Tim Maude Hypnotherapy

Tag: hypnotherapy

  • Not Going Out: Agoraphobia Problems and Solutions

    Not Going Out: Agoraphobia Problems and Solutions

    Some people have restricted lives because of a strong sense of anxiety that comes over them in unfamiliar places. Even the thought of going into a different shop can fill them with anxiety. This can be devastating to their lives, but it is quite possible to overcome it. Hypnotherapy is just one of the possible routes to choose to be able to lead a normal life again.

    What is Agoraphobia?

    Many people feel a sense of unease if they have to go to a place which they don’t know. If this feeling is too strong, they may find it easier to restrict where they go to. If it becomes stronger still, the sense of unease may turn into anxiety, fear and panic, and they stop travelling outside of their comfort zone.

    I have seen people in my hypnotherapy clinic who feel restricted about where they go. They may, for example, only go to work and to the local shops, but otherwise stay at home. In the worst case scenario, they may find themselves unable to go out of doors.

    Should You Do Something?

    This sense of unease or fear about going outside of familiar locations is known as agoraphobia. It is not uncommon to have a slight apprehension about going to an unfamiliar place, and as long as this is not restricting what one does in life, it is not a problem.

    It is a problem if the anxiety stops someone doing what they really want to. When it starts interfering with life, when they feel restricted about where they can go – that is the time to think about doing something about it.

    What Can You Do About Agoraphobia?

    My clients tell me how the anxiety they feel is irrational – and they are quite right. The anxiety they experience when going away from familiar places comes from a subconscious part of the brain. The subconscious has somehow got things wrong. It is trying to keep them away from places which are, in fact, quite safe, and it does this by generating fear and anxiety.

    Hypnotherapy helps change erroneous patterns that are held deep in our subconscious. The anxiety does not disappear overnight, and the hypnotherapy can only help if someone really wants to change.

    For some people, even the thought of travelling to a hypnotherapist is overwhelming. However, with modern technology, hypnotherapy can work well by using a video link, such as Zoom, so people can stay at home until they are sufficiently relaxed to be able to attend sessions in person.

    Hypnotherapy is not the only way to get over agoraphobia. Other methods, such as CBT can help as well.

    What Next?

    If you suffer from anxiety, brought on by agoraphobia or anything else, you can Contact Me. I am a hypnotherapist working in Fleet, Hampshire as well as online. I would be happy to help you regain control of your life.

    Photo by Fons Heijnsbroek on Unsplash

  • Anxiety Behind the Wheel – a Common Complaint

    Anxiety Behind the Wheel – a Common Complaint

    George was driving on a motorway and feeling a tension creep into his body, as he noticed a fear starting to rise. As he gripped the steering wheel even more tightly, he felt as if a fog had descended into his mind, and the fear gradually took over. He stayed in his lane, tailing a slow-moving lorry to the next exit, thinking that this would be the last time he would ever drive on a motorway.

    Anxiety While Driving

    George is not a real person, but his experience is not as rare as you might think. There are many people out there who find their lives restricted because of anxiety and fear at the thought of driving on motorways and main roads.

    A survey by Aviva in 2023 found that a surprising one-in-seven motorists report having anxiety that affects their driving. These motorists report physical symptoms such as rapid heartbeat, sweating, nausea, chest pains and difficulty breathing. The technical term for this problem is Vehophobia.

    Note: If you have anxiety about driving that might affect the safety of yourself, passengers or other road users, the law requires you to inform the DVLA.

    How Hypnotherapy Can Help With Vehophobia

    When someone is so anxious that they avoid driving on motorways or main roads, or maybe only drive on roads they are familiar with, this restricts what they can do in life. Among my hypnotherapy clients have been people who are too anxious to drive to visit their elderly relatives, who only travel on minor roads, and even those who can no longer drive to work without what seems like a major trauma.

    Hypnotherapy engages their subconscious mind to enable it to gradually accept driving as something normal. In my experience, this does not happen overnight; it takes a few weeks of regular hypnotherapy sessions for the subconscious to become calmer about driving. Of course, there are people for whom hypnotherapy is inappropriate, and so there are other options, such as CBT.

    Hypnotherapy works by engaging the subconscious, along with taking on tasks that each client chooses with the help of the hypnotherapist.

    The Outcome

    Imagine the difference it would make to someone’s life, once they are able to drive freely on any motorway and road in a state of relaxed alertness. For many, this can open up the possibilities of their once-restricted lives. It provides a sort of freedom from the restrictions imposed on them by their vehophobia. It opens up their world.

    What Next …

    If you feel you need help in overcoming anxiety over driving, you can Contact Me and I will be glad to talk. I operate my hypnotherapy clinic in Fleet Hampshire as well as working online.

