Hypnotherapy is a therapy designed to enable us to change our thoughts, feelings and behaviours. Why would we want to do that? Because sometimes we don’t seem to be able to control our thoughts, feelings and behaviours.
Sometimes we think about things that we don’t want to think about – worrying about what might happen, or remembering an embarrassing situation – thoughts that seem to come into our heads without being able to control them. Sometimes we feel bad – feeling down, anxious or angry – feelings that we don’t like, but seem to happen on their own. And sometimes we do things that we don’t think are good, but do not seem to be able to stop ourselves doing – eating too much, spending too long scrolling through our phones, or checking that we have locked the door five times before settling down for the night.
So why do we think, feel and behave in ways that we don’t like? Why can we not be in full control of ourselves? It’s all down to the primitive part of our brain, the part that is more concerned with our survival than how we feel. The primitive part of our brain is very simple – it just follows patterns. So when it finds a pattern of how to get us to think, feel or behave, it sticks to it – even if we don’t like it, and even if doesn’t actually protect us.
Hypnotherapy is all about getting into the parts of our brains that we are not consciously aware of. A hypnotherapist will lead it into a better place and help us convince that primitive part of our brain that there is a better way to think, feel or behave that is quite safe.
Hypnotherapy is not like surgery – the hypnotherapist does not get into your brain and mend things. It is more akin to physiotherapy. Just as a physiotherapist helps us move our bodies so that the muscles and joints work better, so the hypnotherapist helps us use our brain in such a way that helps it works better over time.
In a typical hypnotherapy session, some of the time will be spent talking, which, in itself, is a way of getting our brain to operate better. Then the hypnotherapist will take us into a relaxing trance – a state that is similar to that time when we are half asleep and half awake. During the trance, our brains have time to restructure themselves.
If you have trouble controlling your thoughts, feelings or behaviours and would like some help, you might like to give hypnotherapy a go. I work in my clinic in Fleet, Hampshire – focusing mostly on anxiety-related issues. Give me a call or contact me on my website.
Photo by Mark Williams on Unsplash
