British surgeons should hypnotise patients for some operations, says academic - from Telegraph

Please see this interesting article on using hypnosis for some surgeries.

Telegraph.co.uk article

HOW TO... Feel happier | Mail Online

HOW TO... Feel happier Mail Online

Case Study - Confidence Client

Case Study - Confidence Client

A 36 year old woman who wanted help to reduce her self consciousness. During our first session she explained that she experienced feelings of anxiousness which especially affected her at work when she had to speak to others, at meetings or when a person in a position of authority (her boss) would ask her something.

She would experience intrusive thoughts that were highly critical of her saying things like "they are going to think I'm stupid", "why didn't I know the answer to that". These thoughts lead to sickly feeling in her stomach, increased heart rate which rises up in her chest, increased heart rate and face getting red hot.

After mapping out the context, process and structure of how she did "self consciousness" breaking it down into behaviours which we then could use techniques to manage them.

We worked to explore what her life would be like if she didn't have this trouble any longer. She wanted to be happier in her self, more relaxed in her interactions with others and feel more confident.

After identifying her evidence for change (the how she would know she's changed by the difference in the way she acts, feels and thinks) hypnosis was used to prime her mind for the expectation of change. This process filled the whole 90 minutes we had so we arranged another session for the following week.

The next session the client reported feeling less anxious, clamer when talking with others and was really pleased with the results. We discussed all the differences and then worked to solidify the change in her mind using another treatment.

After the treatment the client reported that she felt no fear and very confident.

Cognitive Hypnotherapy in the Media...

Recently, the director of the Quest Institute (Home of Cognitive Hypnotherapy) Trevor Silvester has been featured in many magazines --- with other 'Questies' as we refer to ourselves also getting some column space in articles and features --- a testament to Cognitive Hypnotherapy growing as a effective vein of therapy that really works.


Anyone for Tennis? Quest Institute Founder and Trainer Trevor Silvester explains how mental preparation can make the difference between becoming Wimbledon champion and going out in the first round [download]

Lisa Butcher in Rapport Magazine Celebrity Lisa Butcher talks about how Cognitive Hypnotherapy helped her confidence in front of camera [download]

Using Cognitive Hypnotherapy for sports performance and recovery from injury Quest Institute's Rebecca Silvester ran her first 10k race just four weeks after a stomach operation. In this article Trevor and Rebecca Silvester talk about the Cognitive Hypnotherapy approaches that made this possible [download]

Ultrafit magazine article: It's all in the Mind where Quest Institute's Trevor Silvester describes some ways to help you use your mind to powerfully focus on your sporting goals. [download]

Cognitive Hypnotherapy in the Observer where Quest trained Cognitive Hypnotherapist, Katie Abbott demonstrates the benefits of our approach [download]

How to use the mind in Martial Arts where Quest Institute's Trevor Silvestor is training toward black belts in Korean Kickboxing and Wing Chun. In this article he describes how he uses simple techniques to help him increase his flexibility and focus. [download]

Hypnotherapy Works: Myth Busting Video by the NCH

The National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH) recently produced a myth busting video. Please have a look --- I hope you find it useful.

The Nature of Trance / Hypnosis

I have been asked on many occassions from curious and often skeptical people regarding the nature of hypnosis. There are so many myths, rumours and stigmas around hypnosis it's a wonder I get any clients at all. I'd like to address a few of them here and hopefully demystify, enlighten and educate about the true nature of hypnosis / trance and the mind and how it works. Fans of stage hypnosis turn away now! =)

Our minds work in such a way that our thoughts affect our feelings which
directly affects our behaviour. Sometimes when we consciously want to change
something and we may not know why we can't --- but every attempt fails.

Our minds are structured in a way that we have a conscious mind (what we are
aware of and how we interact with the world through our senses) and our
unconscious mind (our learned behaviours, memories and automatic functions
such as breathing, digestion et al).

This structure attributes to our thoughts, feelings and behaviours. For
example, using anxiety as an example -- a client suffers from anxiety ---
they get anxious whenever they think about speaking in public, this triggers
thoughts of failure (whatever that means to them) or they have fears of what
other people will think of them... They imagine themselves in this situation
happening the way they don't want it to, it creates a feeling inside of
panic (whatever that means to them, such as tight chest, racing heart,
confusion) which leads to them behaving in such a way so they can avoid this
happening (fleeing, avoiding, not speaking)...

This is the way they "do anxiety" --- does that make sense?

Because there's a context and structure to the way people do things ---
there's a strategy --- which you can examine and find out how they'd like to
be instead and work them toward that. The driver behind all of this is
'fight or flight' response --- or moving away from pain and toward pleasure.
We're hard-wired for this.

Why this happens is because somewhere in the past, something would have made
the client feel 'unsafe' --- the anxiety strategy is a learned behaviour to
avoid feeling / being 'unsafe'. Think about it... babies don't suffer from
anxiety --- do they? We are born perfect and we 'learn' how to do things ---
even unresourceful things.

As far as 'side effects'... hypnosis is perfectly safe. It's accepted
amongst neuroscientists (those who study the brain) that all hypnosis is
'self hypnosis'. Which basically means that hypnosis or 'trance' is a
natural state which we do all the time... it's even widely accepted that our
'problem state' (how you do your problem) is a trance state itself.