    References

    Aviva Anxiety Survey

    https://www.aviva.com/newsroom/news-releases/2023/06/one-in-seven-motorists-say-anxiety-affects-their-driving/

    Hypnotherapy to help tackle driving anxiety

    https://www.hypnotherapy-directory.org.uk/memberarticles/driving-anxiety-can-hypnotherapy-help

    Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

  • Turning Fake Smiles Genuine

    Turning Fake Smiles Genuine

    You may not think it, but it is possible to smile (with a genuine smile) through tough times. My clients come to my hypnotherapy clinic, because they are overwhelmed with stress or anxiety. It might be work, family life or something else that causes them to feel that they can almost cope, but not quite.

    Their thoughts are overwhelmed with worry, rage, feeling that they are not worth it, or just simply with the amount of stuff they have to do. The clients that come through my door are not smiling – except those that are putting on a smile as a sort of mask to protect themselves from the world.

    So many people hide behind a mask. They put on a fake happy face so that no-one will know their true feelings. No-one will know just how bad they feel. It’s a sort of lie, and sometimes they even lie to themselves, telling themselves that they are okay, even when they are not.

    One of the great joys of my job is to see my clients leave with a genuine smile on their face (and, believe me, I am very good at telling the difference!) It may take a few weeks, but seeing them walk out of my clinic for the last time back in control of themselves is a genuine pleasure.

    Hypnotherapy is not magic. I cannot just click my fingers and make people change. I just soften my client’s subconscious a bit, so that they are able to make the changes that they want for themselves.

    If you would like to be able to cope when you feel overwhelmed, to find that you can put on a genuine smile when things get tough, you might want to give hypnotherapy a try. Contact Me at my clinic in Fleet, Hampshire (I also work online) and I will be happy to have a chat with you.

    Photo courtesy of Mental Health Foundation / Luwi Masumba

  • So What Exactly Is Hypnosis?

    So What Exactly Is Hypnosis?

    I use hypnosis in my job as a hypnotherapist, helping people with anxiety and other issues get back to be in control of their lives. Hypnotherapy is the main positive use for hypnosis. However, hypnosis can be used for other reasons such as hypnosis stage shows.

    Trance

    The first thing to understand about hypnosis is the idea of Trance. A simple online search for the definition of trance will produce a wide variety of answers – a state between sleeping and waking – a state in which you can hear but appear to be asleep – a state in which you are not self-aware – a state in which you are unresponsive to external stimuli.

    All these definitions have some truth in them, but do not describe the complete picture. Someone dancing in a club, just letting themselves go without any thought, can be in a trance. An athlete who is able to get “in the zone” is in a trance. When someone gets lost in a good book, so that they are unaware of what is going on around them and loose track of time, is in a trance.

    When you are in a trance, you are very focused on something so that everything else that is going on around you, sometimes even your sense of the passing of time, is ignored. It is as if you create a bubble around you protecting your mind from thinking of anything else.

    Hypnosis

    Hypnosis is all about leading someone else into a state of trance. When in that state, they do not dismiss ideas that are suggested to them by the hypnotist. They allow those ideas to be processed and unconsciously evaluated. Being in this state makes it easier for suggestions to be accepted, although they will not do anything that they really do not want to do.

    Stage Hypnosis

    Stage hypnotists have clever ways of gathering people who would really like to show off on stage, putting them in a trance and then suggesting to them that they act in a stupid way, so that the audience can laugh at them. What many people do not realise is that the stage hypnotist cannot make them do anything that they don’t want to do – it is just their inhibitions seem to disappear.

    Hypnotherapy

    A hypnotherapist will lead their clients into a trance in order to suggest that they make changes. Clients usually have some sort of behaviour or feeling that they do not seem to be able to change. However, when they are in a trance, their sub-conscious mind finds it easier to make the changes it needs to in order to dismiss the issues that they are experiencing.

    And Finally …

    If you have an issue that you don’t seem to be able to handle on your own, you might like to Contact Me. I run my hypnotherapy clinic in Fleet in Hampshire, as well as working online.

    Photo by AllGo on Unsplash

  • Why Can’t I Relax? A Hypnotherapist’s View

    Why Can’t I Relax? A Hypnotherapist’s View

    For many years now, I have taken people into a nice relaxed state in my hypnotherapist’s chair. People who suffer from anxiety, worry, depression … people who lack confidence or have been overwhelmed by their own particular situation. They all find they are able to lie back and completely relax in a nice hypnotic trance.

    So why can’t they do it at home, at work or in their everyday lives?

    What is Relaxation?

