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Showing posts from 2009

We are what we eat – and see, hear, smell, touch, taste.

We are influenced at an emotional level by all our senses. In hypnosis we typically use soft words to create a receptive feeling as the subconscious open to suggestion. However, aggressive words also create a response, often the reverse. Our guard goes up, and we become defensive. We are anything but receptive. Many of us will dig our heals in and respond to aggression by refusing to co operate.Actually when we are very stimulated we have all our senses working overtime, as the XTC song says. As a hypnotist I tend to be very aware of the importance of these sensory responses. Some are subtle and others less so. If you listen to harsh aggressive music, guess what… You’ll become harsh and aggressive. Listen to sad melancholy songs all the time and you are going to have a response too. One way to beat depression for some people is to play upbeat music, watch comedies on TV and dress up in brighter colours. Even exposing ourselves to the news can have a negative effect for some of us. My b

Alcohol and Antidressants.

I see a great many clients about the challenges of managing their alcohol intake. For some it is about moderation - for other cessation is the only option. The therapies I provide can either reduce or eliminate their use of alcohol. A disturbing trend over recent months has been developing. I see an increasing number of people who are by any definition alcoholic and who have been prescribed antidepressants by their doctors. Some antidepressants come with a warning against using alcohol while on antidepressants, though by no means all. Nonetheless, there is widespread knowledge and reports of interaction between most SSRI antidepressants and alcohol; and yet medical professionals still prescribe them to patients who make no secret of the fact that they are alcoholic. These patients are not going to simply not drink. They often drink because they are unable to stop. Simply being on antidepressants is not by any stretch of the imagination going to change this. And yet the known interacti

Fear of Flying

When we work using regression we regularly see the most extraordinary results very swiftly. Suddenly things become plain to the client and they understand why something happened. Subsequently their ability to manage their issue becomes very much more easily understood. Dave Elmans book, Hypnotherapy provides a good roadmap for anyone using regression generally to manage an issue. However the pattern occasionally swings out of the norm. Typically an incident in the recent past is associated with an incident in the clients’ early life that had traumatic elements and introduced stress and anxiety. By reframing the earlier incident the issue in the recent past is resolved – and future occurrences defused. This is not an unfamiliar process to most hypnotherapists. A client saw me recently about a fear of flying that put a rather unusual twist on regression. The client has been growing increasingly distressed with air travel. Recently he felt overwhelming anxiety on a plane heading to the ea

Managing Self Doubt

From time to time we all get hit by self doubt. It haunts some of us everyday. However, the absolute knowledge that success is assured can make us almost superhuman. Confidence is like a steamroller. Resistance is futile. Hypnosis can instill confidence - just as conditioning can. In the clips below, Derren Brown - an amazing English hypnotist, takles the issue of self doubt. It's a very surprising outcome. Keep in mind this is a British TV episode, and has none of the restraint of a North American TV show. No one sues you in England for electrocuting a kitten... Part: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHaFuYZwX2U&feature=channel_page Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwIlueCNu8M&feature=channel_page Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap35u0zB6QM&feature=channel_page

Why do Hypnotherapists use regression?

Regression is one of the most powerful tools we have in Hypnotherapy. Here's an example. I had a client that gave up smoking successfully, however would restart after two or three months. Her pattern went back years. When she came to me she was skeptical because she knew she would stop, but did not want to restart. In regression it turned out the causes originated far back as a four year old child. She had gone to a fair that was visiting town one day with her mother. She'd enjoyed a couple of hot dogs. Her father had taken her with her sister later that day, and she enjoyed two more hot dogs. Later she threw up and it was quickly evident that the hot dogs were giving her severe problems. She had food poisoning. While she was not in a life threatening illness, it was a very disturbing tie for the young child. She couldn't keep anything down for days, and had to stay home from school. Her mother would read to her and looked after her. As she recovered this became a time she

It's not just about cigarettes...

Just when you think you’ve seen everything a regular ‘non smoking’ therapy can be, something new comes along. This is the true story of a client who had come with his wife and had achieved deep trance levels, with every expectation of a successful outcome. I had done my usual exploration of reasons why he’d started smoking, history of addictions in his family, search for trauma in his background. Not only was he an extremely confident and comfortable individual, he seemed the perfect husband and provider. He was a genuinely nice guy, affable and easy going. Once he’d gone through induction he swiftly went into a trance and accepted suggestion readily. Using two or three tests I could see he was clearly in hypnosis. I was somewhat surprised when two days later his wife called to say he was having trouble remaining smoke free. Whilst he had not smoked, he was clearly struggling. He was agitated and anxious, mostly at work. I got him straight back into the office during a slot the followi

The covert consumer in the midnight kitchen.

In hypnotherapy we hear many times of the careless act that leaves a child scared for life. An unjustified scolding, or a bullying episode that a parent never learned of finds its way deep into a child’s memory, only to surface many years later as a trigger for later anxiety. And yet, from time to time we see this flow from one generation to another move the other way. This was one such situation. My client was a gentleman who was successful at the highest levels in the performing arts. His high profile, abundance of talent and ability to bring joy to so many contribute to what appears a happy and successful life. However, like so many of us, he also has a secret habit he feels ashamed of and embarraseed about, which he hides from even his closest friends. Many mornings when he gets up, he comes into the kitchen to find remnants of food. These are often left overs of the most elaborate dishes, always prepared for one. He has no memory whatsoever of any visitor, or providing any such me

Working with Anxiety

Understanding anxiety Anxiety is an issue that afflicts most of us at some point in our lives. Our tendency to play own its importance and to try to ‘tough it out’ can often exacerbate its effects. It is worth for a moment looking at the idea of anxiety in a historical context. When I was very young I remember an old man that lived on our street in London. We would see him working on the tiny garden in front of his house from time to time. On the other side of the road was a churchyard with old iron railings painted a gaunt black. The years of painting had softened the look of that fence. One day I remember seeing a young boy run alongside the fence with a stick held out – as it rattled along the iron railings it gave out a loud rattatatat sound. These were the sounds of life in our street. Now, another look at that apparently ordinary scene. The old man was on his knees weeding his garden when he heard the sounds of the rattatat. For him, in an instant he was transformed back to that

Working with addictions in hypnosis.

My client, a wealthy financier, said quite seriously “I only use the best stuff. Like my food, I like to eat organic. Everything. Organic vegetables, meats – I mean everything. If I could get organic cocaine, I would.” Great, I thought. Maybe a ‘Fair trade’ version would be next. And yet, this client was not unusual. It’s quite normal amongst cocaine users of a certain genre to have very high personal and ethical standards. Their use of cocaine is an anomaly in their lives. Often it’s the only anomaly. Most of my clients are extremely affluent and in the above case, he was maintaining a $1000 a day coke habit while remaining essentially a fully functional human being. For the time being. Not many people can do that for long. The heart eventually simply stops. I work with many drug users treating their addictions. I am a clinical hypnotherapist, and I specialize in addictions. From cigarettes across the spectrum to crack. Treatment requires a number of steps but is extremely effective.