Category: Face to face hypnotherapy

1. What to expect in your first therapy session?

   Posted on 12:00pm Monday 22nd May 2023

   What to expect in your first therapy session? 

   Therapy can be a daunting and overwhelming experience, especially if you’ve never been before. It’s natural to feel nervous about opening up to a stranger and discussing your most personal thoughts and feelings. But fear not! Your first therapy session is all about getting to know each other, setting goals, and establishing a plan for your therapeutic journey. In this blog post, I've outlined what you can expect in your first therapy session so that you can go in feeling prepared and confident.  

   What will happen in the first session? 

   During your first therapy session, you can expect to spend most of the time getting to know each other and this is why a first therapy session is often a little longer than subsequent sessions. I’ll ask you some questions about yourself, what brings you to therapy, and what goals you hope to achieve through treatment. It might be useful for you to talk about any relevant personal history and background. This information will help me get a better understanding of who you are as a person, your priorities, life challenges which can enable me to best support you on your journey. This is also a great time for you to share any concerns or apprehensions you have with the process, I can answer any questions which may put your mind at ease and I can look at ways to accommodate any concerns so you feel as comfortable as possible. This isn’t just appropriate in the first session but in any sessions going forward, therapy is a collaborative two-way process so if you have any questions at any time please ask! During this first session I’ll give you lots of information about my approach towards treatment and provide some insight into what future sessions might look like. One of the most important things about this first session is that we’ll look at creating an achievable goal for therapy so that we’re both working on the same page, in the same direction and I can guide our sessions most effectively for you. With the cognitive behavioural hypnotherapy approachwe’ll also aim to fit in time to try some hypnotherapy too if you’re comfortable with this. If not, that’sabsolutely fine as everything I offer to clients can also be done without the use of hypnosis and at your own pace. 

   What will therapy be like overall? 

   Therapy can vary greatly from person to person. Some people may find it challenging and emotional, while others may feel relieved and empowered by the experience and many people may experience all of those feelings at different stages. With the cognitive behavioural hypnotherapy technique we will particularly look at helping you identify your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are causing distress in your life. We will work to develop coping mechanisms for managing these challenges and guide you towards achieving your goals so there will be lots of opportunities for learning and self-reflection along the way. 

    

2. Can anyone benefit from hypnotherapy?

   Posted on 8:00am Thursday 18th May 2023

   Can anyone benefit from hypnotherapy? 

   

   If you're looking for a way to positively influence your mental health without medication then hypnotherapy may well be for you. Hypnotherapy is a technique that uses hypnosis to induce a state of relaxation and concentration. This allows people to make changes in their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors particularly using the cognitive behavioural approach I use with all of my Octagon Wellbeing clients. Hypnotherapy can be incredibly positive for a range of issues including: anxiety, stress, insomnia, low self-esteem, fears and phobias, weight loss, overcoming bad habits, and more.

   Hypnotherapy is very safe and carries few risks however there are some people who may not be best suited to hypnotherapy and these are called "common contraindications".  For hypnotherapy this includes people with severe psychiatric disorders, epilepsy or people under the influence of drugs or alcohol. It’s also important to recognise that like all therapy, hypnotherapy isn’t all powerful and your therapy goals may need to be considered to ensure hypnotherapy is the right option for you. 

   What are therapy goals? 

   When you start any type of therapy it’s common for your therapist to want to know what you want to achieve.  This can help make therapy sessions more purposeful for you as the client and help your therapist support you to achieve that goal.   

   Are all goals appropriate? 

   Not all goals will be appropriate or possible through therapy and some goals may be more suited to different types of therapy.   For example, if you’re looking for hypnotherapy to help you secure a very specific job this would be an example of a potentially unsuitable goal.  Job interviews involve a huge variety of factors and while therapy can support you through the interview process, your therapist cannot guarantee you’ll secure a particular job.  However, if you’re looking to improve your confidence and resilience during the interview process in general then hypnotherapy would absolutely be of benefit to you and there are lots of things you can work on with your therapist that would not only benefit your through job applications but to enhance your professional life in general. 

   Likewise hypnotherapy is incredibly useful for people dealing with chronic pain looking for non-medicated pain management strategies.  However, in this case it is important that you’re first seen a medical professional to confirm hypnotherapy would be appropriate.  This is because physical pain often indicates underlying physical problems. Enabling you to manage pain without understanding the cause could be detrimental to your overall health by enabling you to manage or ignore symptoms which require timely medical intervention or physical rest.  However, once you’ve gained medical permission though hypnotherapy can be an incredibly useful tool in pain management. 

   Everything I do is evidence based and ethically minded.  Therefore if you’re looking for hypnotherapy for memory retrieval this would beyond the scope of hypnotherapy. Memories are never exact records of events and can be distorted by numerous factors.  Given the significant role imagination plays in hypnotherapy how do we determine where accurate memories stop and imagination begins? Working ethically and with your wellbeing in mind is at the forefront of my work, therefore goals associated with memory retrieval are not something I work on with clients. 

   Other considerations 

   Like any form of therapyit’s important for you to be open to exploring new ideas and perspectives which can be challenging. Fortunately, my role as a therapist is to guide you through the process. So provided you can bring an open mind to our sessions I would love to support you to make positive change to your life.