Tim Maude Hypnotherapy

Tag: hypnotherapy

What are your Best Hopes?

Take a minute to think about it. What are your best hopes? – For the next week, for the next month or two, for the next year, or even beyond that. What would you like to happen?

And for those of you who answered, “I’d win the lottery” – think again. Yes, it would be nice to win the lottery, but let’s keep it real. Go back and answer the question, “What are your best hopes?” with something that, with a fair wind, you might actually achieve.

You see, when your mind is focused on what you want, it’s not focused on your anxiety, your stresses or your other problems. The more often you spend time focusing on how you want to be, the more your brain will re-align itself. And importantly, the brain will be better able to deal with the stuff that you have built up in that collection of stress we call the stress bucket.

Many of the anxiety-ridden people I meet in my clinic have very simple “best hopes”. They want to be normal again, leading normal everyday lives. They want peace in their lives – free from the anxiety that they suffer from every day. This is their best hope. This is what they want to achieve. I see the smile on their face as I get them to describe the future that they would like.

Of course, I use hypnotherapy to help reinforce the brain re-alignment, but you can do it on your own. Ask yourself, “What are my best hopes?” Now imagine what it will be like when you achieve your best hopes. Remember, this is not a goal you are setting yourself that you “have to” achieve. It is simply using the power of your imagination to create a better future in your own mind, allowing the brain to sort out your stresses and anxiety on its own. The following time that you do it, you might think of a different future – and that doesn’t matter. What matters is that you can use your imagination to dream of a future that is more positive.

For some people, this is too difficult to do on their own – and if this is you, look for a therapist to help. If you want to give hypnotherapy a go, I run my clinic in Fleet (Hampshire UK) on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Photo by Aziz Acharki on Unsplash

July 18, 2023
How Much Does Hypnotherapy-for-Anxiety Cost?
Two of the most frequently asked questions about hypnotherapy on Google are:
- How much does a hypnotherapy session cost?
- How many sessions will I need for anxiety?
These are important questions, but probably not as important as, “How much will my life be changed once I get back in control of myself, and how much is that worth to me?” First, let me answer the questions directly.

How much does a hypnotherapy session cost?

I currently charge £75 for an hour’s session. This is typical in the South East of England. There are hypnotherapists that charge £150, and some that charge as low as £50. Some give a free or reduced rate initial session.

Aside: Many hypnotherapists (including myself) charge a higher rate for a quit-smoking session (I charge £250 for a 2-hour session). Why? For quit-smoking hypnotherapy to work, you have to be really committed to the process to start with. When you have to pay a lot, you are committing yourself. And of course, when you quit smoking, you make all the money back again very quickly.

How many sessions will I need for anxiety?

It all depends! I know that this is not the answer you are looking for, but it is nevertheless true. Typically, I see clients with anxiety for between 5 and 10 sessions, and this is quite typical of other hypnotherapists.

However, there are no guarantees. I have had some clients who I have seen for 15 or 20 sessions, and others for whom all anxiety issues have gone after 2 sessions. I have given up trying to guess how many sessions a client will take, because I often get it wrong. My advice would be to be wary of any hypnotherapist who gives a guarantee of the number of sessions you will need.

To add to the problem in answering this question, hypnotherapists vary in their abilities – even with the same level of training and experience. Some will typically take longer than others.

A more important question to ask

Of course, it is important to have an estimate of how much your are going to have to pay for your hypnotherapy treatment for your anxiety. There is another really important question to ask yourself. That is:
- How much will my life be changed once I get back in control of myself, and how much is that worth to me?
This is a question that only you can answer. How much is getting rid of anxiety actually worth to you? Indeed, is it even possible to put a monetary value on it?

What other questions should you ask?

Other questions you should ask before engaging a hypnotherapist are:

Are they qualified? Are they insured? Do they follow best practice?

The easiest way to answer this is to check that they are registered with the official registers of hypnotherapists. In the UK, you should check the National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH) or the Association for Solution Focused Hypnotherapists (AfSFH).

What do other people think?

Check out testimonials and references on independent sites such as Google My Business.

Do I get on with my hypnotherapist?

This is important – the more you like your hypnotherapist, the quicker things are likely to work. Trusting your hypnotherapist is important. And the only way you can find this out is by going to see them. Most hypnotherapists will be pleased to give your a free 10 minute chat on the phone, but the real test is the first session with them. You have to put your hand in your pocket and book in for an initial consultation – but don’t be afraid to walk away and find someone else if you don’t feel happy with the first session.

References

National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH)
https://www.hypnotherapists.org.uk/therapist-finder/

Association for Solution Focused Hypnotherapists (AfSFH)
https://www.afsfh.com/hypnotherapists-postcodes/

Google My Business
Go to Google and enter “Google My Business” followed by the name of the hypnotherapy clinic. For example, “Google my business Tim Maude Hypnotherapy”

Photo by Colin Watts on Unsplash
July 12, 2023
Are you afraid of flying?

