Hypnosis

[ace10]

Hi all,

I was just wondering if anyone had tried hypnosis to overcome there HA, and did it work?

[westofengland]

hypnosis is touted as a cure for lots of things, so I'm sceptical

HA is something we do to ourselves rather than suffer from, so for me the keys are -
1) Learning to tolerate uncertainty. Nobody can guarantee I'm in absolutely perfect health and always will be
2) Learning to recognise bad thoughts - i have cancer, my kids have cancer due to my fault - as just 'thoughts' that I don't need to act on
3) Learning to put up with the anxiety which sky rockets when I don't seek reassurance but eventually damps down if you let it
4) Taking it easy on myself. I am under a lot of stress and some of my HA/OCD behaviour is a distraction from the other problems in my life

But if hypnosis works for you, let me know!

[blueangel]

I had one hypnosis session a few years ago for performance anxiety. I sing a lot (opera) and found that I was getting really nervous prior to performances, to the extent where I was finding it difficult to perform at all. I suppose it worked partially; it did improve things to an extent, but I can't say it "cured" me. However, I've since been told that it would have worked better if I'd had more than one session, but I wasn't told that at the time - and it cost £95 which was an awful lot of money for me.

[ReneV]

I have suffered from anxiety for a good 10 years now and only recently over the last 2 months I thought I'd give hypnotherapy a go as CBT in my case was not helping me. I think the longer the anxiety goes on the more chronic and harder it gets. My hypnotherapist is more like a life coaching therapist which involves alot of work on the sufferers part. Their is no magic wand,no quick fix. If anything my anxiety seems worse, but with all good therapy I guess it's got to get worse before it gets better.

[Horse]

Hypnosis works by reprogramming our subconscious.
Considering that most of our problems with anxiety are subconsciously based then it can be and is a very good source of benefit and in some cases a cure for us.

The main problem lies in each individual and their degree of anxiety, the amount of time they have suffered the symptoms and also their belief and faith that hypnotherapy will work.

Remember we are talking about hypnotherapy here as a beneficial treatment for a mostly caused psychological symptom which in turn manifests itself as a physical symptom/s. We are not talking about a stage act where participants are told to do silly things for public entertainment!

It is a well known fact (particularly amongst most of us here) that 'What we think is what we become.' Therefore the process of hynotherapy is simply psychology really and nothing to do with 'brainwashing' or 'black arts' as a few people think.

The key is to find a good therapist. All suggestions administered while under hypnosis MUST be positively worded for beneficial effect and normally need to be repeated several times in order to even start taking effect. After a period of time, it is a very simple practice to give self hypnosis in order to re-enforce those positive suggestions on a regular basis. If your anxiety has been affecting you for 10, 20 or 30 years, you will hardly be 'cured' with just one session......hence the reason why self hynosis when learned is a good thing, especially from a financial situation as therapists are not cheap!

It is preferable to find a therapist who has a background of psychology training in order to understand the individuals psyche rather than someone who learned how to hypnotise from the back of a cereal packet last tuesday! If you believe it can help, then it will. 'What the mind can perceive, the mind can acheive'. If, on the other hand, you go there thinking this is all rubbish, then forget it, you will be wasting your money and the therapist time.

You will also find it to be possibly a long slog because your subconscious does not give in very easily when it is used to doing things automatically. Therefore, any change will be maybe gradual and take time. You must persevere even though it may get you down.........but there again, so does anxiety!!!!!

As usual, excuse spelling.

Horse.