Hypnotherapy – A Closer Look

Hypnosis for Anxiety, Sleep, Confidence and Pain

Are you considering hypnotherapy in Chicago for help with anxiety, sleep problems, confidence building or pain management? Wondering how hypnotherapy might benefit your situation?

If so, you wouldn’t be alone. Many of the clients I work with are curious about hypnosis because they’ve heard that it can be helpful.

I’ll tell you what I tell them. When combined with different forms of therapy, hypnosis can be a powerful tool that can be used to create lasting change.

In truth, hypnotherapy is a natural approach to healing that is focused on the here and now. At all times, you are completely aware of what’s going on around you and in complete control.

Further down on this page, I will give you a link that provides more information on hypnosis. But before we get there, let’s examine how hypnotherapy may be able to help with the topics mentioned above.

Hypnotherapy for Anxiety

A powerful advantage of combing hypnotherapy with other forms of therapy, like cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), is that hypnosis helps to reinforce learning concepts.

Depending on your unique situation, CBT and hypnotherapy may benefit you by:

• Helping you to feel more relaxed
• Teaching you how to identify irrational thoughts and replace them with healthier ones
• Increasing confidence around public speaking fears
• Softening the impact of anxiety causing triggers
• Working through phobias and fears
• Encouraging you to stay centered in the here and now

Hypnotherapy for Sleep

If you are struggling with sleep problems, it’s only natural to wonder if hypnotherapy might help. Let’s face it – there’s nothing worse than not getting enough rest.

So, does it work? Here’s the real deal – for lots of people, it absolutely has. But there are some folks it hasn’t. Much depends on the person’s unique situation and history.

The clinical research tells us that when combined with other approaches, hypnosis has the best chance of working. Here, I am talking about stress reduction, physical activity and healthier eating.

Hypnotherapy for sleep problems may help you:

• Learn how to identify stimuli that cause restlessness
• Create a new routine that encourages your body clock to become tired naturally
• Develop sleep-inducing strategies that may be causing you to stay awake.

Hypnotherapy for Pain

For many people, physical pain seriously limits their quality of life. This is particularly true if you are coping with an injury, healing from a surgery or dealing with a lifelong ailment.

The current body of evidence suggests that hypnotherapy has helped some people cope with pain better. Often referred to as medical hypnotherapy, pain focused hypnosis is a natural approach that calls upon the power of suggestion to create change.

Obviously, a lot depends on your unique situation. That said, the clinical research suggests that when combined with other coping strategies, hypnotherapy may:

• Soften the intensity of pain
• Teach you to be aware of pain but not severely limited by it.
• Create mindfulness around activities that may cause or exacerbate pain
• Learn natural coping skills through medical hypnotherapy

Hypnotherapy for Confidence Building

One of the best things about hypnotherapy, in conjunction with here and now focused approaches like CBT, is its potential to help build confidence.

Examples include strengthening your self-concept while helping you develop a healthier self-dialogue. Several lines of research suggest that the use of hypnosis may help:

• Reinforce positive self-messaging
• Counter negative self-talk
• Increase confidence for public speaking, dating, and being in groups of people.

Additional Thoughts

As a board certified clinical hypnotherapist, I’ve seen many people benefit from the use of hypnosis as part of a total plan for wellness.

Does this mean hypnotherapy is guaranteed to work? The answer to that question is no and anyone who suggests otherwise isn’t being straight with you.

But what I can tell you is that alternative approaches have their best chance at succeeding when a person becomes an active participant in the process.

An example might be wanting to increase self-esteem. Hypnosis alone probably won’t get you to where you want to be. But when you combine counseling, in conjunction with other activities, like exercise, you are far more likely to see the results you desire.

If you are interested in learning more about how hypnotherapy may help you, visit this hypnotherapy Chicago FAQ page. Bear in mind that hypnotherapy isn’t therapy in and of itself. Instead, it’s a tool of therapy that is designed to facilitate change.

Should you have any questions about my services, feel free to contact me at 773.704.5300 or through this confidential online form.