Ten Good Reasons to Visit a Hypnotherapist

By Jane Hodgkin Marketing and PR Director National Council for Hypnotherapy

Today, people take more responsibility for their own well- being. They look around and see a huge choice of practitioners. Why should they turn to a hypnotherapist?

1. BROAD SCOPE Hypnotherapy can help with anything in which the mind has an influence. So its range is far wider than is sometimes thought. While it works very well for phobias, smoking and weight control, it can also relieve nausea in chemotherapy patients, prepare people for surgery and faster recovery, relieve insomnia, improve sport performance - and much more.

2. SCIENTIFIC BACKING. "Hypnotherapy is supported by more scientific research than any other complementary therapy". (The Which? Guide to Complementary Therapies, 2002). As Shaun Brookhouse, Chair of the NCH, points out, hypnotism has been recognised as valid by the British Medical Association since 1955.

3. FAST RESULTS Using a very light state of trance, similar to day-dreaming, or absorption in a book or tv programme, means that change can take place more quickly than simply through talking. This means treatment is often surprisingly brief.

4. PARTNERSHIP Modern, well-trained hypnotherapists nowadays use gentle, non-authoritarian approaches, in a spirit of partnership and cooperation with you. Their aim is to guide you to create better choices for yourself.

5. TO UPDATE YOUR MIND A hypnotherapist is a "change mechanic", according to NCH Research Director John Lawrence. If you are stuck with a habit, a behaviour, feelings or a condition that you cannot sort out yourself, a hypnotherapist can be your mind mechanic, to help you on the right road again. For example, if any raised voice reduces you to a jelly and now you want to work in a pressured environment, where raised voices are the norm, you can "unlearn" the jelly response and feel more confident.

6. TAILOR-MADE Because each client's perceptions and experience are different, well-trained hypnotherapists will give you designer service, as opposed to off-the-peg. They will listen carefully to what is currently going on for you and what you'd like to change, then tailor the techniques they use.

7. USE THE MIND-BODY CONNECTION Today's hypnotherapists work from an understanding of the mind and of the mind-body connection that is based on modern neuroscience. This enables them to work successfully with problems such as pain control, IBS, and the stress/anxiety response. Trevor Silvester, editor of the NCH's Hypnotherapy Journal, says "hypnotherapy is a marvellous medium for using the mind-body connection."

8. VALUE FOR MONEY "With hypnotherapy you learn strategies and it is more empowering than simply talking to someone," as a client of NCH Training Director Carole Wan said. The therapy effect continues to multiply long after the sessions have ended. It is like teaching someone to fish instead of handing them a piece of cod.

9. THE WHOLE PERSON "Hypnotherapy works with you as an individual, a whole person, not just a symptom. It does not impose generalised labels and remedies on you." (Josephine Teague, NCH Ethics Director).

10. HIGH STANDARDS NCH Hypnotherapists have received a high standard of training. They work to a comprehensive Code of Ethics and Practice, which the NCH actively implements. The NCH can be contacted on freephone 0800 952 0545, or by emailing admin@hypnotherapists.org.uk Jane Hodgkin's website is www.hypno-west.co.uk