How can hypnotherapists help clients improve mental health?

It may surprise you to know that according to a survey report tabled in the House of Commons, 1 in 6 people in the UK aged above 16 have experienced a mental health problem at least once in the past week. The proportion is even higher in women. Prevalence has also been increasing since 1993. Yet it is only in recent years that greater attention has been given to improve mental health.

Mental health concerns are considered a global challenge. This blog delves into how hypnotherapists can help clients improve mental health. Before that, we will provide a brief glimpse into the type of mental health problems individuals commonly face.

To find out more about training with HypnoTC and becoming a professional hypnotherapist, click the button below.

Find out more about our Hypnotherapy Diploma course

Mental health definition

‘Mental health’ relates to how we think, feel and behave. A definition of mental health is that it is a term given to our cognitive, behavioural and emotional wellbeing. Whether good, or poor, our mental health will influence our physical health, our daily life, and our relationships. It is normal for our mental health to vary, at times feeling brighter, at others less so. Depending on our circumstances, our work, relationships, community or society (as well as many other things) can influence us, as does our genetic makeup and how we were brought up. Just as we are able to improve our own physical health, so we can improve our mental health. For hypnotherapists, they are also able to work with clients to enable them to make positive changes and also learn how they can help themselves.

Quality of mental health

Good mental health generally helps someone feel good about their life. They can have the resilience to cope with challenges and bounce back quicker and/ or more easily.

Poor mental health can relate to anywhere from feeling a little anxious, stressed or low mood, through to a mental health disorder. Life can see more of a struggle, and new challenges can seem more problematic as a result.

Whilst we may actively work to improve our physical health, such as with a healthy diet, hydration, sleep and exercise, it seems that to improve mental health is not always considered.

Common mental health concerns

Stress

Stress is described by Mind as how someone reacts when they feel under pressure or threatened, commonly when they are in a situation that they don’t feel they can manage or control. The Health and Safety Executive have a different definition, which is particularly useful, talking of ‘the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demand placed on them’. Each person will have a different limit for stress.

A survey by Statista states that 79% of the people in the UK said that they experience stress frequently. Stress leads to many health problems and costs the nation dearly, with 33% of short-term absences at work being attributed to it, according to the same survey. When clients seek hypnotherapy it tends to be for issues they are experiencing (e.g. physical or emotional symptoms) , yet working to improve mental health will be commonly part of an overall stress management strategy.

Anxiety

Anxiety is generally described as a feeling of unease, like worry or fear. This can range in intensity from mild to severe. It can very specific or generalised anxiety In addition, health-related anxiety is becoming more commonly discussed, particularly post-Covid.

Everyone has feelings of anxiety at some point in their life. For example, you may feel worried and anxious about sitting an exam, or having a medical test or job interview.

Anxiety is an equally severe problem (to stress), with approximately 6.6% of people suffering from it. Anxiety, if left untreated, can lead to a whole host of problems like hypertension, digestive, respiratory, and nervous system problems. A hypnotherapist will work with a client to help them develop tools to address their present anxiety and also apply those tools to future concerns, thus developing effective coping strategies and anxiety reduction/ prevention skills.

Phobias

Harvard Medical School suggest that a phobia is a type of anxiety disorder with a persistent, excessive, unrealistic fear of an object, person, animal, activity or situation.  Commonly, someone with a phobia either tries to avoid the thing that triggers the fear, or struggles through, but with high levels of anxiety and distress.

According to some estimates by the NHS, the number of people who suffer from some type of phobia in the UK stands at 10 million. One reason why phobias are such a big problem is because they affect people across sex, social background, and age. Anyone can experience a phobia. Hypnotherapy is a superb therapy for clients who wish to improve mental health by alleviating a phobia.

Insomnia

Insomnia is often described as a common sleep disorder, where it can be hard to fall asleep or stay asleep, or someone wakes up too early and not be able to get back to sleep. People report still feeling tired when they wake up. Insomnia can lower energy and affect mood. It also can affect physical health, work performance and general quality of life.

Insomnia may be the primary issue. Or, it can be due to another mental health issue. The result of so many people suffering from mental health problems is that 1 in 3 people in the UK have experienced insomnia at one time or another. Insomnia has a cascading effect on the individual, leading to more problems like lower productivity, fatigue, mood issues, diabetes, and so on. To improve mental health with hypnotherapy, a client’s sleeping habits, behaviours and beliefs are considered and appropriate sleep hygiene developed.

Depression

Depressive disorder, or depression, is a common mental health condition that can happen to anyone. According to the World Health Organisation it is characterized by a low mood, or a loss of pleasure or interest in activities or daily life. People might experience changes to the eating habits (eat more or less) and have disturbed or unrefreshing sleep. It is estimated that more than 75% of people experiencing mental disorders in low- and middle-income countries receive no treatment.

Depression, is considered by many to be the most widely spread mental health disorder. In the UK, according to the Office for National Statistics, 1 in every 6 adults experiences it. This statistic refers to adults who experience moderate to severe symptoms. The percentage is even higher when you take mild symptoms into account. Hypnotherapy is a great approach to improve mental health for those with depression, due to the wide range of approaches a hypnotherapist can choose from. This allows for a gentle yet highly targeted approach that is sensitive to the rate of change that the client can cope with.

Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

The NHS consider PTSD to be a mental health condition which results from very stressful, frightening or distressing events. People may have a range of symptoms, such as flashbacks, insomnia and nightmares, and these may have a significant impact on the person’s quality of life.

According to the World Economic Forum, in 2019 1 in 13 people in the UK were suffering from PTSD. The numbers could be higher post-Covid. Both hypnotherapy and hypno-EMDR are very helpful in addressing symptoms of trauma and giving the client coping strategies that will help them engage with their daily life.

Popular remedies to improve mental health

Counselling

Counselling is a talking therapy, focused on exploring thoughts, feelings and behaviours, in order to gain a better understanding of the self and of others. Sometimes the focus is on change, other times, it is about coping with the issues. There are many models of counselling, including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Psychodynamic therapy. In the former, the therapist works to help you change how you think and behave through talking. The latter takes a therapeutic approach to discover the connection between a client’s past and present and change their mindset. Some critics of counselling suggest that insight, once gained, may not be acted upon, and that some talking therapies can also be lengthy in their duration.

Medication

Whilst prescribed medication, or over-the-counter remedies, can be used to work on the symptoms of mental health disorders, they don’t necessarily address the disorders themselves. As a result, some clients find them lacking in long-term effectiveness.

Self-medicating

Some individuals will resort to unhealthy coping strategies, such as increasing alcohol consumption, increased reliance on junk food or comfort eating, or the use of recreational drugs.

Seeking support from friends and relatives

Talking with friends and relatives about your problems will help you vent your frustration, and they might even offer a suggestion or two, but those are layman’s suggestions.
Therefore, at best, you can get a short-term reprieve from your mental health problems.

Self-Care

The mental health organisation Mind suggests that increasing self-care can have a significant impact in enhancing wellbeing and working to improve mental health. Their tips include:

• Connecting with other people
• Doing something creative
• Engaging in learning activities
• Improving sleep
• Paying attention to physical health
• Reducing stress
• Spending time in nature (also gets exercise)
• Taking time to relax

The NHS also offer some useful wellbeing enhancements suggestions, including promoting the learning of new skills, doing things for others, and having a healthy and balanced diet.

Practising mindfulness

Many mental health issues have some element of excessively delving into the past or worrying about the future. Mindfulness can help you take time out of this, by gently focusing on the present and being present in the moment. While this can help reduce the severity of the problem, it may not make the problem disappear.

How hypnotherapists use hypnotherapy to help clients improve mental health

Hypnotherapy is a brief, strategic, collaborative, solution-focused and goal-focused talking therapy.  A hypnotherapist will generally explore the emotional, cognitive and physical aspects of the issue with the client, discuss the client’s goals and formulate a plan to help the client achieve what they want. Some work will be conducted more in a conversational hypnosis type of working (as though they are chatting) and other work will be in formal, eyes closed, hypnotic trance work.

A range of strategies will be employed, as most appropriate for the client. Some of this may include,

Resourcing and ego strengthening

The client is given resources and strategies so that they are better able to cope with a change process.

Behavioural change work

This works with a client’s behaviours and actions. During this form of therapy, the hypnotherapists help the client enter a hypnotic state in which the subconscious mind becomes more receptive. The therapist helps the client to modify certain behaviours through suggestions to change their habits or actions. The results are faster since the therapist communicates with the subconscious mind instead of the conscious one in the trance state. Mental rehearsal during this process enables the client to practice their new responses whilst in hypnosis.

Cognitive change work

Clients’ distorted ways of thinking, their limiting beliefs and unhealthy thinking strategies are examined and the therapist works together with the client to develop (and practice) new, healthier ways of thinking.

Analytical change work

Another approach which a hypnotherapist can take is to explore the client’s memories in a trance state to find the start of the problem and gain insight. This insight enables the client and therapist to work together to find new ways of responding, without the original dsyfunctional ways of being.

Hypnotherapy to improve mental health – Case study

Rather than just sharing the theoretical ways in which hypnotherapists help clients to improve mental health, we will also share a case study.

According to a case covered in the National Library of Medicine, a client suffering from anxiety disorder was treated using hypnotherapy without the use of medicines. The 45-year-old client insisted on not taking medication to deal with anxiety caused by stomach issues. After multiple hypnotherapy sessions, the client indeed experienced relief from anxiety and other symptoms of anxiety like palpitations, cold sweat, and the root cause of abdominal pain.

Benefits of hypnotherapy to improve mental health

Solution-focused approach

Hypnotherapy focuses more on creating long-term solutions for clients, working through the problem, understanding its’ origin and purpose,  and finding a desired and achievable solution. As the direction of therapy is forward-focused, this helps avoid a client feeling immersed, regularly, in their problem state.

Faster results

Compared to other talking therapy options like counselling, the number of hypnotherapy sessions required to experience improvement can be significantly less. By working in a strategic and solution-focused way, and giving clients resources and strategies to employ outside of the session, clients can often feel that they are already moving forward after the very first session.

Effective habit change

According to an article in MIT, 45% of our daily actions are initiated through habits. Consequently, most mental health problems that people suffer from are also initiated through habits, albeit bad ones. The reason why hypnotherapy is so effective is because it can effect habit change. There are numerous advantages of changing bad habits like:

• When you alter habits for improvement, the results are long-lasting.
• It’s possible to eliminate unwanted responses, behaviours and actions by replacing bad (undesirable) habits with good ones.
• Better habits improve your life overall; improving habits has a cascading positive effect on the client’s life.

Aids self-development

Apart from better habits, hypnotherapy can help you eliminate a self-limiting mindset, elevate your self-esteem, and increase your self-confidence. When someone is able to enhance their general mental health, not only can this benefit mental health issues, it can also improve their life holistically. Thus boosting resilience and reducing the impact of any future challenges, helping to maintain good mental health.

