The Stop-Smoking process is a one session treatment designed to work for those who are motivated to break the habit. Hypnotherapy is known to help people quit smoking in about 85% of cases. However, it is important to understand that hypnotherapy does not offer miracle cures and so if you are not yet ready to give up smoking, I would advise waiting.
When you make your enquiry, I will ask how ready you feel. If you are 10 out of 10 ready, you probably won't need my help as you will just stop. If you are less than 5 out of 10, I will advise that you wait a little longer. If you are more than 5 out of 10 ready, then let's go for it and have hypnotherapy help you make the final break toward a comfortable smoke-free life.
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Stop Smoking
Difficulty in managing our weight is a very common problem and we all know that fad diets are not an effective way to lose weight and keep it off. Hypnotherapy can be an effective way to help us lose weight, but how it helps depends on your circumstance, your motivation, your relationship with food and your history with weight management.
For some it will be sufficient to deal with the basic habits that prevent us losing weight, and this can be achieved with simple hypnotic approaches and other methods like aversion therapy for particular foods or drinks. However, if you are turning to hypnotherapy as a means of helping you manage your weight, chances are you have had a long cycle of yo-yo dieting and feel frustrated and confused. Importantly, while being unhappy with our weight can affect our self-esteem, having lower self-esteem in the first place can affect our eating habits and the choices we make. Therefore, most commonly I find it is necessary to explore your relationship with food and your sense of worth and identity.
Therefore the number of sessions required will vary from client to client. If you have basic habits that need to be broken, then it is likely that you should see some improvement after 1 - 3 sessions. If your relationship with food is more complex, it may take more time and, as with all things regarding weight management, patience is the key. Hypnotherapy is not a miracle cure for all things and weight loss will always require your motivation and commitment too.
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As an alternative to private sessions, you may be interested in the Weight Management workshops I run from the Broomhill Clinic in Aberdeen. Please see the 'Workshops' link in the menu above.
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Weight Management
Habit Breaking
All behaviours ultimately serve a purpose. When growing up we learn that specific behaviours elicit specific outcomes, either from ourselves or from others. For example, thumb-sucking may have brought comfort, and nail-biting may have dulled our thoughts or brought us attention, albeit negative. However, once we are adults and the outcome is no longer needed, the behaviour can persist simply as an annoying habit. At other times, the behaviour may persist because it is still required in order to meet an unconscious need, or to make us pay attention to a bigger issue.
Hypnotherapy can help either by using techniques designed to help you ‘unlearn’ the behaviour, or it can help you understand the deeper need so that you can find a healthier way to meet it.
Most habits can be dealt with in about 3 sessions, although this may vary and will be easier to estimate after the initial consultation.
Phobias
Phobia’s are characterised by the irrational fear and avoidance of seemingly illogical objects or experiences such as birds, spiders, buttons, flying etc. They can form for a number of reasons and can be inhibiting and embarrassing to us, thus impacting upon day-to-day life, and our confidence and self-esteem.
Phobias can be relatively straightforward to treat and there are a number of techniques which can be used, even if you don’t know when or why the phobia began. Equally, they can be quite deep-rooted and may require a bit more exploration.
Both hypnosis and regression therapy can be very effective in dealing with phobias.
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Stress
Stress is a word so commonly used now that it is sometimes easy to forget what it is and how important it is. Stress can affect us in many areas of our lives from our relationships to our work and stress in one area of life can often lead to problems in the other. While stress can play a useful role at times, prolonged periods can cause many symptoms, both physical and emotional.
At the most basic level, hypnotherapy is very effective in dealing with stress by promoting your body and minds’ natural relaxation. However, depending upon your 'training' in life, you may find things stressful that others in your life don't, and here it can be helpful to understand ourselves better, so we can better handle stressful events.
The number of sessions required for easing and managing stress varies depending on your needs and the nature of the problem. Coaching, therapy and regression therapy can all be very effective in helping us manage out stress and/or understand and heal the source of it.
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As an alternative to private sessions, you may be interested in the Personal Development workshops I run from the Broomhill Clinic in Aberdeen. Please see the 'Workshops' link in the menu above.
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Insomnia
Insomnia can be a private and distressing problem which can lead to further problems associated with low mood, exhaustion and stress. It can significantly affect our quality of life.
Your unconscious mind is a clever thing though and can sometimes present us with symptoms like insomnia to make us pay attention to other stressors in our lives. Therefore, the causes and symptoms of insomnia can be varied and solving the puzzle can sometimes take a bit of exploration. Therefore, the number of sessions required will depend on your situation. Both hypnosis and regression therapy can be very effective in dealing with insomnia.
