RECENT BLOG POSTS
Hypnotherapy with Children
Most hypnotherapists work with adult patients and rarely have the opportunity to use hypnotherapy with children. Children however, make excellent hypnotic subjects and past research indicates that they are easier to hypnotise than adults. Children have very active imaginations and are able to fantasise easily so can visualise effectively. Likewise therapeutic metaphors can be very effective with children because of children’s familiarity with storytelling. Where can hypnosis help children? Research a few years ago at the child and adolescent psychiatry department of Rikshospitalet University Hospital in Oslo Norway indicated that hypnotherapy could be useful for a wide range of disorders and problems with children. They found that hypnotherapy was particularly valuable in the treatment of anxiety disorders and trauma related conditions. The research advocates the study and application of hypnotherapy in clinical practice and suggests that it could be applied as an adjunct to cognitive behavioural treatment and family therapy. What do you need to consider when working with children? When working with children one always has to consider the influence of the parents or guardians. Sometimes childhood problems are the result of issues between family members. So every childhood problem should not be viewed in isolation but as a
New hypnotherapy service offered to mums-to-be
New MOTHERS-TO-BE are being offered the chance to learn self-hypnosis techniques to help them through labour. The natal hypnotherapy workshops run by South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in the UK focus on relaxation techniques to help women feel calm, in control and fully prepared for the birth of their child. Those opting to take part will be taught about natural ways to reduce pain during childbirth, self-hypnosis skills to overcome any fears or anxieties and effective breathing and relaxation techniques. It’s about time all hospital and anti natal clinics realised that hypnotherapy can be of significant benefit in childbirth, not just for pain control but for coping with anxiety and also for recovery. I am delighted when I hear great news like this but wish that the medical profession would move a little faster in its acceptance and application of hypnosis in such an important area. Stephen Brooks via New hypnotherapy service offered to mums-to-be (From The Northern Echo).
How should CBT be integrated with hypnotherapy?
I want to comment on a post I made recently about the effectiveness of using CBT with hypnosis. In that post it mentions how research has confirmed that CBT and hypnosis, when used together, are more effective than either approach applied separately when treating women with breast cancer. Something we must consider when we think about integrating therapy techniques, is the degree to which one technique influences the other. For example hypnosis itself is not a therapy. Hypnosis when combined with psychotherapy becomes hypnotherapy, in other words it is psychotherapy utilising the hypnotic state, but hypnosis on its own is not a psychotherapy, it is only a means to an end. So in the research, what did hypnotherapy, or hypnosis actually contribute to the effectiveness of CBT? Likewise CBT is a therapy, but it lacks the power of hypnosis to get patients to instantly change beliefs, perception and behaviour or to commit to the procedures and outcomes of therapy. In the previous post the conclusions were that CBT helped patients reduce their worries and anxieties while the hypnotherapy helped patients feel more relaxed and optimistic. I believe that in this research, hypnotherapy was not being used as psychotherapy, or even