Six things to consider in deciding if you should seek the help of a Hypnotherapist:
1) Have you consulted with your doctor to determine if there is a medical reason for physical symptoms?
It is important to be assessed by your doctor in order to rule out any medical cause(s) to physical symptoms. Absent any medical diagnosis that can be treated with good results, you would be wise to seek the help of a Hypnotherapist. There is evidence to support a mind-body connection when it comes to our health.
Our thoughts trigger immediate reactions in our body each and every day. For example, it only takes one thought for a man to respond sexually, or a person who thinks negative or fearful thoughts to exhibit symptoms of depression and illness in the body. With the repetition of negative & troubling thoughts, and the body reacting to them, toxic changes begin to emerge and become embedded in our tissues.
Over time this causes illness in the physical body. Hypnosis can help address the source of the issue rather than treat the symptoms alone. You might think of your thoughts as your mental software and the process of hypnosis as an upgrade in your mental programming. Thoughts are things and become real issues if not adequately addressed. Healthier thoughts translate into a healthier body, just a negative ones lead to illness. Your issues are often in your tissues!
2) Have you sought counseling or been assessed by a mental health care professional?
If you have sought counseling without good results, then chances are that your issue is on a deeper level, residing in your subconscious. The job of the subconscious mind is to protect us, it's our survival mechanism. It is also an associating making mechanism, so anything that seems similar to a previous traumatic experience from the past, often triggers the same emotional response to a similar stimulus or event (PTSD) in the present. Sometimes, because our mind works in this way, it tries to protect us in maladaptive ways.
For example, a person with the problem of obesity might really be exhibiting the subconscious mind's attempt to protect them from harm by constructing body armor, and making their body unattractive. People who have abuse issues in their past might find this happening to keep them safe from others, feeling that hiding beneath an unattractive facade will help avoid real or perceived danger.
Through hypnoanalysis, the previous experience, dealing with a difficult or traumatic event, can be resolved with more adaptive ways of resolving the issue. Once new alternatives to handling the true issue (past trauma) are available, the mind can release the body armor because new adaptive solutions are in place.
Essentially, it isn't so much about what happened to cause the issue, (the story of the event, past abuse) but the interpretation of it (what we decide or accept about ourselves as a result of the event, "I am not safe") that determines our perception and thus our reality. Therefore, often times issues are more effectively solved at the subconscious level when counseling (processing at the conscious level) has not been successful. Remember, whenever there is a conflict between the conscious and the subconscious mind, the subconscious mind always wins!
3) Does your issue seem unreasonable given your current situation? For example, a person who has a reoccurring fear that she can not provide for herself or others despite her true ability to do so?
Sometimes the things that cause us discord and fear are issues that come from our past. Whenever there is a fear or phobia that does not seem to make any sense, given our current situation, it likely has it's roots in our subconscious mind. By regressing a person back to the source of the emotion attached to the issue, much like tracing the source that anchors a buoy in the water, it is possible to discover exactly where the problem originates.
Once the root of the issue is pinpointed, it is a matter or reevaluating that event and interpretation to cause a immediate change in the way it is reflected in our reality. Most often things we are fearful of happened when we were young and had only the perspective of a child to process it. But upon reexamination, with an adult understanding, our perspective changes... allowing the monster under the bed, as it were, to dissipate into thin air.
4) Is the reason you are seeking help for this issue because it is creating problems in your ability to function in your daily life?
If your problem has become so disabling as to affect your ability to care for yourself, or interferes with your activities of daily living to such a degree that you can not cope, despite medical intervention, then you may be a good candidate for hypnotherapy. It is very important, however, that the Hypnotherapist have training and knowledge of disabling conditions and should be certified in the field of Clinical Hypnotherapy.
Not all therapists have the same level of training and experience, so take care to research the background of potential Hypnotherapists in your area thoroughly. Your Hypnotherapist will know how best to assist you and should work with your medical team to assure you are getting the best care possible. In hypnosis, all roads lead to Rome, and like peeling an onion, it clears away layers of debris that no longer serves you, and helps to build more adaptive ways of functioning in daily living.
5) Is the issue you need to clear something you are sick and tired of dealing with, to the extent that you would be willing to give up a behavior or activity, in order to have it stop reoccurring (addiction, for example)?
The transformation process is successful when two things are present:
a) you have suffered enough
b) you are truly ready for change
People frequently ask how effective hypnosis is and the answer depends on the person and the desire to change. In reality, people will do what they want to do. Absent that fact, hypnosis would have a 100% success rate. A person who is not ready for change or who has not experienced "hitting rock bottom" has a much different motivation to transform than a person who is not yet ready to give up an activity or behavior. Why wouldn't a person give up a harmful behavior?
A withdraw symptom is more than a physical symptom. The body can cleanse itself from harmful substances relatively easier than addictive tendencies held at the subconscious level. People who, on a subconscious level are clinging tenaciously to a harmful behavior as a means of dealing with an issue, may feel too frightened at the thought of going without it. Even though maladaptive ways of dealing with issues (addiction) is not really a helpful way of surviving, it is still familiar and therefore appears comforting on some level.
Rest assured, by using hypnoanalysis and reevaluating the root of the issue, solutions and resources emerge abundantly to allow you to live more productively and within healthy bounds. There is light at the end of the tunnel. The door you have been knocking on to deal with the real issue, isn't the problem.....the problem is being on the right side of the door you are knocking on for answers! In hypnosis, you are on the right side of the door and are able to then open it and find a wealth of appropriate and resourceful options. Closing the door on maladaptive behaviors becomes safe and effortless as the need to hang on to old ways of coping evaporates.
Many addictions, as with most issues, once reexamined effectively at the subconscious level, clears what keeps you stuck permanently, once and for all. Again, the knowledge and experience of the Hypnotherapist is very important to consider when choosing a competent professional in your area. So, if you are sick and tired of being sick and tired, you are an excellent candidate for hypnotherapy.
6) Is this issue something that someone else has asked you to address because they are sick of what is happening with you?
A husband whose wife insists that he come to a Hypnotherapist to stop smoking may or may not have enough motivation to do so, despite wanting to please his spouse. Remember, people do what they want to do. The husband may even use the opportunity to try hypnosis as a way of showing that he tried and "it" didn't work, so the spouse will leave him alone. In reality, there is no "it" to "not work" with hypnosis, it is about setting an intention fueled by the proper motivation to clear an issue, which resides within each person and determines true success. If someone else is the one who really wants the change to occur but you still want to do it, then it is most likely not the time for hypnotherapy, yet.