Problems where hypnotherapy can help

There are many problems Hypnotherapy and Human Givens can help with

Addictions

Addictions—whether to smoking, alcohol, gambling, porn, or sugar—all stem from the brain’s reward system, specifically how we process pleasure and gratification. These substances or behaviours trigger a surge of dopamine, a chemical in the brain associated with pleasure and reward. Over time, the brain begins to crave these dopamine spikes, which fuels the cycle of addiction. This repetitive behaviour becomes a way to fill a deeper emotional or psychological void, often rooted in unmet needs such as emotional connection, validation, or stress relief.

Many individuals turn to addictive substances or behaviours when other parts of their life feel unfulfilled. For instance, stress at work, relationship difficulties, or unresolved trauma can drive someone to seek relief in smoking or drinking, while loneliness or low self-esteem might lead to gambling or porn addiction. The addictive cycle becomes a way to escape or numb these underlying issues, creating an unhealthy loop that can be hard to break.

Solution-focused hypnotherapy, Human Givens Therapy, and guided visualisations offer effective tools to combat addiction by addressing these deep-rooted causes. Through these therapeutic approaches, clients can visualize the life they want to live and identify new ways to meet their unmet needs in healthier, more sustainable ways. By focusing on the solutions and goals rather than the problem itself, these therapies help individuals reprogram their subconscious mind, shifting their focus away from addictive behaviours and towards more constructive habits. Clients are empowered to think about the future they desire and how they can replace the need for addictive substances or behaviours with healthier alternatives.

How Hypnotherapy Helps with Addiction

Research shows that hypnotherapy can be an effective intervention for breaking addictions. Hypnosis works by bypassing the conscious mind to reach the subconscious, where automatic behaviours and patterns are stored. During a hypnotherapy session, the therapist introduces positive suggestions that help the client break free from the habitual cycle of addiction, reprogramming the brain’s responses to triggers. A study published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology found that hypnosis can be highly effective in helping individuals quit smoking by changing their relationship with nicotine, making the idea of smoking less appealing. Similar results have been found for alcohol and gambling addictions.

In these sessions, you might explore questions like: What drives your addiction? What needs are not being met in your life? What would your life look like if you no longer rely on addictive substances or behaviours? Through hypnosis, you can begin to visualise and work toward a life free from addiction, reinforcing the idea that change is possible.

Treatment Plan and Commitment

Depending on the type of addiction and your personal circumstances, the number of sessions required to overcome addiction can vary. Some clients may find relief after just one or two sessions, while others with deeper or more long-standing addictions might require up to 12 sessions. Each session typically lasts about an hour and involves a combination of Solution-Focused Therapy, Human Givens, and hypnotherapy techniques tailored to your unique needs.

It’s important to note that full commitment from the client is essential to success. Overcoming addiction is a personal journey that requires dedication, self-awareness, and a willingness to embrace change. Hypnotherapy is not a quick fix, but with the right mindset and consistent effort, it can help you regain control over your life.

The Problem of Anger Management

Anger and frustration are natural and necessary human emotions. They can help us recognize when something is wrong or when we feel threatened, enabling us to respond. However, anger becomes problematic when it spirals out of control, leading to negative consequences in personal relationships, at work, or within ourselves. When the emotion becomes overwhelming or a habitual reaction, it can harm both mental and physical health, and potentially damage those around us.

When someone becomes angry, a surge of stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol floods the body. This increase in adrenaline elevates heart rate and blood pressure, triggering the body’s “fight or flight” response. Muscle tension increases, fists may clench, jaws tighten, and sometimes physical reactions occur—such as slamming doors, breaking objects, or even shouting. These responses are signs of how anger manifests physically, as the body prepares for action.

Some individuals, however, internalize their anger, suppressing it instead of expressing it outwardly. This repression can build over time, creating internal pressure that may lead to explosive outbursts when it all becomes too much. Suppressing anger not only causes emotional stress but can also lead to long-term health problems, including hypertension, digestive issues, and depression.

Understanding the Cycle of Anger

The anger cycle can feel relentless and difficult to escape. Often, people find themselves trapped in a repetitive pattern of reacting to triggers with anger, followed by guilt or regret after the outburst. This cycle can erode self-esteem and damage relationships, creating feelings of isolation and helplessness. Breaking free from this cycle is essential to regaining control and emotional balance.

Anger is often fueled by deeper underlying issues, such as stress, unmet needs, or unresolved emotional trauma. For some, anger may be a learned behaviour from childhood or a coping mechanism for dealing with emotional pain. Recognizing the root causes of anger is an important first step in managing it effectively.

