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Self-hypnosis could help you to overcome difficult issues and situations in areas of your daily life.

For some, the idea of hypnosis conjures images of magicians telling us to “sleep” before “clucking” across a stage like some performing puppet. In stark contrast, hypnotherapy is quite the opposite.

Hypnotherapy has been recognised as a talking therapy by the British Psychological Society and is considered a useful treatment for anxiety, addiction, IBS, fears and phobias.

Celebrities Lilly Allen and Geri Horner have turned to hypnotherapists to lose weight and Kate Middleton reportedly used hypnobirthing to aid labour pain.

We can all use self-hypnosis to get ahead:- be it to ace a presentation, stick to those gym goals or feel less stressed.

The unconscious mind is incredibly powerful and by using it you can really use it to your advantage.

The idea of hypnotherapy and self-hypnosis is to induce a mild trance – meaning a relaxed state. This state is similar to when our minds wander off or when we switch to autopilot. An example of this is the morning commute. Whether you dive or take public transport: you are fully aware of how you got to your destination, but you don’t quite recall the entire journey. It is during this period that suggestions are introduced. These suggestions are of things that we would like to change such as feeling more positive, less afraid of something, and more confident in our ability.

It is estimated that up to 90% of behaviour is governed by the unconscious mind. It is during this relaxed hypnotic state we are more open to accepting these suggestions.

Think of the brain as a computer. It is not the computer itself that’s the problem, it is the software programme that has the bug. Hypnotherapy aims to fix the bug allowing the programme to run efficiently once again.

Work Smarter

If you have a presentation or a speech coming up, it is only natural that you worry something may go wrong or merely push it to the back of your mind.

Instead, try self-hypnosis to focus on it going really well. In this context, self-hypnosis works like a powerful shortcut to building skills in an area you are not confident about.

Super-charge your health

Hypnotherapy with a trained professional has been found to help an array of physical conditions from aches and pains to insomnia.

A recent study in the Netherlands found that 6 sessions of hypnotherapy were more effective for IBS than standard supportive care. 40% of hypnotherapy patients reported relief from symptoms, often for several months afterwards.

When aiming to lose weight or lead a healthy lifestyle, hypnosis can improve results by changing a person’s mindset.

Research has shown that those who regularly use self-hypnosis techniques before eating felt more full than those who hadn’t.

Using hypnosis and hypnotherapy for your health and fitness is about making definable aims that are achievable and maintainable.

Contact us today and see how self-hypnosis can benefit you.

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We Don’t All Fit The Same Box

A study found that 31% of patients with Anorexia Nervosa had all the cognitive features and physical complaints without being underweight.

University Melbourne dietitian Melissa Whitelaw is calling for a change in the diagnostic criteria after finding patients with atypical anorexia suffer serious health concerns despite not meeting the criteria for the condition with regards to their weight.

The study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health looked at 171 patients between the ages of 12-19 admitted to hospitals with eating disorders between 2005 and 2013. It found that:

• 51% were ‘atypical’ with significant eating disorder psychopathology but not underweight.
• Rather than being underweight, a greater weight loss was associated with life-threatening low pulse rates, a complication of starvation in anorexia that requires medical intervention (hospitalisation).
• Those atypical patients also suffered from low blood pressure and unbalanced blood electrolytes.
• No complication was independently associated with being underweight, the so-called hallmark of anorexia.
• No participant was being monitored by health professionals for weight loss, their relationship to food, or their methods for weight loss during the study.

Whitelaw says many atypical patients have been encouraged by family and/or health professionals to lose weight which frequently resulted in positive re-enforcement.

Atypical anorexia nervosa patients might have lost about a quarter of their body weight, but the body can go into starvation mode if as little as 10% is lost quickly, causing the heart to slow to preserve energy.

“The face of eating disorders is changing against a backdrop of an increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity”

Melissa Whitelaw.

If an adolescent chooses to lose weight, it doesn’t matter what their start weight is, a health professional should monitor them to ensure the loss is both safe and appropriate. This way their nutritional intake and relationship with food and exercise can be monitored for signs of concern.

Upon entering starvation mode the only way to increase the heart is to re-feed in order to regain weight, which requires careful monitoring thus hospitalisation.

Whitelaw says that people can understand why an extremely thin person needs to gain weight, but they struggle to understand why someone within or above a healthy weight range requires re-feeding.

Contrary to common assumption health consequences of atypical anorexia can be just as dangerous and it is about time the outdated diagnostic criteria were changed. You do not have to be underweight to be anorexic, the evidence is there to prove this.

Atypical anorexics are just as ill as those with typical anorexia. They have the same thoughts about food and eating.

It is about time we updated the criteria to fit our modern world and started to listen to the individual instead of judging them on whether they fit the box or not.

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Anxiety disorder, like any disorder, can be debilitating, but it is manageable. Sadly, there are still many misconceptions out there surrounding the disorder. This is surprising considering the level of media coverage encouraging people to share their stories and to seek support. Whilst this shift in attitude is positive and has increased awareness of the devastating impact of the illness there is still a long way to go in normalising the condition.

Often the term anxiety is thrown around with little regard to meaning. Misconceptions are held about what it means to have an anxiety disorder and what devastating impact it can have on a persons life. For those suffering, this only worsens the plight.

Top 5 misconceptions:

1. Feeling stressed is the same as having an anxiety disorder.

Everyone has feelings of anxiety at some point-it maybe over an exam, job interview, or medical appointment. Whilst feelings of anxiety are perfectly normal it does not mean that you have an anxiety disorder.

2. You can just ‘snap out of it’.

It is not something you can just ‘snap out of’. The most unhelpful things people say when in the midst of an anxiety attack is to ‘just don’t think about it’ and ‘its all in your head’. Telling someone with anxiety to stop is no different from telling a person with a broken leg to go running.

3. There is not always a reason.

Anxiety disorders are complex and often very difficult to make sense of. Sometimes you can be sitting quietly with yourself and suddenly be drowning in fear, trepidation, dread and horror through no logical reasoning. Anxiety does not always require a trigger and just because it isn’t there doesn’t mean anxiety won’t rear it’s ugly head.

4. Anxiety is both a mental and physical illness

Symptoms of anxiety can vary widely and take the form of nausea, headaches, palpitations, changes in appetite, thirst, stomach ache, sweating, muscle tension, to name but a few. Each person experiences the physical effects differently and each time. Just because you can’t see it, does not make it any less real.

5. There are treatments for anxiety

Even today some believe that anxiety will just sort itself out. For a few this might be the case but it doesn’t always work, some require ongoing support to manage their symptoms.

There is no need to suffer in silence when there is help available.

Remember, everyone is different and no two cases are the same.

If you would like advice and support regarding anxiety please contact us.

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