Anyone ever tried hypnotherapy and what was your experience?

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yolo_snail@reddit

My grandmother was a hypnotherapist, and all that did was convince me even more it's all quackery.

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I think it was the most effective form of therapy for me.. The sessions were recorded so i could play them at home . It helps put worries to the back of your mind rather than the front. It is not a magic cure and you have to have quite a few sessions.

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Gisschace@reddit

Not me but my partner who had a very stressful corporate job, he found it really useful.

I think partly because he was constantly ‘on’, it was a good to have the time to chill, come down to his subconscious and figure out what was happening.

Interestingly after the first few sessions he felt even more stressed at work, and that was because he was calmer overall so could feel stress coming on, whereas before he was in that state all the time.

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FreeBogwoppits@reddit

I had it for anxiety. It was fairly helpful. It didn't cure me, but I learned some relaxation techniques that I still use regularly.

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telmereth1986@reddit

So this is something I feel quite evangelical about. I recently completed a course of solution-focused hypnotherapy and it was, by a large margin, the most helpful mental health "therapy" I have ever done.

Allow me to expand. I'm a lifelong anxiety-sufferer who has had occasional bout of severe depression. I'm recently diagnosed with combined-type ADHD. I've tried all sorts of things to help with crippling anxiety symptoms. NHS talking therapy, private psychotherapy, CBT, EMDR, prescription medication, supplements, exposure therapy, yoga, meditation, mindfulness...

Most of these have been somewhat helpful in various ways (with the exception of CBT which is just not a good fit for me). In a fit of desperation last December I was looking for things I'd not done before, and came across a local hypnotherapist and decided I had nothing to lose.

Some thoughts...

You do have to want it to work. You have to want to feel better.

There is no magic. A trance is simply a state of deep relaxation. You are always in control.

The belief is that when your body and mind are relaxed you are able to empty the metaphorical "stress bucket" in your mind, and when your bucket is empty you are more resilient and it's possible to use your brain more fully. The whole idea of solution-focused hypnotherapy is to work towards feeling better, not to dwell on the reasons you are feeling bad. It's about choosing how to frame things and choosing positivity. I looked forward each week to an hour of positivity and relaxation - it was really valuable for me.

I did one specific technique that is meant to address fears and trauma, where during the trance session I had to replay a bad/traumatic event over and over again, forwards and backwards, faster and faster, until it had lost all of its impact. Now I struggle to even remember the event how it really happened.

It's not going to be for everyone, and it's not going to work without your full cooperation and desire for it to be helpful. But I certainly recommend people to give it a try if they are interested.

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Separate-Frame-7038@reddit

It works but CBT is better.

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CoffeeIgnoramus@reddit

I went through CBT and it genuinely changed/saved my life.

The thing I will say is that you need to be ready to make the effort and want to change your life.

They are like coaches, you are the athlete. So they can do or say anything, but if you don't listen and do what they tell you, then it's a waste of time. But you don't need to be perfect, you just need to keep trying and if you have bad days/weeks, it's not failure. It's just a "rest" period for your brain, but as long as you keep getting back up, you're still building your muscle. Eventually it becomes normal.

I would strongly suggest CBT to anyone who is sick of feeling like they feel. But you need the drive to feel good.

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nali_cow@reddit

I never understood CBT. I did try it once, but it felt like it basically amounted to "when you feel sad, don't be sad. When you feel anxious, don't be anxious"

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CoffeeIgnoramus@reddit

Interesting. That doesn't seem to be anything like CBT I received on the NHS.

We had to analyse what was causing issues, then use some techniques and look after our health whilst learning how anxiety works. Essentially working on becoming our own "therapists".

Can I ask who did your CBT?

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nali_cow@reddit

It was NHS. I am, of course, oversimplifying it a lot. There were anxiety management tactics and processes ("worry tree" and so on), but it seemed like the goal was to reduce the symptoms of anxiety, without really addressing the root of why these things made me anxious at all

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CoffeeIgnoramus@reddit

I don't know how to ask this softly but I really don't mean it to come across in any other way than interest:

What do you see as the root of your anxiety?
and do you think others who don't suffer anxiety have the same things in their lives?
and finally, what do you think those "healthy" people do differently.

Feel free to change the questions if they seem to misinterpret anything or if you think there is a better question in there.

I'm honestly just interested in your views because I've heard this from people who didn't find CBT useful and I'm not entirely sure I understand as this wasn't my experience. But it's not me saying "It would work if you....". I literally am interested in understanding other people's perspective.

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nali_cow@reddit

Honestly I'm not sure. I'm thankfully in a much healthier place these days, but at the time (some 8-9 years ago) a very minor setback would cause full on anxiety spirals that went on and on. I never really understood why that happened or why it stopped, but I didn't find the process of CBT particularly useful for combating it.

Is fully possible that I just didn't "do it right" though. I have ADHD so building and maintaining routines (seemingly a core part of CBT) isn't exactly my forte.

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Cover_Of_Darkness@reddit (OP)

I’ve tried CBT with two different therapists, with two very different styles and got nothing out of either of them

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sheepandlambs@reddit

...I'm guessing that's not the CBT I'm thinking of, although I guess that might help convince you to stop smoking.

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L-0-T-H-0-S@reddit

Hypnosis works on the fundamental basis that, upon a given cue, you agree that you are in fact hypnotised. There are genuinely surprising physiological aspects to that but, at the end of the day, it only works because you consciously co-operate.

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mainukfeed@reddit

For most people it doesn't work at all (90%+) because it doesn't actually work. It's a placebo, some people really do believe in 'magic', and when people tell them things, specially when they think they're a "doctor" they believe it, and their belief in it, some how makes things happen.

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sheepandlambs@reddit

Hypnosis is a very real thing. And when the thing you're trying to achieve is entirely mental (finding the willpower to stop smoking), why wouldn't hypnosis work?

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mainukfeed@reddit

Why would hypnosis work? Other than the placebo effect.

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RokosBallsack@reddit

My boobs got bigger.

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ross-dirext-words137@reddit

It's very effective for some people. You need to want it to work and you need to try these things.

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Glittering-Knee9595@reddit

I had a couple of sessions when I was experiencing high anxiety and he did manage to get me to access some buried memories —- but it wasn’t useful for me in actually helping me feel better.

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Fine_Analyst_4408@reddit

I haven't personally but my nan did for smoking and was able to quit cold turkey after one session. She was a very heavy smoker too, the walls and ceilings were heavily stained from it. From what I understand, you need to be open to the concept or it won't work.

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georgisaurusrekt@reddit

My granddad used to smoke 30 a day but then had hypnotherapy and quit the next day for good. Tbh it’s probably similar to the placebo effect but if it works it works yknow

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