Many people ask what is hypnotherapy but the truth is hypnosis has been around for many centuries and goes back to various spiritual and religious traditions. Many people associate hypnotherapy with images of someone dazzling a pendulum or seeing a stage hypnotism show where members of the audience are given suggestions to perform amusing tasks.
Hypnotherapy is actually a form of therapy where a hypnotherapist uses specific techniques to induce a state of relaxation and focused attention in the client. While clients are in a state of hypnosis, they are given positive suggestions to change thoughts, feelings and behaviours. It is perfectly safe and a very natural state. Throughout the day, most people go in and out of hypnosis many times without being aware. Just think about a time when you have been on a long car journey or during a great movie when you have drifted off into deep thought and lost track of time.
Hypnotherapy involves communicating with the subconscious part of your mind that holds all your thoughts, beliefs, memories, experiences and expectations gathered during the course of your life. In addition, it stores all your habits and behaviours, both positive and negative, which impact on your daily routines and actions. Through working with your subconscious mind during hypnotherapy, it is possible to make powerful long-lasting changes within a relatively short space of time.
Hypnosis brings many other benefits too such as relaxation, stress relief, pain management, healing and enables us to become more in tune with our inner aspirations, promoting creativity.
Solution focused hypnotherapy combines hypnosis with psychotherapy to drive powerful change. Solution focused hypnotherapy is a highly collaborative process that focuses on the here and now and future, helping you to achieve your future goals by making small sustainable changes. It’s a positive, forward-looking style of therapy that is designed to quickly alleviate anxiety, calm your mind and support you in a positive and non-judgmental way. Each session lasts approximately 50 minutes.
Stage hypnosis is a public affair and merely used for entertainment purposes in front of an audience. My hypnotherapy sessions are always conducted on a 1:1 basis in private at my clinic based in Liverpool or online. Each session is individually tailored to focus on the client’s needs and goals to improve health and wellbeing. I work in a holistic way.
Most people can be hypnotised providing they consent. Hypnosis is a very relaxing experience where people can still see and hear things, respond to commands and the user can exit trance at any time they choose.
Most issues can be treated within 6 to 8 sessions but complex issues may require more sessions.
For smoking, I offer a one session stop smoking / stop vaping hypnotherapy session.
Simple phobias are treated within 3-4 sessions.
My aim is to help you achieve your goals within the shortest timeframe possible.
Hypnotherapy is very effective for many conditions but as it with any therapy, results may vary and success is not always guaranteed. The client’s motivation and level of commitment is also important.
BWRT stands for Brain Working Recursive Therapy. It is a relatively new type of therapy developed by Terence Watts in 2011, a successful British Clinical Hypnotherapist who is widely held in high esteem within the field. Current research suggests its effective for many different psychological problems and is currently being used all over the world by Psychologists, Counsellors, Psychiatrists and Hypnotherapists. In the UK, it’s already been endorsed and adopted by NHS psychologists for the treatment of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
BWRT is based on the idea that many responses to stimuli are initiated before conscious awareness. BWRT focuses on retraining your brains response to triggers such as anxiety and stress. While it shares some similarities with hypnotherapy, it does not involve hypnosis and works while the client is in a conscious state. It uses techniques such as visualisation, imagination and other mental processes to disrupt and change unhelpful thinking patterns and behaviours to create more positive responses.
BWRT adopts a solution focused approach by focusing on client desired outcomes rather than dwelling on problems or issues from the past. It doesn’t require you to reveal private information or lots of details about past traumatic experiences and instead you only need to discuss what you want to change in your life in order to be successful.
BWRT can be used with many psychological problems including anxiety, depression, sleep difficulties, stress, eating disorders, phobias, trauma, OCD, addictive behaviours, habits and smoking.
BWRT does not use any hypnosis and instead uses a conscious approach to interrupt and change the brain’s automatic responses to triggers. BWRT effectively works by rewiring the brain’s neural pathways to produce a different, more desired outcome.
My approach involves integrating hypnotherapy with BWRT to provide a more dynamic approach to health and well being support. Some issues are more suitable for hypnotherapy, while other issues may require an integrated approach of using both therapies.
Positive results can be seen within 1-2 sessions although the number of sessions and level of success as with any therapy, can obviously vary from person to person and will depend on the complexity of the issue.
Registered with the National Hypnotherapy Society - Sessions available in Liverpool or online