Things people typically consider a hypnotherapist for are anxiety, addictions and weight loss.
I never think it’s a good idea though for hypnotherapist websites to use bullet-pointed lists – while it might reassure potential customers that their issue is included, my experience is that issues are often far more unique once you start exploring. The risk of feeling excluded is probably greater.
Even something like weight-loss, despite being more common, should never be reduced the idea of “yeah don’t worry – I have a script for that!” because causes and dynamics are always far more complex. It’s a disservice to genuine growth and self-awareness to assume such things are ever simple (especially if a hypnotherapist promises to “cure” you in a single session).
Here’s a real life example.
I had a client many years back come in for weight loss.
The typical explorations – what was hoping to be achieved? What had already been tried? How is the problem perpetuating, what unwanted actions or responses are involved? I noted that the weight gain had occured around the time of a work promotion.
Initially, it seemed simple – some firm, deeper goal-setting, unravelling the automatic response to the idea of food being hidden away in various places of the kitchen.
But it quickly become more interesting.
A hypnotic visualisation allowed a hooded figure to also spontaneously emerge in an imagined scene, bringing anxiety.
Once the client was ready to see who this person was, it was revealed to be her boss at work.
Further exploration revealed he’d been flirting with her a little, something she’d enabled as part of an expected rapport, despite being married with children. Feeling reluctantly complicit in the behaviour had led to a trajectory of consistency, developing a deep emotional conflict.
Her subconscious tried to resolve this conflict by making her more unattractive to the boss – putting on weight as a way to try and repel his flirtatious behaviour.
Some more person-centered discussion allowed her to explore healthier options – having brought the problem into the open, she was better able to strategise having a conversation with him about stopping it. This was bolstered with some self-worth recognition, employment law and legislation around harrassment should it continue after the discussion or become detrimental to her feelings of safety at work.
The discussion went absolutely fine and relieved a pressure that had been gradually building inside.
A follow-up weeks later proved the results – she’d now effortlessly dropped the weight she had gained since the promotion and it was clearly visible. She was a lot happier.
Had she followed a typical weight-loss script or worked simply on behaviours, this conflict wouldn’t have been recognised or resolved – and who knows where it could have led. Perhaps the mind would have resorted to self-sabotage at work instead, to get moved to a different department.
This is why it’s often important to explore other emotional dynamics that are going on, particularly if loosely correlated with the problem at hand. Connections often exist, and they need to be considered if changes are on the horizon.
In my experience, weight-gain (or any physical changes) can often be a result of emotional threats, especially historic ones, particularly if traumatic events have been involved.
It can be a delicate balancing act to know how far to go in unravelling the various dynamics involved, which is where you’ll want a skilled therapist who listens to your needs and is sensitive to your responses.
Addictions and anxieties are no different – they’re different symptoms like the leaves of a tree that share the same roots. The mind automatically imagines things, for reasons that need to be explored before they can be truly understood and worked with.
Can people be “cured” in one session?
You can get a lot of benefit from a single session, and it may indeed be worthwhile, however if you really want to get to the bottom of something and have lasting change, you do need to put in some commitment.
It also often happens that people present with smaller more typical sounding issues just to ‘get a better idea’ before moving into deeper areas of concern. This can happen without the client even being consciously aware of their strategy.
I’ve had sessions where a person has had extremely good results in one session – because we just so happened to find and resolve the barrier very quickly.
For example, a client was automatically “gagging” without any control over it, seizing his throat and stopping him from being able to talk. He’d had this condition for a while, found it awkward and inconvenient, and didn’t know what to do about it.
After a little exploration, it transpired that this occurred when he was with his partner. He then became aware of a truth he’d been repressing into the unconscious mind – that he didn’t really love his girlfriend and was terrified of telling her so. His unconscious mind had been dealing with it by making him “stop talking”. With hypnosis, the usual conscious anxieties and defences could be gradually pushed away, until the truth became clearer.
Strange little situations like this are quite common – an unconscious conflict exists that is being dealt with by the mind in a way that isn’t particularly convenient. Hypnosis gives the necessary space, relaxation and resources to experience the enhanced awareness that lies just beyond the cluttered consciousness.
Most problems come down to a few core beliefs, associations or emotional blockages, with associated depths of self-doubt, emotional conflicts and significant (often traumatic) events. Exploring, uncovering and resolving such things can take time.
Having said that, I do think that progress is exceptionally faster, and more powerful, with hypnotic techniques and practices than it is with typical counselling.
Because counseling is more conscious based, you can remain “stuck” in the conscious whirlpools of clutter for a long time before any progress is made towards uncovering true unconscious causes. Sometimes they can remain permanently hidden, or even reinforced, until a more pervasive technique is used, like hypnosis.
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