Pain Management
Both Chronic and Acute Pain can be managed through the power of the subconscious mind. Your mind can be it’s own anesthetic, and it can manage your pain perceptions and reactions for long-term resolution of pain.
Studies show that more than 74% of people with arthritis and related diseases experience significant pain relief using hypnosis (Arthritis Foundation). According to another study, “The patient group receiving hypnosis as an adjuvant therapy showed a statistically significant decrease in pain and anxiety and a significantly lower risk of increasing pharmacological pain treatment in a long term follow-up after 1 and 2 years compared to the control group.” (Annals of Palliative Medicine) So hypnotherapy treatment for pain can lower your need for pain medication!
Using a variety of techniques and teachings, we relieve the body’s reactions to the mind/body connection of pains, syndromes, and disorders. By assessing and addressing physiological, psychological, and emotional causes, we determine the most effective hypnotherapeutic treatments and techniques for each unique individual.
Pain from Fibromyalgia, Burns, Injuries, Childbirth, IBS, TMJ, Cramps, Dentistry, Headaches, Nausea, Menstrual Cramps, Menopause Symptoms and Hot Flashes, Pre-surgical Preparation, Chemotherapy and Cancer Treatments, Illnesses, Auto-Immune Disorders, and more can be treated, managed, and/or resolved. (see https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/hypnosis/about/pac-20394405)
Habit Control
So many of our habits have been learned and reinforced from a very early age., and some are habits we adopt through our life experience. While many habits serve a useful and positive purpose, we get caught in also sticking with habits that may have negative consequences. The formation of these habits begins as our minds take comfort in those things it knows, and even if those habits aren’t beneficial, it’s far easier for the mind to stick with what’s familiar to it. Our goal is to reorganize the subconscious mind’s perception of what is actually positive or negative.
In our sessions we determine what causes those habits and what fulfillment those habits are delivering, and change the subconscious perception of those habits, replacing them with new habits with positive outcomes.
In hypnosis, we directly address the subconscious mind with a variety of tools and techniques.
Habit reformation is a process. It requires strategy, practice, commitment, and action. One has to want to change this habit, and be willing to do the work involved to achieve the desired goal.
Some habits that can be changed through hypnotherapy are:
- Smoking
- Overeating
- Under-eating
- Weight Control
- Sleep Problems
- Self Image
- Anxiety
- Obsessive Behavior
- Addiction
- Aggression
- Hair Twisting
- Nail Biting
- Hair Pulling
- Obsessions
- Self-Defeating Behaviors
- Hoarding
- Device Addiction
- Substance Abuse
- Study Habits
- Thumb Sucking
- Compulsions
- And More…
Manage Your “Self”
Hypnosis is a powerful therapeutic tool in the management of our behaviors, emotions, and attitudes. The power of the mind can cleanse unwanted feelings, and reinforce positive feelings and reactions. Taking control of our emotional responses is a central tenet in creating and building positive relationships, physical health, a healthy immune system, and our overall happiness and sense of joy and fulfillment in our lives.
Emotions drive us to take action. They are our impetus for making choices and changes, and building happiness. But many people don’t realize that our emotions hit us before we ever actually perceive thought – before we exert conscious control. In fact, our most fundamental in-born emotional reactions are something many of us know as “fight or flight” – our primal instincts that allowed our species to survive.
As we develop a more refined emotional vocabulary, we also subconsciously set up filters in our minds. These filters can tell us when something is helpful or when it’s not. However, our minds often want to take the “path of least resistance” – make the easy choices, so these filters may ultimately create inner conflict.
By adjusting emotions and attitudes, your reactions, we create a cycle of happiness. Using your subconscious mind, your inner strength, we remove negative feelings and associations. We can re-associate your subconscious “positives” and “negatives”, allowing your mind to find the positive choice and reaction as the new “path of least resistance”.
Through hypnotherapy, you can learn Self-Love.
Some things that hypnosis can help you manage are:
Fears, Anxiety, Phobias
Hypnotherapy can be an effective tool for addressing fears, anxieties, and phobias by accessing the subconscious mind, where many of these issues are rooted.