Long term results

As per a study published in the National Library of Medicine, even for complicated health problems like irritable bowel syndrome, hypnotherapy can provide long-term benefits. The study concluded that the beneficial effects of hypnotherapy lasted for at least 5 years in most patients, which speaks volumes about the effectiveness of hypnotherapy.

Another study  compared the long-term benefits of hypnotherapy and CBT among ADHD patients. It found that patients who used hypnotherapy experienced better improvement. The study concluded that hypnotherapy provided long-term relief to patients from core symptoms of ADHD.

Communication with subconscious mind

Within hypnotherapy, clients are able to engage fully, both with their conscious mind and their subconscious mind, thus working more broadly. This helps a client gain greater insight into how they function, and leads to more choice for the client about how they care for themselves.

Has a calming effect

Talking to a hypnotherapist about a traumatic experience or personal problems can be uncomfortable for many individuals. Uncomfortable situations can stress any individual. On the contrary, hypnotherapists can talk with a client both in and out of hypnosis. Working in a hypnotic state can help people remain calm and relaxed.

Not only that, hypnotherapy helps you develop better habits and behaviours, which further help you gain more control over your life, which further reduces anxiety. Thus, hypnotherapists have a calming effect on client’s lives, leading to improved physical and mental health.

Conclusion

As seen from these benefits, hypnotherapists can help improve the client’s mental health in more ways than one. That’s the reason why hypnotherapists are in great demand. An increasing number of people who are suffering from such mental health issues are also taking the help of hypnosis to deal with their problems and lead a better life.

Our hypnotherapy course

If you would like to help others make positive enhancements to their lives and become a professional hypnotherapist,  we recommend you check our awesome Professional Hypnotherapy Diploma course.

Finally, if you would like to find out more about the awesome Professional Hypnotherapy Diploma that HypnoTC , do please visit our Diploma page and have a browse through the information about our world-class, award-winning training.

Find out more about our Hypnotherapy Diploma course

– written by Dr Kate Beaven-Marks and the HypnoTC team
(HypnoTC Director)

This blog explores a range of helpful tips to enable you to find the best hypnotherapy training in London.

At HypnoTC, Our Professional Hypnotherapy Diploma course is award-winning and designed to give you both competence and confidence. Wherever you are on your journey, and whatever your learning differences, preferences or additional needs, you will find that at HypnoTC we are passionate about helping people to become the best hypnotherapist they can be.

If you have yet to start your hypnotherapy training journey, or would like to refresh or upskill, do have a look at our Professional Hypnotherapy Diploma course and discover how you can train with HypnoTC to become a professional hypnotherapist.

To find out more about training with HypnoTC, and becoming a professional hypnotherapist, click the button below.

Find out more about our Professional Hypnotherapy Diploma course

Finding the best hypnotherapy training in London: 10 tips

At HypnoTC we often hear the question, “There are so many hypnotherapy training courses, how do I pick the right one for me?” It is a great question. It is also a question that you may not know the answer to until you have completed your hypnotherapy training. You can then best evaluate whether it was the right course for you. However, there is a lot you can do now to make your choice of hypnotherapy training a well-informed and relevant choice.

This concise blog gives you 10 tips that you can use either to generate a shortlist of possible hypnotherapy training providers, or, if you are already at the shortlist stage, evaluate your list. To illustrate the key points of this blog, and give useful examples, there are links to HypnoTC information and additional information where relevant.

Before you read further, if you want to become a professional hypnotherapist or upskill, we recommend you check our award-winning HypnoTC Hypnotherapy Diploma course.

Find out more about our Hypnotherapy Diploma course

Tip #1 – Understand your needs

Before you even start to look for what different hypnotherapy training providers are offering, we suggest that the first thing you do is to think about what you actually want to learn.  Questions you could ask yourself include:

• Can I envisage using hypnotherapy? If so, when, how, with whom and where?
• Do I want to focus on a particular topic, such as weight management, or work with a broader range of client issues?
• Can I commit to the work of a good practitioner course?

Tip #2 – Accessible location

If you are looking for training in a particular location, such as London, then it is worth checking where the actual hypnotherapy training venue is located. London is a huge city and a light industrial unit on a commercial estate on the outskirts of London might not be easy to get to via public transport. Although, there might be more parking if you need to drive.

A hypnotherapy training venue in the centre of London is likely to have more underground (tube), mainline trains and buses. This can give you alternative travel options, which is handy if one particular route has issues on a training day.

The HypnoTC Diploma course is located in Whitehall, just a couple of minutes walk from Embankment underground station. It is a served by numerous bus routes and is close to Charing Cross, Waterloo, Kings Cross and Victoria mainline stations, together with Victoria coach station. In addition,  it is easily accessible from Heathrow, Gatwick and London City Airports.

Tip #3 – Relevant content

A good hypnotherapy training provider’s website will give you a clear and detailed syllabus of what is included in the course. When you look through the content of what is taught, you may look both at whether the content is suitable for what you want to learn, and whether it is actually relevant to hypnotherapy practitioner training.

Each hypnotherapy training provider will have their own preferences, and may focus more on one particular hypnotherapy model, technique, or approach, over another. If you only want to learn Ericksonian hypnotherapy, and perhaps just use conversational hypnosis informally, then it makes sense to look for a course which focuses on that.

If you want to be a well-trained professional hypnotherapist, working successfully with a wide range of clients, issues and goals, then it can help to choose a hypnotherapy practitioner course which gives you a broad range of hypnotherapy skills and knowledge. This means that you can then adapt your work to suit the client, rather than making the client fit a more narrow field of expertise.

Generally, for hypnotherapy training at practitioner level, it can be helpful to find a course which covers habit change (behavioural hypnotherapy), belief and mindset change (cognitive hypnotherapy), insight gathering (analytical hypnotherapy) and working with the past (regression hypnotherapy).

Some courses also offer supportive approaches that can enhance the hypnotherapy work, such as mindfulness. However, do check how relevant that additional training is. A lightweight course may be padded out with a range of other approaches to make it seem a substantial course. Whilst learning about crystals might seem interesting at the time, you may not want that learning to be at the expense of something essential, such as how to set up and run a successful hypnotherapy business.

If you would find it helpful, you could use our syllabus as a benchmark for content during your search.

Tip #4 – Accredited training

Many of the leading hypnotherapy professional associations offer ‘accreditation’ in the form of recognition of hypnotherapy training courses that meet their training quality standards. Each organisation has their own route to accreditation. It often involves the hypnotherapy training provider providing comprehensive information to them, including,

• The course content
• What and how that content is taught (e.g., lesson plans)
• How much of the course is practical, how much theory
• The qualifications (hypnotherapy and teaching) and experience of the tutors
• The venue (its suitability)
• What support is provided to students

The accreditation providers will often list those hypnotherapy courses that pass their assessment on their website and, in turn, the hypnotherapy training company will indicate on their website who has accredited their training. Delving deeper can be helpful here. Some weaker or less relevant training can be presented as ‘accredited’, yet, upon investigation, it is the training provider who has set up their own accrediting body. If that accrediting body only recognises one or a few training providers, you might like to explore more. Some of the leading professional associations in the UK include:

• British Society of Clinical Hypnosis (BSCH)
• Federation of Holistic Therapists (FHT)
• General Hypnotherapy Register (GHR) / General Hypnotherapy Standards Council (GHSC)
• National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH)

You may also notice that some hypnotherapy training providers are accredited by international professional bodies. This can be helpful if you wish to work beyond the UK once qualified. For example, hypnotherapy training recognised by the National Guild of Hypnotists (NGH) is recognised in most countries around the world.

HypnoTC has a number of accreditations, both UK and international. In addition, our hypnotherapy course meets the requirements of the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC), the voluntary regulator.

Tip #5 – Named tutor

Who will be teaching you? Ideally your hypnotherapy training course provider will be able to say who will teach you. Even better if it is the same person throughout the course, which leads to consistency. You might like to explore any information provided about the tutor such as,

• Hypnotherapy qualifications and hypnotherapy experience
• Any hypnotherapy specialisms (e.g., pain management)
• Training / teaching qualifications and experience
• Scope of teaching experience e.g., foundation, practitioner, advanced levels
• Breadth of teaching experience, such as national/international, corporate, healthcare (e.g., NHS)

If your hypnotherapy trainer is active within the profession you will generally be able to ‘Google’ them to get an overview of what they are engaged in. For example, they may have written hypnotherapy books, or created shorter courses (either online or in-person), or teach at UK conferences (e.g., UK Hypnosis Convention) or internationally (e.g., Hypnothoughts Live).

Finally, a great way of exploring how well you will find learning from the trainer is to find some of their videos on YouTube, or the hypnotherapy training company website. You can then get an idea of their style, their voice and even how well they stay on track!

If you would like to find out more about HypnoTC’s lead tutor, Dr Kate, our Director of Studies, have a read of her profile and watch our video on our website.

Tip #6 – Recognised qualifications

A good return on your investment of time, energy and money, is a course which is recognised by your potential clients. Hypnotherapy clients are becoming ever increasingly better informed about hypnotherapy, including how to find a well-qualified hypnotherapist. In addition, many of the leading professional associations will only admit suitably qualified therapists.

Commonly, hypnotherapy training providers will offer their own certification. They may even add the logos of the organisations who have accredited their training (take a peek at our certificate photo below to see an example of this). It can be an added bonus if they also offer externally provided certification. For example, the Hypnotherapy in Practice (HPD) Diploma is a level-four qualification. Students’ work is externally assessed by the National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH) and the NCFE. Thus providing an indication of independent assessment.

Some accrediting bodies also have their own certification. For example, training that meets the requirements of the National Guild of Hypnotists (NGH) leads to the ‘Certified Hypnotherapist’ certification. This can be very helpful for prospective clients, as wherever they are in world, they can simply go to the NGH website and see what their training requirements are.

Tip #7 – Reviews and testimonials

Anonymous testimonials on a hypnotherapy training provider’s website may not carry much credibility. However, named testimonials, perhaps with supporting photos, can then be verified.

In addition, some training companies use external review facilities, such as Trustpilot.

Tip #8 – Ongoing support

A good hypnotherapy training course will enable you to develop the knowledge and skills, the competence and the confidence necessary to work as an effective professional hypnotherapy practitioner. But, just as you truly learn to drive after you have passed your driving test, so you will develop as a practitioner once you start working more with clients.

Because of this, you are likely to benefit from ongoing support from those who have taught you. They will have the best depth of understanding of what you know, and how you can apply that to most effectively suit the client’s presenting needs. Some hypnotherapy course providers also run supervision groups. This is a great way of getting both peer and experienced facilitator support.

Tip # 9 Good learning environment

Where and how do you learn best? What do you need? Many of our students and graduates say that a spacious room, with comfortable chair, good heating/ventilation and plenty of natural light is helpful. It may be that a cramped and dingy room, with plastic chairs, in a basement with strip lights, makes the course a little cheaper for students, but will you be comfortable? Perhaps over time you might find that the lack of comfort is distracting. A pleasant learning environment, with plenty of facilities, both in the venue and nearby, can even make the training days something to look forward to. Have a look at our video to get a great idea of what the HypnoTC venue offers.

