndrome". BMJ Publishing Group Ltd & British Society of Gastroenterology. Gut 2003;52:1623-1629)

"Gut-directed or gut-specific hypnotherapy or self-hypnosis is one of the most promising areas of IBS treatment. An uncontrolled study shows that symptom reduction/elimination from IBS hypnotherapy can last at least five years." (Gonsalkorale WM, Miller V, Afzal A, Whorwell PJ (2003). "Long term benefits of hypnotherapy for irritable bowel syndrome". Gut 52 (11): 1623–9. PMID 14570733)

"Relaxation therapy in four 90-minute group sessions was found to help in a randomized controlled trial."
(VAN DER Veek PP, VAN Rood YR, Masclee AA. Clinical trial: short- and long-term benefit of relaxation training for irritable bowel syndrome. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2007 Sep 15;26(6):943-52. PMID 17767479)

"These results emphasise how awareness of the emotional state of the patient is important when either measuring visceral sensitivity or treating IBS."
(Houghton LA, Calvert EL, Jackson NA, Cooper P, Whorwell PJ. (2002). "Visceral sensation and emotion: a study using hypnosis." Gut. 2002 Nov;51(5):701-4. PMID: 12377810

Using Solution Focussed Therapy together with a variety of traditional and Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy increases motivation to a level that you may never have reached before, increasing your confidence and helping you to reach your full potential.

CALL NOW - DON'T KEEP PUTTING IT OFF!

Aversion therapy, Traditional and Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy are all very effective in helping clients stop biting their nails. In addition to behavioural therapy, wherein the client is taught to replace their unwanted behaviour with a more appropriate alternative behaviour, the client is taught to deal with stressful or anxiety-provoking situations in a more constructive manner.

Research:

"Personal experience in the hypnotic management of nailbiting is presented. Confidence in this type of treatment is rested on the results observed in a set of 32 cases, 28 of which were fully and definitively resolved." (Arone di Bertolino R, Nanni G. Treatment of onychophagia. Minerva Med. 1980 Apr 28;71(17):1269-72. PMID: 7375051)

Sufferers report feelings of extreme anxiety when faced with situations in which they must perform in the presence of others.

Symptoms of this anxiety vary from one individual to another and may include panic attacks, sweating, increased heart rate, hyperventilation, nausea, shaking, insomnia, increased urination, blushing, stammering, going blank, dizziness and, in the cases of sexual performance, anxiety may lead to erectile dysfunction or impotence. The symptoms are often so extreme that they lead to avoidance of the situations which invoke them.

Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy is remarkably effective in the treatment of performance anxiety and I often also incorporate the use of traditional techniques such as systematic desensitisation, EMDR, Solution Focussed Therapy, Autogenic Training and Anchoring where necessary. Regular practise of Self-Hypnosis will help the client maintain control over their emotions and remain calm and relaxed when performing.

Phobias are the most common form of anxiety disorders.

Phobias can emerge from a combination of external events and internal predispositions. Many specific phobias can be traced back to a specific triggering event, usually a traumatic experience at an early age. Social phobias and agoraphobia have more complex causes.

I use a variety of techniques, including systematic desensitisation, EMDR, Autogenic Training and Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy to help clients rid themselves of these restricting disorders, often in only one session.

Phobias treated include:

• Social phobias – fears of social situations, performance anxiety, fear of interaction with other people, embarrassment by scrutiny of others, embarrassment by eating in public and embarrassment when urinating in public toilets.

• Specific phobias – fears of specific panic triggers such as spiders, snakes, birds, dogs, elevators, water, flying, being sick, catching a specific illness, heights, etc.

• Agoraphobia – a generalized fear of leaving home (or familiar 'safe' area), and of possible panic attacks that might follow.

Phobias vary in severity among individuals. Some people can simply avoid the subject of their fear and suffer only relatively mild anxiety over that fear. Others suffer fully-fledged panic attacks with all the associated disabling symptoms. Most individuals understand that they are suffering from an irrational fear, but feel powerless to override their initial panic reaction.

