Clinical Hypnotherapy & Hypnosis Blog

While traditional therapies deal almost exclusively with the conscious intellectual mind hypnotherapy works with the subconscious mind to. Hypnosis is a state of awareness where it becomes possible to tap into those deep unconscious resources we all possess, allowing a person to make desired changes. This subconscious communication is utilised in treatment to develop new behaviours, put problems into perspective and draw on positive experience. Suggestions (direct and indirect), therapeutic interventions, visualisation, metaphor and language structures are used, to help a person achieve their goals. In a relaxed hypnotic state, acceptance goes even deeper than it would in a non-hypnotic state and by using hypnotherapy a person can alter the way they feel, change outdated beliefs, and conquer bad habits.

It is important to understand that the changes that occur from hypnotherapy begin below conscious awareness. What does this mean and why is it so important? What does subconscious change feel like? Well ultimately subconscious change is empowering as new strengths and positive behaviours begin immerging and disrupting negative patterns in a personal and unique way for each person. The changes come from within so they are acceptable and feel completely natural to each individual. Where before the subconscious mind may have promoted undesired thoughts or behaviours it now promotes more realistic ones. It is your mind working for you the way you want it to.

Imagine a tailor needs a new suit. He will undoubtedly be able to make his own. He has the resources and skills necessary to achieve this. Not only that but he can design a suit that is a perfect fit, as he envisioned it and to his exact specifications by using his capabilities to help himself achieve this. How much better will that suit be? Everyone has the capabilities within them to change and live the way they want, even if not consciously aware of it. Hypnotherapy uncovers those strengths and resources. Working together with my clients we bring those necessary skills to the surface. This leads to faster improvements, more self belief and less reliance on therapy.

Recently I’ve seen a few clients whose predominant cause of stress was poor time management and thought I would write on the subject.

Bad time management is a systemic problem and therefore daily processes (patterns) need to be changed for long term success. Patterns of behaviour are just patterns and new desired ones can be formed. You can achieve this by implementing simple techniques to disrupt the old patterns while creating and reinforcing new ones.

Good time management is not just about getting things done on time, it is much more than that. It is an important part of health and lifestyle. It will reduce anxiety levels and lead to a happier life in and out of the office. Naturally you will become more efficient when working but other areas of your life will benefit to. Sleep will improve, you get more “me time” and more family time to do the things you enjoy.

There will always be 24 hours in a day. That’s out of your control but what is in your control is how you think about time and how you spend it.

It's helpful to think of time as a commodity just as you would money. You would budget your cash, so why not your time? You can’t get time back, so it's even more valuable.So create a time budget for yourself. The goal should be to have a work-life balanced where neither gets neglected. Getting this balance right will mean during your free time you can actually forget about work because it’s all part of a plan. Of course you may need to change your plans but always have a plan to work with initially.

Keep a to-do list and every morning look at your list and prioritise the tasks on it. To make this simple decide on the 3 or 4 most important tasks. Think of each task in terms of value to you or your company. Decide how much time you are going to spend on each task. Question the things on your list. Are they all necessary? What will they achieve? It’s a good idea to schedule the more demanding tasks for times in the day when you know you are more efficient. Attention to detail is great, but ask yourself how useful the extra detail is? How much value does it add to the project and at what cost? Will it mean compromising other tasks? Will it take up all the free time you planned to have? It’s always better to do the necessary things adequately then the unnecessary things perfectly. When the Navajo Indians weave a basket they always leave a knot so the gods won't think that they're trying to be gods themselves. Just do the best you can and know you can leave a knot and still achieve what you want.

Normally a topic like this wouldn’t interest me however having watched last night’s show I thought I'd share my take on some of what happened.