How Therapy Can Help with Anger Management

A range of therapeutic approaches can help individuals manage anger more effectively and break free from destructive patterns:

Solution-Focused Psychotherapy: This approach helps individuals focus on the solutions rather than the problems themselves. By setting clear, achievable goals for how to respond to anger triggers, clients can develop healthier coping strategies and regain control over their emotional responses. The aim is to look forward rather than dwell on past patterns of behaviour.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): CBT is widely recognized as one of the most effective treatments for anger management. It helps clients identify negative thought patterns and replace them with more balanced, rational ways of thinking. By addressing the triggers that lead to anger and learning how to respond differently, individuals can reduce the intensity and frequency of angry outbursts.
Mindfulness: Mindfulness techniques, such as deep breathing and meditation, help individuals stay present in the moment and reduce emotional reactivity. These practices encourage self-awareness, helping clients recognize the early signs of anger and address them before they escalate. Mindfulness can also promote relaxation, which counteracts the physiological responses of anger, such as increased heart rate and muscle tension.
Hypnotherapy: Hypnotherapy works by accessing the subconscious mind, where many of our automatic reactions, including anger, are stored. Through hypnotherapy, clients can identify and reframe deep-seated beliefs or emotional triggers that contribute to their anger. Visualization and relaxation techniques used in hypnotherapy can help individuals feel calmer and more in control of their emotions.

Reclaiming Control Over Anger

For individuals struggling with anger, reclaiming control over their emotional responses is possible. The journey to manage anger involves recognizing triggers, understanding emotional patterns, and adopting new ways of thinking and responding. Therapy, combined with commitment and self-awareness, can help individuals develop healthier responses to stress and frustration, leading to improved relationships and overall well-being.

Each person’s experience with anger is unique, and as such, the number of sessions required to address it can vary greatly. Some may find relief in a few sessions, while others may need longer-term therapy to address deeper issues that contribute to their anger. Commitment to the process is key, and results depend on an individual’s willingness to explore and implement new ways of managing their emotions.

Conclusion

Managing anger is about regaining control over your emotions and responding in a healthy, constructive way to life’s challenges. With the right combination of therapy, commitment, and self-awareness, you can break free from the cycle of anger and create a more balanced, peaceful life. For more information on how hypnotherapy, CBT, and mindfulness can help with anger management, visit our Anger Management page or contact us directly. Remember, every individual’s journey is unique, but help is always available

*Anxiety and Mild Depression

Hypnotherapy can help with mind or stress-related problems. By my clients learning how the mind works and by understanding how we are affected by our states of mind. They are soon back on the road to recovery in no time. Whereas counselling can often go back over old wounds, which the client may not want to uncover, Solution-Focused therapy instead focuses on what the client wants to achieve, and how they want to achieve it.

Anxiety
Depressed moods, and lack of motivation
Panic attacks
Insomnia
Lack of confidence
Self-esteem
Exam nerves
Grief
Divorce
Separation
Unwanted habits
Physical and mental exhaustion
Recovery after a nervous breakdown
Unnecessary fears and worries
Work stress

Full client commitment is important. Please read FAQ’s for more details.

The problem of Bruxism

Bruxism is a condition that includes grinding, clenching and/or gnashing of teeth. Whether unconsciously or consciously either throughout the day or often when asleep. It is a stress response and although not dangerous like blood pressure, it can do immense harm to your teeth. Hypnotherapy offers the client a way to relax fully and the psychotherapies provided can help recognise the triggers and to focus on how they want things to be.

see Bruxism page for more details.

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Enuresis or adult bedwetting

Bed-wetting or nocturnal enuresis is the unintentional passing of urine at a time when the bladder should already have control. There are many reasons for this lack of control. Some can be physical, some can be psychological and some are part of a sleep problem. Often doctors don’t get much chance to work out what might be at the root of the bedwetting. Solution-focused psychotherapy and hypnotherapy, mindfulness, CBT and NLP can often get to the root of the issue.

See the page on enuresis for more details.

Full client commitment is important. Please read FAQ’s for more details.

*Confidence issues

A lack of confidence can hit us at any age. From lacking in confidence in teens to ask someone out. To lacking in confidence in doing something as simple as walking in the elderly. It’s not something you can measure, it’s just an inner feeling that you have the ability to do something.

Psychotherapy and hypnotherapy can combine very powerfully to bring your levels of confidence to where they should be.

See page on confidence for more details.

Also see: Confidence key to success

Confidence like Wonder Woman

How to be confident

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Diabetes

You may wonder how psychotherapy and hypnotherapy can affect the body and diabetes is a case in point. Type 2 diabetes is often the result of lifestyle choices. Where psychological interventions come in are around being able to stick to a low sugar diet, and reducing alcohol consumption. and consequently being able to reduce your stress so your blood pressure comes down.