Tip #10 – Practice and theory blend

For many trainers, it is easy to spend most of the day talking theory. However, hypnotherapy can be thought of as both as art and skill. As such, anyone learning hypnotherapy really does benefit from practice. Even better, supervised practice. Even better than that, informed practice!

You may like to check whether any practical task is talked through, then demonstrated before students are asked to repeat the process. Beyond that, are there videos of the key techniques so that students can look at an example at a later date (great for revision and practice development).

You will need the right amount of theory too. Rather than just reading a script or conducting a technique word-for-word how you were taught, it is much more helpful to be able to adapt your approach as needed, knowing both what you are doing and why you are doing it.

Our hypnotherapy course…

Finally, if you would like to find out more about the awesome Professional Hypnotherapy Diploma that HypnoTC , do please visit our Diploma page and have a browse through the information about our world-class, award-winning training.

Contact Dr Kate for a chat about becoming a professional Hypnotherapist

– written by Dr Kate Beaven-Marks
(HypnoTC Director)

Hypnotherapy is a versatile therapy which can be used to support and generate change for those with antisocial personality disorder.

This blog explores what antisocial personality disorder (ASPD or APD) is, treatment options and how hypnotherapy and self-hypnosis can help.

Before you read further, if you are new to hypnotherapy and want to become a professional hypnotherapist or, if you are already qualified and looking to upskill, we recommend you check out our award-winning HypnoTC Hypnotherapy Diploma course.

Find out more about our Hypnotherapy Diploma course

Antisocial personality disorder

According to the Mayo Clinic, antisocial personality disorder isn’t about someone who is just a bit of a loner, or is a socially isolated in some way.

Antisocial personality disorder is a recognised condition and comes within the broader category of personality disorders and is recognised within the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, American Psychiatric Association 2013).

Interestingly, whilst ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, World Health Organisation 2016) had a code (F60.2b Dissocial personality disorder) for antisocial personality disorder, the newer ICD-11 (2022) doesn’t use separate labels. Rather it classifies personality disorders according to levels of impairment severity.

Signs of antisocial personality disorder

Those with antisocial personality disorder can initially appear charming (although this can seem superficial), and the perception of charisma and personal confidence may be used to engage in numerous sexual interactions, with relationships likely to be short-lived due to their callous or duplicitous behaviour.

It can be difficult to determine whether they are being truthful or lying, due to their manipulative tendencies. Those individuals engaged in more harmful or dangerous behavioural patterns can sometimes be called sociopaths or psychopaths.

Adults with antisocial personality disorder can have certain traits relating to an ongoing pervasive and inflexible pattern of behaviour that is relative stable over time and deviates from the norms of the person’s culture.

Manner

• Arrogance / cocky manner

Attitude

• Cynical view of the world
• Has a sense of superiority over others
• Sense of importance of own opinion

Lacks

• Consideration or respect for others
• Empathy
• Guilt when harm others
• Regret or remorse for their conduct

Disregards

• Right or wrong
• Safety
• Physical and emotional rights of others (and can violate those rights)

Actions

• Acting in a manner perceived as aggressive, hostile, violent or threatening to others
• Deceitful behaviours and telling lies to get what they want from others
• Engaging in actions to deliberately anger or upset others
• Interact harshly or with cruel indifference
• Irresponsible and difficulty or failing to consistently meet work, family or other responsibilities
• Problematic drug or alcohol use
• Use of deliberate charm, wit or persona to manipulate others for personal gain/ pleasure.

Childhood development and conduct disorders

Whilst antisocial personality disorder traits can emerge at any time, personality is recognised as forming during childhood. For adults with antisocial personality disorder, there is often a link to a past diagnosis of ‘conduct disorder’ (pre age 15). This coming from behaviours such as being dishonest and lying, aggressive and destructive behaviour and significant disregard or deliberate violations of rules.

Whether childhood ‘nature’ or ‘nurture’ is most influential here is debatable. Genes can predispose someone towards antisocial personality disorder. In the same way, a dysfunctional family upbringing, (such as abuse, violence and neglect, or family members with personality disorders) can lead to changes in the way the brain functions during brain development, potentially triggering the emergence of antisocial personality traits.

Diagnosis

A doctor or other healthcare provider may conduct a thorough mental health examination, which can include medical and family history, presenting thoughts and emotions, how they interact in significant relationships, their behaviours and potentially even seeking information for family and friends. During the diagnosis process, other personality disorders and psychiatric conditions (such as narcissistic personality disorder, schizophrenia or bipolar disorder) will be considered and ruled out before antisocial personality disorder is given as a diagnosis.

General treatment of antisocial personality disorder

In the first instance, people with antisocial personality disorder may not spontaneously engage in therapy; they can consider they don’t need nor would benefit from help.

For treatment to be effective, the individual will need to be willing to engage in therapeutic treatment. Where there are co-morbid conditions talk therapy and/or medications may be recommended.

Where an individual is already engaging in some form of therapy or treatment, a range of complementary and supportive options may be explored. In addition, clients may come to hypnotherapy after needing medical or psychological assistance with other symptoms, such as anger, depression or alcohol/drug misuse.

Hypnotherapy and treatment of antisocial personality disorder

Hypnotherapy can offer help to those with antisocial personality disorder symptoms, and to friends and families of those who have antisocial personality disorders. Whilst not likely a task for a newly-qualified hypnotherapist, a well-qualified and suitably experienced hypnotherapist, who participates in therapy supervision, can work alongside the individual’s primary care provider, any interprofessional teams or psychological or psychiatric support.

When working as part of a care team, good communication is essential for the hypnotherapist to be able to work effectively within the overall treatment plan. Working as an isolated therapist, without sufficient knowledge or experience could exacerbate rather than help the client. In all such situations, working within the scope and breadth of competence is important, together with referral for issues that the therapist is unable to work with.

In the first instance, the therapist will consider a risk assessment, both for the risks posed by the client, and the potential for counter transference (the therapist reaction to the client). Where the risks can be adequately controlled, these will influence the treatment plan. Such a plan is likely to follow the concepts of STM,

• Stabilisation – preparing the client for change
• Treatment – active change work
• Maintenance – integrating the change and helping the client take ownership

As previously mentioned, clients with antisocial personality disorder may not, at least initially, be fully committed to change. Here it is important, throughout the therapy process to work to establish a more balanced Locus of Control.

The change process will often start with techniques from behavioural hypnotherapy. These can help the client identify unhelpful habitual responses and actions, and form new more helpful behaviours. A particular advantage with hypnotherapy is the use of mental rehearsal and future pacing to practice the new ways of responding. Not only is this a good ecology check (will it work in the real world?), but it also helps the client practice in a safe environment. By the time they come to actually do it in their daily life, it can already seem familiar.

Cognitive hypnotherapy builds on the gains of behavioural therapy and can work with cognitive distortions and unhealthy beliefs. Even more helpful is that clients can learn useful questioning strategies to apply to any future unhelpful thoughts. Specific cognitive-based methods, such as rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and mindfulness can all provide helpful strategies for coping with challenging thoughts, feelings and emotions.

Behavioural and cognitive hypnotherapy work well together to enable the client to learn beneficial coping strategies. In the same way, those who interact with someone with antisocial personality disorder (e.g., friends, family, colleagues) can learn how to establish effective boundaries and learn how to best communicate with someone with non-standard ways of responding to situations.

Other hypnotherapy models can also be therapeutically beneficial. Firstly, analytical hypnotherapy is ideal, where a client wants to know ‘why’ and to get subconscious insight on a deeper level. Beyond this is regression hypnotherapy. This can be highly helpful in understanding and gaining a new perspective of past events. However, even more useful is the access to past resources, which the client can the employ going forward.

Hypnotherapy self-care activities to support the session work

Within any hypnotherapy treatment process, the added benefits gained from the client learning self-care techniques can be recognised. Here, self-care tasks can be lifestyle-related and out of hypnosis, or undertaken in self-hypnosis. These tasks would be discussed and agreed with the client and it can be useful for the hypnotherapist to follow up with a note about them in an email after the session. This avoids any confusion.

To reinforce new behaviours, a client might be asked to undertake a ‘contract for action’ and engage in activities where they will have an opportunity to practice their new responses in the ‘real world’. This may be supported by mental rehearsal, whether informal (imagine) or formal self-hypnosis (future pacing).

Where ongoing insight would be helpful, an analytical approach could be used, such as journaling, or directed journaling (topics to consider). This could then be used for self-actioned insight, or the journal entries could be discussed at the next therapy session.

In conclusion

Working with clients who have antisocial personality disorders may not be something ideally undertaken by students or the newly qualified. However, a hypnotherapist with some experience will have an understanding of how best to identify areas for change, plan appropriate hypnotherapy approaches and promote engagement.

Further reading

DSM 5: APA_DSM-5-Personality-Disorder.pdf (psychiatry.org)

https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/practice/dsm/frequently-asked-questions#

ICD-10: https://icd.who.int/browse10/2016/en#F60.2

Treatment: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1992-36328-001

Locus of Control blog: https://hypnotc.com/locus-of-control-scale-hypnotherapy/

Hypnotherapy training

Finally, if you would like to find out more about using hypnotherapy with clients, do visit our Diploma page and have a browse through the information about our world-class, award-winning training.

Contact Dr Kate for a chat about becoming a professional Hypnotherapist

– written by Dr Kate Beaven-Marks
(HypnoTC Director)

Navigating the hypnotherapy training minefield

You know, or think, that you want to become a hypnotherapist. What do you do next?

At first glance, it can be a bit of a minefield trying to find the right hypnotherapy training course for you. You will soon find that there are a multitude of hypnotherapy trainers and companies out there offering a wide range of different training options. However, if you are uninformed, it can come down to luck (getting the right school by chance) or caveat emptor (buyer beware).

You might find it curious (or scary) to know that your neighbour could set up as a hypnotherapy training provider, with a snazzy website, in about an hour, even if they know absolutely nothing about hypnosis or hypnotherapy.

Before you start to learn to be a hypnotherapist, it is truly important that you choose to undertake your hypnotherapy certification with the best hypnotherapy training company that you can find/ afford. This blog will offer you some useful tips, so that even if you train elsewhere, hopefully you end up with the right hypnotherapy course for your goals and needs.

You do deserve the best training for you. Taking the time to search for the right course will pay off; your time, efforts and resources are valuable. By making an informed search, you will be able to avoid paying out for a sub-par hypnotherapy training course, because you deserve the best.

Even if you do your research and end up training with another course provider, so long as they’re GOOD that’s all that truly matters, because as hypnotherapists ourselves, and knowing how powerful effective change can be, we really want to avoid poorly trained hypnotherapists out there, weakening the profession, putting people off having hypnotherapy and giving the rest of us a bad name!

Before you read further, if you want to become a professional hypnotherapist or upskill, we recommend you check our award-winning HypnoTC Hypnotherapy Diploma course.

Find out more about our Hypnotherapy Diploma course

There are so many contributing factors that come together to make superb training. We have carefully chosen four of the most important considerations that will help you in your search, so that you can choose the very best hypnotherapy training course for you, and become a professional, confident and competent hypnotherapist.

