What about confidentiality?

My approach is rooted in empathy, understanding, and confidentiality. As a member of The General Hypnotherapy Register (GHR) and adhering to their strict Codes of Ethics, along with being DBS checked, insured, and trained in safeguarding, you can trust that you're in safe hands. Your privacy is paramount, and I will never share anything you discuss with me unless you explicitly give me permission to so.* You can also find me on The Hypnotherapy Directory where I abide by their Strick rules for membership.

(*with a few legal exceptions, mainly relating to risk of harm)

How much does hypnotherapy cost? What is the price for hypnosis?

I want everyone to be able to access the therapy they deserve. This is why I offer a free 20 minute discovery call so I can understand more about your problem and whether Hypno CBT is the right therapy for you before you commit. It also gives you the chance to see if you are comfortable with me.

After this I charge £40 - £70 per session depending on what you can afford. We can discuss this during your free 20 minute call. Everyone is different, however hypnotherapy is fast and usually only takes 4 - 6 weeks.

What is hypnosis? What is hypnotherapy?

Hypnosis is a completely safe and effective way of using your mind to make positive changes.

Hypnosis in some ways, is much like a guided meditation or mindfulness.

Hypnosis enables us to put aside our thoughts and sensory reactions so that a deeper state of concentration and receptiveness can be obtained.

Hypnosis increases our ability to be able to focus on one idea- monoideism!

Most people when asked will report being completely aware of everything that has happened during hypnosis. In fact, you need to be focused on what is being said to be able to accept ideas and actively use your imagination during hypnosis.

It is not ‘trance’ or ‘mind control’ - it is instead a natural process that allows you to be fully in control.

Anyone can be hypnotised. Some people may be more suggestible than others, however, with practise you can get better at it.

Hypnotherapy is simply the use of hypnosis in a therapeutic setting.

At The Nest Hypnotherapy we use hypnotherapy alongside CBT to help you make changes to the way you think, feel and act.

What is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy?

CBT is short for cognitive behavioural therapy. It is the most well researched and evidenced psychotherapy there is.

It combines 2 types of therapy -

• cognitive therapy - which examines the way you think

• behavioural therapy - which examines the way you act

It is based on the idea that how we think, feel and act are all inter-related and impact each other.

What is Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy?

Cognitive behavioural Hypnotherapy combines the use of CBT and hypnosis as well as mindfulness, making it a unique “hypnotic-psychotherapy” sometimes called Hypno CBT!

What training for hypnotherapy and CBT do you have?

I have an evidence-based Level 4 Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy (or CBH) from the outstanding UK College of Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy.

It is independently awarded by the government regulated, national exam awarding body the NCFE. It is the only UK hypnotherapy training course that is approved by the British Psychological Society (BPS) as CPD for psychologists, and is accredited by all of the major hypnotherapy organisations.

It is an integrated model of CBT, mindfulness and hypnosis which focuses on those aspects of hypnotherapy which have been shown through scientific studies to work- Hypno CBT!

Does hypnotherapy work? Where is the evidence that it works? Is hypnotherapy a recognised therapy?

Absolutely! Hypnosis is a serious research topic in psychology.

Hypno CBT is an evidence-based approach to hypnosis and hypnotherapy drawing on the extensive research literature. (See below 14 points substantiated by reference to a major piece of scientific research)

Unfortunately there is a lot misinformation about hypnosis that makes people unsure about it. Here is an article from the National Library of Medicine about the increasing evidence for the usefulness and cost-effectiveness of using hypnosis for a wide variety of conditions.

These 14 points below are substantiated by reference to at least one major piece of scientific research.

1. The ability to experience hypnotic phenomena does not indicate gullibility or weakness (Barber, 1969).

2. Hypnosis is not a sleep-like state (Banyai, 1991).

3. Hypnosis depends more on the efforts and abilities of the subject than on the skill of the hypnotist (Hilgard,1965).

4. Subjects retain the ability to control their behaviour during hypnosis, to refuse to respond to suggestions, and to even oppose suggestions (see Lynn, Rhue, and Weekes, 1990).

5. Spontaneous amnesia is relatively rare (Simon & Salzberg, 1985), and its unwanted occurrence can be prevented by informing clients that they will be able to remember everything that they are comfortable remembering about the session.

6. Suggestions can be responded to with or without hypnosis, and the function of a formal induction is primarily to increase suggestibility to a minor degree (see Barber, 1969; Hilgard, 1965).

7. Hypnosis is not a dangerous procedure when practised by qualified clinicians and researchers (see Lynn, Martin, and Frauman, 1996).

