At the age of 25, Helena Cameron weighed 20 stone and couldn’t walk to the car without her feet throbbing.

Helena first started piling on the pounds as a teenager. Anxiety problems caused her to binge eat junk food and gorge constantly on chocolate, crisps and fizzy drinks. She admits that she’d often eat a large pizza to herself during the night.

She would often feel reluctant to go out in public in case people stared or laughed at her.

Helena’s life changed in December 2008 when her grandmother became concerned and took action by contacting a personal trainer called David.

Along with David’s personal training regime, Helena went to psychotherapy and hypnotherapy sessions to help stop her binging.

By December 2010, Helena had lost a staggering 5 stone and quit her job as a child support worker in order to concentrate on losing weight.

Helena now works full time for David’s fitness firm Rapid Hypno Fitness and says: “Thanks to my grandmother, I feel amazing.”

If you would like to find out more about how hypnotherapy could help you to lose weight, please visit our page on Weight Loss.

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The electrical therapy involves passing a weak current through thin wire electrodes which are inserted into the brain. Recent findings have revealed that some individuals experiencing severe OCD found that the treatment helped to keep their symptoms under control for more than eight years with on-going DBS.

Dr Benjamin Greenberg, a psychiatrist at Brown University in Providence lead the study and has stressed that this technique is reserved only for those who have very extreme symptoms of OCD.

In 2008 Dr Greenberg reported that after treating 26 severely affected OCD patients with DBS for three years, 73 per cent of patients experienced a reduction of 25 per cent in their symptom ratings.

Though none of the patients were cured, the difference in their symptoms meant that after the DBS treatment they were able to cope far better during daily life.

Though the results of this study are extremely positive, far more research needs to be done in order discover the long term benefits and side effects of DBS. Sufferers of OCD often find that complementary therapies such as hypnotherapy are effective when used alongside conventional treatments and medication. If you are interested in finding out more about how hypnotherapy can help obsessions and compulsions then please view our fact-sheet.

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OCD is a severely disabling illness which see’s its sufferers struggle with unwanted obsessions, thoughts and repetitive behaviour such as hand washing and it affects around 3 children in every 100.

The BBC spoke to Hertfordshire mum Sandra* whose 8 year old John* suffered so severely with the illness that he would not sit on a toilet seat or chair on public transport because of intrusive thoughts and would not shower or eat for fear of contamination.

Sandra also spoke of her son often washing his hands to such an extent they would begin to crack and bleed.

“It’s very terrifying, upsetting, one of the worst mental illnesses in my experience.” She said.
When symptoms started to appear when John was very young, Sandra thought it was simply a stage of adolescence that he would grow out of. However after the death of his grandfather to whom he was very close, he developed fears about dirt and germs and was referred to a adolescent mental health service.

The diagnosis of OCD actually came as a huge relief for the family and anti-depressants were quickly prescribed alongside a course of specialised cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), a recommended treatment for OCD.

CBT is performed by experienced and highly trained therapists and works at giving sufferers the tools they need to confront and deal with their obsessions.

Now 14 John is in recovery and beginning to explore the pleasures of childhood, but the family are aware that they will have to work hard to ensure OCD does not seep back into his life.

For more information about OCD and the various help options available please visit our fact sheet here, which also explains how hypnotherapy can help to relieve symptoms of the illness. Additionally if you would like to contact a hypnotherapist directly to discuss this matter or any other please use the search tool to locate a qualified professional in your local area.

*Please note to protect individuals privacy, real names are not used in this article.

Many with Asperger’s will also experience anger and temper outbursts, usually as a result of intense anxiety. Many of the mentioned symptoms can be altered and controlled through the subconcious mind and hypnotherapy is a way of achieving this.

If anxiousness builds over time this will begin to cause a large amount of stress in the brain and often leads to a series of outbursts, tantrums, irritability and fear which could eventually overflow into other aspects of a persons life causing social alienation and what is often considered to be maladaptive behaviour.

Hypnotherapy is an effective tool for alleviating stress and anxiety by relaxing the mind and nervous system as well as providing many other positive effects such as increasing self esteem and effective thinking and helping to improve insomnia.

If you would like to discuss hypnotherapy options further then you can contact a hypnotherapist in your local area using the search tool located on the homepage of this site.

In a self-harm report conducted by the Royal College of Psychiatrists over half of the 1,500 members surveyed felt they or their team did not have sufficient training to assess people who had harmed themselves.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists have criticised the NHS for the lack of training on self-harm and have made a series of recommendations to improve the standard of care given to people at risk of suicide and self-harm. The key point raised was that more funding, research and training are needed as all elements are essential to a good support system for those who self-harm.

Whilst there has been a reduction in the number of suicides in recent decades, the number of people self-harming in the UK is still continuing to rise with figures currently standing at four in every 1,000 people self-harming.

Though we tend to associated self-harm with adolescence and young adulthood it can occur at any age, even in the elderly population. The motivations vary but often it is used as a coping mechanism which provides a temporary relief from trauma such as emotional or sexual abuse or as an escape from distressing feelings such as depression, failure, self loathing and anxiety.

