Hypnotherapy and health
It is well established that our mental wellbeing can have a positive or negative influence on our physical wellbeing. Emotional difficulties and distress usually make our physical health worse. Perhaps conventional medicine has been partially responsible for removing the responsibility for our own health from us. There are millions of drugs aimed to treat our symptoms, but do we sometimes miss the origin of the problem? I am not for one moment suggesting that hypnotherapy is a replacement for conventional medicine – it is not. However we are becoming more and more aware that people can have some control over the way they handle illness. This is where hypnosis comes in.
Hypnotherapy takes a holistic approach to pain, illness and disease to utilise the strong connection between mind and body. Anyone who has ever blushed in response to an embarrassing thought has first-hand experience of how this connection works. What we think really does influence how our body behaves.
Many people live with chronic or unexplained pain. There are many factors which affect our response to pain – hormones, psychological, cultural and environmental. It is possible that the way pain and illness were approached when we were young affects the way we deal with pain in later life.
Hypnosis has been used to combat pain since the mid-19th century and can be used in a number of ways. However before you engage in a course of hypnotherapy you must ensure that you have been fully investigated by and have the permission of your general practitioner to proceed. Hypnotherapy can be used before an operation or visit to the dentist, before and during childbirth (hypnobirthing), to help cope with acute pain, or a trauma and also in learning to adjust after a chronic illness is diagnosed.
Hypnotherapy can be used in a wide range of medical conditions particularly those exacerbated by stress or anxiety. Stress is a major contributor to illness as it weakens the body’s defences, raises the blood pressure and increases the risk of vascular disease, stroke and heart attack.
Conditions which respond to hypnotherapy: Asthma, eczema, migraine, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), psoriasis and many more…
IBS and Hypnosis: IBS is the most common gastroenterological condition affecting 10 -20% if the population at one time. Hypnotherapy is recommended in the NICE guidelines (2008) and by the British Gastroenterology Society (2000) as a treatment for those suffering symptoms for greater than 12 months.
The connection between mind and body is very strong and hypnotherapy can empower you to influence your health positively.
If you would like to know more please call me on 07769892376 and follow me on Twitter and Facebook.