Stress & Anxiety
Anxiety is a feeling of unease, tension, worry often alongside physical changes like increased blood pressure and heart rate. People with anxiety usually have recurring intrusive thoughts or concerns. It can be mild or severe and can have a significant impact on your life.
Everyone has feelings of anxiety at some point. For example, you may feel worried and anxious about sitting an exam or having a medical test or job interview. Usually, this is perfectly manageable and can actually be helpful. If these feelings are becoming overwhelming and having a negative impact on your life, it may be time to do something about it.
Anxiety can be influenced by many factors, including experiences, circumstances, health, biology and patterns of thinking.
Hypnotherapy can help. Working together we can help you to overcome anxiety and stress and to be more positive. Hypnotherapy may help you change unhelpful thought patterns, practise relaxation and develop different responses to situations that trigger stress or anxiety.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
IBS is a common condition that affects the digestive system. It causes symptoms like stomach cramps, bloating, diarrhoea and constipation. These tend to come and go over time. They can last for days, weeks, or months at a time. It's usually a lifelong condition. The condition can have a significant impact on your life causing stress and anxiety, which can often make the symptoms worse. But there are ways to help.
Hypnotherapy can help. NICE includes hypnotherapy among the psychological interventions that may be considered for people with persistent IBS symptoms that have not responded to initial treatment. More information on IBS.
Better Sleep
We all need quality sleep to function at our best when we are awake. It is vital for both our physical and mental health. Not getting enough sleep will obviously make you feel tired, it can also lead to physical illness and increase your risk of heart disease. Lack of sleep can also lead to anxiety and make it hard for you to concentrate. This can impact your work, relationships, and life in general. It is important that you speak to your doctor first to ensure that you have no physical reasons for your insomnia.
Hypnotherapy can help. Working together we can look at potential causes and provide tools, techniques, and treatments to improve the quality of your sleep. Find out more about better sleep.
Pain Management
Pain impacts all aspects of your life; work, relationships, daily activities. And the more severe the pain, the harder it becomes on your well-being.
Hypnotherapy can help. Hypnotherapy may help change how you respond to pain, reduce associated stress and develop ways of feeling more comfortable and in control. Hypnotherapy for pain management can be used either alone, or alongside medication or other treatments. It is important that you seek a diagnosis from your doctor initially to rule out other serious causes of pain.
Stopping Smoking
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Smoking remains one of the leading preventable causes of illness and premature death in the UK. Smoking not only harms the smoker but also the people around them. The list of illnesses and diseases that smoking causes includes infertility, gum disease, heart disease, emphysema, lung cancer, and other cancers.
Many people have transitioned from smoking to vaping and are now struggling to give that habit up. Others may have started vaping and would like to stop. Again hypnotherapy can help!
Hypnotherapy can help. Working together we help you to stop smoking (or vaping) by helping you to understand how the mind works in relation to smoking and by helping you to use your mind in a different way in relation to what you want to change. More information on stopping smoking.
Depression & Low Mood
Depression is a common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act.
Depression causes you to feel low for a prolonged period of time. This can make it extremely difficult for you to carry out your day-to-day life. It can impact work, relationships, your family. Often people stop taking joy from things they used to enjoy. Symptoms are unique to each person but may include low energy, insomnia, irritability.
Hypnotherapy can help. Hypnotherapy may offer additional support with some of the thoughts, habits and emotional responses associated with low mood.
Sessions may include relaxation, guided imagery and carefully chosen suggestions intended to support more helpful patterns of thinking.
Hypnotherapy does not replace appropriate medical or psychological care for depression. Please speak to your GP or another qualified healthcare professional if you are concerned about your mental health.
Panic Attacks
Panic attacks are frightening and distressing. They can include hot flushes, palpitations, dizziness or faintness, shaking, shortness of breath, churning stomach, chest pains, ringing in the ears are all symptoms of panic attacks. You dread them happening and then avoid situations that you believe another one might occur.