Both traditional and Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy techniques, including systematic desensitisation and EMDR can help clients rid themselves of these restricting disorders, often in only one session. Practising Self-hypnosis and/or Autogenic Training, taught free of charge to all interested clients, can help maintain a feeling of calmness and control.

Communication – the way we interact, listen and relate to each other – can have an enormous impact on all our relationships and subsequently on our lives.
This is why it is so important to take the time to look at the way you communicate with others.

Book an appointment now, in strict confidence, to explore and harness the full potential of your relationships using Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy, Solution Focussed Therapy and Assertiveness Training.

Hypnotherapy is so successful as an application for smoking cessation because it can access both the conscious and unconscious parts of the mind. In this way we can challenge self-limiting beliefs about how stressful it will be to quit or any reasons you may have for continuing to smoke and replace these with positive feelings of calm, control and relaxation so that you have no desire to smoke.

In 2001, New Scientist reported the largest ever scientific comparison of ways to stop smoking. Of all the methods analysed, the survey found that Hypnotherapy was by far the most effective, five times more effective than willpower alone and three times more effective than nicotine gum.

New Scientist (Vol.136,issue 1845):
"... most techniques turned out to be hopeless. Hypnosis, however, came out as the most effective anti-smoking technique."

When smokers quit – The health benefits over time (source: ACS)

• 20 minutes after quitting:
Your heart rate and blood pressure drops.
(Effect of Smoking on Arterial Stiffness and Pulse Pressure Amplification, Mahmud, A, Feely, J. 2003. Hypertension:41:183.)

• 12 hours after quitting:
The carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal.
(US Surgeon General's Report, 1988, p. 202)

• 2 weeks to 3 months after quitting:
Your circulation improves and your lung function increases.
(US Surgeon General's Report, 1990, pp.193, 194,196, 285, 323)

• 1 to 9 months after quitting:
Coughing and shortness of breath decrease; cilia (tiny hair-like structures that move mucus out of the lungs) regain normal function in the lungs, increasing the ability to handle mucus, clean the lungs, and reduce the risk of infection.
(US Surgeon General's Report, 1990, pp. 285-287, 304)

• 1 year after quitting:
The excess risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker's.
(US Surgeon General's Report, 1990, p. vi)

• 5 years after quitting:
Your stroke risk is reduced to that of a nonsmoker 5 to 15 years after quitting.
(US Surgeon General's Report, 1990, p. vi)

• 10 years after quitting:
The lung cancer death rate is about half that of a continuing smoker's. The risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, cervix, and pancreas decrease.
(US Surgeon General's Report, 1990, pp. vi, 131, 148, 152, 155, 164,166)

• 15 years after quitting:
The risk of coronary heart disease is that of a non-smoker's.
(US Surgeon General's Report, 1990, p. vi)

Smoking causes:
• 30% of all cancer deaths
• 17% of all heart disease
• 80% of all chronic respiratory disease

Each year in the UK 120,000 people die as a direct result of smoking
Tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 chemical compounds, present as either gases or as tiny particles. These include carbon monoxide, arsenic, formaldehyde, cyanide, benzene, toluene and acrolein.

In hypnotic trance you will be able to see yourself practising and perfecting that flawless free kick or the optimal backhand, using muscle memory to train your mind and body. In addition to this you can be desensitised to your opponent's attempts to psyche you out and use techniques such as anchoring to quickly and easily get yourself into the zone.

Sports coaches claim that 80% of an Olympic athlete's performance is in the mind. To prevent fear of humiliation or their opponents' intimidation affecting their skill, they use hypnosis techniques before and during their performance.

With hypnosis you can:

• Develop new techniques with mental imagery.

• Remove limiting beliefs and fear of failure (or success).

• Revisit previous good performances and install anchors to access resourceful states at whenever they are needed without others noticing.

