The need to have control of our lives, and the need to be ‘master of our own destiny’, is a core basic human need. As children grow and learn, they work from dependence to greater and greater independence as the years progress. It is an essential part of the survival of any species that its young be able to fly the nest and be individuals in their own right. Perhaps this is the reason that a loss of control or autonomy in our lives has been found to lead to symptoms of panic, anxiety and depression.

As I write this latest in the series of blogs on our basic psychological needs, Valentines Day is nearly upon us. Naturally attitudes vary about this day with it’s increasing commercial attention. The purpose of the day has become increasingly blurred, with people giving cards and presents to loved ones at various levels. There are even websites promoting Valentines for pets!

At it’s simplest though, perhaps it is an opportunity to focus on the basic need for intimacy that we discussed in the previous blog of this series. Remember that intimacy is something that can be shared at different levels with different people. It’s not necessarily about love and romance.

Closely linked to intimacy is another basic human need – the need to regularly give and receive attention.

In this latest blog in my series on meeting your psychological needs I am focusing on our need for challenge. 

Not everybody wants to climb Everest, swim the channel or run an ultra-marathon. Some people do these things without thinking, but they are not essential to everybody. When it comes to being creative, which is related to challenge, we don’t all want to become the new Picasso. While it may be true that we all have a novel in us, we might be perfectly happy to keep it there!

However on some level, there is a basic human need to be challenged. If we live a life entirely based on habit, a safe environment, comfort and casual social interaction, over time, it is very likely that our boundaries of what is safe will shift.

By Judy Sharp Dip Hyp; Dip PLT
GHR and CNHC registered

Hypnotherapy is simply the therapeutic use of hypnosis as a way of accessing the unconscious to resolve a very wide range of issues ranging from irrational fears and phobias to anxiety and depression; from emotional trauma to weight management; from challenges with relationships or money to giving up smoking. Or it can be used to harness the potential of the unconscious to provide motivation and positive suggestions to overcome stressful situations: exam nerves, driving test blues, yips on the golf course, giving presentations to large audiences ….

Have you ever been mesmerized by flames in a log fire? Or been lost in a beautiful piece of music? Have you been in a car on a rainy journey as the wipers slip-slapped against the windscreen? Then you have slid into “an altered state of consciousness” – precisely the “trance state” that is induced in a session of hypnotherapy.

The mind is like an iceberg

The mind is like an iceberg, with the 10% that shows above the surface of the ocean being the conscious mind, controlling our day-to-day activities and rational, cognitive functions. The 90% of the iceberg sitting quietly below the ocean equates to the unconscious mind. This is the control centre, the computer hard drive, and by by-passing the conscious mind, the hypnotherapist can access the unconscious mind. Not only does it monitor all the physical and biochemical processes that keep us alive, such as breathing and temperature control, it also influences our overall health and wellbeing. It is in the unconscious mind that all memories and traumas, feelings and emotions are stored, and it is here that the therapist works to find the real underlying emotional root cause of an issue.