    We all have things that are going on in our lives. We think about what we’ve done and about what we are going to do. Just thinking about everything that you have to do today will get your brain starting to plan – what to do first, what you will need to do it, how long it might take and so on.

    Already, your brain is active and it will start to prepare your body for whatever it is you are thinking about. Your muscles start to tense, quite unconsciously, as your subconscious anticipates what you are going to do.

    So when you think about what you are going to do, or worry about what might happen at some point in the future, you are not relaxed.

    Likewise, if you ruminate about the past – thinking about all those things that went wrong, or at least not as you had hoped, your subconscious will start to tense up your muscles again, in anticipation that it might happen again.

    It is only when your mind is free from worry, free from regret, free from every little concern that you can truly relax. It’s at times when you are not thinking about the problems you might have in the future, or the problems you have had in the past that you can let your mind be free.

    Simply enjoying the moment, whether it’s getting absorbed in a book, walking in the woods, having a laugh with friends, free from everything except what is right in front of you right now – that is relaxation.

    Why Can’t I Be Relaxed All the Time?

    If you were totally relaxed all the time, you would be unlikely to achieve anything or learn anything.

    You have to think about problems you have had in the past, in order to learn from them. Once you have learnt from them, there is no need to think about them any more.

    You have to think about what you are going to be doing, and anticipate problems, otherwise you would not be able to plan to overcome them.

    There is a time to work and a time to relax. The trick is to get the right balance between them.

    How Can I Relax?

    Learning to relax takes time if you are not used to it. Set aside some time to relax each day. If you are not used to it, you may find all sorts of thoughts popping into your head. When this happens, just note them down so you can deal with them at an appropriate time and get back to your relaxation.

    Find something to do that you enjoy, and spend the time focusing your mind on the enjoyment of the activity – whether it is lying down on the sofa, going down the gym or enjoying a cup of coffee. Focus your attention on what you are doing in the here-and-now.

    And Finally …

    I help people who are overwhelmed with life. I use hypnotherapy to help them learn to relax and get their lives back in control again. I work at my clinic in Fleet, Hampshire and also online. If you want to talk about something, you can Contact Me for a chat.

    Photo courtesy of Mental Health Foundation / Niccii Kearns

  • Hypnotherapy versus Anxiety

    Hypnotherapy versus Anxiety

    Hypnotherapy is not the only way to tackle anxiety; however, it is certainly an effective one. Other ways to combat this intrusive emotion are medication, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and self-help – but I am a hypnotherapist, so today I want to discuss the use of hypnotherapy.

    What a Hypnotherapist Can and Cannot Do

    Hypnotherapists are not magicians. They cannot make calmness appear like a rabbit out of a hat. They cannot make the anxiety disappear in a puff of smoke and then reappear on the other side of the stage dressed up as tranquility and peace. Hypnotherapists cannot make people change (especially if they don’t really want to).

    What hypnotherapists can do is to help the subconscious understand that being calm, peaceful and … let’s call it normal … is quite safe.

    The Anxiety Vicious Circle

    Anxiety is simply a reaction that the more primitive part of the brain has when it detects signs that the world might not be safe. It draws you attention to everything that might go wrong. It is a survival mechanism that is trying to make you be aware of what could endanger your life.

    The part of your brain that does this is very primitive. It is optimised to work in a world that is a lot more hazardous than the one we live in today (at least in most parts of the world). It does not care how you feel, it just cares about keeping you alive … and so it draws your attention to everything that might go wrong and makes you anxious.

    And of course, drawing your attention to things that might go wrong has the effect of making you even more nervous and stressed. That primitive part of your brain reacts to the stress and assumes that you are stressed because of something dangerous, and so repeats the pattern.

    And so the anxiety vicious circle builds.

    How Hypnotherapy Tackles Anxiety

    A hypnotherapist’s job is to help you break that vicious cycle. Through a process of discussion and hypnosis, the hypnotherapist leads their client into a thought pattern outside of the vicious circle. The client’s brain starts to build new pathways that do not follow the same route round and round that created the anxiety in the first place.

    Once these new neural pathways start to form, quite gradually, the client will find themselves able to take control of their thoughts and feelings. It does not happen immediately. Over a series of sessions, the client will gradually notice the changes.

    Typically, I see clients for around 5 to 10 weeks before they get themselves back into a position where they feel normal again. (Caveat – there are no guarantees of success in this timescale – it’s just what I normally expect to happen.)

    And Finally …

    Hypnotherapy is not the only way to tackle anxiety, you may want to try other methods as well. However, if you do want to experience the changes that hypnotherapy can help with, you can Contact Me. I work from my clinic in Fleet, Hampshire as well as working online.

    Photo by Ann Danilina on Unsplash