There are numerous methods which can be used to treat self-harm, some of which employ the use of antidepressants and others which look to treat the underlying causes and the behaviour itself.

One possible treatment option worth considering is Hypnotherapy. Whatever hypnotherapy is dealing with the key aims remain the same, one of which is accessing the subconscious to find the source of the problem. In the case of self-harm this may be anxiety or perhaps the memory of a trauma and whatever the route cause of the issue hypnosis will work at eliminating this.

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Treatment ranges from medication to cognitive behavioural therapy and psychotherapy and cognitive behavioural therapy and hypnotherapy have been found to be highly effective in this area. Some types of talk therapies are not very effective in this instance but Cognitive-behavioural techniques were used in a study to improve BDD in a study of 10 patients, all of whom responded favourably to a six-week treatment program.

In another study, hypnotherapy, thought stopping and relaxation resulted in significant clinical improvement in 22 of 27. Hypnotherapy affords quicker results the modern techniques applied assist with correcting the hallucinations of body defects.

To those who are ignorant to this disease, treatment may seem like a simple case of cutting up the credit card, however psychological symptoms are similar to those of alcoholism, eating disorders, drug abuse and gambling, resulting in emotional, social, occupational, and financial consequences.Similar to other compulsive behaviours, sufferers often experience the highs and lows associated with addiction and often the habit starts as a result of low self-esteem, with sufferers thinking that their next purchase will fill a void in their life.

Hypnotherapy is such a versatile treatment and this is just another instance where it can be used. We already know that it is particularly good for building up self-esteem as access to your subconscious will mean negative thoughts, feelings, habits and mood patterns can be adapted and erased. This has been a success in areas of motivation, depression, stress, chronic pain, jaw clenching (TMJ) and a variety of compulsive behaviours. In particular, with respect to compulsive behaviour, hypnosis can give rapid and even immediate relief. We also know that it can break habits, of course this is one of the reasons it is such a success for treating smoking and weight loss, as the subconscious is retrained to react in a different way when we feel like we are about to slip.

To contact one of our hypnotherapists please visit the homepage of this site.

Hypnosis has the advantage of quicker results than many traditional talking therapies and makes it possible to discover and understand problems rooted in the past. It is not there to take the place of counselling or medication but instead to work in conjunction with both resulting in a more in depth treatment regime, a high success rate and speedier results.

Hypnotherapy is also excellent for treating the symptoms that accompany depression. It is an excellent tool for increasing self esteem and confidence and it can often help those who feel guilty about a situation they didn’t really have control over.

Fears can often prevent people from moving on with their lives and once this fear or failure has been eliminated it will generate some positive motivation. Over time people will gradually begin to feel their depression easing away and their mood and energy levels will increase in turn.

If used alongside regular talk therapy sessions hypnosis can be used to increase self-esteem, encourage decisions and actions, and turn a negative life-approach to a positive one.

To read the full article please click here.

It seems strange that a women who not so long ago had an addiction to Diet Coke and a 50 a day cigarette habit is now a qualified nutritionist and hypnotherapist. However, after suffering for years from a number of complaints including rosecea, rashes, polycystic ovaries and fluctuating weight, Lowri Turner decided it was time to make a change.

After a lot of careful research Lowri began to draw link between some of her problems and her diet and lifestyle. Her fascination with food spurred her on a road of discovery and in July she graduated with a diploma in nutritional therapy from the Institute For Optimum Nutrition (DipION) and established her company Va Voom Health before deciding that hypnotherapy would further complement the nutritional service.

Lowri has now also completed her Hypnotherapy Certification Training and is listed on the General Hypnotherapy Register, overseen by the General Hypnotherapy Standards Council. Lowri decided take up hypnotherapy before graduating because she believes that although many people understand a healthy diet, it doesn’t meant they can stick to it and hypnotherapy is a tool that could help her clients keep to the food plans they’ve created.

“I took up hypnotherapy in my final year and it isn’t the kind of thing where I’m making people eat an onion and think it’s an apple – being a journalist means I am a sceptic – but I found I really loved it. In the grand scale of things helping people change diet is small,” she adds, “but it makes a huge difference and people feel amazing.”
Hypnotherapy is there to analyse why you shouldn’t just removed something from your diet without thinking about why you enjoy it in the first place. It helps to break associations.

Read the full story here.

As with any disease symptoms tend to suffer and worsen when the patient finds themselves in a stressful situation. Hypnotherapy has long since been known for improving stress and anxiety and among this being one of the benefits of treating Tourettes with hypnosis there are also other pros to this type of alternative treatment.

Hypnosis sends the patient into a deep and relaxed state of consciousness which allows people to be more open to suggestions. These suggestions can help with symptoms and anxiety and this will enable the patient to relax and integrate these suggestions in part of their life. The suggestions will subconsciously tell the mind to react to situations in different ways and eventually this can dramatically improve the overall life style of someone who suffers from Tourettes.

Research has shown that hypnosis can help in reducing symptoms and can lead sufferers to lead a more normal life with fewer tics and interruptions.

Read more here.