Tip 1: Don’t sign up to the first hypnotherapy training course you see

Even if you are really interested in our Professional Hypnotherapy Diploma Course at HypnoTC (which is awesome!), it is good to be confident of your choice.

Do take time to explore what is out there. Get a feel for who is offering what.

Google searches

The most common way to find anything, including a hypnotherapy training course would be… Google!

Generally, the “organic” entries listed at the top of Google (or on the first page), are well established or may have a lot of referring links. However, being on page 1 of Google doesn’t necessarily make a training company good, it just means their website is more easily found by Google.

Google ads

If you cannot get to the top of a Google listing naturally, a shortcut is to use Google ads. These can be popular with training providers as it can imply the company is well-established and catches people who may not be interested in a thorough search. These ads are quite easy to spot, if you know what to look for. So, if you notice a small box with “Ad” next to a Google entry, this indicates that the training company wants to grab your attention and is willing to pay for it. We suggest you avoid these distractions and carry on with your search.

Facebook ads

Training companies can also pay to advertise on social media, such as Facebook. These can show as ‘Sponsored’ posts.

Social media

There are hypnotherapy-related groups on Facebook and in LinkedIn, and these can be a good way to get individual perspectives. People are often willing to share ‘the good, the bad and the ugly’ of training and whilst some of their experiences won’t be relevant for you, others may be really helpful.

Do be aware though, that sometimes people have an agenda and may strongly promote someone who turns out to be their friend.

Creating your hypnotherapy training shortlist

At the start of your research journey, it can be good to make notes about what you are finding. Once you’ve done some research, you are then able to notice key criteria and may you are ready to compare the differences.

These may include:

• Cost of course (and required extras)
• Course duration
• Method of delivery
• Qualifications
• Syllabus

The syllabus is particularly important. It is essential that you are able to find out the detail of what you’re actually going to learn. This will show that the training provider is organised and enables you to make a proper comparison.

Tip 2: This is not the time or place for “cheap”

Sadly, it seems a lot of hypnotherapists think that teaching hypnotherapy is a quick way to make money (it isn’t – it is a lot of work to do a good job).

However, some low-level trainers are able to attract people onto their courses by massively undercutting the professional companies (who put in more work and have higher overheads). If you see something super cheap, ask yourself if that “half-price diploma” is even worth the paper you will print the emailed certificate on.

There are times when it makes sense to economise, especially in these current times. Whilst going to an ‘own brand’ pasta instead of a well-known and more expensive brand may make little or no difference to the experience of the meal, it can make a big difference in terms of training.

For example, you might be given one hypnotherapy induction script to create hypnosis, rather than be taught several different ways of generating hypnosis (and what, why, how and when to use each).

In contrast, the most expensive course doesn’t always mean it is the best product out there, or the best for you.

Tip 3: Checking out the reviews and testimonials is important!

Do you look at the reviews on Amazon before you buy something? Many people are very influenced by reviews, so it is worth looking where negative reviews cannot be deleted (eg Trustpilot). Training businesses manage their own websites, so if they receive negative reviews, it is unlikely they will display them on their website. Some will. For example, at HypnoTC where a graduate talks about the challenges they faced (eg completing homework) we left that in, to ensure those considering our courses get a true feel of what our graduates really experienced.

When looking for feedback, look closely at the reviews and testimonials, whether in text form or a video.

Video

Where our students are happy to give a video, you get to see that it’s a real person leaving the review, just like this review of our professional hypnotherapy course:

Written

When it comes to “written reviews,” despite risking the wrath of advertising standards, a dishonest hypnotherapy training provider could easily create a load of fake reviews from non-existent students.

Spotting a fake review and recognising a real one

Fortunately, fake reviews can be fairly easy to spot if they all sound similar and are so glowing that they seem too good to be true. If you are not sure, simply Google the reviewers name (or image search) and explore whether they exist.

You will find that some hypnotherapy training course websites (including here at HypnoTC) post student pictures/ names/ jobs alongside their reviews, so that you can easily spot that the reviews given are genuine. If you were to Google these reviewers, you’d probably be able to find them (most people are visible on Google in some way):

You are welcome to have a good look at our full hypnotherapy training testimonials, to get an idea of the differences in style and content.

Finally, on this point, if you find a company that has no reviews, it might be best to dig deeper, or simply carry on looking.

Tip 4: Do ensure that your hypnotherapy qualification is relevant, real and meaningful

Remember the neighbour we mentioned at the start of this blog. He or she could create some very impressive looking certificates with fancy names. A ‘Master Advanced Super Wizard Hypnotherapy Diploma’ might sound better than a hypnotherapy certificate. You might even be invited to join the trainer’s own professional association, yet it is easy to make it all up. The certificate, the qualification and even the associated organisation may have no professional standing or relevance.

During your search, find out from your prospective hypnotherapy training providers whether their qualification(s) meets the requirements of any hypnotherapy regulators or training/ accrediting bodies. If they don’t, or they say such things don’t matter, you might like to find a new hypnotherapy trainer. These things DO matter. If the provider does give you the name of some company/ body, be sure to check it out online to see if it’s a respected, long-standing organisation.

As a bare minimum, you will do well to check the course meets (or exceeds) the hypnotherapy core curriculum. If a course has this (and they can prove it), it’s generally a good sign.

You will also find that there are a select few highly ranking national and international organisations that top quality hypnotherapy training companies will be linked to, and you will usually see the logos on their websites. As a rule, these organisations require their trainers to meet the hypnotherapy core curriculum (as previously mentioned) or their own mandatory curriculum. Here are some of the top ones.

The National Council for Hypnotherapy

The NCH is the UK’s leading not-for-profit Hypnotherapy Professional Association. NCH recognised schools offer the Hypnotherapy in Practice Diploma (HPD NCH), an externally qualified diploma. As HypnoTC is an NCH accredited school, you can be assured that your training will be robust and ethical, and will give you the foundations to be a highly skilled professional hypnotherapist.

www.hypnotherapists.org.uk

The National Guild of Hypnotists (NGH)

The NGH is one of the oldest hypnotherapy bodies worldwide, with members across the UK, USA, and in more than 25 countries. The NGH has trainers all over the world, and continues to offer some of the most comprehensive hypnotherapy training available.

ngh.net

The General Hypnotherapy Standards Council (GHSC)

The GHSC are comprised of representatives from both professional hypnotherapy organisations and schools who offer hypnotherapy training courses. Their job is to oversee the criteria for the accreditation of hypnotherapy training courses and the ongoing requirements for registration of practitioners within the General Hypnotherapy Register.

general-hypnotherapy-register.com

Now it’s time to act…

We hope that you have found this blog helpful. Do feel free to get in contact with us if you have any questions or would simply like to chat about our courses.

Whether you choose to train with us at HypnoTC: The Hypnotherapy Training Company or somewhere else, what is really important, is that you are trained to a high standard (not just theory, but practical too) and that you leave the course knowing what you’re doing. For us, the more well-trained hypnotherapists there are out there, doing great work, the better the public opinion of hypnotherapy will become!

We wish you every success on your journey towards becoming a professional qualified hypnotherapist. Be focused in your decision-making, ensure you are aware of the facts (and avoid the fiction), and know that you’re getting the best hypnotherapy training when you sign up to become a professional hypnotherapist.

Hypnotherapy training

Finally, if you would like to find out more about using hypnotherapy with clients, do visit our Diploma page and have a browse through the information about our world-class, award-winning training.

Contact Dr Kate for a chat about becoming a professional Hypnotherapist

– written by Dr Kate Beaven-Marks
(HypnoTC Director)

Many clients who seek hypnotherapy will benefit from gaining skills in how to address problems in their life. Rather than just have the hypnotherapist tell them what to do, it is more empowering for clients to develop their own problem-solving abilities.

Most people have ‘a’ way of addressing problems. However, in some, or all situations, their problem-solving strategies may either be helpful, such as finding solutions, or unhelpful, such as avoidance.

This blog provides a clear and effective model, POSIE, for problem-solving that can be easily taught to clients within a hypnotherapy session. It gives information on how to use each component conversationally, and, where relevant, in hypnosis. In addition, an illustrative example has been given.

Overall, the aim of the POSIE approach is to help a client learn to be calm and focused and develop effective problem-solving skills, that they can both apply now and as a lifelong tool for future challenges.

Before you read further, if you want to become a professional hypnotherapist or upskill, we recommend you check our award-winning HypnoTC Hypnotherapy Diploma course.

Find out more about our Hypnotherapy Diploma course

Hypnotherapy and Response Development

Where a client has unhelpful responses, or lacks resources to address challenges, hypnotherapy can be helpful.

Firstly, unhelpful strategies can be identified, whether as part of the consultation process, or by using hypnotherapy techniques.

You may employ cognitive hypnotherapy methods to identify beliefs. Or, you may choose analytical hypnotherapy approaches to gain insight.

Then, as the client learns new responses, habits can be developed, using behavioural hypnotherapy techniques.

Breathwork, Mindfulness and Being Calm

Before you even start change work with a client, developing the ability to be calm is helpful. This is particularly so where a client will be learning or developing new skills which have some cognitive or alert state activity. It is easier to focus when you are calm.

When someone is stressed, whether acutely or chronically, there can be an impact on how they address situations and make decisions. Indeed, when stressed, research indicates people can make more habitual responses to challenges, rather than deliberate goal-directed choices.

If you haven’t already taught your client a breathing technique or a mindful focus technique, this may be something you might wish to do first. If you want your client to make focused choices, it helps to provide tools for them to achieve the desired state.

When stressed, it is harder for someone to make focused decisions, and they will tend to procrastinate more when asked to make deliberate, informed decisions. Breathwork can reduce the stress response, enabling them to engage with a calmer mind and body.

Mindfulness techniques help someone maintain a focus on the present, rather than stressing out about what has happened in the past, or could happen in the future. By calming the mind first, this can reduce the impact of unhealthy beliefs or cognitive distortions on the POSIE decision-making process.

The POSIE Approach

The POSIE approach to problem-solving is easy to use in a therapy session and to teach to a client.

It can be helpful to create a handout for the client to use as an aide-memoire after the session. This enables the client to repeat the process as desired, rather than potentially be distracted during the therapy session; more focused on having to remember for later, rather than engaging in that moment.

Problem

Action: The first step is to define the problem in one sentence.

By clearly defining the problem, without lots of side issues, or padding, this generates a clear starting point for the process.

For some clients, this may be a challenging first step. They may know, in general terms, what they don’t want, but are less able to define what the issue actually is.

Being able to clearly articulate what the problem is may be a learning moment for the client. For instance, they may struggle to identify what the problem is from their perspective, instead talking about what others think, eg “Aunt Joan says I am an anxious person so I won’t be able to cope with a new job”.

In response to the client giving a third-person view, rather than just diving in and asking the client for what they think for themselves, it can be helpful to ask for other third-person perspectives. Perhaps asking what other family members think and what their friends’ views are. This helps the client explore the problem from different perspectives and, without even having to consciously think, they start to evolve their own perspective. You can then more easily ask what their view is as well.

