hypnosis

Clinical Hypnosis

Cancer Care Pain Control Sporting Excellence

The hypnotic state or trance is a pleasant and relaxed focused state of inner awarenesssimilar to meditation. In trance, direct communication can be achieved with the subconscious mind to bring about healing and positive change. Hypnosis was first practised in the Sleep Temples of Ancient Egypt and later rediscovered in the 18th Century by the Austrian Physician Mesmer – originator of the word mesmerism. Today, hypnotherapy is a popular branch of complementary medicine and is recognised as an effective tool in the treatment of a range of diseases, optimising psychological and physical well being. Medical hypnosis is now being pioneered by the NHS and providing considerable clinical benefits to the majority of patients. For those interested in medical research below see article Hypnosis found to alter the brain

The hypnotic state or trance is a natural and pleasant relaxed state of mind similar to meditation where alpha waves are produced by the brain. The best trance is a focused state of inner awareness where the client’s perceptions are actually heightened as they connect with their creative thoughts, feelings, memories and the automatic functions of the body. In this dream like state, the body can be encouraged to heal itself naturally of injury and disease and troublesome thoughts, emotions and habits.

Hypnotherapy enables the client to replace negative limiting patterns with positive fulfilling experiences. It uses and develops a client’s present resources, strengths and experiences to accomplish meaningful goals. At all times the client is in control and can decide to come back to full awareness. Children over 8 years of age respond more readily than adults, the key being to sit back and enjoy it!

Hypnotherapy is particularly good for deep relaxation and can be used for a range of conditions for sport, education, memory enhancement, self-confidence through to hypertension, weight control and addiction. Treatments of a clinical nature should only be undertaken in consultation with a medical doctor.

Who Benefits from Clinical Hypnosis:

There is sufficient evidence to fund and support Clinical Hypnosis as a legitimate treatment for behavioural, psychosomatic and certain physical illnesses alongside mainstream medicine. In fact it could be stated that with certain conditions such as IBS and ME, hypnotherapy is a cost effective mode of treatment and would actually save the NHS money. To illustrate the applications of Clinical Hypnosis a selection of conditions for its use are presented below.

Manage Stress:Approximately 70% of visits to the doctor are stress related. Stress is the interpretation of psychological or physical threat. For example, one person may feel stress (secrete chemicals that produce free radicals) and the other joy (produce inter-lukins or anticancer drugs) on the same roller coaster ride. We give different labels to situations and our interpretation of a threat is directly related to our internal dialogue. The Journal of Neurosciences showed that those practitioners of Transcendental Meditation (TM) who had been practicing TM regularly for 5 years had a biological age on average 12 years younger than their chronological age.
Treatment:Hypnosis being a similar state to meditation is effective for a range of symptoms associated with anxiety disorders including panic attacks, phobias, OCDs, post-traumatic stress through to loss of vitality and depression. At Living Mind we take a holistic approach to stress and disease and your treatment plan for stress may include meditation, trance work, addressing lifestyle and dietary issues.

Stop Smoking:
Burning tobacco gives off around 4000 compounds, at least 60 of which are known to cause cancer. Cigarette smoke also contains carbon monoxide putting a strain on smokers’ hearts and lungs. 90% of people that try nicotine replacement therapy start smoking again within a year because the psychological desire to smoke is still present.
Treatment:For those smoking 20 a day usually one session is enough. Occasionally two or more session may be required to overcome the physiological and psychological addiction. The important factor is the commitment of the individual to stop smoking; the hypnotherapist is the facilitator in this process

Phobics:
Blakiston’s Medical Dictionary list some 250 phobiasbut there is probably at least an equal number that are unrecorded. The word phobia itself derives from The Greek God of Fear – Phobos. A phobia is a disorder associated with anxiety in which morbid fear of certain objects or situations develops that is out of all proportion to the threat the object or situation really presents. Many of our fears have a survival element in them. Fears of things like heights, snakes, and burning buildings are fear of things that could actually threaten our existence. Only when a fear or phobia interferes with your daily life need it be a concern
Treatment:Martin is a member of the National Phobics Society and has designed a specific protocol to treat phobias and panic attacks usually in 3-6 sessions.

