Clinical Hypnotherapy
By Martine Delamere
Whilst more and more people are becoming aware of the therapeutic
benefits of hypnosis in helping them to stop smoking, lose
weight or cure phobias such as fear of flying, even those
who appreciate these benefits can be slightly wary of what
they are going to experience. The old image of the stage
hypnotist who can turn people into puppets still remains,
so let us begin by dispelling that particular myth.
A hypnotic trance is simply an altered state of consciousness
in which the door between the conscious and unconscious
mind is opened and a deeply relaxed state is obtained. It
is not dissimilar to that point at which we are just drifting
off the sleep or the process of waking up in the morning.
Since our unconscious mind is our greatest protection mechanism,
it will not tolerate any suggestion with which we would
be uncomfortable so if for example, the therapist suddenly
flipped out and suggested to a patient that they should
hop around on one leg for the rest of the day the patient
would wake immediately and the suggestion would not be taken
on board. Contrary to another myth, the patient usually
remembers all that they have experienced and what the therapist
has said during the session. People often think that hypnosis
induces amnesia and indeed it can, but this would only be
employed in very rare instances and with the patient's permission.
It is much more usual for patients to think that they haven't
been hypnotised at all because they have been aware of the
normal sounds around them or the fact that their nose was
itching, etc. This is because the conscious mind doesn't
shut down when we enter the altered state of consciousness.
It simply continues to run, taking on board everything that
is going on, but at the same time a deeper level of consciousness
is accessed and we are more focused on that.
So what can hypnotherapy really do for a person? The therapeutic
benefits are much more far-reaching than the ones already
mentioned. In recent studies, hypnotherapy has been found
to be extremely successful in alleviating the distressing
symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome and in making childbirth
more comfortable and enjoyable for mother and baby. It can
also be used to induce anaesthesia and has been used successfully
as a substitute for anaesthetic in many dental procedures.
Patients with chronic conditions like arthritis can also
be taught a form of self-hypnosis, which helps with pain
management and can help reduce the number of painkillers
that patient, may need to take in the day. Even patient’s
under-going treatment, which may have unpleasant side effects,
can gain some control over those symptoms using hypnosis.
A good example of this is a patient who was dreading a
course of intravenous chemotherapy. She had had to undergo
this treatment before and had suffered side effects of nausea,
palpitations, digestive and kidney problems. Having ascertained
that the patient liked music, a deep state of relaxation
was induced and the patient was asked to imagine being in
a sound recording studio listening to a particular song
being recorded. She was then asked to imagine a control
panel, which would alter the sound and bring the song into
better balance. Each dial and knob on the control panel
was described to her and each one was linked to a part of
her body which might be affected by the chemotherapy so
she was linking the sound of the song to the balance of
her own body and would be able to turn the dials up or down
according to what would produce the best balance. The entire
hypnotherapy session was recorded on tape and the patient
was instructed to listen to it as she was receiving each
chemotherapy treatment.
Inspite of the fact that the patient did not believe that
she would come through the course of treatment without side
effects, she reported one month later that she had not experienced
one single side effect. When she had to have further treatment
some months later, she had lost the tape and some of the
side effects returned. She then came for a further session
of hypnotherapy, a new tape was made and again, during the
third course of chemotherapy she experienced no side effects.
On a psychological level too, hypnotherapy can be highly
effective in helping people to come to terms with past traumas
or situations, which cause them to respond irrationally
to certain things.
People who develop obsessive compulsions such as continually
checking that they have closed all the windows before leaving
the house can be helped to discover the original source
of anxiety which produced the compulsion and they can then
let it go.
Often people feel deeply ashamed of their compulsions,
irrational fears or responses because they don't understand
how they have arisen. Because our unconsciousness mind is
so protective, it registers everything that happens to us
in the same way that a microchip stores computer data. If
the unconscious registers something as dangerous then it
will trigger a flight or fight response in us when something
reminds it of that previous situation. Even when we consciously
know that a particular situation is no longer dangerous
to us, our unconscious may override that knowledge because
it is unaware that the situation has changed. This can occur
because that part of our unconscious which is storing that
particular traumatic memory has shut down, like a computer
file, which is closed until we open it up again.
A good example of this is the patient with an irrational
fear of balloons. A high-powered and highly successful executive,
he ended up cowering under a table at an important function
because balloons were released as part of the entertainment.
To make matters worse for him, he knew exactly why he was
afraid of balloons and that the situation no longer applied
(as a child he had almost been smothered by them) so he
couldn't understand why he still responded this way.
Under hypnosis the patient was asked to imagine sitting
comfortably on his own sofa at home with the remote control
for the video in his hand. He was then asked to press the
play button and told that what he was about to see would
be in black and white. On to the screen came the incident
in question. He saw himself as the tiny child almost suffocating.
Because he was dissociated from the incident by watching
it on a screen, he did not have to actually relive the trauma
and therefore, suffered very little anxiety. The patient
was then asked to rewind the tape and play it again, this
time in colour. He was also asked to imagine floating into
the screen so that his adult self was in the scenario with
his younger self. He was then able to save his younger self
from suffocating and, of course, his unconscious mind was
made aware that he is now a fully-grown man and therefore,
this particular incident couldn't be repeated. As a result
he now has no fear of balloons and can even blow them up
for his children's birthday parties.
So, hypnotherapy can facilitate eradicating phobia anxieties,
and low self-esteem. It can also help with dieting, eating
disorders and stopping smoking not to mention pain management.
So how do you know that the hypnotherapist you've chosen
is reputable and trust worthy? Firstly, all qualified hypnotherapists
belong to one of the associations of hypnotherapists such
as the British Society for Clinical Hypnosis (BSCH). You
can telephone these associations and ask for a list of registered
members in your area. When you telephone to make an appointment,
the therapist will ask the nature of the problem and you
can ask for an outline of how that therapist might set about
treating it. When you arrive at the consulting room look
for qualifications displayed on the wall. If the hypnotherapist
isn't displaying them, it may be because you are seeing
them at a clinic which is not their permanent base, but
certainly a hypnotherapist practising from their own home
should have their qualifications on display. The letters
D.Hyp or similar after the person's name is also a good
indication of proper qualification and if the hypnotherapist
is a member of one of the associations, those letters usually
follow their name as well. You should also be aware that
hypnotherapy is available on the NHS and to BUPA members.
A properly qualified hypnotherapist is likely to have registration
numbers for both.
About the Author
Martine Delamere D.Hyp BSCH
Martine Delamere is a clinical hypnotherapist practising
in Chertsey, Surrey and in London at Harley Street and Lr.
Belgrave Street.
