Hypnotherapy
Hypnosis can be used in addition to treatment to enhance and expedite therapeutic progress. It is compatible with almost any psychotherapeutic modality. During a hypnotherapy session, individuals are directed through a procedure that induces a naturally occurring trance-like state, allowing them to focus their attention, respond more readily to suggestions, and feel profoundly relaxed. Hypnotherapy uses the heightened awareness of the hypnotic state to help you concentrate more intently on an issue. Let’s look together at some of the ways Hypnotherapy can help.
Hypnotherapy for anxiety
Benefits of hypnotherapy for anxiety
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Hypnosis directs attention inward allowing the client to note their thoughts, somatic symptoms, and emotions.
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Trains the client to manage distressful manifestations of anxiety with less reactivity.
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Effective for sensory alteration of both physical and psychological feelings. Develops a curious, non-reactive stance when the symptoms emerge.
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Evokes a dual perspective.
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Helps access a wise and rational side to tolerate transient discomfort of anxious episode.
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Elicits a more controlled voice as opposed to eliminating the worried parts of self.
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Develops newly learned response patterns that are conditioned to be utilized when one is triggered.
Sources: (Carolyn Daitch 2021) (Brown & Fromm, 1986)
Traits of people with anxiety that make them respond well to hypnosis:
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High capacity for vivid imagery
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Sensitivity to bodily stimuli
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Excellent focused-attention, absorption
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High hypnotic susceptibility
Source: Crawford & Barabasz, 1993
Hypnotherapy has been shown to be an effective treatment for PTSD symptoms and root causes. Because of the resemblance between hypnotic phenomena and PTSD symptoms, hypnotherapy can be an effective treatment for PTSD. In hypnotherapy, memories that would ordinarily be suppressed can be accessed in a controlled manner. Hypnosis is being used in new ways to treat PTSD patients in psychotherapy.
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Hypnotherapy can be used to help clients face and endure a traumatic experience by embedding it in a new context, acknowledging helplessness during the event, and linking it to remoralizing memories such as self-protection efforts, affection shared with friends who were killed, or the ability to control the environment in other situations. In this manner, hypnosis may be utilized to allow restricted access to memories, which are then contextualized within a larger context. Clients can be instructed in self-hypnosis techniques that enable them to work with painful memories, hence reducing spontaneous uninvited intrusive memories.