Do you dread the thought of getting on a plane? Do you worry about turbulence, crashes, or other things that could go wrong? If so, you’re not alone. It is estimated that around one person in ten has a fear of flying, also known as aerophobia or aviophobia.

Fear of flying can be debilitating. It can prevent you from taking vacations, visiting family and friends, or even pursuing your career. But there is hope. Hypnotherapy can help you overcome your fear of flying and enjoy the travel throughout the world.

How does hypnotherapy work?

Hypnotherapy helps you attain a state of deep relaxation. During hypnosis, your mind is more open to new ideas and suggestions. This makes it possible for you to change negative thought patterns and beliefs that are contributing to your fear of flying.

Hypnotherapy can also help you to develop coping skills for dealing with the anxiety of flying. For example, you may learn relaxation techniques, such as deep breathing and visualisation, that you can use to calm yourself down if you start to feel anxious during a flight.

How many sessions do I need?

The number of hypnotherapy sessions you need will vary depending on the severity of your fear of flying. In most cases, between 2 and 4 sessions are sufficient. However, some people may need more sessions to achieve the desired results.

What should I do?

The best timing for hypnotherapy is a few weeks before you plan to fly. If you’re ready to overcome your fear of flying and enjoy the freedom of travel, I encourage you to contact me for a consultation. I would be happy to discuss your individual needs and help you create a personalised hypnotherapy plan.

References

Fear of Flying – from Anxiety UK
https://www.anxietyuk.org.uk/anxiety-type/fear-of-flying/

How Hypnotherapy can Help with Fear of Flying
https://www.hypnotherapy-directory.org.uk/memberarticles/fear-of-flying-how-can-hypnotherapy-help

Photo by Eva Darron on Unsplash

June 7, 2023
How Hypnotherapy Can Help With Anxiety
Millions of people suffer from anxiety in one form or another. For some people, anxiety becomes a normal part of everyday life, but chronic anxiety should not be seen as normal. Hypnotherapy is one way of treating anxiety. Hypnotherapy helps people reach parts of the brain that are outside their conscious control, where the anxiety is generated.

Anxiety

Whatever form the anxiety takes, it is generated from a primitive part of the brain. That part of the brain is outside our conscious control, so we cannot simply decide not to be anxious. It is a reaction that is learned over time, and is much more likely to happen when we are under stress.

Anxiety can be debilitating. It can have a massive negative impact on our lives. Some people live with chronic anxiety, assuming it to be normal, but it is not. Anxiety is treatable. It is quite possible to live our lives with little or no anxiety at all.

Treatment for Anxiety

There are three broad areas of treatment for anxiety:
- Life style changes – Exercise, eating properly, sleeping well, meditation, mindfulness and so on.
- Medication – Antidepressants, beta blockers, and anti-anxiety medication for example.
- Therapy – Hypnotherapy, CBT, Counselling and other therapeutic practices.
People find some of these practices to be more effective than others – but there is no general rule. We have to find what suits us best.

Hypnotherapy and Anxiety

Hypnotherapy works well with anxiety because the anxiety is generated outside our conscious control. Hypnotherapy works on the unconscious parts of the brain – the parts we don’t have any conscious control over. It allows those parts of the brain to rewire themselves into patterns that are more useful.

You may have heard about the plasticity of the brain – the ability of the brain to constantly change as we learn new skills, think of new ideas, and change our thinking patterns. Sometimes it learns the wrong thing – it may learn to be anxious when it is inappropriate to be so. Hypnotherapy can help it re-learn that reaction, so that we can deal with stressful situations more appropriately.

Hypnotherapy is not magic. A hypnotherapist does not simply click their fingers and make everything better. It may take time and a bit of effort, but after a few weeks, changes start to emerge.

If you suffer from anxiety, in any one of its many forms; if you would like to get it under control; if you think that hypnotherapy might be an option for you – then contact me to talk it through, and see what hypnotherapy can do for you.

Photo by Gift Habeshaw on Unsplash
June 2, 2023
A Quick Guide to Social Anxiety & Hypnotherapy
Having anxiety about social situations is far more wide-spread than you might think. Around one in ten people in the UK will have social anxiety at some point in their lives. It is so common that it has its own medical classification – it is known to doctors as Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD), or sometimes, Social Phobia.

Social anxiety is a problem when someone has anxiety or fear in social situations – meeting people, being in a workplace, going to a supermarket when it is busy … any situation where there are a lot of people around can trigger social anxiety. It is diagnosed more often in women than in men, and often starts in the teenage years.

How do I know if I have social anxiety?

