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Issues that hypnotherapy may help with
Agoraphobia
An unexplained fear of open spaces.
Anorexia
The uncontrolled lack or loss of the appetite for food.
(Note that Anorexia Nervosa is described as an eating disorder characterised by a misperception of body image. Individuals with anorexia nervosa often believe they are overweight even when they are grossly underweight).
Anxiety
An unpleasant emotional state consisting of psycho physiological responses to anticipation of unreal or imagined danger.
Arthritis
An inflammatory condition that affects joints.
Assertiveness
Assertiveness training is a form of therapy in which a client learns to feel free to make legitimate demands and refusals in situations which previously elicited inappropriate responses.
Asthma
A disease process that is characterised by paradoxical narrowing of the bronchi (lung passageways) making breathing difficult.
Symptoms include wheezing, difficulty breathing (particularly exhaling air) and tightness in the chest.
Factors which can exacerbate asthma include rapid changes in temperature or humidity, allergies, upper respiratory infections, exercise, stress or smoke.
Bed-wetting (Nocturnal Enuresis)
The involuntary passage of urine at night-time in children. Most bed-wetting stops by the age of three and is twice as common in boys as in girls.
Causes have been attributed to delay in bladder muscle development, adjustment disorder (parents too controlling or aggressive), too early (and too coercive) to toilet training, diabetes and spinal cord lesions (rare).
A urinary tract infection should be excluded in the cases of a sudden onset of bed-wetting.
Treatment includes behaviour modification (rewarding good behaviour), supportive and helpful attitude by parents, limiting fluids at bedtime and alarm devices (a sleep pad that sets off an alarm when it gets wet). Vasopressin nasal spray has been used successfully to treat this condition in some children.
Blushing (Erythrophobia)
Involuntary reddening, especially of the face, associated with feelings of embarrassment, confusion or shame.
As most sufferers will tell you, it is not the blushing that is the problem, but the fear of blushing, hence the alternative name of 'Erythrophobia'. (Erythro- is used to denote reddening, associated with red blood cells)
Bruxism (Tooth grinding)
Compulsive grinding or clenching of the teeth especially at night.
Bulimia
An eating disorder which is characterised by self-induced vomiting after eating.
Compulsive behaviour
The behaviour of performing an act persistently and repetitively without it leading to reward or pleasure. The act is usually a small, circumscribed behaviour, almost ritualistic, yet not pathologically disturbing.
Examples of compulsive behaviour include twirling of hair, checking something constantly, not wanting pennies in change, straightening tilted pictures, etc.
Creativity enhancement / problem solving
Hypnotherapy and / or NLP can be beneficial in overcoming writers' or artists' blocks, along with other situations where creativity is useful, such as for problem solving.
Dentist fears
Dentist-phobia leads to dental problems associated with lack of dental hygiene and dental maintenance. The phobia should be addressed before the dental situation becomes unpleasant.
Depression
A mental state of depressed mood characterised by feelings of sadness, despair and discouragement. Depression ranges from normal feelings of the blues through dysthymia to major depression.
It in many ways resembles the grief and mourning that follow bereavement; there are often feelings of low self-esteem, guilt and self-reproach, withdrawal from interpersonal contact and somatic symptoms such as eating and sleep disturbances.
Eczema
A pruritic papulovesicular dermatitis occurring as a reaction to many endogenous and exogenous agents. It is characterised in the acute stage by erythema, oedema associated with a serous exudate between the cells of the epidermis (spongiosis) and an inflammatory infiltrate in the dermis, oozing and vesiculation and crusting and scaling and in the more chronic stages by lichenification or thickening or both, signs of excoriations and hyperpigmentation or hypopigmentation or both. Atopic dermatitis is the most common type of dermatitis
Once an organic cause has been ruled out, Eczema - as with most skin conditions - responds very well to hypnotherapy.
Emotional issues
Many emotional difficulties can be relieved by hypnotherapy either by enabling one to cope better with those emotions, or by finding different, more appropriate emotions to replace those that are causing difficulty.
Exam nerves
Hypnotherapy is excellent for those who suffer with anxiety before examinations.
Fear of flying
Many sufferers only seek help for flying phobias when they are have the prospect of a flight ahead, and they can't avoid it.
Hypnotherapy can help in the short term, to enable the sufferer to take that flight, or in the long term, to dissolve the phobia completely.
Headaches
Headaches come in many forms, and those related to anxiety and stress are particularly amenable to hypnotherapeutic intervention.
Note that headaches can be of organic origin so it is important to have a medical check before seeking hypnotherapeutic treatment.
IBS
A functional bowel disorder characterised by recurrent crampy abdominal pain and diarrhoea. Invasive gastrointestinal diagnostics are often unrevealing.
There is some feeling that IBS is primarily anxiety-based in origin, and it is known to respond well to hypnotherapy.
Impotence
Impotence is the inability to achieve or sustain a penile erection, however there are many sexual conditions that can be relieved by hypnotherapy, and the umbrella term for them is 'psychogenic infertility'.
Note that this refers to the fact that there is no organic origin behind the complaints. Any new sexual disfunction should always be investigated by your doctor first to rule out the possibility of an organic cause.
Interpersonal skills
In business, or in one's social life, the ability to interact easily and efficiently with others is a boon. Self-confidence issues can prevent this, and hypnotherapy can help individuals to find their inner-confidence and overcome their fears of interpersonal interaction.
