Hypnotherapy
Hypnosis has seen a huge growth in popularity over recent years. Gone are many of the old myths, misunderstandings and prejudices.
Hypnosis, or hypnotherapy in its clinical use, is quite simply the most powerful device for personal development and positive change. Why? Because it utilises the most powerful part of our creative potential – our imagination.
The British Society of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis states:
“In therapy, hypnosis usually involves the person experiencing a sense of deep relaxation with their attention narrowed down and focused on appropriate suggestions made by the therapist.”
These suggestions help people make positive changes within themselves. Long gone are the days when hypnosis was seen as waving watches and controlling people’s minds. In a hypnotherapy session you are always in control and you are not made to do anything. It is generally accepted that all hypnosis is ultimately self-hypnosis. A hypnotist merely helps to facilitate your experience – hypnotherapy is not about being made to do things, in fact it is the opposite, it is about empowerment.
Contrary to popular belief, hypnosis is not a state of deep sleep. It does involve the induction of a trance-like condition, but when in it, the patient is actually in an enhanced state of awareness, concentrating entirely on the hypnotist’s voice. In this state, the conscious mind is suppressed and the subconscious mind is revealed.
The therapist is able to suggest ideas, concepts and lifestyle adaptations to the patient, the seeds of which become firmly planted.
The practice of promoting healing or positive development in any way is known as hypnotherapy. As such, hypnotherapy is a kind of psychotherapy. Hypnotherapy aims to re-programme patterns of behaviour within the mind, enabling irrational fears, phobias, negative thoughts and suppressed emotions to be overcome. As the body is released from conscious control during the relaxed trance-like state of hypnosis, breathing becomes slower and deeper, the pulse rate drops and the metabolic rate falls. Similar changes along nervous pathways and hormonal channels enable the sensation of pain to become less acute, and the awareness of unpleasant symptoms, such as nausea or indigestion, to be alleviated.
Progress can only be made by reprogramming the subconscious so that deep-seated instincts and beliefs are abolished or altered.
Hypnotherapy can be applied to many psychological, emotional and physical disorders. It is used to relieve pain in surgery and dentistry. It can ease the suffering of the disabled and those facing terminal illness, and it has been shown to help people to overcome addictions such as smoking and alcoholism, and to help with bulimia. Phobias of all kinds lend themselves well to hypnotherapy, and anyone suffering from panic attacks or obsessional compulsive behaviour, and stress-related problems like insomnia, may benefit. Conditions exacerbated by tension, such as irritable bowel syndrome, psoriasis and eczema, and excessive sweating, respond well and can be treated by these techniques.
Now is the time to turn your life around and improve it; eliminate those fears ; gain self esteem ; confidence; self love; self respect , and start having the life you want and deserve . Now is the time to remove that weight from your heart and your shoulders, and start living the life you were born to live .
A hypnotherapy session lasts for approximately 60 minutes.
If you are sick and tired of feeling the way that you do, and if you are serious about changing your life, then here’s your chance to turn your life around.
Contact us to book an appointment
E:info@starchildholisticcentre.
T: 07879 513850
When is the Best Time to Quit Smoking?
How about NOW!
It’s so easy to put off quitting…
Has anyone ever told you that “you’ll quit when you’re ready”? If you wait for the perfect time to quit smoking, it may never come. You could find yourself facing a serious smoking-related illness while you’re waiting to be ‘ready’. Not a pleasant thing to think about, but the fact is, it happens every day. Tobacco kills upwards of 114,000 people in the UK every year. Globally, one person dies from a smoking-related death every 8 seconds.
* Smoking causes numerous diseases and health problems, some fatal, among both smokers and non-smokers. For this reason, smoking is prohibited in public places in the UK and Channel Islands, so now may be the perfect time to quit smoking.
Avoiding a smoking habit
Many smokers say they started smoking before the age of 16, even though the law prevents anyone selling tobacco, cigarettes or cigarette papers to those under this age. Avoiding the temptation to smoke at an early age is therefore important to prevent you developing a habit.
Reasons to quit smoking
People give up smoking for many reasons, from a desire to improve their health and to save money, to wanting to appeal to the opposite sex or reduce any potential harm on someone else’s health.
Improving your health
In the UK one person dies from a smoking-related disease every four minutes. Smoking causes:
- lung cancer (smoking causes over 80 per cent of all lung cancer deaths)
- heart disease
- bronchitis
- strokes
- stomach ulcers
- leukaemia
- gangrene
- other cancers eg mouth and throat cancer
It can also worsen the effects of common ailments such as colds, chest problems and allergies like hay fever, bronchitis and emphysema, as well as have unpleasant side-effects such as wrinkles and bad breath. Smoking can also make you cough, sneeze or feel short of breath when you exercise.
Boosting your sex appeal
Its a myth that smoking helps you lose weight, in fact it can cause cellulite. And kissing someone with a mouth like an ashtray isn’t sexy.
Saving money
Calculate how much your smoking habit is costing you in terms of money and you might be surprised how much you could save.