Hypnotherapy can also lower the stress people often have when confronted with a lifetime illness, and help them gain control over their ability to choose the right foods.

See the page on diabetes for more details

Full client commitment is important. Please read FAQ’s for more details.

*Eating Disorders

There are many different types of eating disorders, and many ways to tackle the problem. Where there is bingeing or obsession then hypnotherapy can help lower the anxiety. Using CBT we can look at the kind of thoughts influencing the decisions and SFH can help focus on what you wish to achieve and how you can achieve it.

For more details see the page on eating disorders.

Full client commitment is important. Please read FAQ’s for more details.

*Eczema and skin conditions

Eczema is often triggered when the mind and body are stressed in some way. Whether it’s physical stress such as hot weather or lots of exercise has triggered a reaction. Alternatively, ongoing stress causes a person to break out in a rash.

Hypnotherapy can help in reducing that stress, but also in helping change the habit of scratching or change in approach to the stress itself.

Also see page on eczema.

Full client commitment is important. Please read FAQ’s for more details.

Exam Stress

Exam time is often stressful, sleep problems, focus, and lack of planning. I have been working with students for the past 10 years, helping them to plan more effectively, lower their anxiety and build their confidence.

*Fertility

Fertility issues can often come about because of underlying stress. For those trying to conceive, then part of the problem may be how either the man or woman reacts to stressful situations. Changing the way you think about them not only helps lower anxiety levels it increases the chances of increased sperm production in men and in egg fertilization in women.

Hypnotherapy can also aid in sexual problems such as erectile dysfunction. For more details please see the fertility page.

Full client commitment is important. Please read FAQ’s for more details.

*The problem of Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia is a medical condition characterised by chronic widespread pain and a heightened and painful response to pressure. Although Hypnotherapy cannot cure or prevent the condition, it can be used to change the perception of pain or to lower the stress and frustration that comes with such a debilitating condition. See the Fibromyalgia page for more details.

Full client commitment is important. Please read FAQ’s for more details.

*Hypertension

When hypertension (high blood pressure) is a lifestyle problem, then making changes to the diet, alcohol or smoking, and to how the individual reacts to stress is key. Having high blood pressure will increase the chances of having a heart attack or a stroke, so changing how you react to stress can add years to your life overall. For more details please read the hypertension page.

Full client commitment is important. Please read FAQ’s for more details.

*Irritable Bowel Syndrome

IBS is highly prevalent in the Western world, but despite the advancement of many theories, no clear cause has yet been established. It may be a conglomeration of disorders with similar symptoms but multiple different root causes. All cases of IBS need to be checked out by your doctor so that physical problems are not the cause. You need to establish it may be psychological, and stress-related.

Dr Peter Whorwell at Manchester’s Withington Hospital uses hypnotherapy to help his IBS patients. He maintains that hypnotherapy is effective in the treatment for two reasons, one is it lowers anxiety and two, it acts as pain management, and decreases the sensitivity in the gut. NICE has recommended hypnotherapy for the treatment of IBS.

The symptoms of Irritable Bowel may include:

Abdominal pain and spasm
Diarrhoea
Constipation
Bloated stomach
Rumbling noises and wind
Urgency – a need to rush and open the bowels
A feeling of incomplete emptying of the bowels
Incontinence if a toilet is not nearby
Sharp pain felt low down inside the rectum
Nausea, belching and vomiting

Also, see IBS Page

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*Insomnia

Not being able to sleep can have devastating effects not only on your ability to function the next day but over time it can lead to memory problems and prolonged lack of sleep is linked with Alzheimer’s. We help establish what may be the root cause – overwork, the way we think about the things that cause us stress, we help change habits and establish a good sleep hygiene regime.

For more details see the Insomnia page.

Full client commitment is important. Please read FAQ’s for more details.

*The problem of Jealousy

Jealousy can be debilitating, it can destroy relationships and make your life a misery. It can affect both men and women equally and affect future relationships if kept unchecked.

For more details and case study, see Jealousy page.

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*Menopausal problems

Menopause is a stressful time for most women, often adapting to changes in the household with children leaving home or parents becoming ill. On top of all this, your body starts to change in a way that can be stressful. Sleep problems, hot flashes and night sweats. Recent research at Baylor University in the States has found that hypnotherapy can help reduce hot flashes by 80% compared to 15% of a control group. Going through this process myself I have devised a programme to help other women get through theirs.