All of these issues are often resulting from the same “root” reaction – fight or flight. While “Fear” is a rational reaction to a potentially dangerous event or object”, Phobias are considered “IRRATIONAL fears, triggered by either specific or general events or items.” (https://www.gadsdenregional.com/health-library/14#:~:text=The%20American%20Psychological%20Association%20defines,or%20general%20events%20or%20items.). Both fear and phobia are about a person’s perception. It is the additional anxiety about something, that brings about the “irrational” reaction, which makes the word “rational” here very subjective.
Anxiety falls into this section, because it affects fear and phobia – but it also stands alone, as it’s own issue.
Anxiety “is an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts, and physical changes like increased blood pressure.” (https://www.apa.org/topics/anxiety) It’s a response to someone thinking in terms of the future, and not attending to the “present”, and it’s often not accompanied by a specific perceived threat, but often more generalized and diffuse. Therefore, its effects may remain with a person for a very long time, without intervention.
One of the most positive effects of treating these issues with hypnotherapy, is that often, relief can be achieved without any medication!
Most references will tell you that hypnotherapy is most effective in combination with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), in which I am Certified.
One of the most positive effects of treating these issues with hypnotherapy, is that often, relief can be achieved without any medication!
Here’s how it helps:
- Rewiring Negative Thought Patterns
Hypnosis helps relax the conscious mind, allowing access to the subconscious.
A trained hypnotherapist can guide an individual to identify and reframe the negative beliefs or thought patterns causing the fear or anxiety. The immediate and underlying stressors can be defused, giving the person control over their feelings, and reframing the triggers that produce their reactions.
For example, a person afraid of flying might associate flying with danger. Hypnotherapy can help replace this belief with a sense of safety and calm. - Reducing Physical and Emotional Responses
Hypnosis induces a deep state of relaxation, which can lower stress levels and reduce the physical symptoms of anxiety, like rapid heart rate and shallow breathing. Practicing the feeling of these responses, allows a client to generate the equivalent of “muscle memory”, so that they can achieve that deeps sense of calm, whenever they need it, to gain control over their emotional and physical responses to triggers. - Desensitization Through Visualization
Hypnotherapy often involves guided imagery, where individuals imagine themselves in situations they fear but in a calm and safe manner. Using this method allows them to envision the power they have over the trigger, and its resulting emotion, thereby alleviating the power that trigger has held over them.
This desensitizes them to the triggers over time, helping them face their fears more confidently in real life. - Building Self-Empowerment
Hypnotherapy strengthens coping mechanisms and fosters a sense of control over thoughts and reactions. This creates a sense of self-management. Learning tools and methods to calm their reactions, whenever such feelings may arise.
Affirmations and positive suggestions made in the subconscious during hypnosis, can boost self-esteem and resilience. - Accessing Root Causes
Fears and phobias often stem from past traumas or unresolved issues. Within the safety of the session, hypnosis helps individuals explore and address these root causes without reliving them in a distressing way, facilitating healing. - Creating Behavioral Change
By reprogramming subconscious habits, perceptions and reactions, hypnotherapy can replace avoidance behaviors (e.g., avoiding heights due to a phobia) with healthier responses. -
References:
Does hypnosis work for anxiety, depression, and fear? (https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/hypnosis-for-anxiety)
Brain Activity and Functional Connectivity Associated With Hypnosis (https://academic.oup.com/cercor/article/27/8/4083/3056452?login=true)
Using Hypnotherapy to Treat Phobias (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/women-with-autism-spectrum-disorder/202205/using-hypnotherapy-to-treat-phobias
How Can Hypnotherapy Help My Child Overcome a Phobia (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/women-autism-spectrum-disorder/202003/how-can-hypnotherapy-help-my-child-overcome-phobia)
Efficacy of Hypnosis on Dental Anxiety and Phobia: A Systematicic Review and Meta-Analysis (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9138388/)
Hypnotherapy: A Case of Anxiety Peson Who Doesn’t Want to Use Medication (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6876801/)