Hypnotherapy

[nbs1]

Hi everyone. I have recently gone through a phase of councelling and found it hasn't helped with my anxiety very much. I'm still having the chest pains/zoned feeling/negative thoughts on a constant daily basis. I'm not having severe panic attacks anymore but I think that is more down to the beta blockers i am taking.

Due to this i have decided to try hypnotherapy. I have been put in contact with a guy who seems extremely professional and has a very impressive list of qualifications and past patients(inc. Kelly Holmes- he doesnt just work with anxiety). He seems very nice, and is very confident that 1 or 2 2hr sessions will be enough to help me.

Has anyone else had hypnotherapy and was it successful?! it is very expensive but if it 'cures' me then it will certainly be money well spent(by my parents that is.... )

[joy]

it works for some i've heard, we'll be anxiously waiting to see how you get on

joy

[honeybee]

i went last year and it really helped me overcome my fear of staying at home on my own (something i hadnt done for over 2 years nearly)... but i highly recommend going to someone who has been reccomended...

if you haven't been before its nothing to be scared of, there's no swinging watches or anything, i didn't even feel i went into a trance, you just feel really relaxed.. although to start off with i couldn't stop laughing cos i was chatting to her before hand but as soon as she started the session she put this really stupid voice on and it just reminded my of little britain when the guy goes "look into my eyes, don't look around the eyes, don't look around the eyes, just look into my eyes" but as soon as i stopped giggling it was great..

[nbs1]

yeah hopefully it'll go well. im just at the stage now where ill try anything. i still have a sore chest all day everyday and cannot get over the 'what if' thoughts. will let everyone know how i get on come the end of the weekend

[samc100]

I found it helped me - not cured, but did help. Found I couldn't relax at the actual sessions but he recorded our sessions so I could replay it at home lots which was handy.

[mirry]

you can download some of them ,like you can music off the net .

[PUGLETMUM]

unfortunately while you are wanting to be 'cured' of anxiety/panic you will probably get little out of ANY therapy!

stress creates anxiety, and fear of anxiety and constant monitoring and watching and tensing creates panic, which in turn creates more anxiety and so the cycle goes on and on until you dont recognise yourself anymore and generally you feel as though your life is falling apart? there is no mystery, experts reckon that some people just have more sensitive nervous systems, they have observed the same behaviour in rhesus monkeys. if they put them with more dominant older monkeys they get better. some people just didnt get the skills they needed as they were growing up, and some had life experiences that will be detrimental to the confidence of nervous people.

all you have to do is accept it and learn ways to cope with it, like deep breathing, thought stopping, distraction etc etc the list of coping skills is endless. plus you have to FACE the situations you are currently avoiding in order to see that the anxiety you feel will not kill you. make you mad etc etc

while you are avoiding anxiety and panic you are fearing it and so by you will stay in its grip for a long time.

i know its not very nice to hear, but take it from me (suffered since 14, agoraphobic for last 7 yrs) there is no CURE outside of you, you just have to stop being frigtened of it and then you start to get better.

it is now well documented that cbt is THE single most effective therapy for most anxiety disorders, maybe you could get your parents to pay for that if the hypno isnt any help? im having it privately for up to 20 weeks (no way you would get that long on nhs) and it costs £65 an hr.

hope this helps, you can get better

emma

[fairyclairy]

Im having hypnotherapy at the moment - iv started a thread about it too which might be worth a look? Iv just explained what iv been doing every session an if its helped etc..

It is very positive for me and i would definitly recommend it - however, you do need to go to some you've been recommended too and they have the qualifications etc.

It has completely changed my life and is continuing to do that each session i have, i wouldnt think twice about recommending it as a form of therapy x

[blueangel]

I'm afraid I agree with emmas - there is no "cure", and if we sit and wait for that, it just won't happen, as we have to accept our anxiety and then learn to manage it.

Also, "fighting" it doesn't help - I've learned that one through CBT myself.

As for hypnotherapy, it seems to work better on some people than others. I did try a session once, and like honeybee, I found it helpful to an extent.