Last night on channel 4, Derren Brown stuck people to their seats. Apparently he achieved this by playing a video containing hidden suggestion. How did he really do it? Was it all to do with the video he created? Hmmm not sure about that. I do know however that everything leading up to the video was important to its success. All the advertising HOW TO CONTROL THE NATION, the fact that he is well known in his field, even the show itself played major roles in preparing people to be open and watch the show with a sense of expectancy or even belief of it working. If he had played the video at the beginning of the show the result would certainly have been worse. He prepared the viewers out there that were interested in getting stuck to their seats and influenced those that were more suggestible, so by the time the video played more people would experience some or total catalepsy. His introduction to the video was filled with strong hypnotic suggestion. The camera zoomed up close to his face and he asked viewers to imagine certain things...been glued, welded to their seat and suggested the harder they try the more stuck they would get etc. This is the same style and format of suggestion used in some trance depth tests. So the introduction to the video was probably an intricate part, responsible for the rest falling into place.

Interestingly enough a young caller said he was “kinda stuck” and when asked at what point he became aware of this the caller replied “just before the video started” (during the intro.) Derren quickly moved on. Speaking to the next caller Derren asked "When did you feel it happening during the video or at the end?" I’m sure you can see my point. He likely wanted to influenced the latter response to one that he desired. In my opinion the video was of very little importance, other than adding to the elaborate showmanship that is, after all, necessary in such performances.

The title of the show itself is misleading as it contains the word "control". Nobody was controlled, only willing to take part. Those who did get stuck only did so because they wanted to and allowed themselves to. A more appropriate title would have been “How to Seemingly Control the Nation” but I guess that wouldn't be as catchy. The use of psychology and hypnosis for entertainment and misdirection is a waste. Unfortunately 90% of the misconceptions people have about hypnosis stem from stage performers.

I'm sure you have heard the phrase "sleep on it" many times. Likewise I expect you have had the experience of going to bed with a problem only to wake up with the solution. How does sleep present us with answers? Why is it so important?

Up until the 1950s scientists generally assumed the brain was shut down while we slept. The latest research however tells us that while we are slumbering our brain is busy processing information gathered during the day.

A German psychologist had evidence as far back as 1885 to suggest that sleep protects simple memories. In 1953 Eugene Aserinsky and Nathaniel Kleitman of the University of Chicago discovered variations in the brain activity of sleeping people. They found that sleep follows a 90 minute cycle that takes us in and out of rapid eye movement (REM) Decades on it was discovered that in between these REM phases, during slow wave sleep, collections of neurons were independently firing. With large collections of brain cells firing in synch, it became clear that the brain was not merely idle at all.

In 1994 a ground breaking study became a turning point in our understanding of sleep. At the Weizmen Institute of Science in Israel, neurobioligists Avi Karni, Dov Sagi and colleagues demonstrated that when volunteers had a good night sleep they improved at tasks involving rapid discrimination between objects. This was the case ONLY if the volunteers had had a normal amount of REM sleep.

The different stages of sleep

Sleep is divided into five distinct phases, each defined by specific brainwaves that can be measured through EEG. Fig. 1 below shows these stages and the amount we should get of each when we sleep. I have also included the distinguishing brainwaves and characteristics of each phase.

Stages 3 & 4 merge together and are the periods we experience the most slow wave (delta wave) sleep. Slow wave sleep is needed to recuperate used up energy. Studies have found that if deprived of sleep then the rebound back into slow wave sleep is faster because the body has a need for more. Now stage 5 is different, REM (beta wave) sleep actually burns up energy and serves an altogether different purpose. The brainwave examples in Fig. 2 below clearly show the brain is highly active during a beta REM phase.

REM and mental health

In terms of mental health REM is extremely important. Each and every day we face different situations and circumstances. Inevitably some of these may be the cause of stress and emotional arousal. Of course these levels of stress will vary depending on a number of factors. The most important being the thoughts patterns surrounding the events. The link between negative thinking and anxiety is well known. This emotional arousal needs to be managed so it doesn’t adversely impact on the next day or continue increasing until it leads to further anxiety related issues or depression. The brain has a coping mechanism for dealing with these levels of emotional arousal. You guessed it! REM is that mechanism. During REM sleep the brain reruns the day’s events in formed memories, reviewing and stabilising them so that they are of more use to us. Our unconscious mind can analyse these memory collections and identify what content is important or helpful to us and what can fade away. The brain solves problems and dispels accumulated emotional arousal in this way. So when REM sleep is working as it should we wake up feeling free from the upsets of the previous day. This means we can cope better with any new challenges we face.