When in a social situation, someone with social anxiety may suffer some of these symptoms:
- A feeling of anxiety or fear – for no apparent reason
- Thinking that other people may be judging them
- Sweating, blushing or trembling
- Feeling embarrassed
- Being self-conscious
- Difficulty speaking clearly – both hesitant and unable to find the right words to say
- Having a feeling of not being good enough compared to everyone around them
- Finding it difficult to maintain eye contact
- Physical changes such as increased heart rate, dry mouth, or fast breathing
People with social anxiety disorder may change their lifestyle in order to avoid social situations, being happier on their own or with small groups of close friends.

What causes social anxiety?

The exact cause of social anxiety will vary from individual to individual. It tends to run in families, so there may be genetic factors involved. Some people may have had a bad experience in a social situation in the past which their brain has not processed fully; they may think of themselves as lacking importance, or not as good as everyone else in the group; or they may simply have a super-shy personality.

The cause of an individual’s social anxiety is not really very important in dealing with the issue. The cause may be interesting, but it does not help in sorting it all out.

How can hypnotherapy help with social anxiety?

As with all anxiety-related problems, it’s only a problem if it’s a problem. If a person is content with their life as it is, there is no need to do anything about it. However, if social anxiety prevents them from living how they want to live, then hypnotherapy can help.

Hypnotherapy allows an individual to change those automatic feelings of fear, anxiety and generally being uncomfortable in social situations. It can also help by improving self-esteem, a factor which is sometimes associated with social anxiety. Hypnotherapy can help individuals be fully comfortable and in control of their feelings in a social situation.

References

NHS advice on social anxiety
https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/social-anxiety/

Royal College of Psychiatrists description of social phobia
https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mental-health/problems-disorders/shyness-and-social-phobia

Hypnotherapy for social anxiety
https://www.mindsethealth.com/matter/hypnosis-social-anxiety

Photo by Kimson Doan on Unsplash
April 27, 2023
Looking After Your Own Mental Health

Family Stress and Anxiety

The people I meet with anxiety are invariably stressed. I come across many people in my clinic who just have too much to do – often looking after their family. Whether it is earning money to keep a roof over their heads or organising the kids to make sure they have breakfast before going to school, it all adds stress. Too much stress can give rise to growing anxiety.

We cannot all live stress-free lives. Stress is a natural part of living. Stress is needed to achieve things – even if it’s only a small amount. But small amounts of stress add up. When you have responsibilities for children and other close relatives, you feel the stress more intently.

Everyone is different

Everyone is different, everyone handles stress in a different way, and everyone has a different capacity for stress before anxiety sets in. You have to judge for yourself how much stress you can cope with in your life.

How do you know if you are too stressed?

When you are too stressed, the primitive part of your brain starts to get a hold. You are more likely to have those moments of frustration; you might find yourself snapping at people (especially your family – the ones you love); you might start developing minutes or even hours of anxiety or helplessness. When you start to become overwhelmed and those negative emotions of anxiety, depression and anger start to come into play – that is the time to take charge.

The trap of ever-increasing stress

One problem with being part of a family is that you are constantly negotiating about who does what. Children are natural negotiators – sometimes it’s easier to tidy the kids’ rooms yourself than to get them to do it. And so it become very easy to take on just one more job. Your day might be full, but when the job of organising a weekend away comes along, you somehow fit it in … and when you do go away for the weekend, you somehow find all the jobs you would have done that weekend and fit them elsewhere. We can suffer from a drip-feed of increased jobs that stress us.

Your mental health comes first

When you are sitting in a plane, waiting for the flight, you will watch the safety demonstration. One thing they always tell you is … if the oxygen masks come down, put your own mask on before you help someone else. This always seems counter-intuitive. If you have your own child with you, your instinct is to help them first – but the instructions say you should put on your own mask first. Of course, we know the reason for this – you can’t help others if you are in trouble yourself.

You need to look after your mental health and, bizarre though it seems, it is sometimes important to look after yourself first before you look after the needs of your family.

Is stress a problem?

Increasing amounts of stress is only a problem if it’s a problem. If you can cope with it all – fine. Hundreds of people cope with a lot of stress and don’t need to do anything about it. Just be aware that the ever-increasing stress trap can creep up on you.

Everyone is different. The only person who can determine if you have too much stress is you.

What do I do if stress is too much?

You need to prioritise your mental health. Taking time for yourself to relax, go for a run, have a day in the spa, go a play football with your mates, or whatever it is you need to take a break – this is the oxygen mask in the plane. This is what you need to prioritise over the other demands on your life.

And you might have to say, “no” to people who ask you to do something. You might have to delegate your jobs to someone else for a while. You might have to just stop doing some of the things you are doing, and ask yourself, “Which is more important, doing this – or my own mental health.”

If you are having difficulty coping with stress and anxiety on your own, you may like to give hypnotherapy a go. From my clinic here in Fleet in Hampshire, I work with people who are only just coping with stress and anxiety. I use hypnotherapy to help them regain control of their lives.

Photo by Logan Stone on Unsplash

March 7, 2023