It is essential that possible physiological causes for insomnia are ruled out by your GP prior to consultation. Further, if you are on any medication for insomnia, you should continue to take it as prescribed by your GP.
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Performance Anxiety
Performance anxiety can affect us in many ways ranging from worries about sexual performance to public speaking. Driving tests, job interviews, wedding speeches, presentations, work meetings, first dates, going to the toilet, eating in public, meeting new people and telephone conversations can all inspire anxiety and nerves in us.
Hypnotherapy is a very effective way to deal with the stress involved in performance and also in making the task more manageable, and even enjoyable. Treatment for performance anxiety varies but if straightforward, it would usually take about 1-3 sessions.
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Sports Performance
Sporting performance is a form of hypnosis all by itself. Have you ever noticed that when you ran your best race or hit your best shot you were outwardly focused and in ‘flow’? This is a hypnotic frame of mind and whether a golfer, a triathlete, a footballer or a body-builder, hypnotherapy can be an effective way to harness the focus you need, practise your performance and to manage your mood prior to performances.
Treatment for enhancing sports performance will vary from client to client and sport to sport.
Confidence and Self-Esteem
Low self-esteem can come about for a number of reasons and can be behind a lot of problems, self-doubt and pain experienced in day-to-day life. Improving our self-esteem can make a big difference to how we think and feel about ourselves and alongside a form of assertiveness training, can enable you to feel more confident and make significant changes in your life.
Treatment for low self-esteem forms an integral part of many other treatments but in its own right, the number of sessions required will depend on your presenting problem and on your experiences in life. Both hypnosis and regression therapy can be very effective in dealing with low self-esteem.
As an alternative to private sessions, you may be interested in the Branching Out workshop I run from the Broomhill Clinic in Aberdeen. Please see the 'Workshop' link in the menu above.
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Relationships & Boundaries
Knowing where we stop and where the other person starts sounds like it should be fairly straightforward. But actually, understanding and respecting our own boundaries, and those of others, is not always that easy. From confusion over who was 'right' and who was 'wrong' and what to do about it, how to say 'no' and upsets over unfair behaviour in others, to not knowing what it is okay to expect from others, confusion over our boundaries can lead to discomfort in many situations.
A lot of these concerns can come from not trusting that it is okay for us to have our own needs, or that it is okay to assert and honour these needs. Strengthening of our boundaries is integral to treatment for many issues. It rarely stands alone and ties in closely with self-esteem and assertiveness training so the number of sessions may vary significantly. Both hypnosis and regression therapy can be very effective in helping us understand our relationships with ourselves and significant others in our lives.
As an alternative to private sessions, you may be interested in the Inside Out workshop I run from the Broomhill Clinic in Aberdeen. Please see the 'Workshop' link in the menu above.
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Bereavement & Grief
The loss of someone close to us can be one of the most shocking experiences of our lives. Whether the loss was sudden, or one that we knew was coming, nothing can quite prepare us for how 'gone' the person is. Sadly the only way out of grief is to go through it as time slowly lessens the shock, if not the sadness, and it can take time for our smile to go 'all the way through' again. The grieving process is a natural one and cannot be rushed with therapy.
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However, it is possible for the grieving process to become blocked or stuck, particularly if your relationship with the person was very close, if it was complicated, if there is a sense of unfinished business, or if the passing was very traumatic.
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Hypnotherapy and psychotherapy can be helpful in managing and unblocking long standing grief and the feelings of sorrow, regret, guilt, shame, anger and depression that can accompany it.
Anxiety
For some, anxiety can feel like a constant companion and can have a significant affect on even the most mundane of daily activities. It is not uncommon for us to not even know the source of the anxiety which just seems to free-float alongside us. And in addition to the primary feeling, we often feel guilt, shame, depression and anger about the fact that we feel anxious. Particularly if our lives look fine from the outside so that there is no 'justifiable' reason for feeling this way.
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When feeling this way, we may find many ways to avoid feeling and our self-soothing methods often include addiction, obsessive compulsive behaviours, living life at a million miles an hour, opting out of life and/or self-harm, to name a few.
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Hypnotherapy and psychotherapy can be very helpful when dealing with anxiety and understanding more about why we feel it and how to soothe it. Regression therapy in particular can be very effective at helping us get to the source of the problem.
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As an alternative to private sessions, you may be interested in the Branching Out workshop I run from the Broomhill Clinic in Aberdeen. Please see the 'Workshop' link in the menu above.
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Children
Children can be affected by the very same issues that adults face. This has always been true but children now are growing up in a world that is very different from the one 'we' grew up in. Not only are they experiencing all the disruption, fear and possible isolation associated with the COVID-19 pandemic but they are living in a digital world. The messages received by children from movies and TV, to say nothing of the pressures that come with social media and their immediate peers are relentless. The constant messages that may over-ride what they have learned in the family home can leave very little room for them to grow up with a sense of safety and belief in who they are, and that they are okay just as they are.