Protecting other people’s health
Breathing in other peoples cigarette smoke, called secondhand smoke, can also cause cancer.
o smoking around children – children exposed to secondhand smoke are twice as likely to get chest illnesses like croup, pneumonia bronchitis and bronchiolitis, and more likely to get ear infections, tonsillitis, wheezing and childhood asthma
o mothers-to-be and smoking – smoking during pregnancy can affect both you and your baby’s health, and if you are exposed to secondhand smoke this can pass on harmful gases and chemicals to your baby
o smoking in public – smoking is banned by law in many public places, including: all forms of public transport; theatres; cinemas; and public buildings
Want to stop smoking?
When willpower alone is not enough Multisession Hypnotherapy has been proven to be the most effective way to quit the habit.
Many therapists offer a one-off session for smoking cessation with free follow-up sessions if necessary. A stop smoking consultation with a hypnotherapist will generally involve gathering information into your personal reasons for wanting to quit smoking.
The stopping smoking session or sessions will include hypnotherapy techniques, positive affirmations and suggestions. At the end you will often be given a stop smoking tape or CD to take away so that you can continue to reinforce the suggestions in your own time.
The cost of a hypnotherapy session for stopping smoking will be minimal compared to the financial and health costs incurred during a lifetime of smoking.
Quitting smoking should not be difficult or unpleasant. Granted nicotine is a difficult substance to go without when giving up smoking, but after a few days it is out of your system and most smokers agree that quitting smoking for a few days is difficult but very achievable.
So that’s it! A tricky few days and then a lifetime of freedom. So why hasn’t it been that easy previously? Simple – you didn’t deal with the psychological addiction of smoking. In fact, you probably put cigarettes up on some kind of a pedestal.
If you think that stopping smoking is depriving you of something, then it is just a matter of time until you start again. Hypnotherapy is ideal for this. Using hypnosis, you can deal with all of the emotional and psychological aspects of giving up smoking.
Hypnotherapy has enjoyed a high success rate with smoking cessation and stopping smoking is one of the most common reasons why people consult hypnotherapists. When quitting smoking, it best not to dwell on negative aspects such as ill health, but instead to aim for positive outcomes such as good health, fitness, freedom and energy.
Stopping smoking – What can you do?Would you like to know how to stop smoking in a positive and easy way?
How about starting right now by making a list of all of the benefits you will enjoy as a non-smoker? Imagine yourself in the future, say six months time from now.
How good is it going to be when someone offers you a cigarette and you find yourself saying ‘no thanks’? Perhaps you can imagine how proud you are going to feel and how positive you will be about yourself.
Hypnosis is not the mind control technique that is often represented on TV and in the media. In fact, you cannot make people do anything using hypnosis. Quite the opposite, if someone doesn’t want to stop smoking, they will be even more definite about that in hypnosis! Did you realise people can lie in hypnosis as easily as they can out of hypnosis?
Hypnosis is THE MOST EFFECTIVE way to stop smoking!
Approximately one in ten of the population of the UK suffers from alcoholism:
- Craving , a strong need or compulsion to drink
- Loss of control, the frequent inability to stop drinking once started
- Tolerance, the need for increasing amounts of alcohol to feel any effect
- Psychological compulsion to drink, an inability to control the desire to drink even though a decision may have been made to stop drinking.
You may have noticed that you are:
- More concerned with drinking than dealing with important matters
- Angry if confronted about your drinking
- Secretive and evasive
- Increasingly intoxicated or appearing to be under the influence
- Tired, irritable and looking less well than is normal
You may feel:
- Frustrated and hurt
- Unsure how to get help
- Concerned for your well being
- Worried about the future
- Frightened by your behaviour
- Feel that you are beyond help
How much is too much?
Current UK guidelines recommend that men don’t drink more than three or four units of alcohol a day, and that women limit their intake to two or three units a day. You shouldn’t save up units through the week and use them to binge at the weekend, and at least one day a week should be alcohol-free.
If you do have an episode of heavy drinking, as a short term measure, you shouldn’t drink alcohol for 48 hours.
Strength and units
One unit is 8 grams, or about 10ml, of pure alcohol – regardless of how diluted it is. Below is a list of some common drinks and how many units they have in them.
- One pint of strong lager (alcohol 5% vol) = 3 units
- One pint of standard strength lager (alcohol 3 – 3.5% vol) = 2 units
- One 275ml bottle of an alcopop (alcohol 5.5% vol) = 1.5 units
- One standard (175ml) glass of wine (alcohol 12% vol) = 2 units
- One measure (25ml) of a spirit strength drink = 1 unit
Units for women
The recommended limits are lower for women than for men because the body composition of women has less water than men. So, even if a man and woman weigh the same and are of a similar size, the woman will tend to get drunk faster.
Some experts also think that women develop liver disease at lower levels of drinking than men, although this appears to only be the case in higher levels of alcohol consumption.