If you are helping the client to identify the problem whilst they are hypnotised, you could invite them to observe the problem situation from a third-person perspective, as though watching a movie or play. They can then step into the scene and experience it from a first-person perspective to get insight.

Options

Action: The next step is to explore the possible ways of addressing the problem.

By looking for a range of options (possible solutions), there can be a creative approach to the issue. This allows for even bizarre or extreme options to be recognised, and also for any obviously weak options to be ruled out.

Factors a client may explore include considering their feelings, emotions and instinctive perceptions, and whether they have enough information to truly consider an option (eg benefits, costs, risks).

Options can be explored in the hypnotic state. The situation can be viewed and a range of ‘what if’ approaches could be considered by using future pacing. The client can then gain a realistic appraisal of whether each potential option is a realistic choice for consideration.

Solution

Action: The client then selects the most appropriate solution from their range of options.

The client is able to evaluate each of the options they have generated and explore which would be the best fit. They can consider the potential positive and negative consequences of each choice.

It is at this point they may realise that they need additional resources or strategies in order to implement their preferred option. The hypnotherapist and client can then treat that requirement as an additional problem to be solved. They may even pause this particularly activity to POSIE that problem, then come back to the original issue with new insight, data or awareness.

For example, a client may wish to have a discussion with their manager about their workload. They identify they would benefit from some assertiveness training, in order to have that discussion effectively. A new POSIE assessed and organised some assertiveness strategies. The client then came back to their original problem and was able to make their preferred selection from an informed perspective.

Selecting a solution in hypnosis can make full use of future pacing. The client can explore, in detail, from third and first-person perspectives how their solution could be integrated into their life. It may also be helpful to check whether, or how well, the solution is in alignment with a client’s core values, as this can add an extra layer of connection.

Implementation

Action: The solution gets implemented.

This stage of the process is usually conducted outside of the hypnotherapy session. The client will put into effect their selected solution and integrate it into their own life.

Here, any habit change work, mental rehearsal or future pacing, whether in the alert state, or in hypnosis, will have prepared the client. This means that, for the client, it can feel familiar, rather than something completely new and strange.

As a result, the client is more likely to fully engage with the process and with more confidence. They know what they are going to do.

Evaluation

Action: Once the solution is in place, a review can be conducted and it can be assessed whether the problem is resolved by the implemented solution.

For many people, finding a solution is the end point of any problem-solving activity. However, sometimes, what seems to be a good solution, once road-tested, doesn’t fully address the problem.

By making time to evaluate the solution’s effectiveness, additional implementation activities which may be beneficial can be identified and put into effect. Alternatively, it might be that the client would benefit from returning to the start of the process, re-defining the problem and exploring options.

It can be helpful to have a flexible mindset, rather than fixed expectations. If a particular solution isn’t giving the desired results, then rather than taking it personally, it can be better to simply look for a different solution.

Giving Examples

Rather than teaching your client just a theoretical model, it can be more helpful to give clients examples of how the POSIE problem-solving model can be applied.

For example, Jessica presented for hypnotherapy with a goal of reducing her workplace stress. She found it very difficult to say ‘no’ to each of her three managers, all of whom seemed to treat her as she worked solely for them (in terms of work allocated). Michael, Jessica’s hypnotherapist, taught her how to use POSIE and they worked through an example during the therapy session and beyond.

Jessica’s Problem:

Manager A has asked me to complete a costings project by Friday, but I already have work from Manager B that is urgent, and Manager C is likely to give me some additional work too. I don’t have enough time.

Jessica’s Options:

1. Tell Manager A ‘no’
2. Tell Manager B his project won’t be done in time
3. Tell Manager C ‘no’ if he gives me more work
4. Tell both Managers B and C I can’t do their work
5. Ask all three Managers to agree my priorities between them and give me clear information about what should be done and when.

Jessica’s Solution:

Jessica evaluated the pros and cons, considering how she felt about each situation. She also thought about the impact of the solution on both herself and her managers. She chose option 5 as the best fit for her at present.

Jessica’s Implementation:

In the hypnotherapy, both in and out of hypnosis, she practiced telling her managers what she wanted and the reasons for that. Her therapist gave her some homework. Once home, she used mental rehearsal techniques to practice more until she felt confident in her approach. When she went back to her workplace, she asked her managers just as she had planned.

Jessica’s Evaluation:

When she reflected on her managers’ responses, she found she had not only had a successful choice of solution, but had gained some insight. Her managers had apologised for giving her conflicting instructions and had agreed to share her time more effectively. She felt that the outcome was a good solution. She monitored it to ensure it worked in practice. She also realised how important it was for her to engage in clear communication.

Other Resources

Decision-making

The POSIE approach is a quick and efficient method of problem-solving. However, if a client is inexperienced in decision-making, they may benefit from a higher level of information and support to help them develop confidence in their problem-solving strategies. You may find our blog, ‘Helping therapy clients develop problem-solving strategies‘, gives you some beneficial approaches to share with your clients.

Client homework

We have a helpful YouTube video on ‘Why you should be giving your clients homework’. This can help you better understand the many benefits of having therapy clients engaging in self-care and other activities beyond the hypnotherapy session.

Resistance to change

If you find that your client is a little resistant to change, we also have an informative YouTube video you may find helpful on ‘What happens when a hypnotherapy client is resistant?’

Communication skills

Should you like to develop your conversational communication skills further, you may like to read Dr Kate’s book, entitled ‘How To Communicate More Effectively’.

Hypnotherapy training

Finally, if you would like to find out more about using hypnotherapy with clients, do visit our Diploma page and have a browse through the information about our world-class, award-winning training.

Contact Dr Kate for a chat about becoming a professional Hypnotherapist

– written by Dr Kate Beaven-Marks
(HypnoTC Director)

Mental health and wellbeing in the workplace is an essential focus for every organisation. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recently issued their guidelines on mental health at work. They make for very interesting reading and their recommendations for interventions are evidence-based. This is particularly important when asking organisations to pay more attention to how they prevent, protect and promote, and support the mental health of their employees.

For hypnotherapists wishing to promote their business, the evidence and rationale included in these guidelines could be used to support proposals for collaborative working with organisations. They can also be used within blogs and articles on websites and in promotional posts on social media. Even better, is for the hypnotherapist to personalise this information with their own therapy ethos and approach, making it directly relevant to their ways of working.

There are several themes within the WHO guidelines:

• Organisational interventions
• Manager and worker training
• Targeted interventions for individuals

These guidelines aren’t a ‘one size fits all’ approach either, as focused attention is given to staff who have mental health conditions and the interventions that an organisation can use to support them to gain employment, return to work following an absence, or to be supported by reasonable accommodations at work. This makes a lot of sense, given that it is said that there is an estimated 15% of working-age adults that have a mental disorder at any point in time. Even more sense-making, when we consider that some organisations are really struggling to recruit and keep staff at present.

The WHO say that depression and anxiety are estimated to cost the global economy US $1 trillion each year driven predominantly by lost productivity. Yet, we know that hypnotherapy is particularly helpful with helping individuals, giving them resources and coping strategies to function better in their daily lives. Helping a client gain or retain employment can be particularly beneficial, as people living with mental health conditions can be excluded from work despite participation in economic activities being an important component in their recovery.

For professional hypnotherapists there are vast opportunities to engage with individuals and organisations. To become a professional hypnotherapist you will wish to access outstanding training. HypnoTC: The Hypnotherapy Training Company Professional Hypnotherapy Diploma course is the place to start or develop a rewarding career helping others. To find out more about our world-class and award-winning training, click on the diploma course button to find out more.

Find out more about our Diploma course

Why do people go to work?

Reasons often include maintaining a quality of life, having a purpose, some even may say they actively enjoy it. However, at one time or more, most people will find it a struggle to go to work. Whether that is because the work has become a little stale, there are conflicts in the workplace, conflicts at home, a nasty manager or bullying colleague, or even a lack of interest in what they are doing. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) indicate that only 44% of 6,000 workers surveyed considered work to have a positive impact on their mental health, with 55% regularly feeling miserable, exhausted or under excessive pressure; an average employee working 5 hours a week more than they would like to.

Our time, our life, is precious and we spend more time at work than we do in many other aspects of our life, such as with family and friends. Would you rather spend all that quality time feeling sad, pressured, demotivated? Or, positive, beneficially challenged, aware of the direction in which you are headed and of your own contribution towards the success of your organisation?

Mental health and wellbeing is an increasing focus in workplaces, from the smallest ‘one-man-band’ self-employed individual, through to vast multi-national organisations. It includes our emotional, psychological and social wellbeing and influences how we feel, think and respond to situations, including how we respond to stress, interact with others and make decisions.

The CIPD suggest that the most significant risks to employee wellbeing are psychological. Indeed, one of their recent reports found that over 1/3^rd of organisations indicated that stress-related absence has increased and over one-half say they are aware of an increase in mental health issues, compared to 1/3^rd in 2016. Furthermore, mental ill-health was reported to be the primary cause of over 20% of long-term staff absences in 2018, as compared to just over 10% in 2016. 

For organisations, the strength (or lack) of mental wellbeing can reflect the organisational health. With poor mental wellbeing, the ability to juggle multiple tasks decreases, indeed the ability to concentrate on anything can significantly decrease, leading to it taking longer to do tasks and even be less tolerant of colleagues, clients or customers. Organisational pressures to perform could be leading to the increasing trend of ‘presenteeism’ (working when ill) and ‘leaveism’ (using holidays when unwell). This can all contribute towards a decline in organisational performance.

In contrast, an entire organisation can contribute towards positive mental health and hypnotherapists can offer support in this process by contributing to both proactive prevention and mental health enhancement programmes and by offering assistance with remedial approaches when mental ill-health arises.

Pro-active approaches can include health promotion (such as health screening, access to a gym, healthy food options and access to wellbeing and complementary therapies) and employee support (such as physical and psychological services, financial support and lifestyle services). Interestingly, the CIPD report indicated that access to complementary therapies varies according to the employment sector. Overall it was reported at 20%, with manufacturing at 17%, private sector services at 18%, public services at 26% and the non-profit sector at 21%.

This is something that hypnotherapists may wish to consider when promoting their services to organisations. It is certainly reported that there are many benefits for organisations who invest in mental wellbeing, including a lower sickness absence rate, a more inclusive, healthier and positive work culture and better employee engagement and morale. This can form part of a persuasive message when liaising with organisations who may wish to engage the services of hypnotherapists.

Hypnotherapists’ contribution to wellbeing

Whether working with an isolated individual, a team, department or entire organisation, a hypnotherapist can make a significant contribution to the mental wellbeing of the staff and organisation. For example, with a stress management approach, unhealthy habits can be identified and addressed, limiting beliefs resolved and insight gained, together with conscious and subconscious change. This teaches the recipients how to work with their own mental wellbeing and it becomes a learned life skill, rather than a one-off (and potentially repeatable) applied treatment.

