What are the Treatable Conditions?

Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy can treat a wide range of anxiety related conditions but below are the areas of specialism

ANXIETY

Generalised Anxiety Disorder is the most commonly diagnosed category of Anxiety and, in essence, relates to an individual who has a consistent concern about things around them. They are prone to excessively worry, catastrophise and over-think situations, events and social interactions. Individuals with GAD generally live in a state of fear that bad things are going to happen and to see all of the above as highly risky, irrationally generalising the dangers of things to come.

GAD and other forms of Anxiety have a significant impact on an individuals ability to enjoy their life, and others, and live an existence that benefits them.

PHOBIAS

A Phobia is merely a conditioned response to a stimuli which you have perceived to have a disproportionate threat. Simply put, you have taught yourself to be scared of something that isn’t really a threat.

Phobias can have a significant impact on people’s lives, stopping them from enioying experiences with friends, family and work and also how they go about their daily life. Phobias can affect peoples actions, their routines and even where and when they may travel to.

SELF-IMPROVEMENT

There are many areas we wish to improve within ourselves. Hypnotherapy has an extremely successful approach in the following areas:

  • Assertiveness
  • Sports/Fitness Performance
  • Ego-Strengthening
  • Confidence Building
  • Relaxation Skills Training
  • Resilience Training

What Methods are used to Treat?

There are a range of approaches and techniques used in the treatment of Anxiety and its related symptoms. Here are a selection of some of them:

  • Psycho-Education about hypnosis, CBT, or the nature of the problem
  • Self-awareness Exercises (from Gestalt Therapy/Mindfulness-based CBT)
  • Cognitive Insight  / Identification of Negative Cognitions or Beliefs
  • Cognitive Disputation & Restructuring (Beck/Ellis)
  • Hypnotic Skills Training & Self-Hypnosis (Sensory Recall & Mood Induction)
  • Post-Hypnotic Suggestion – for symptom removal/habit change/treatment adherence
  • Relaxation Techniques: Meditation  (Benson) and Breathing Techniques
  • Tension-Release Progressive Muscle Relaxation/PMR (Jacobson)
  • Cue-Controlled Relaxation & Emotional Self-Regulation
  • Systematic Desensitisation (Wolberg/Wolpe)
  • Cognitive Distancing & Delusion & De-hypnosis  (Beck, Hayes, Robertson/Davis)


  • Imaginal Exposure Therapy (Graded Exposure to Pure Exposure/Emotional Flooding)
  • Covert Sensitisation (Aversion Therapy)
  • Negative Practice & Paradoxical Intention (Dunlap)
  • Covert Behavioural Rehearsal (Imaginal Rehearsal of Coping Skills)
  • Goal Visualisation & Self-Image (Maltz/Susskind)
  • Solution-Focused Therapy (de Shazer & Berg) and Strengths Focused Approaches (Meichenbaum)
  • Coping Statements and Self-Instruction (Meichenbaum/Vygotsky)
  • Cognitive Rehearsal
  • Mood Induction & Rational Emotive Imagery (Ellis)
  • The Use of Operant Conditioning (Skinner)
  • Positive Regression Hypnotherapy
  • Hypnotic Relaxation Therapy and Soviet Sleep Hypnotherapy
  • Thought-Stopping (Alexander/Wolpe)
  • Habit Reversal (Nunn & Azrin)
  • Stimulus Control /Positive stimulus reconditioning (Pavlov, Skinner, Bootzin)
  • Assertiveness & Authenticity Training (Salter/Wolpe)
  • Role-Modelling, Social Learning and Principles of Self-Efficacy (Bandura)
  • Hypnotic Suggestion & Autosuggestion
  • Stress Inoculation Training (Donald Meichenbaum)
  • Problem Solving Hypnotherapy (Nezu, Nezu & D’Zurilla)
  • Mindfulness & Acceptance Based Approaches
  • Attention Training (narrow, stuck vs flexible & open)
  • Behavioural Activation and Values Based Living
  • Undoing and Unlearning Self-Consciousness