Alcohol dependence
Some people who drink frequently or in large quantities can become addicted to alcohol. Doctors use a number of techniques to diagnose patients with drink problems. They may ask you how much and how often you drink and whether you have “blackouts”. You may be asked if you have tried to cut down, whether you feel guilty about your drinking, or whether you have a drink in the morning.
According to the Institute of Alcohol Studies, a person is considered to be dependent on alcohol when they have experienced three or more of the following symptoms during a year.
- A strong urge to drink, difficulty controlling how much they drink, or difficulty stopping.
- Physical withdrawal symptoms, such as sweating, shaking, agitation and nausea when they try to reduce drinking.
- A growing tolerance to alcohol – needing larger quantities to get the same effect.
- Gradual neglect of other activities.
- Persistent drinking even though it is obviously causing harm.
Alcohol abuse, or problem drinking, happens when a person is not dependent on alcohol, but is drinking enough to cause themselves actual physical or psychological harm.
Short-term effects
A small amount of alcohol will relax you and make you feel less anxious. But alcohol is a depressant of the central nervous system. In increasing amounts it suppresses the part of your brain that controls judgement, resulting in a loss of inhibitions. It also affects your physical co-ordination, causing blurred vision, slurred speech and loss of balance. Drinking a very large amount at one time (binge drinking) can lead to unconsciousness, coma, and even death. Vomiting while unconscious can lead to death by asphyxiation (suffocation).
Alcohol is involved in a large proportion of fatal road accidents, assaults and incidents of domestic violence.
Long-term effects
Alcohol can be a dangerous drug. Drinking too much too often will cause physical damage, increase the risk of getting some diseases, and make other diseases worse. Excessive drinking over time is associated with:
- hepatitis and cirrhosis of the liver
- gastritis (inflammation of the stomach lining) or pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas)
- high blood pressure (which can lead to stroke)
- certain types of cancer, including mouth and throat
- damage to the brain
- heart failure
- neurological problems such as epilepsy
- certain types of vitamin deficiency
Excessive drinking has also been linked to:
- obesity
- sexual problems
- infertility
- muscle disease
- skin problems
Alcohol and pregnancy
Women who drink heavily during pregnancy are at risk of having babies with a condition called fetal alcohol syndrome. This can result in growth deficiencies, nervous system problems, lowered intelligence, and facial abnormalities in the child. It is also called fetal alcohol spectrum disorder – all the symptoms are not always present and can vary in how serious they are.
There is some evidence that pregnant women who drink 10 to 15 units a week are more likely to have underweight babies. It is not known if there is an absolutely safe limit for drinking during pregnancy, but research indicates that it may be wise to avoid alcohol altogether.
Psychological effects
Although alcohol initially makes people feel relaxed, long term excessive use can ultimately increase anxiety and cause depression. It is also related to problems with sleeping, mood-swings, violence and suicide (about two-thirds of suicide attempts are thought to involve alcohol).
Cutting down
If you think you’re drinking too much, keep a “drinking diary”, noting how much alcohol you drink each week. It will reveal whether you are drinking within safe guidelines and help you identify the situations that you need to avoid to cut down your drinking.
Below are some tips to help you cut down.
- Go out later, so you start drinking later.
- Replace your “usual” drink with one containing less alcohol.
- Skip the “quick drink” at lunchtime or after work.
- Have at least two alcohol-free days a week.
- Do something other than going to the pub.
- Drink more slowly or have non-alcoholic drinks between alcoholic ones.
- Buy beers and wines with lower alcohol content, and keep a supply of non-alcoholic drinks at home.
- Set yourself a limit of, for example three to four units (men) or two to three (women) for any one occasion.
- Find other ways to relax.
Stopping drinking
Cutting down may not be enough if you are alcohol dependent. Confidential advice and support is available through your GP, and may involve a community alcohol team or specialist consultant care. There are also organisations such as Alcohol Concern and Alcoholics Anonymous that help many people (see below).
Treatment
When someone heavily dependent on alcohol stops drinking (detoxification), they sometimes get withdrawal symptoms. These include headaches, nausea, sweating, and tremors. Sometimes more serious symptoms like confusion, paranoia, and having fits or hallucinations can occur.
To prevent withdrawal symptoms, a chronic heavy drinker may be prescribed medication such as diazepam (eg Valium) or chlordiazepoxide for a few days after stopping drinking.
Below are some examples of other drug treatments that are sometimes used to help people dependent on alcohol.
- Disulfiram causes very unpleasant effects if even a small amount of alcohol is consumed. Patients are told that they cannot drink at all when taking this drug. Consuming large amounts of alcohol can occasionally lead to arrhythmias, low blood pressure and collapse. It is prescribed under specialist supervision.
- Acamprosate influences transmitters in the brain to reduce alcohol cravings. It is prescribed to people after detoxification. It may cause side-effects such as headache, diarrhoea and rash.
- Naltrexone is a drug used to treat people addicted to opioids such as heroine. It is sometimes prescribed by specialists to reduce the chances of a relapse in alcohol dependent people who have stopped drinking. People with chronic alcohol dependence are often malnourished, and vitamin supplements are essential.
info@starchildholisticcentre.com