Hypnotherapy can be used to treat a wide range of conditions. One which I have been doing a lot of work with recently is pain reduction and management. Clinical trials have shown that Hypnotherapy can eliminate, or at least reduce, pain and it does so without the side-effects of pain killing drugs. Even better, you can to use these techniques for yourself so you can become self-reliant and in control of your pain.
Over 8 million people in the UK say they are in chronic / persistent pain 19.5 million people in the UK are in pain at least once a day. And the older we get, the more we are affected by chronic pain. A recent survey found 20% of over 55s are in chronic pain, with an additional 19% being in pain at least once a day, though they would not describe it as chronic.
It’s a little known fact that all pain, no matter where or how it is felt, is produced by the brain. When you injure yourself, the nerves of your body can only tell your brain that something is wrong. So when you sub your toe, it’s your brain and not your toe, that interprets this and says to you, ‘Ow, this hurts’.
Because of the way hypnotherapy works there are a number of benefits. These include it having an impact on the effect of the pain as well as the pain itself, reduces stress and anxiety associated with pain and avoid or reduce the need for opioids. A well-known example of this is hypnotherapy can be used to reduce or eliminate the need for pain relief during child birth. This is called Hypnobirthing and there are a number of well know people who have used it, including Jessica Alba and the Princess of Wales (Catherine Middleton).
Now this is fantastic news, but a word of caution. Before you can use hypnotherapy for pain relief you need to try to understand the cause of the pain. Pain is essentially a side effect of something else. Removing the pain without trying to understand it can be a problem. Once the cause of the pain is diagnosed or understood hypnotherapy can be used to reduce or eliminate this flow of information. It can also be used to address pain that has no obvious cause but only once obvious causes have been investigated.
BBC’s One Show medical presenter, Michael Mosley, investigated hypnosis for pain relief with Dr Stewart Derbyshire (Psychologist and pain researcher) of Birmingham University. The results illustrate how effective it can be. As Wim Hof (Dutch extreme athlete noted for his ability to withstand low temperatures) said, “Your brain has the power to modify your pain perception”.
And traditional clinical hypnotherapy is not the only way hypnosis can help with pain relief. As part of Introspective Hypnosis sessions the root cause of physical ailments can be revealed. This can often be from a previous experience.
So if you are suffering and want help to manage the pain and associated symptoms then contact me.