An example of this is when you are driving down the road and you don't
recall the last five miles or so, because you were 'miles away'. Trance is
just a focused state of concentration, that you do naturally... The
hypnotherapists is not inducing you into trance, they are guiding you...
During trance you are in complete control --- you cannot be made to do
anything that is against your values or beliefs --- it would be rejected by
your unconscious mind.

So if any adverse effects happened following a hypnotherapy session, it's
likely that it was rejected by the unconscious mind --- as it made the
person feel unsafe. This would come down to the therapists training and the
relationship between the therapist and the client.

It is understood that this relationship or collaboration is one of the
single most important factors of successful therapy --- so if you do not
trust your therapists, it's not worth pursuing. Find another and ask
questions --- a good therapist with sufficient training will be able to
answer them.

As far as how 'stage hypnotists' get their participants to bark like a dog and such, well think about it... they bought the ticket to the show, they got up on stage as a volunteer... do you really think that this goes against their values or beliefs? It's fair to say that they *wanted* to!

I hope this enlightens and educates. If you have any further questions,
please feel free to email or ring me on 0794 880 1229.

Trusting the Process in Therapy

The Process of Therapy | What to Expect | Making the decision

The decision to get therapy is often very difficult and can require considerable courage and is only often considered when a problem has become compelling. In fact, everyone has troubles or concerns that would benefit from such help.

The process of determining and resoloving a problem only begins when you are willing to make this change. Perhaps you've tried other ways before... perhaps this is the first step. Wherever you are on your journey, you can be assured that any decision you make to change creates change itself... to begin the process.

Because it is a process. As much as we would all like to be rid of our problems like magic, the truth is that it is a process... you've had your problem for a long time... how long do you think it should take to be rid of it forever? However, even severe longstanding problems can usually be overcome comparatively quickly.

The therapy process

During the first session we will identify your reasons for therapy and what your goals are. We will explore what it's like to have what you want, instead of your problem. Then we will explore what is blocking you from getting what you want.

Whatever thoughts, feelings and behaviours that you have in relation to your problem will be acknolwledged and the process to diffuse any negative / unresourceful behaviours will be reprocessed so they no longer have a controlling power over you.

The aim is not simply to make you feel better... it's to resolve the underlying cause to the problem... it's not treating the symptoms of your problem, but the problem itself.... the driver to the problem. After the treatment, you will not be able to get back the bad feelings or negative beliefs from those causes. The issues will have been completely resolved. Your goals will now be achievable or you will at least be a step closer to them.

If you've chosen to take treatment with your intitial consultation, hypnosis (trance) work will be done towards the end of the session to linguistically weave in your solutions through suggestion during trance. This may be enough for you to have what you want... if it's clear that there are more more layers or aspects to your presenting problem then a further session is recommended and will be made to do further clearing.

That way it's there for you if you need it. We will both be pleased if you find that no further work is necessary and you decide to cancel it!

When the problem persists

Sometimes, if the problem has many layers or aspects, even after effective treatment and a temporary alleviation of the symptoms, the problem returns – and perhaps seems worse. Some people are tempted to terminate therapy at this point, reasoning that the problem is still there and so the therapy isn't working. Some people chase from one therapist to another – not because the therapy isn't helping (which would a good reason to terminate it!), but because they won't exercise the patience to see a process through.

When a problem returns, or re-emerges in a new form, in all likelihood the therapy is working. The situation is that some aspects of the problem have been completely resolved, but that other aspects have begun to present themselves. These aspects were more deeply hidden and buried, but as they resurface this means they can be cleared for good.

If you want to know whether the therapy is working, the question to ask yourself is this: have the aspects that we have addressed during the therapy been resolved? If so, the answer is definitively positive! Even if the problem itself persists temporarily, you are on course to resolving it completely and for good. You need perseverance at this point to see the process through.

Sometimes it's a matter of letting the dust settle. Like if you were to change the murky water of a pond... the natural state of water is clear... the best way is to wait while the dust settles to reveal the clarity of the situation.

Trusting the process

The most important principle of therapy is to work with whatever comes up. It's very important to trust the therapeutic process, which will lead us exactly where we need to go - and sometimes it may be necessary to take a different route to the destination than the one that was expected.

Sometimes the therapy seems to relate only indirectly to the presenting problem. It often happens, for example, that people who come to quit smoking find themselves addressing problems from childhood that they really didn't expect to come up.

How many sessions?

How long therapy takes is really a question of how many aspects or layers the problem has. Usually not every aspect needs to be addressed, since the benefits of therapy tends to have a ripple affect. When a problem has a specific cause or a limited set of causes, usually between one and three sessions are all that are required.

For people who have experienced more traditional forms of psychotherapy or other methods of alternative health, or have struggled for years without effective help, it's often difficult to believe that deep and seemingly intractable problems can be remedied so quickly. However, by finding and resolving the precise causes of an issue, it really can be this quick and miraculous.

But some problems have many layers. If, for example, you had a severely abusive or neglected childhood, many more sessions may be helpful.

Although success cannot be guaranteed, it is extremely rare for a problem not to be satisfactorily resolved given our joint commitment and endeavour (both therapist and client are equally responsible for the success of the process).

I would not want to take payment from anyone who felt they hadn't been helped. You have nothing to lose. The chances are you'll be amazed at the progress you make!

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