• Give yourself more time, for example to hit a tennis ball, by slowing your perception of time.

• Replace your current negative self-image with one of an Olympic athlete, installing their traits and techniques.

• Enhance endurance.

• Remove hesitation and anxiety during competition.

• Reframe the pain experienced, for example during a marathon, to make it more tolerable.

• Motivate yourself to lead the lifestyle and stick to the healthy diet needed to get maximum sporting results.

But many people are unaware of a physical chain of events that takes place in our bodies when we feel stressed.

It is widely accepted that it took man millions of years to evolve to accommodate changing climates and circumstances, but in the last couple of centuries our bodies have been bombarded with thousands of new chemicals (added to our food and found in common household products), pollutants and radiation (from computers, cordless 'phones, TVs etc), not to mention the relentless pace of life that we have adopted in the last century, and especially since the introduction of personal computers and mobile 'phones.

Unfortunately, our bodies have not had time to evolve in response to these factors so react to them in the same way as they would have done hundreds of thousands of years ago - with the 'fight or flight' response.

As a consequence, when our bodies are physically or emotionally overburdened the following changes take place:
• Pupils dilate - letting in more light to help us to see more effectively
• Heart rate and force increase - to enable increased blood flow to muscles and essential organs
• Bronchial (lung) muscles relax - to widen the airways and take in more oxygen
• Liver increases blood glucose concentration - to increase our energy
• Adrenals secrete more adrenalin and cortisol - to help deal with pain and stress
• Blood is redistributed from less to more active organs and muscles

All these reactions sound positive and harmless enough, BUT they are meant to be temporary (ie to allow you to fight or take flight and then recover) and because blood is distributed from less to more active organs and muscles, all the above reactions happen at the expense of other vital systems in our bodies, which are not needed in emergencies, for example:

• Saliva and mucus production are reduced
• Digestive function and peristalsis are reduced
• Kidneys decrease urine secretion
• Adrenalin narrows blood vessels in the skin
• Function in reproductive and other non-essential organs is reduced

In most cases the body’s fight or flight reactions are wasted as, unlike our ancestors, we rarely have to fight or take flight and usually just bottle up our emotions. Consequently, the strain of trying to rebalance all our systems for prolonged periods of time exhausts our bodies' systems and causes us to feel stressed.

I use a variety of traditional and Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy as well as autogenic training to help clients effectively control and reduce stress levels.

Clients will find daily use of Self-Hypnosis, taught free of charge to all interested clients, extremely beneficial. Practising this wonderful skill enables rapid long-lasting achievement of desired results.

Traditional and Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy techniques, and if necessary Aversion Therapy, help clients effortlessly control their cravings and maintain their ideal weight.

Using Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy, clients learn how to break the cycle of strict dieting which, when broken, leads to self-blaming and disappointment, which in turn leads once again to overeating, then strict dieting, breaking the strict diet, etc...

Practising Self-Hypnosis, taught free of charge to all interested clients, empowers clients and enables them to maintain control over their eating habits in the long-term.

Research:

"At the end of the 9-week program, both interventions resulted in significant weight reduction. However, at the 8-month and 2-year follow-ups, the hypnosis clients showed significant additional weight loss, while those in the behavioral treatment exhibited little further change. More of the subjects who used hypnosis also achieved and maintained their personal weight goals."
(Bolocofsky DN, Spinler D, Coulthard-Morris L. (1985). "Effectiveness of hypnosis as an adjunct to behavioral weight management.". J Clin Psychol. 1985 Jan;41(1):35-41. PMID: 3973038)

Headache associated with specific symptoms may warrant urgent medical attention, particularly sudden, severe headache or sudden headache associated with a stiff neck; headaches associated with fever, convulsions or accompanied by confusion or loss of consciousness; headaches following a blow to the head, or associated with pain in the eye or ear; persistent headache in a person with no previous history of headaches; and recurring headache in children.