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.

We all have a basic psychological need to look after our minds and bodies. This is one of the prime directives of our unconscious minds and mentioned in the list of basic needs identified by the Human Givens Institute

It stands to reason that we have evolved this as a psychological driver. If we were not intrinsically designed to look after ourselves then surely, as a race, we could not survive. This drive exists across the natural world, every living thing lives with the overall drive to survive physically and mentally (within its capacity to do so).

What is amazing is the extent to which we, as humans, appear to push against this need!