Interview preparation
For those who feel they get unduly nervous before an interview, hypnotherapy can be used to great effect to bring out the confidence and strengths that are present in other situations and use them to overcome excessive fear.
Lack of concentration
The ability to concentrate depends on the ability to focus on one thing and ignore distractions. By addressing the causes of the lack of concentration, individuals can discover the ability to focus intensely, with the advantage that this brings of greater retention and more efficient learning.
Lack of confidence
Everyone goes through periods or situations where they lack confidence, but when it is sustained then hypnotherapy can help to bring it back in a positive way.
Low self-esteem
Low self-esteem can be the result of a lifetime of events or from a single trauma. Either way, it can be debilitating. A considered hypnotherapy program can enable one to rediscover their own self-respect and start to live the life that they always knew they could.
Nail-biting
This is a common form of habitual body manipulation which is an expression of tension. It can often be successfully treated in just one session.
Nightmares
My search for an official definition found this: A condition in sleep usually caused by improper eating or by digestive or nervous troubles, and characterised by a sense of extreme uneasiness or discomfort (as of weight on the chest or stomach, impossibility of motion or speech, etc), or by frightful or oppressive dreams, from which one wakes after extreme anxiety, in a troubled state of mind.
Peaceful sleep can be achieved through hypnotherapeutic intervention.
Over-eating
Whether for weight control or to stop binging, hypnotherapy is widely accepted as an excellent therapy to help control the diet and to start to eat more healthily.
Pain control
Hypnosis has been used for pain control (and documented) - up to and including surgery - for over 100 years. It is excellent for the pain associated with arthritis, phantom limb pain and for anaesthesia in many predictably painful situations (e.g. for dental work)
Panic disorders
Symptoms of a panic attack usually begin abruptly and include rapid heartbeat, chest sensations, shortness of breath, dizziness, tingling, and anxiety.
Hypnotherapy can help identify the root cause of the anxiety and can provide tools to be used to stop a panic attack. Just knowing that you will be able to handle an attack when it happens, can greatly reduce the impact of the event.
Performance anxiety
Many people experience acute anxiety before they have to 'perform', whether it be on a stage, a sports field, in front of an audience, or even in bed.
In all situations, the underlying causes have some similarity and some uniqueness. Investigation via hypnotherapy can lead to resolution and dissolution of the problem.
Pre-operative fears
It is natural to become nervous before any significant event, but when this leads to avoidance, and that avoidance is harmful, then hypnotherapy can help to bring out the confidence and calmness required to deal with the situation.
Post-operative recovery
Recovery from an operation can be hastened, scarring and bruising reduced, and pain and discomfort relieved if hypnotherapy, and - once taught - self-hypnosis are used.
Psoriasis
A common chronic, squamous dermatosis, marked by exacerbations and remissions and having a polygenic inheritance pattern. The most distinctive histological findings in well developed psoriasis are Munro microabscesses and spongiform pustules.
It is characterised clinically by the presence of rounded, circumscribed, erythematous, dry scaling patches of various sizes, covered by greyish white or silvery white, umbilicated and lamellar scales, which have a predilection for the extensor surfaces, nails, scalp, genitalia and lumbosacral region. Central clearing and coalescence of the lesions produce a wide variety of clinical configurations, including annular or circinate, discoid or nummular, figurate and gyrate arrangements.
Like all skin conditions, if there is no organic cause, then stress-related factors are the likely culprit, and hypnotherapy can produce relief from symptoms.
Sleeping problems
Insomnia, early waking, disturbed sleep, snoring... when you are asleep your unconscious mind is still at work looking after you, and it can take care of many of the things that bother us - if only we could access it more directly. With hypnotherapy, we can do just that.
Smoking
Perhaps the most widely known and accepted use of hypnotherapy is to help stop smoking. It is effective, there are no negative side-effects (there are many positive ones) and it can normally be achieved in one session. All that is required is the motivation to become a non-smoker.
Snoring
The act of respiring through the open mouth so that the currents of inspired and expired air cause a vibration of the uvula and soft palate, thus giving rise to a sound more or less harsh.
Once any suggestion of an organic condition has been ruled out by a doctor, hypnotherapy can be utilised to help the sufferer to find their own way of sleeping peacefully and quietly.
Or, if the sufferer is not the snorer, but the snorer's partner, then it is the partner who can be helped - by learning to appreciate and enjoy the deep relaxation that the snorer is demonstrating.
Speech impediments
Stammering, stuttering, mumbling... many such conditions can be aided by behavioural training whilst in hypnosis.
Tics
Spasmodic muscular contractions most commonly involving the face, mouth, eyes, head, neck or shoulder muscles. The movement often appears purposeful but is involuntary.
As such activity is often exacerbated by stress, great relief can be achieved when the stress can be dealt with in an appropriate fashion.
Weight control
After 'stop smoking' treatments, this is perhaps the most well known use for hypnotherapy. You can achieve the weight that you desire - you already know how to do it.
Hypnotherapy can help you to bring out the strengths and resources within you to make it happen, and more importantly, to adjust to the new life that you will have, so that you maintain it.
Links
Required disclaimer: Please be aware that we bring 100% of our effort and skill to the process, however, as with all practices, results may vary between individuals.
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