For more details and a case study, see The Menopause Programme

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*OCD

OCD can take the form of obsessive thoughts, or compulsions such as hand washing, stepping on paving stones, but not the cracks, ordering books by colour or height, checking windows and doors are locked many times, or being obsessed with a body part – such as the nose. It is an anxiety-driven problem, so reducing the stress and the obsessiveness is controllable.

See OCD page for more details.

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*Pain Management

There are 2 different kinds of pain, one acute, and one chronic. Chronic pain can be manipulated by the way the brain can override the pain signals, and how we perceive that pain. I have successfully used what’s known as glove anaesthesia to help my arm go numb when having blood samples are taken, or injection at the dentist.

For more details read the page on pain or Pain Management Clinic

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*Stop Smoking

The physical side of addiction to smoking is less than 10% the remainder is all in the mind – the subconscious mind where behaviour patterns are stored. Your smoking is not a conscious behaviour, which is why trying to quit with conscious willpower alone just isn’t enough. Hypnotherapy can access the subconscious mind, suggest new perspectives on the habit, and remove your desire for smoking.

Smoking is one of the major causes of stress and anxiety because it increases your blood pressure levels. You may think having a cigarette is calming you, but it is, in fact, stressing your body. Once a person regains control by quitting smoking, they are able to regain control in other areas of their life.

People who smoke throughout life are 80% more likely to suffer severe anxiety and clinical depression in middle age than non-smokers because it depletes the body of the motivational hormone Serotonin.

A major cause of disease

Smoking does not just cause lung cancer and heart disease. There are many poisonous substances in cigarettes, including Benzene, Formaldehyde, Carbon Monoxide, Arsenic, Acetone, and Nicotine, which many people don’t realise is used commercially in insecticide. This puts a strain on the liver, pancreas, bladder and kidneys, and you risk your chances of developing cancer in these areas too.

I find doing 2 sessions instead of 1 two hour session works more effectively as it helps the client relax especially if they’ve never had hypnotherapy before.

Also, see Stop Smoking page

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*Phobias

It is generally accepted that phobias arise from a combination of external events and internal predispositions. Some phobias such as arachnophobia (fear of spiders) and ophidiophobia (fear of snakes) however, may arise more easily due to an evolutionary trait that conditioned humans to fear certain creatures that could cause them harm.

In a famous experiment, Martin Seligman used classical conditioning to establish phobias of snakes and flowers. The results of the experiment showed that it took far fewer shocks to create an adverse response
to a picture of a snake than to a picture of a flower, leading to the conclusion that certain objects may have a genetic predisposition to being associated with fear.

Specific phobias

Many specific phobias can be traced back to a specific triggering event, usually a traumatic experience at an early age. Social phobias and agoraphobia have more complex causes that are not entirely known at this time. It is believed that heredity, genetics, and brain chemistry combine with life-experiences to play a major role in the development of anxiety disorders and phobias.

I myself conquered my phobia of driving, which I had for 13 years, using hypnotherapy and NLP techniques. I am now back behind the driving wheel and enjoying every moment.

Also, see Phobias in depth and the list of phobias

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*The problem of Performance Anxiety

Whether you are a budding pop star or have to perform presentations for your company, hypnotherapy can help with reducing your anxiety. Using specially designed NLP techniques to help lower your emotional response and gentle guidance and visualisation to motivate, it is the perfect solution to help get rid of performance nerves, stage fright and fear of public speaking.

Also see Performance Anxiety page

Full client commitment is important. Please read FAQ’s for more details.

*Weight Loss

We lose weight when we consume fewer calories and burn off more during exercise, unfortunately, life is usually not as simple as this and we find ourselves cutting corners, eating the wrong foods and making excuses. Poor self-image, fussy diet, and issues such as Anorexia add to the problem.

By making careful choices, monitoring our eating habits and our body mass, and gaining control over our habits and emotions, hypnotherapy can help you achieve and maintain your ideal weight. The number of sessions involved will depend on your targets and how motivated you are.

What hypnosis will NOT do regarding bingeing

Hypnosis is not about reprogramming the brain, but allowing your subconscious mind know what is best for you and relay it to your conscious mind. A session will not automatically turn a switch in your head and you’ll wake up NOT bingeing. It will instead help you to gain control and understand the mechanisms that are making you binge. You can then monitor all aspects of your life and put in place the habits you need to lose and maintain your perfect weight.

Also, see Weight in depth

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*Sports Performance

Improve your performance in sports.

Many sportsmen and women use hypnotherapy to focus on their skills and to enhance their performance. From athletics to boxers (Bristol’s world champion middleweight boxer Glenn Catley used hypnotherapy to help him gain his world championship title) It is also excellent for concentration and helps with improving your golf, darts and pool matches too.

