Has anyone had any experiences with hypnotherapy?
 

As the title says really. I don't mean stage hypnosis where you act like a duck or whatever, but for serious things, such as maybe stopping smoking or relieving anxiety?

I have been suffering significant problems for about 6 months now and the NHS is moving so slowly and apparently their CBT may not even help anyway (and from the self help CBT things i have read and tried, it doesn't seem too likely to either IMO) so I am kinda looking for ways to 'cure' myself and this is the main thought that keeps coming up really.

I'm a little concerned that I am sceptical to start with though as apparently it only works on people who 100% believe it will work?

Con artists! like those people who believe they can talk to the dead.

Possibly. I am arguing with myself that I used to think pretty much this but maybe I am more open to it now due to wanting it to work so much :S

Let us know how it went and let us know if it works if you do go forward with this.

my brother was a 60 a day smoker, had some hypnotherapy and never smoked again. That was 20 years ago, so I think that was quite successful

Talking to yourself is a great start!
I personally believe this is how I stopped drinking, every night before I went to sleep I had a conversation with myself ( or the addicted part ) of my subconcience.

I explained how I was feeling and asked for help. I didn't know it at the time but that's basically what Neuro linguistic programming (NLP) is, self hypnosis.

I say give it a go, make sure you are totally relaxed and address the issue with yourself in the third person...it sounds crazy I know, bit the only person that can sort this is you so it makes sense that that's the person to ask.

Psychology says we are made up of ego and super ego and inner child and such maybe problems arise when they all want different things?
OR I convinced myself that I had resolved some inner conflict and that enabled me to take back control..who know's.

Either way you have nothing to lose trying this first, it doesn't cost anything and it puts you in the right mindset like you say to be open to allowing someone else to address it if you decide to give hypnotherapy a go.

i think there is a lot of truth in that Kizzy, because the first person you have to convince is yourself. Once you achieve that, then it becomes much easier

Yep and to me it sounds like Vicky is in that place where I was at the time. It took time, it didn't happen overnight but it's odd I did feel myself getting stronger, like I was coming together.
I'm a big believer in willpower and for years I felt bad because I didn't think I had any, now I think it's because I wasn't utilising it in the right way.

"Talking therapy" works so maybe better to just think of it as getting into a very relaxed/open-minded state to then engage in therapy? Literal "spooky" hypnosis, I suspect, is not actually real.

Good it worked well with your brother

[Hypnotherapy is a type of
mind-body intervention in which hypnosis is used
to create a state of focused attention
and increased suggestibility in the
treatment of a medical or psychological
disorder or concern]


[UK Confederation of Hypnotherapy Organisations (UKCHO)
The regulation of the hypnotherapy profession in
the UK is at present the main focus of UKCHO,
a non-profit umbrella body for
hypnotherapy organisations.
Founded in 1998 to provide a non-political arena
to discuss and implement changes
to the profession of hypnotherapy,
UKCHO currently represents 9 of the
UK's professional hypnotherapy organisations]


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnotherapy

On average how much does a session cost?

£3000

On a Private Clinic


Vicky is on the NHS

The NHS doesn't do hypnotherapy arista :laugh: ... it doesn't do tarot readings or trips to Lourdes either.

edit: (it's not actually £3000 by the way, it's probably more like £50 - £80 an hour, in line with other forms of private counselling)

i know my brother didnt pay 3k to stop smoking

Booked initial appointment for next tuesday. They reckon they can help but they would say that for 60 quid an hour..we shall see I guess :)

Good Luck
Vicky.

Good luck Vicky hope it works and your be back better and stronger then ever :hug:

i get dickmatised easily.

Great vicky! Really hope it helps, Im sure it will :)

Uprooting deep seated trauma is something I'd have thought you would be very interested in.
It's not spooky at all, it's not conducted an a makeshift victorian parlour.

NLP is a recognised tool in psychotherapy, I'm not sure why you would say it's not real. Imo it's more effective than several volts to the prefrontal lobes.

I'm not saying that powerful psychological suggestion isn't real, but hypnotism/mesmerism as depicted by the media (trance like states) just isn't.

I'd say Vicky said exactly this in her OP, you would have to be highly suggestible to believe that was anything other than a caberet act.