Hypnotherapy can help. Working together we can manage panic by reducing stress and anxiety and calming down the responses to triggers that have led to panic attacks.
Hypnotherapy can provide practical ways to relax and respond differently to some of the thoughts and sensations associated with panic. Some people find hypnotherapy helpful for building confidence in their ability to cope with anxious feelings and challenging situations.
Fears & Phobias
A phobia is an irrational and often intense fear of something that, in reality, poses little to no actual danger.
Common phobias and fears include a fear of heights, flying, spiders, snakes, dogs, and needles. The fear of driving is something that has impacted many people recently. There are many, many more.
The physical response is known as a stress response. This can lead to reactions such as being ‘paralysed with fear’ or ‘wanting to run away’ or ‘scream’. Most phobias are from learned behaviour as a child, sometimes from a parent, or through a traumatic experience such as being bitten by a dog.
Hypnotherapy can help. Working together we change your mindset and your negative association with your particular fear and creating a new, positive mindset. Some phobias respond relatively quickly to focused therapeutic work, although the experience and number of sessions required vary.
Confidence & Self Esteem
I believe confidence is key to achieving any goal. Confidence in yourself and in your ability to succeed. We all need confidence so we can face the many challenges in life and to actively embrace opportunities that come our way.
Lack of confidence may be something that has impacted you throughout your life, or it may be something that has occurred more recently. It can stem from one particular thing, or our confidence can be chipped away over time.
Hypnotherapy can help. Working together, we can challenge unhelpful thought patterns and strengthen feelings of confidence and self-belief.
Weight Loss
Some people struggle to lose weight. Some people can lose weight easily but then struggle to maintain weight loss. It is vital to look at the underlying cause of weight issues to ensure a sustainable healthy lifestyle.
Hypnotherapy can help. Hypnotherapy may help you understand habits and emotional triggers connected with eating, while supporting a more balanced relationship with food, activity and your body.
Imposter Syndrome
You may believe that you are not as competent as others perceive you to be. You may have feelings of being a fraud, and that you will get 'found out'. While this definition is usually focused on the workplace, it also applies to perfectionism and social situations.
Hypnotherapy can help. Working together we can boost confidence and self-esteem whilst tackling negative thoughts and feelings.
Sex Performance
Performance anxiety typically results from a person's negative thoughts about their ability to perform well during sexual activity. It is an important part of life, though many people are embarrassed to talk about sex issues.
A person may be worrying about sexual inadequacy or the inability to please a partner. This can have a significant impact on your relationship and your confidence more generally.
Hypnotherapy can help. Working together we can help boost your confidence and tackle the anxieties you have. This may help reduce anxiety and support greater confidence around sex and intimacy.
Motivation & Performance
It could be your performance at work, or a sport or hobby. You may want to improve your literal or figurative game. You may want to run faster, present more confidently, overcome stage fright.
Many leading figures in sport, business, and entertainment understand the importance of having the right mindset.
Hypnotherapy for running, golf, football, snooker, darts... basically any sport at all! Or in the business world, getting that promotion or improving your management style.
Hypnotherapy can help. Working together we can tackle negative thoughts that may be impeding your performance, ensuring you can reach your full potential.
Tinnitus
Tinnitus is when you experience ringing or other noises in one or both of your ears. The noise you hear when you have tinnitus isn't caused by an external sound, and other people usually can't hear it.
Tinnitus is a common problem and many people find it difficult to deal with. It affects about 15% to 20% of people, and is especially common in older adults.
Hypnotherapy can help. Working together we can make the condition much more manageable and help to reduce the negative impact on your life.
Your thoughts, feelings and behaviours are unique to you!
These are just some of the ways hypnotherapy can help.
Get in touch to find out how hypnotherapy can help you.
Hypnotherapy online or in-person in Dumfries and Galloway - at The Crichton in Dumfries.