Even something as simple as teaching staff how to relax, perhaps including the awesome benefits from self-hypnosis, can help strengthen individual and team locus of control, empowering and strengthening both individuals and those affected by their actions. Hypnotherapists can also help staff develop coping strategies to enable them to remain functioning effectively in the workplace, or for more confidently returning to the workplace after a time of absence.

Managers’ contribution to wellbeing

The CIPD report indicates that around 50% of line managers surveyed are aware of the importance of wellbeing and around 55% say it is on the agenda of senior leaders, yet only 40% of employers have a standalone wellbeing strategy. Interestingly, the report indicates that where managers consider that wellbeing is important, better morale is observed. For example, the British Heart Foundation created a ‘Live Well, Work Well’ strategy for healthy eating, physical activity, mental wellbeing and positive habit formation. The strategy was so inclusive of the workforce that even the name came from a staff campaign-naming competition.

For managers, a good starting point is to recognise the individual and collective contributions of your workforce. Whether it comes as spontaneous words, briefings, memos, events or in other forms, praise and observations of successes and achievement of milestones is something to be celebrated. This helps staff morale and help staff feel valued. A massive 32% of people in the CIPD report indicated that management style was a main cause of stress, and 60% considered it to be workload and volume of work. For example, whilst the use of technology is reported to be positively received by 74% of respondents, the negative side is that 87% struggled to switch off out of working hours.

Poor communication is also often one of the most common stressors in the workplace, whether that is poor use of language, or a lack of communication entirely. Employees are more secure and focused on their work when they know what is going on. There are many ways to increase communication within an organisation. This may be as simple as regular small team meetings and briefings, a broader team meeting to bring teams together, or even an individual discussion.

Employees’ contribution to wellbeing

We can all be wrapped up in our own world, and that can carry through to the workplace. A great way of improving the morale of your colleagues, is to treat them how you would like to be treated yourself. If you focus on the positives and what can be done, then others will feel positive around you.

Another positive contribution is that of communication. Just as managers keeping staff involved and informed can help reduce stress from uncertainty, keeping managers involved helps them react more effectively. So, if you are feeling overwhelmed or pressured, it can be good to highlight this early, so that it can be addressed before it becomes an immense issue.

Whether as a manager, employee or therapist, effective communication in the workplace can have a positive influence on mental wellbeing. Although we learn to speak at an early age, as adults we can always further develop our effective strategies to inform, persuade and influence others towards beneficial change and create positive mental wellbeing in our workplace. If you’d like to learn more about how to communicate more effectively, a great place to start is my book, How To Communicate More Effectively, which is available to buy on Amazon:

Related wellbeing reading

https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/culture/well-being/health-well-being-work

www.cipd.co.uk/healthandwellbeing2018

https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/work/trends/uk-working-lives

https://getbook.at/H2CME

We hope that this blog on workplace stress and wellbeing has been helpful to you. If you have any more questions about this topic or anything else for that matter, do please get in touch, because we’re always happy to help!

– written by Dr Kate Beaven-Marks
(HypnoTC Director)

Well, what a crazy couple of years it has been! The whole world has been turned upside down since Covid-19, many people having lost loved ones, lost their jobs, and suffered anxiety, grief and various other conditions which they may have never experienced before.

Hypnotherapy is a highly effective way to deal with so many of the issues that the pandemic has left many people with. It allows us to overcome fears, worries, anxieties, and even take us back to how we were before the outbreak.

Here are some examples of what hypnotherapy can help with:

• Fear of germs
• Coping with wearing a mask
• Worry of being in public
• Grief
• Job loss
• Relationship breakdowns
• General social anxiety & health anxiety
• Compulsive cleaning
• Low mood/depression

Let’s look at some of these in more detail, and exactly what a hypnotherapist can do in order to help people overcome these issues.

Fear of germs

This is something that, unfortunately, people suffer with on a day-to-day basis. This was true even before we had heard of Covid-19, but has become much more prevalent after the events of 2020-onwards. This fear (mysophobia/germophobia) involves an over-response of anxiety relating to the potential for contamination or sickness. It can result in obsessive cleaning rituals, of both themselves and also the things around them, especially in the home. People with a fear of germs also become highly focused on what (or who) they are touching, and the need to clean their hands excessively.

There are various techniques that can be used to help alleviate a fear of germs, including phobia techniques, the control room of the mind technique, systematic hypnotic desensitisation and also a healthy dose of future pacing. Obviously we are unable to remove germs with hypnosis, but we are able to help clients to reduce their anxiety and any related ‘over-responses’.

Coping with wearing a mask

For many of us, mask-wearing was a completely new thing, and something that we never thought we would need to do in any situation, let alone whilst performing our day-to-day tasks. For many people the thought of wearing a mask for sometimes eight-hours or more in the work place, was a scary thing. In many cases, whether due to physical issues or psychological elements, mask-wearing causes some people to feel like they are unable to breathe properly (such as those with pre-existing conditions), or gave the feeling of being trapped (for those with claustrophobia, severe anxiety, and other issues).

Hypnosis has helped so many people to overcome these feelings, by using different coping techniques for example, behavioural techniques such as hypno-desensitisation, and other ego-supportive coping strategies that they’re able to apply in the hypnotherapy session and carry forward into their day-to-day lives.

Worry of being in public

Worry of being in public, also known as agoraphobia, can be absolutely crippling for those who suffer from it, let alone with the added pressure of the pandemic and other considerations. From simple tasks like doing the food shopping, to meeting friends in a pub or restaurant, this fear can completely isolate the sufferer, especially if it something they are not used to dealing with and has stemmed from the world’s recent events. However, there is help out there for those suffering in silence!

By using hypnotherapy the hypnotherapist can use various cognitive hypnotherapy approaches (including working with beliefs) and teaching the client self-hypnosis. Obviously, there are so many more techniques that can also be used to significantly help clients who are unable to face going out in public, whether they’re suffering mild through to severe symptoms.

Grief

During the last couple of years so many of us have lost loved ones and those close to us, both very unexpectedly in many cases, and also, for some, in a terribly isolated and unfair way. From having to let go of loved ones without any goodbyes or any contact whatsoever, to not being able to grieve and hold a funeral with everyone together to say their last farewell, these experiences are something that will stick with some people for the rest of their lives. As well as suffering with loss, the limitations throughout the Covid-19 pandemic have further caused feelings of anger, sadness, blame and depression.

Grief is something that hypnotherapy can help with, especially over a period of sessions. Though it is by no means a ‘quick fix’ when working with loss, by using techniques like ego strengthening and analytical, insight generation approaches like parts therapy.

Job loss

Whether you are self employed or work for a company, there have been so many companies that have ‘gone under’ during the pandemic, or have had to make significant cut backs. Some people have had their working hours restricted, whilst others have completely lost their livelihoods and everything they have worked so hard for over many years. This, in many cases, has left people ‘in limbo’, or needing financial help, and for many this is a completely new situation that they’d never expected to be in, and they have had to learn how to deal with it. However, some have not been able to deal with it, and the stress of losing jobs and stability, coupled with other factors, has led to many people suffering, and in too many cases, even taking their own lives.

In the hypnotherapy session, as well as offering important talking therapy approaches (such as counselling and CBT/REBT), and helping point your client in the right direction, in hypnosis we are able to make use of future pacing and many metaphorical approaches, such as the ‘garden technique’ and the popular ‘Performance Palace Protocol‘ to help people deal with the loss of their jobs, and enabling them to progress and move on to pastures new, even if only temporarily while they await for the perfect opportunity to present itself.

Relationship breakdowns

Stuck at home, whether in a house, a flat, a caravan or a mansion with the same person or people 24/7, day-in day-out, for a prolonged period of time can be enough to send anyone over the edge. This is true even of the most loving and caring families. With nothing new to necessarily talk about, tensions running high, and restrictions that would not allow us to even meet our friends and relatives outdoors for months, people were unable to take time for themselves. For many relationships, this had a huge negative impact, and many relationships (both long and strong, but also new and fragile) were broken down during the lockdown restrictions. Therefore, unfortunately, Covid has cost many people their relationships, homes and even children.

In the therapy room, techniques such as assertiveness training in hypnosis, anger management, and dealing with unhelpful ‘cognitive distortions‘ can allow the client to look at the big picture and others point of views, whilst developing flexibility and tolerance in order to preserve their most important relationships – and their own mental health at the same time!

General social anxiety & health anxiety

For the past two years, it has been a very unpredictable and scary world outside of our homes and in the media, so it is no wonder that thousands of people now suffer from social anxiety, and also health anxiety, and would much rather just stay at home in the safe environment that we have all tried to create for ourselves.

Anxiety can come in many forms and can affect people in so many different ways so no two people will be the same in their experience of it. The good news is that are so many fantastic hypnotherapy techniques that can be used, not just for social anxiety but all the other areas of a person’s life where anxiety has pervaded.

As well as many of the techniques we have already spoken about, and primarily focusing on cognitive approaches, regression therapy may be used in order to connect a client to the fact that they haven’t always responded in this way, and to help a client draw from their own vast storehouse of past resources.

Compulsive cleaning

Most people love a clean and tidy home, and to have that ‘fresh bedsheets feeling’ after a nice soak in the bath or a shower. But since Covid, for some, cleaning has become almost an addiction, if not a compulsion. Be it ‘anti-bac wiping’ door handles after every touch, or cleaning items bought from a shop before they are put away through fear of catching Covid. Some people’s new cleaning rituals are even more significant and disruptive. As well as cleaning items, many people are compulsively cleaning their hands, using antibacterial gels and sprays every time we touch something or simply feel that we’ve gone too long since we last ‘sanitised’. This has lead to many people having very sore, cracked, damaged and dry hands, which in turn can lead to other problems.

Cleaning and sanitising is something that can very easily become a habit, and then a compulsion, that is quite simply exhausting. It becomes almost like a ritual for some, and is something that we are seeing a lot more of in the hypnotherapy profession. Helping people to overcome this compulsive behaviour and re-learn behaviours that are more appropriate (and still safe) can be done in a variety of ways, from working with beliefs to mindfulness approaches and thought stopping techniques, as well as many others!

Low mood/depression

Finally, we all all aware that the NHS and mental health services in the UK are stretched beyond their capabilities, resulting in many people not getting the help that they need. During these very uncertain times, and times of extremely heightened stress, many have developed low moods and even severe depression, and in many cases this is something that people have not experienced before, and can be extremely scary. Therefore, many different therapy practices are seeing more enquires for help with depression and low mood.

Using hypnotherapy is a great way to change behaviours and thoughts, to gain insight into the cause of the low mood, as well as helping people engage with ego strengthening approaches and future pacing and mental rehearsal. A broad therapy approach often leads to the best results for clients, and this is especially true of working with clients who’re suffering with depression due to Covid and their current circumstances.

Hypnotherapy can help

We hope you’ve benefitted from this blog, and if you are a hypnotherapist (or hypnotherapy student), make sure you plan every therapy session appropriately, tailoring it to each individual client and focusing on their needs and challenges at the time. Remember also, the benefits of setting your client homework as this is such a valuable tool.