Create positive focus and new automatic response patterns to achieve your full potential instead of focusing on the problem. Whether you need to deal with the pressure of competition or simply wish to overcome nerves or negative behaviour patterns

Hypnotherapy allows you to change the triggers and negative responses that can be encountered due to pre-competition nerves or self-belief issues. Through simple relaxation and various other techniques, you can become focused on what you really want to achieve.

Also see Sports Page

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*Goal setting and getting motivated

Using positive thinking and realistic goal setting, you can become focused to achieve anything. From alleviating exam and interview nerves, to really sort out the problem of what you want in your life. Examine what you can do and use focused, positive visualisation to achieve it. We can’t make a brain surgeon out of someone with a GCSE in ICT, but we can help you gain insights into your weaknesses and more importantly your strengths.

Full client commitment is important. Please read FAQ’s for more details.

Past Life Regression

Many people come to a hypnotherapist wanting to find out why something happened in their life thinking it has to do with previous lives. There is no evidence to support this idea. I have done research into this area and find that the brain likes to make sense of things it doesn’t understand and using regression it allows the creative part of the brain to work, but that’s as far as it goes, follow up research into alleged past lives have found no evidence.

*The problem of Tinnitus

Tinnitus in older people is often caused by natural hearing loss due to ageing, which lessens the sensitivity of the hearing nerves. In younger people, tinnitus can sometimes occur as a result of hearing damage that is caused by excessive noise, such as loud music. Whatever the reasons you may be suffering from a problem such as tinnitus, a diagnosis must be done by your GP.

Stress is not a direct cause of tinnitus but it can sometimes make the symptom worse. Some people may report that their tinnitus is worse during stressful events in their life, such as bereavement. The treatment that is recommended for you will depend on whether your tinnitus has an underlying cause. For example, if your tinnitus is caused by a severe or long-term ear infection, antibiotics may be prescribed. If it is caused by a build-up of earwax, then ear drops or ear irrigation (where a pressurised flow of water is used to remove the earwax) may be recommended. However, in most cases of tinnitus, there is no cure and so treatment is aimed at managing the symptom on a day-to-day basis.

Reduce stress

This is where hypnotherapy can come in. Firstly it helps reduce the stress which often makes the problem worse. During therapy you can learn various techniques to relax and distract yourself – mindful meditation techniques can help change what you focus on.

I also give out a relaxation CD to listen to when going to sleep. Often people notice their tinnitus more at night when the background noise has died down.and the inner noise becomes more noticeable. The CD helps focus the hearing to the music and the words, and it’s designed to help you relax into a good sleep. Moreover, if you are distracted by the noise when you wake at night you can use it again to help you get back off.

I have experienced tinnitus for years, thanks to my fondness for very loud rock music, so I use my own CD on a regular basis and it helps me sleep.

Full client commitment is important. Please read FAQ’s for more details.

*The problem of Wedding Nerves

Your wedding day should be one of the best days of your life. Then why is it up there with death, moving house and divorce as one of the most stressful? Planning for any big occasion puts unwarranted stress on us as we want to make sure the day goes like clockwork. People stress when so many things are in the hands of other people. The list of things that could go wrong and the way we think about them is what drives our anxiety sty high.

Not just for the bride, but for the groom and best man, who has to stand up and make a speech in front of a group of mostly strangers.

Solution-focused hypnotherapy can help you prepare for the big day, lower stress and feel calm and collected as you walk down that aisle.

There are many problems Hypnotherapy and Human Givens can help with

Addictions

How Hypnotherapy Helps with Addiction

Treatment Plan and Commitment

Further Reading and Research

The Problem of Anger Management

Understanding the Cycle of Anger

How Therapy Can Help with Anger Management

Reclaiming Control Over Anger

Further Reading and Research

Conclusion

*Anxiety and Mild Depression

The problem of Bruxism

Enuresis or adult bedwetting

*Confidence issues

Diabetes

*Eating Disorders

*Eczema and skin conditions

Exam Stress

*Fertility

*The problem of Fibromyalgia

*Hypertension

*Irritable Bowel Syndrome

The symptoms of Irritable Bowel may include:

*Insomnia

*The problem of Jealousy

*Menopausal problems

*OCD

*Pain Management

*Stop Smoking

A major cause of disease

*Phobias

Specific phobias

*The problem of Performance Anxiety

*Weight Loss

What hypnosis will NOT do regarding bingeing

*Sports Performance

*Goal setting and getting motivated

Past Life Regression

*The problem of Tinnitus

Reduce stress

*The problem of Wedding Nerves