We know REM takes up around 20% of sleep when it is working as it should and it is important that we get the right amount. Too little REM sleep would mean that there is a risk of ending up with a surplus of anxiety that has not been dealt with only accumulated. Too much REM is also counterproductive as it uses up an enormous amount of energy.If there is too much emotional arousal during the day caused by negative thinking or circumstance, REM sleep will work overtime to cope with it. Likewise oversleeping could lead to too much REM. Both negative thinking and oversleeping are characteristics of depression and because they lead to an increased amount of REM, the person often feels exhausted when they wake up and/or lethargic throughout the day.

Getting a good night’s sleep

A person can feel dramatically better just by getting their sleep pattern in order. In today’s modern world people are generally getting less sleep than they should be. Even with a fast paced lifestyle sleep should be seen as an important part of health.

• Develop a routine. Go to bed at the same time and wake up at the same time. An adult should sleep around the 8 hour mark.

• Avoid eating a heavy meal with less than 2 hours before bed

• Avoid any stimulants at night that may keep you awake (coffee, chocolate)

• Unwind in the evenings. Try to relax and not think of the days problems. A warm bath or relaxing music may help. If you are anxious try relaxation techniques, hypnotherapy (suitable CD) or meditation.

• Get regular exercise

If anxiety or stress consistently stop you from sleeping, you should consider seeing a qualified therapist or your GP. Playing a hypnotherapy CD as you go to bed at night will reduce your general anxiety levels and help you get a good night’s rest.

The word hypnosis may bring to mind thoughts of swinging watches, spinning spirals and someone repeating the word sleep in their deepest voice. These are merely clichés that have been strengthened by the media during the history of hypnosis. Some people still view hypnosis as mind control. David Spiegel, professor of psychiatry and behavioural sciences at Stanford's school of medicine, said

It's thought to be something that takes away control from a patient, but it's actually something that enhances their own self control. So you can teach people how to manage their anxiety, how to manage their pain and they are grateful for it.

Furthermore hypnosis is not something that somebody does to another person. Let me explain, both the subject and the hypnotherapist/hypnotist need to actively take part and work together to achieve a hypnotic state. If someone does not want to experience hypnosis, quite simply they won't.

The word hypnosis itself is slightly misleading as “hypno” suggests it is a sleep when in fact it isn't. Dr James Braid (1795-1860) was a Scottish physician who became a famed surgeon in Manchester. He is also known as the "father" of modern hypnosis. Braid coined the term, hypnosis using the Greek word, hypnos, meaning sleep. Once the term hypnosis caught on, Dr. Braid thought it over and theorized that the hypnotic subject is never really asleep so he tried to rename hypnosis to 'monoideism'. Although the new name never caught on it is a more accurate description. ‘Monoideaism’ means ‘mono’ = a single, ‘ideaism’ (for ‘idea’) = thought or idea. Researchers have long stated that hypnosis can be characterized as a relaxed, narrowly focused form of attention. Most scientists will agree that a combination of increased relaxation, concentration and heightened suggestibility is involved in hypnosis but not sleep.

Although the beneficial effects of hypnosis have been known of for some time, modern neuroimaging technologies now give us a better understanding of what happens in the brain of a hypnotised person. In 2000 Spiegel ran a study into perceptual and sensory experiences to demonstrate the effects hypnosis has on the brain. The study involved asking hypnotised and non-hypnotised people to view pictures in both colour and greyscale. When it was suggested that those hypnotised would see photos in colour, the regions of the brain responsible for processing colour were activated, even if they were looking at the greyscale images. When the same hypnotised people were told they would only see the images in greyscale, the activity of the colour processing regions of the brain decreased, even if they viewed the colour photos. From this research, the scientists from Harvard and Stanford have demonstrated beyond doubt that hypnotised people use their brain subconsciously in a way not previously thought possible by scientists.

Michael Nash, a psychologist at the University of Texas and the former editor of the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis has said “As we do more and more research in laboratories, we can, in a sense, ‘domesticate’ hypnosis, the neuroscience link adds a component to the credibility of hypnosis.”