IBS:
Dr PJ Whorwell’s research at the University Hospital of South Manchester showed that 80% of IBS suffers who undergo gut directed hypnosis report improvement in symptoms and well-being and less pain, distension and improved bowel habit. Clinical hypnosis has also been found to be clinically effective in reducing the symptoms of ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, peptic ulcers, non-ulcer dyspepsia and oesophageal problems.
Treatment:Martin trained in gut directed hypnosis at Rossedale General Hospital and has devised a 12 Stage Programme using clinical hypnosis, colourpuncture, sekhem and diet advise that is run over a three month period

Manage Hypertension:
A 14-20% reduction in blood pressure has been recorded for hypertensives attending eight to nine sessions of hypnosis. The regular use of self-hypnosis can be of considerable benefit to patients suffering angina pains induced by stress and hypertension.
Treatment:There are a number of approaches that can be used to reduce blood pressure and improve overall health using trance. These include inducing the relaxation response to combat stress; healing light visualised restoring vitality and health at cellular level; diet issues to reduce cholesterol, fatty foods and dairy products and lose weight; smoking and alcohol reduction and/ or elimination; lifestyle issues to replace negative habits; improved drug efficiency; breaking the circle of depression; future orientation to a time of health.

Reactive Depression:
Trance is particularly effective for a range of symptoms associated with depression such as anxiety disorders, SAD; loss of vitality and ME; post-natal depression; feelings of helplessness; bereavement and loss.
Treatment:Martin trained at the University Hospital of South Manchester with the world-renowned hypnotherapist Dr Michael Yapko who specialises in treating individuals, couples and families with depression. Hypnotic interventions for reactive depression might include reframing to give a positive learning aspect to the depression; solution focused to enable the patient to discover their own resources for bringing about a transformational change; time distortion to shorten the bad times and lengthen the stable or good times; assertiveness training; future orientation with small steps to a future time when the patient feels more positive about life and paradoxical strategies.

Cancer Care:
Imagery work is used in about 25% of cancer patients in the USA. Hypnosis can help in the recovery phase after the shock of a cancer diagnosis; to reduce the anxiety of having cancer; to minimise the side effects and enhance recovery from surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy; to help with pain, nausea, insomnia and appetite loss; to boost the immune system and fight cancer; to live life to the full with the new insights that cancer has brought; and to help face the associated losses.
Treatment:A cancer care programme might include imagery work to strengthen the immune system; future orientation to a time when they are healthy or have an improved lifestyle; and symbolic modelling where the patient is asked to describe their illness metaphorically to enable an emotional release. The latter is particularly effective with kids.

Pain Control:
Trance can be used to alleviate chronic pain and pain associated with arthritis, rheumatism, inflammation and cancer. Clinical hypnosis can also be used in pain control for birth. As a result of long-term pain, conditions such as anxiety, depression, lack of confidence and self-esteem may prevail. These can also be treated effectively.

Treatment:
There are two approaches i) glove anaesthesia and ii) Warm Tub. Both approaches involve numbing the area of discomfort and leaving some ‘signal pain’ so that should there be any organic problem in the region, the person can take action. Ultimately, the individual can take control of the chronic pain that has dominated their life

Sporting Excellence:
The latest programme for amateur and professional sports people to achieve remarkable improvements in their chosen sport. The programme uses a variety of techniques including sports coaching, hypnosis and NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) to enable individuals to reach beyond limiting boundaries and towards peak performance. Martin trained in Life Coaching with the Life Coach Group, London.

In particular, it can help to:

     Identify strengths/weaknesses in your game
     Develop strategies for success and improve your training programme
    Manage stress and burn out
    Maximise fitness for competition
    Provide a daily nutritional routine to optimise performance

Hypnosis & NLP for Sport
     Enter alpha states of natural calm
    Optimise concentration and focus through mental agility
    Speed-up your reflexes and physical co-ordination
    Promote fast recovery from sports injury and fatigue

Golf Enhancement Programme:Bring out your latent talents as a golfer.We assess your strengths/weaknesses and begin to develop the “inner game” of golf using the mind to bring greater synchrony, balance and timing to every aspect of your game.

    Learn how to use distractions to focus on the game
   Increase levels of fitness and recovery
   Develop fantastic swing
   Put with pinpoint accuracy

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