As a therapy client, make sure to search out a hypnotherapist that is well-trained and able to give you the best possible level of help, using a range of hypnotherapy approaches. Check out our blog on ‘how hypnotherapy works‘, and look for the ‘HypnoTC Professional Practitioner’ logo when choosing a well-trained hypnotherapist.

Learn hypnotherapy with HypnoTC

If you’d like to learn hypnotherapy, join us on our upcoming diploma course. For full details, click here:

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We hope you enjoyed this blog about hypnotherapy for post-Covid issues. If you have any questions about this topic or anything else for that matter, do please get in touch, because we’re always happy to help!

– written by the HypnoTC team

Hypnotherapy and secondary gains

As hypnotherapists, we help clients with a vast range of issues and goals. However, some client issues are not quite as straightforward as the ‘presenting problem’ might lead you to believe.

What is a secondary gain?

In psychological terms, the phrase ‘secondary gain’ refers to a benefit that the therapy client gets from maintaining their problem. This is different to the ‘primary gain’, which will usually be much more apparent and easy to recognise when you’re discussing the problem and the desired therapy outcome with the client.

Often, secondary gains are less easy to spot than primary gains, yet they are frequently more powerful motivators for someone to maintain their problem, and can cause issues with progression through the hypnotherapy process if they are not properly addressed.

An example of a secondary gain

As an example of the difference between a primary gain and a secondary gain, a hypnotherapy client who wants to lose weight may have both primary and secondary gains (or ‘benefits’) that cause them to maintain their weight. In this example, our weight management client, Roberta, has a common primary gain, in that she loves food and presents herself as an epicurean (a devotee of ‘sensual enjoyment’, especially relating to the enjoyment of food and drink).

However, that’s not the only motivator for her ongoing weight gain. Roberta also has a deeper need, a secondary gain, that is encouraging her to add to her excess weight. Up until recently, she was married to her ex-husband who she fell out of love with, and for the last few years she no longer felt physically attracted to him – in fact, she no longer liked him much at all due him progressively becoming more disrespectful and even brutish with her. The problem was, he didn’t feel the same way. So, as the relationship deteriorated for her, the husband still wanted to maintain their sexual relationship.

Roberta did not have the confidence or assertiveness to flatly refuse her husbands romantic advances, and the only thing that eventually stopped the romantic advances from happening, was when she gained some weight. He then no longer found her attractive. She didn’t initially gain weight on purpose with this result in mind, but when her husband decided that he no longer found her as attractive, and therefore stopped trying to initiate sex, this spurred her on to continue doing what she was doing, as she was ‘gaining’ from it, in more ways than one.

The problem arose later, when they got divorced. Roberta maintained a dislike of the idea of having another sexual partner, and so her secondary gain persisted in helping her gain weight so she could continue to avoid having a sexual relationship. In fact, it became even stronger, because now her being overweight also ‘protected her’ from getting into another toxic relationship where she might have gotten hurt again.

Identifying secondary gains

As a professional hypnotherapist, it is important to identify and recognise secondary gains early on in the therapy process. The reason for this is, if the hypnotherapist only helps the client to work on reducing the problem, or helps them move towards their therapy goal, the secondary gain is still there. If not addressed, it continues to influence the client’s behaviours and thoughts, whether consciously or subconsciously.

So, with the example of Roberta, if the hypnotherapist was not aware of the secondary gain, they may have worked with Roberta to reduce her portion sizes, to choose healthier foods, to exercise more, etc. However, these changes in behaviour would likely only last temporarily (if at all), because as soon as she began to lose weight, she would be concerned about her relationship anxieties, and would make an effort to go back to her old (weight gain) strategies.

On our hypnotherapy diploma course, we teach our students exactly how to identify secondary gains during the hypnotherapy session. In some cases they can be relatively easy to identify, in other cases, specific techniques can be used to draw the secondary gain out from the client.

Though the skill of recognising secondary gains is not necessarily taught on all hypnotherapy courses in the UK, we feel that it is an integral tool that all professional hypnotherapists should have at their disposal.

Learn More About the Diploma

Working with secondary gains

Once a secondary gain has been identified, you can then help the client to effectively move forwards in their therapy process. In many cases, the secondary gain can come as a bit of a surprise to the client.

Roberta may not have consciously realised that she was gaining weight to avoid sex. Sometimes, it can just happen that a certain behavioural or cognitive ‘habit‘ can have additional benefits.

Other times, the client may be aware of the secondary benefit, but it can be embarrassing or more personal than they’d originally intended on sharing during the therapy session.

However, you can work both in hypnosis and conversationally, taking behavioural, cognitive, analytical and even regression therapy approaches in order to help the client find a new way to fulfil the positive benefit that their secondary gain gives them, but without keeping hold of the problem itself.

We hope you enjoyed this blog about secondary gains and hypnotherapy. If you have any questions about this topic or anything else for that matter, do please get in touch, because we’re always happy to help!

– written by the HypnoTC team

This blog explore hypnotherapy and neuroplasticity. If you would like to become a hypnotherapist, or perhaps refresh or upskill your existing qualifications, you can find out more about training with HypnoTC and our hypnotherapy diploma course; the ideal training for you to become a professional hypnotherapist.

Find out more about our Hypnotherapy Diploma course

Thoughts and neuroplasticity

Is it bad to be a ‘glass half-empty’ person instead of a ‘glass half-full’ person? Well, it may be worth seeking a more balanced mindset, as those with more positive thoughts tend to have better mental and physical health. As you will discover in this blog, whether you think negatively or positively influences which synapses and neurons your brain will create to support either your positive or negative mindset.

Can how you think change your brain? Absolutely. Throughout life you are learning, discovering, practicing and having a whole vast range of experiences. For each new experience, your brain learns. This is a good thing. Imagine how time-consuming it would be to have to re-learn how to tie your shoes or brush your teeth every morning. If you add in re-learning getting dressed, cooking and eating breakfast and a quick tidy up at home, you might never get to work on time. In the same way, as an adult you no longer do some of the things you used to do (although perhaps crawling might still come in handy after a particularly enthusiastic night out with the boys/girls).

Throughout your development, from birth through to death, you are changing and shaping your brain. ‘Neuroplasticity’ refers to the brain’s ability to learn and adjust throughout life. It does this by making new neural connections. This enables the brain to adjust to a multitude of new circumstances, such as developing a new skill (e.g., learning to drive a car, or ride a horse). It also includes an ability to adapt after damage, illness or injury.

Furthermore, where someone experiences an impairment in one hemisphere, such as a brain injury following an accident, the brain is able compensate and increase activity in undamaged regions, whether in the same hemisphere or the undamaged one.

How effectively you are able to learn, adapt and change can be influenced by both genetics (‘nature’) as well as environmental effects (nurture’), such as your exposure to learning and change during childhood.

The science of neuroplasticity and hypnotherapy

So, a little bit of science before we consider how our thoughts can impact on our brain. The brain has two hemispheres (‘left’ and ‘right’) and both sends and receives information. Every time you learn something, your brain responds with nerve impulses within neural networks. Neural circuits have neurons, which are nerve cells that process/store information, that communicate with each other via synapses (electrical or chemical).

Neurotransmitters can be thought of as the communication vehicle which carry the nerve impulse from one neuron to the next neuron via the synapse. These neurotransmitters can either be ‘inhibitory’ which are designed to stop ongoing nerve impulse transmission (i.e., ‘stop’), or ‘excitatory’ which aids transmission of the nerve impulse (i.e., ‘go’). Neural pathways are formed whenever you learn something new. These pathways connect new information to existing knowledge. Each thought you have releases chemicals, based on the type of thought it was, whether negative or positive.

From a hypnotherapy perspective, how relevant is this? Well, the fact that the brain can change is of immense importance. Regardless of what age someone is, and how long they have been doing something, the brain can change. That client who has smoked 40 cigarettes a day for 20 years, can become a non-smoker. The client who has been scared of eating in public can learn to do so comfortably. Fundamentally, clients can change! However, how someone thinks can have a significant impact on how their brain functions. This can make it easier or more difficult to change.

Neuroplasticity and negative thinking

Negative thinking, such as when stressed, anxious or angry, can actually stop the brain performing as effectively as you might like, with impact on areas such as the cerebellum, left temporal lobe and prefrontal cortex. What does this mean in terms of function? If you are thinking negatively, it can reduce your ability to think and process thoughts, reason and find solutions. It can impair your creative ability and have an impact on your memory, mood and even your impulse control.

Have you ever noticed that it is easier to make healthier food choices when you are feeling positive and yet when you are feeling grumpy, sad, or angry, that cheap and nasty cake might suddenly seem more appealing? Interestingly, brain imaging studies found that negative thoughts can affect the cerebellum, so having an impact on areas such as the individual’s speed of thought, their relationship with others and their balance and co-ordination. Habitual negative thinking over a period of time, can even impact on how you form memories.

Ultimately, as a hypnotherapist you may work on many different aspects of the client’s mindset to move them towards a more positive perspective. For example:

• Using ego strengthening to support their self-esteem and belief that they can change.
• Applying behavioural techniques to decondition negative thinking habits and generate more positive automatic responses.
• Working from a cognitive perspective to address limiting, irrational, inflexible, rigid or distorted beliefs.
• Engaging the client in analytical work to gain insight into their mindset. Its purpose (and positive intent) and how new ways of responding could be accepted.
• Using Regression to explore and address past events that are unresolved and still impacting on the day-to-day functioning of the client.

Is it necessary to do this type of work as well as address whatever the presenting issue is? For many clients, the answer would be yes, if you wish to achieve lasting change. By helping a client think more positively, it can help to rebalance their Locus of Control, develop greater emotional intelligence and help them to better engage in their own self-care.

Neuroplasticity and positive thinking

With positive thinking and associated good, optimistic or happy emotions, a feeling of well-being is created as cortisol levels decrease and the brain produces serotonin. This can be considered to be a very significant neurotransmitter, as not only does it influence emotions and mood, it also affects body functioning, such as appetite and digestion, as well as working with melatonin to regulate your body clock and your sleep-wake cycle. You may notice that you feel more able to be attentive, focus, analyse information and make informed decisions when you are feeling positive. Your increased mental productivity isn’t just related to cognitive processes though, your ability to be creative is enhanced as well.

Ultimately, having a positive mindset brings the mind away from flight-fight, taking the focus away from threat and towards higher order thinking. The prefrontal cortex can then become more active, helping with decision-making and emotional control.

Changing your mind and creating new neural-pathways

Rapid change of mindset is possible! It starts with actually paying attention to any negative thoughts, rather than attempting to ignore them. Then, whenever you are aware of a negative thought, immediately replace that negative thought with a positive thought instead. However, rather than immediately moving your thoughts away after doing so, keep focused on that positive thought for longer, perhaps a minute or more.

If your thoughts attempt to go back towards the negative, then refocus on the positive again immediately. By holding on to the positive thought instead of the negative one there are several theories that come into effect. Firstly, from a hypnosis perspective, there is the Law of Dominant Effect, whereby a stronger emotion outweighs a weaker one. From a neuroscience and quantum physics perspective comes the term ‘attention density’, referring to how much attention we pay. The concept being that if you focus long enough, often enough, and strongly enough, you can change your neural pathways.