8. Most hypnotised subjects are neither faking nor merely complying with suggestions (Kirsch, Silva, Carone, Johnston & Simon, 1989).

9. Hypnosis does not increase the accuracy of memory (Lynn, Lock, Myers & Payne, 1997) or foster a literal re-experiencing of childhood events (Nash, 1987).

10. Direct, traditionally-worded hypnotic techniques appear to be just as effective as permissive, open-ended, indirect suggestions (Lynn, Neufeld, & Mare, 1993).

11. A wide variety of hypnotic inductions can be effective – e.g., inductions that emphasise alertness can be just as effective as inductions that promote physical relaxation (Banyai, 1991).

12. Most hypnotised subjects do not describe their experience as “trance” but as focused attention on suggested events (McConkey, 1986).

13. Hypnosis is not a reliable means of recovering repressed memories but might increase the danger of creating false memories (Lynn & Nash, 1994).

14. Hypnotisability can be substantially modified through a “skills training” approach (Gorassini & Spanos, 1999; Spanos, 1991). Many initially low-hypnotisable participants can respond like high-hypnotisable participants after positive attitudes about hypnosis are instantiated and training in imagining, interpreting, and responding to suggestions is undertaken. Research in at least five laboratories (see Spanos, 1991) has shown that more than half of participants who test as low hypnotisable can, after assessment and training in a variety of cognitive-behavioural skills, test in the high hypnotisable range on a variety of assessment instruments and suggestions, some of which were not specifically targeted in the training.

(Lynn, S. J., Kirsch, I., Neufeld, J. & Rhue, J. W. (1996).
Taken from the Chapter: Clinical hypnosis: assessment, applications, and treatment considerations. In: S. J. Lynn, I. Kirsch & J. W. Rhue (Eds.), Casebook of Clinical Hypnosis (pp. 6-7 – numbering added). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.)

References

• Banyai, E. I. & Hilgard, E. R. (1976). A comparison of active-alert hypnotic induction with traditional relaxation induction. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 85: 218–224.

• Banyai, E. I. (1991). Toward a social-psychobiological model of hypnosis. In S. J. Lynn and J. W. Rhue (Eds), Theories of hypnosis: Current models and perspectives (pp. 564-598). New York. Guildford Press

• Barber, T. X. (1969). Hypnosis: A Scientific Approach. South Orange, NJ: Power Publishers.

• Barber, T. X., Spanos, N. P. & Chaves, J. F. (1974). Hypnotism, Imagination & Human Potentialities. New York: Pergamon Press.

• Gorassini, D. R. & Spanos, N. P. (1999). The Carleton skill training program for modifying hypnotic suggestibility: Original version and variations. In: I. Kirsch, A. Capafons, E. Cardeña-Buelna & S. Amigó, Clinical Hypnosis & Self-Regulation: Cognitive-Behavioural Perspectives (pp. 141–177). Washington: American Psychological Association.

• Hilgard, E. R. (1965). Hypnotic Susceptibility. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World.

• Kirsch, I. Silva, C. E et al (1989) The surreptitious observation design: An experimental paradigm for distinguishing artefact from essence in hypnosis. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 98(2), 132-136

• Lynn, S. J., Lock, T., Myers, B., & Payne, D. (1997) Recalling the unrecallable: Should hypnosis be used for memory recover in psychotherapy?  Current Directions in Psychological Science, 6, 79-83

• Lynn, S. J., Martin, D., & Frauman, D. C. (1996). Does hypnosis pose special risks for negative effects?  International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 44, 7-19

• Lynn, S. J. & Nash, M. R. (1994). Truth in Memory: Ramifications for psychotherapy and hypnotherapy. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 36, 194-208

• Lynn, S. J., Neufeld, V. & Maré, C. (1993). Direct versus indirect suggestions: a conceptual and methodological review. International Journal for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 41: 124–152.

• Lynne S. J., Rhue J. W., & Weekes. J. R. (1990). Hypnotic involuntariness: A social-cognitive analysis. Psychological Review, 97, 169-184

• McConkey, K. M. (1986). Opinions about hypnosis and self-hypnosis before and after hypnotic testing.  International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 34, 311-319

• Nash, M. R. (1987). What if anything is regressed about age regression?  A review of the empirical literature. Psychological Bulletin, 102, 42-52.

• Simon, M. J. & Salzberg, H. C. (1985). The effect of manipulated expectancies on post-hypnotic amnesia. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 33, 40-51

• Spanos, N. P. (1991). A sociocognitive approach to hypnosis. In S. J. Lynn and J. W. Rhue (Eds), Theories of hypnosis: Current models and perspectives (pp. 324-361). New York. Guildford Press