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Children of all ages may struggle with low mood, low self-esteem, fear of failure, fear of success, anger, anxiety, separation anxiety, eating disorders, perfectionism, exam fears, bed-wetting etc. and it can be very painful, as a parent, to see their child in distress and to feel impotent in the face of it.
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Please note: Regression therapy can not be carried out directly with children but can be done 'by-proxy' which we can discuss if necessary.
Depression
We can be a little afraid of the term 'depression' these days as the word is bandied around freely alongside statements about mental health and stigma. And yet nearly everyone will go through spells of feeling depressed, low mood and feeling like everything in life requires a mammoth effort.
There is no failure in feeling depressed, it is what it is, and it is real. Telling ourselves to 'get-a-grip' is not enough and, in fact, worsens the situation. However, the extent to which we are feeling down, the reasons why and its impact upon our day-to-day functioning will vary. Some can put on a 'game face' and hide their real feelings from the world, seeming confident and happy to all while secretly aching to be under their duvet and left alone; others will actually be under their duvet; and others still may flit between these extremes. Sometimes we will know why we feel so down and perhaps forgive it, and other times we will hate ourselves for it.
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Hypnotherapy and psychotherapy can help with feelings of depression and I will always choose to work gently and patiently with it. Coming back from this place can feel daunting and tentative and, regardless of which therapeutic approach we take, we will go at the pace that suits you best.
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If you are on anti-depressants I will need to know when you began taking them as this may affect the pace of how we work. Also, it is important that you continue to take these as prescribed by your GP.
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Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
In response to traumatic events, it is natural to undergo an acute stress response as our body and mind processes the event. This reaction is relatively short-lived as we assimilate the experience. However, where we are unable to process the event, for whatever reason, and the acute symptoms of stress persist, we can develop PTSD.
I am not a diagnostician and will never diagnose you with PTSD. However, I do know the signs and may suggest that you speak to your GP if I feel it is necessary. PTSD can result from many things including adult or childhood abuse, bereavement, accidents, assaults, violations and involvement in atrocities of any kind, albeit man-made or natural. Importantly, it can also result from events that we perceive as traumatic, whether or not the causative events would make the headlines. Further, 'Complex PTSD' can result from smaller, less 'headline' events that have been chronic throughout our lives. And lastly, we can carry trauma over from past lives which can affect our day to day experience.
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PTSD is characterised by:
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Increased anxiety and emotional arousal e.g. hyper-vigilance and being on constant ‘red alert’, panic attacks and other intense physical reactions to triggers, irritability and anger, difficulty concentrating, decreased tolerance and ​insomnia;
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Avoidance and numbing e.g. feeling removed from life and other people, feeling as if things aren't real, difficulty in relating to others, amnesia about all or part the event, feeling empty, feeling unable to enjoy things, feeling the need to withdraw from life and/or feeling the need to engage in high risk behaviours just to feel something;
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Re-experiencing the traumatic event e.g. having spontaneous or triggered flashbacks and feeling like the event is happening again, having nightmares and/or feeling intense distress and fear when thinking of, or reminded of the event;​ and
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Other symptoms may include: feeling suicidal, self harm and self-destructive tendencies such as drinking/gambling/drugs etc., feeling distrustful and suspicious/blaming of others, guilt, shame, embarrassment or self blame and/or unexplained physical aches and pains.
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We will agree together how to work with your symptoms and, as with all therapy, things will be taken at a pace that works for you, enabling time for trust in a relationship of support to build between us. Please see the 'My Methods' page above, and the EMDR, Regression and Past Life Regression sections in particular which we may use if it is appropriate.
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Terms & Conditions
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If you are on any medication or have any medical conditions, I may require permission from your GP prior to commencing with hypnosis.
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If you are taking any medication related to the issue you are coming with, please continue with the course of medicine as prescribed by your GP.
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If you suffer from extreme depression, I will require you to inform your GP prior to commencing with hypnosis.
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If you suffer from epilepsy, or a psychiatric condition (e.g. Schizophrenia, Bipolar disorder, Personality Disorders) I may be unable to proceed with therapy. Here l refer you to the BACP website to find an appropriate therapeutic approach for your needs.
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If you suffer from asthma, please bring your inhaler into every session.
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Please note that I am bound by my BSCH Code of Ethics and if I feel you are better suited to a therapist with a given specialist area, I will refer you on.
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Payment is with cash or BACS only. I do not have card facilities.
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