Hypnotherapy

The group started the year well, in spite of all the rain, with a talk from Michelle Wakerell, a local clinical hypnotherapist. Michelle spent much of the meeting de-bunking the myths about hypnotherapy and reassuring us that hypnosis can’t make you do things you don’t want to do. Michelle explained that, although she is also a registered psychotherapist, she finds great success using hypnotherapy for ‘fixing’ behaviours that are detrimental to us. Particularly successful examples are smoking cessation, weight loss and panic attacks. Michelle described being hypnotised as being in an altered state of consciousness, a bit like when you’re nodding off in an armchair or concentrating so hard on something you block out all other noises or things around you. She assured us that there is nothing to fear and that the client is aware of what is going on at all times. Many behaviours like nail biting or smoking are as a result of unconscious thoughts or feelings, often formed when we are children, and the beauty of hypnotherapy is that it speaks directly to the unconscious. The other good thing is that, unlike traditional counselling, hypnotherapy can help in a short number of treatments. Michelle said that smoking cessation can sometimes be successful after just one session and something like weight loss could take 5 or 6 sessions. The key thing though is that the person has to really want it otherwise it won’t be effective. The group seemed really interested and asked lots of questions, including whether it is available on the NHS – at the moment it isn’t although another short-term form of therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (also good for things like anxiety and panic attacks) is.