Beyond focusing on isolated negative thoughts, you can also work on negative thinking patterns. A case study example is that of Jessica. She sought help from a hypnotherapist because her boyfriend had told her that she was turning into a ‘moaner’ and that it was making him feel bad just by listening to her constant complaining. It would seem that when they first met, she was far more positive, but later she had a bad bout of flu.

She was rarely ever ill and all she seemed to be able to notice was how bad she felt. After the flu, she got into a habit of noticing the negatives, then talking about them and then ended up noticing almost everything from a negative perspective.

Her hypnotherapist helped her understand about how the brain can change, and took an integrative approach, including working on changing her habits and thought processes, as well as dealing with a number of cognitive distortions. Interestingly, within the analytical work, there was insight that some of her negative perspective related to her dislike of being disappointed, so she had got out of the habit of looking for the positives.

Within the therapy process, Jessica was also given a challenge (‘homework’ / ‘developmental task’). She was to focus, for one entire week, on keeping her language positive. However, if she moaned even once, the week counter would re-set. It took her just over five weeks to achieve her consecutive seven days. At her next therapy session, she talked about how much impact it had had on her social and work life. Not only had her relationship with her boyfriend improved immensely, but so had her interactions at work.

Whether positive or negative, your mood and mindset can be contagious! It is thought that some neurons fire when they observe an action performed by others. This has been observed not just in humans but also in primates and birds. When Jessica was in her moaning mindset, it would bring down the mood of those around her. When she changed her approach to being more positive, she noticed people responding to her more positively. Interestingly, this started a positive loop where it became easier for her to remain positive.

Helping clients achieve a more positive mindset can have far-reaching benefits. Not only can it help the client achieve positive results for their presenting issues and goals, it can help boost their resilience, and ultimately, improve their overall quality of life.

If you’d like to become a hypnotherapist, join us at HypnoTC on an upcoming free taster day, to learn exactly what it’s like to help people with hypnotherapy:

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We hope you enjoyed this blog on altering neuroplasticity with thoughts. If you have any questions about this topic or anything else for that matter, do please get in touch, because we’re always happy to help!

Our hypnotherapy course

If you would like to help others make positive enhancements to their lives and become a professional hypnotherapist,  we recommend you check our awesome Professional Hypnotherapy Diploma course.

Finally, if you would like to find out more about the awesome Professional Hypnotherapy Diploma that HypnoTC , do please visit our Diploma page and have a browse through the information about our world-class, award-winning training.

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– written by Dr Kate Beaven-Marks
(HypnoTC Director)

What is regression hypnotherapy?

Regression hypnotherapy, sometimes known as ‘age regression’ or ‘regression to cause’ (R2C), involves taking a client, in their imagination, back to past memories of events, with the intention to modify or use the clients response to the memory in order to affect a change in their current situation.

Regression is a therapy modality that is most commonly associated with hypnotherapy, rather than other talking therapies. As well as developing analytical therapy, Sigmund Freud was recorded as having been key in the development of regression therapy in psychiatry, as well as its use within hypnosis.

However, Freud openly admitted that he was not a good hypnotist, and as such, often reverted to using regression as a non-hypnotic talking therapy approach. Though regression can be used with a therapy client out of hypnosis, in hypnosis the regressive state is often more easily connected to by the client, as well as being more easily recalled, more vividly experienced, and more likely to be a genuine memory (i.e. a memory that is not modified by conscious ‘filtering’).

Clients experiencing a regression in hypnosis are much more likely to ‘revivify’ and experience the memory as if it were actually happening, rather than just experiencing it as ‘recalling a memory’. From an experiential perspective, a true revivification during a regression is more like being in a dream – the client is there in it, and it’s happening in real time, without them necessarily realising it is a dream. Whereas, a standard regression is more like daydreaming – the client can experience it as if it is happening, but whilst remaining aware of their actual surroundings, and the fact that what they’re imagining is just that, their imagination.

Whether a client regresses or revivifies, the client benefits from being in hypnosis during this process, because as well as the benefits listed above, the client is also able to ‘lock in’ any changes made throughout the regression on a subconscious level.

Regression hypnotherapy techniques

There are a number of ways to use regression in order to create therapeutic change. However, first, the hypnotherapist has to regress the client. There are a couple of different ways to do this. Regression approaches can be broken down into three different categories, specific age regression, free-floating regression, and the ‘affect bridge’ or ‘somatic bridge’. With specific age and free-floating regression, the hypnotherapist will either use direct suggestions or metaphorical constructs (such as a ‘time machine’) in order to regress the client into their past.

The ‘bridge’ type regressions are slightly different, and rely on using direct suggestion to generate an emotion or symptom in the client, then having the client go back to the first time they ever experienced said emotion/symptom in relation to their issue.

Once the client is in a regressed state, the hypnotherapist is then able to conduct therapy on or within the memory. However, sometimes simply re-experiencing a memory can be enough to generate insight for the client, or for them to be able to experience a cathartic release of emotion. When we talk of a release of emotion, this does not mean that all clients experiencing regressions will experience negative emotions and have emotional outbursts, in fact it’s something that the well-trained hypnotherapist will aim to avoid if at all possible (more on that shortly).

Sometimes though, to overcome a problem, the release of a long-repressed or ‘squashed’ emotion is exactly what a client needs, and in these cases, a regression can be the perfect tool for the job.

As well as simply experiencing the regressed memory, sometimes the hypnotherapist will need to employ other methods during a regression hypnotherapy session. Dissociation is an approach that is commonly used within regression to allow clients to distance themselves from potentially disturbing memories, or to see them from a different perspective. Again, this can be achieved with direct suggestions, asking a client to step out of the memory, and watch from a third person perspective, or by use of metaphor, such as watching the memory playing on a TV screen.

Sub-modality changes can also be applied during a regression in order to change the way a client responds to it. The regressed memory can be altered by the hypnotherapist in various different ways, changing how the memory is seen, heard, felt, and generally interacted with by making changes to the sensory experience of the memory.

Inner-child therapy approaches are often used alongside regression hypnotherapy, especially in cases where a client has issues with ‘acting out’ type behaviours. Using regression to help a client to develop a healthier ‘inner child’ is a very powerful approach when used at the appropriate time during the hypnotherapy process.

What regression therapy can help with

Regression hypnotherapy is often the last approach used by the professional hypnotherapist, and can be applied with any client where there may be a past event contributing to the clients current problem. Regression is best left until after behavioural, cognitive and analytical approaches have already been used, and if the problem is still not resolved. The only time a hypnotherapist may use regression as a standalone approach is with fears and phobias, as these often originate in childhood and solely relate to events that may not be consciously remembered.

That said, regression therapy can be very helpful at helping address a range of issues, such as:

• Addictions
• Allergies
• Anger management
• Anxiety
• Assertiveness
• Asthma
• Bed-wetting
• Bereavement and loss
• Blushing
• Bruxism
• Childhood anxiety disorders
• Conception
• Confidence
• Dental hypnosis
• Depression
• Eating disorders
• Headaches and migraines
• IBS
• Insomnia
• Memory enhancement
• Nail biting
• OCD
• Pain management
• Panic attacks/disorder
• Paranoia
• Performance anxiety
• Phobias and fears
• Pregnancy
• Psychogenic infertility
• Psychosexual disorders
• PTSD
• Skin conditions
• Sleep disorders
• Smoking cessation
• Snoring
• Speech impediments
• Sport hypnosis
• Stress management
• Terminal illness
• Tinnitus
• Trauma
• Weight management

Potential limitations of regression hypnotherapy

As mentioned above, regression is a powerful tool for generating change within the hypnotherapy session. However, if a therapist opts to use regression as a first approach, instead of using less intrusive behavioural and cognitive approaches, this can cause disturbance for the client. Use of regression, especially when relating to problem memories that may be unpleasant, disturbing or even traumatic, is something that needs adequate client preparation.

Just ‘dumping’ a client into a past negative memory without doing any resource-building work with the client beforehand is a recipe for disaster (and for intense abreactions). As mentioned previously, sometimes an emotional release can be cathartic for the client. However, that is not always the case. Sometimes it is just unnecessarily traumatic.

Unfortunately, there are some less well-trained hypnotherapists out there that are taught that a client must have an emotional reaction to a regression in order to ‘prove’ the therapy is working. In reality though, a client can experience a regressed memory from a completely safe and ‘dissociated’ perspective, and gain the same insight and positive changes that they would if they were experiencing it first-hand.

The key here is getting good hypnotherapy training, and for the hypnotherapist to be able to recognise what type of regression approaches (and therapy techniques used within the regression) are appropriate for each individual client.

Another area of concern with regression is the potential for ‘false memories’ and memory corruption, as well as the issues presented by clients who actively request a regression in order to ‘find a memory’ of something negative that they believe happened to them in the past. As we know, memory is not always an accurate representation of past events, and should never be treated as such.

Regression in the hypnotherapy session should be used only when the hypnotherapist feels it is appropriate to do so, and not when a client requests it. Certainly regression should not be used to go looking back into the past to try and find negative or potentially traumatic memories, without doing any other therapeutic work with the client beforehand or to support the process. False memories are a naturally occurring phenomenon, and can also be caused by a poorly performed regression, or use of regression with a client who is actively seeking to find a past negative memory (for whatever reason).

In order to avoid corruption of memories, a regression therapist must be skilled in the application of ‘clean language’ and ‘clean questioning’. Regression isn’t something that can be done using a ‘hypnosis script’. As such, those hypnotherapists who are reliant on scripts are often not well-equipped to deal with a regression, because a regressed client will not be able to stick to a script, and their regressed experience may be something that needs active, bespoke direction and management from the hypnotherapist.

Note: My intention with this section is not to scare any prospective regression hypnotherapists away from using regression, but only to ensure that you learn to use regression appropriately, and with the respect and skill that it requires, in order to ensure your clients have the best possible regression experience and outcomes.

One final limitation of regression that you may not necessarily think of, is the fact that many people only learn to use regression to work on problems. However, regression, when performed properly, can work just as well when taking clients back to positive memories too! This has a range of applications, such as for resource building, as well as being used to connect people with positive past memories where this may benefit them – such as helping a bereavement client connect to positive times they have had with the person/thing that they have lost.

How to best learn regression hypnotherapy

To learn how to safely, effectively and appropriately use regression within your hypnotherapy practice, you must also learn how to apply behavioural, cognitive and analytical approaches too, getting a broad understanding of the 4 key hypnotherapy approaches. All of this information, including a full weekend of regression training, is included on our hypnotherapy diploma course. For full information about the course, including the full syllabus and our upcoming course dates, click here:

Learn Regression Hypnotherapy

Otherwise, if you can’t make it to London, we cover regression hypnotherapy on our Live-Online Hypnotherapy Course too! We hope you enjoyed this blog about regression hypnotherapy. If you have any questions about this topic or anything else for that matter, do please get in touch, because we’re always happy to help!

– written by the HypnoTC team