What is hypnotherapy?

Hypnotherapy is a very powerful way to help the mind to heal itself, to heal the body, to break habits, change behaviour, restore confidence and work in a positive, constructive way to achieve success in many aspects of life.

Hypnotherapy can get to the heart of the matter and deal with any underlying causes. Then your symptoms, whether psychological, emotional or purely physical, will clear up once and for all.

How does it work?

Your subconscious mind is the most powerful direct force affecting your health and well-being.

Used correctly, modern hypnotherapy works with the subconscious to develop and apply the most effective treatment for your problem.

Done properly, your problems are solved once and for all in a natural, very effective way with the added benefit of a significant reduction in any residual tensions or general stress symptoms.

Hypnotherapy is no more like stage hypnosis than chalk is like cheese.

Hypnotherapy is used very successfully to resolve emotional, psychological, psycho-physiological problems and physical ailments too: to treat the whole person. The main tool used, hypnosis, is simply a natural means of relaxing your mind and body to help in discovering the real cause of a problem and to treat it

The suggestions given under hypnosis can be used to help the mind to heal itself, to heal the body, to break habits, change behaviour, restore confidence and work in a positive, constructive way to achieve success in many aspects of life.

The main thing is to help your conscious and sub-conscious minds work together. So a great deal of counselling goes on outside hypnosis and this is just as important. A good hypnotherapist has a full repertoire of techniques at hand to help solve your problem, without recourse to drugs. The result is that you can simply walk away from your difficulty, often kicking yourself for the years of suffering you have been through in the past when you thought (or were told) that you had to put up with it.

Will I have to analyse past experiences?

Not usually. Even if previous experiences are significant, there’s generally no need at all to go back over old events and certainly no need to suffer any traumas again

In most cases, even when the original cause was a bad experience, what is really important is to deal with how you are now, putting the emphasis on how you want to be in the future.

Sometimes it can be helpful to reassess old experiences, but the overly analytical, regressive approach is now neither necessary nor desirable, given the more modern techniques and greater understanding available to experienced therapists like Susan Gale.

What dangers are there?

NONE with a good therapist. As with anything else, you should feel comfortable about working with your hypnotherapist or else not go ahead.

What is the success rate?

Very good, especially considering that in the past people saw hypnotherapy as a last resort when other treatments had already failed them. So hypnotherapists had to be successful to survive.

Can anyone be hypnotised?

Generally yes, but only if you co-operate and allow yourself to be hypnotised.

Will I know what is going on?

Yes, unless of course you choose not to. Then you may find that you quickly forget, just as you sometimes do with dreams.

Will I be asleep?

No. Hypnosis is a naturally positive state that enhances your abilities rather than removing them. You will probably feel very relaxed. You may find at times that your mind wanders and background noises seem more distant, like when daydreaming. Even if you were to drift into a more sleep-like level, your subconscious would still be alert and fully aware of what was happening.

What about prescribed drugs? Should I carry on taking them?

Yes, if your doctor has instructed you to. You don’t put a crutch down until you can walk without it.

Are there any side effects?

Yes, beneficial ones such as reducing your general stress levels: nothing that will impair your abilities.

Why hypnotherapy?

Because it gets down to the heart of the matter (your subconscious reactions) hypnotherapy can be amazingly effective in a remarkably short time.

We are all individuals so our responses will naturally vary one from the next. Most people start to feel better in themselves from the very first session and soon notice a positive change in their attitudes as well as better health and well-being on physical, emotional and mental levels.

Because of the effective way Susan uses it, together with her wide experience and “holistic” (whole person) approach, most people find that after a few sessions of hypnotherapy they feel better than they have for ages. This is because scarcely-noticed, minor symptoms often improve of themselves at the same time as the main problems are being treated.

The truth about hypnosis and therapy.

There are many strange ideas about hypnosis, some of which lean towards the realms of myth and magic. Hypnosis is a natural state of relaxation which was misleadingly named: hypnosis implies being fast asleep which is usually not so.

The hypnotic levels of consciousness cover a range of awareness states about halfway between full alertness and sleep. So it's a perfectly natural state through which you pass twice every day: when going to sleep and when waking up.

In hypnotherapy, most people are usually wide awake and therefore aware of being in total control of the situation. In therapy, a subject will often lend control to the therapist, but it can be taken back at any time: a good therapist will make no secret of this. Contrast this with a stage hypnotist who tries to persuade people of the opposite!

What happens when I come for hypnotherapy?

The first session will last about an hour and a half. To start with, you tell hypnotherapist Susan Gale how you see the problem and what you are looking to achieve from therapy. Susan will then discuss the situation with you and explain what can be done. She will also explain hypnotherapy, assess your ability to benefit from it and answer any questions for you.

If you are accepted as a client, the first therapy session will begin: you will sit back in a comfortable chair while Susan talks to your subconscious and settles you into a natural hypnotic state of relaxation of both mind and body. Most people stay well aware of what is happening all the time because, as Susan is a very experienced therapist and works co-operatively, only a relatively light level of hypnosis is necessary.

How many sessions will I need?

It’s impossible to say for sure. With something like smoking, where it’s generally just a case of clearing a habit, most people are fine after just one session. This is because smoking is something you either do or don’t do.

With other problems, most people need several sessions because as well as clearing the old reaction pattern (“breaking the habit”) there is usually a need to establish a better reaction pattern.

For instance, with weight problems it’s not always enough to just clear old eating behaviour. Many people need a bit more help to establish a different attitude to food, different eating habits and sometimes a different attitude to themselves as emotional factors, confidence, self worth and other issues may need addressing too.

The important thing is generally not just to clear the symptoms but also to clear the problems that would otherwise cause the symptoms to come back

But people vary tremendously in how quickly they can make the necessary changes and how little help they need to do it. The more strongly motivated you are to change and the more actively you co-operate to make the changes, the sooner you will be able to leave the old problems behind once and for all.

This is why we will never ask anyone to commit to a long course of therapy they may not need. On the other hand, if you have more trouble than others (maybe because of factors outside your control) then whatever help you need is there for you. There are simple and effective ways to help your subconscious to make us aware of any particular difficulties that may otherwise hinder progress so that any underlying problems can be sorted out as quickly and easily as possible.

I've heard that all sorts of strange things can happen.

You may have been told so, but not by anyone who has properly studied the subject and who uses it properly. You wouldn't ask a plumber to diagnose the trouble with a TV set. Why not discuss this with your hypnotherapist and set your mind at rest.

Should I tell my doctor?

If you feel you want to, but remember that many doctors still have very little knowledge about hypnotherapy and so may not be in a position to advise on it.