Hypnosis is a natural state that we all go in and out of several times a day although most people will not recognise it. Becoming so engrossed in the storyline of a book or movie to the exclusion of the surrounding environment is an example of this state that most people can relate to. We've all experienced this state of mind and it is not mystical or controlling in any way, but it can be used therapeutically to change undesired patterns of behaviour and speed up the healing process.

To understand how hypnosis can be used therapeutically it is first important to cover the differences between the conscious and subconscious mind. By knowing how the subconscious mind influences us every second of everyday, only then can we really begin to appreciate the many advantages that accessing this part of the mind therapeutically, can yield.

Conscious

This is your awareness the part of the mind you know as you. Experts will tell us it takes up around 10% of the brains activity. Your conscious mind is rational, thoughtful and capable of planning ahead. It is an innovative mind that can successfully weigh up the pros and cons of situations you find yourself in to determine the best way forward.

Consciousness is mainly associated with the neo-cortex (see diagram below). The part of the brain involved in higher functions like conscious thought, perception, reasoning and language. However it is not as simple as stating that consciousness can be located within the neo-cortex. It is more likely that the minds selection of conscious content depends on neural activity in parts of the brain that do not add to conscious content itself. In fact according to a research article published by Raphaël Gaillard and his team in March 2009, signals from implanted electrodes in the brain of epilepsy sufferers may have revealed a ‘conscious signature’. Interestingly the study suggests conscious perception is spread and arises from the coordinated activity of the entire brain.

Regardless of where consciousness is located, what’s clear is when we run our lives intellectually we make the best decisions for ourselves and run our lives well. Brain imaging scans have shown that positive thoughts, behaviours and goal setting skills are associated with the left prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain located in frontal lobe of the neo-cortex. If a person is suffering with depression this area of the brain shows the greatest weakness. Hence why it becomes difficult to set goals, believe that they are attainable or to stay positive. It is clear to, that negative subconscious emotions hinder conscious control. Emotions are probably the most primitive influences on conscious content and are associated with structures such as the amygdala, which in turn heads the limbic system. These emotions can influence our conscious thought or behaviour e.g. If you have strong feelings toward someone you are likely to consciously view them in a positive light/want to be near them and vice versa.

Subconscious

The subconscious governs the limbic system and is responsible for running the functions of the body and mind we don’t need to think about. It is a primitive mind that hasn’t evolved much since the days of hunter gatherers. Its main role is to keep us away from things that may harm us and close to things that are safe or pleasurable. Understandably this in necessary for our survival so the subconscious mind is vigilant at all times. It is constantly assessing the environment and promoting behaviours it deems appropriate for the situations we find ourselves in but it can’t be innovative. To elaborate on this further, every second we receive approximately two million packets of information through our senses. This information compiles a report of the environment around us; naturally most of it won’t reach conscious awareness. So the report comes in and the subconscious acts as a bit of a filter. It will draw on previous experience and evolutionarily inherited skills stored and come back with a response. This is necessary as we simply do not have the conscious resources available to think every action through before we make one. During a conversation you may nod your head in agreement without realising it or on the other end of the spectrum, if you came face to face with a danger your subconscious mind would trigger the fight or flight response and prepare you to either fight or flee the danger. All automatic responses that happen without thought stem from the subconscious mind. The suconscious mind does also have the capability to override all intellectual control. You can see this absolutely if someone is faced with a danger and the fight or flight response kicks in. Their anxiety levels go through the roof, they get pumped full of adrenaline and they simply react in an instant. Likewise nobody would consciously decide to have a panic attack if that had a choice so it's clear that's a subconscious response to.

The subconscious mind certainly is capable of learning new behaviours and skills that can help you toward achieving your goals. Hypnosis provides a means of accessing this large resource that is inherent in all of us. This is something I will cover in detail soon. Watch this space...

Reference: Gaillard R, Dehaene S, Adam C, Clémenceau S, Hasboun D, et al. 2009 Converging Intracranial Markers of Conscious Access. PLoS Biol 7(3): e1000061. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1000061