A new study has found that certain inherited brain abnormalities can make some people more prone to addiction than others.

The study, conducted by the University of Cambridge and published in the journal ‘Science’, used scans from 50 cocaine addicts and their non-addict siblings to look for differences in brain functioning.

Scientists found that abnormalities found in the drug addicts were mirrored in their non-addict siblings. The findings suggest that a propensity for addiction could be inherited, but the formation of addiction itself could be behavioural.

Dr Paul Keedwell, a consultant psychiatrist at Cardiff University, told the BBC: “Addiction, like most psychiatric disorders, is the product of nature and nurture. we need to follow up people over time to quantify the relative risk of nature versus nurture.”

If two siblings are hardwired for addiction, how can it be that only one goes on to develop one? Dr Karen Ersche, lead researcher during the recent studies, has expressed the need for further investigation. She wants to find out how non-addict siblings manage to overcome addictive behaviour, and how they manage to exercise more control than their addict siblings.

Experts are hopeful that these findings could aide the treatment and prevention of addictions by recognising high-risk individuals and investing more time in helping them to develop better self-control.

To find out how hypnotherapy could help you, please visit our Hypnotherapy Areas section.

To locate and contact a hypnotherapist, please use our hypnotherapist search tool. 

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The resulting pictures shocked the mother of two into losing more than 11 stone in under two years.

‘My size was always in the back of my mind, but I was in denial at the time, because I was in love and happy. Looking back at the photos, I’m shocked. I never realised I was that big. The weight just crept up on me,’ the 30 year old claimed.

Mrs Hart decided to undergo gastro band hypnotherapy where she was hypnotised into believing she had undergone an operation to shrink her stomach to the size of a golf ball.

Using her wedding pictures as inspiration and eating sensible portions, Mrs Hart managed to shrink down to a size 10 and has recently run a marathon.

Looking back now, she realises she should have taken action sooner and regrets allowing herself to grow so large. She admits to spending evenings tucking into fattening foods such as take away curries and chocolate, and once fell out with her sister after she called her fat.

Mrs Hart hopes to renew her vows with her husband Lee and knows she will finally feel happy with her photographs.

Discover more about weight loss by visiting our page about Gastric Band Hypnotherapy.

View and comment on the original Daily Mail article.

Cramps? Constipation? Diarrhoea? Bloating? No one wants digestive problems when there’s so much great food on offer over the festive season.

IBS, or irritable bowel syndrome, is the more common form of digestive problem. It is thought to effect  about 1 in 10 people in the UK and is most common among women aged between 25 and 45.

IBS can be debilitating, causing sufferers to feel depressed and stressed. Although it can be life-changing, it is not life-threatening and is not thought to develop into bowel cancer.

Recent research shows that ‘mind’ therapies, such a hypnotherapy, can be effective at relieving the symptoms of IBS.

If you want to enjoy your full turkey dinner without disappearing to the bathroom every two seconds, you could book a session with a hypnotherapist. To find out more about how hypnotherapy can help you with IBS, please visit our Hypnotherapy Areas section.

View and comment on the original Daily Mail article here. 

According to research conducted by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, one in four individuals in the UK workforce have experienced a mental health problem at some point during employment.

However, very few employers have taken action to manage this important issue, with many workers still feeling afraid to speak out before their problems escalate into long term absence.

The results of the survey showed that only 25% of the 2,000 employees that were surveyed said their employers encouraged openness regarding mental health problems and only four in 10 said they would feel comfortable opening up about a problem if they had one.

Mental health related absences cost the economy an estimated £8.4bn per year and there is lots more that employers could be doing in order to both reduce this cost and to increase workplace productivity.

Potential solutions which have been suggested include a temporary reduction in hours, or flexi-time if employees have experienced personal issues such as a bereavement or relationship breakdown.

If either yourself or someone you know are suffering from poor mental health and/or stress and it is effecting your ability to perform your job role then your first port of call should be your GP who will be able to provide you with appropriate advice about the best treatment avenue for you.

Hypnotherapy has long since been used as an alternative therapy for mental health problems such as depression and stress reduction. It can either be used alone, or alongside conventional medical treatment. To find out how it could help you, please visit our fact-sheets to find out more.

View and comment on the original Guardian article.

A US study recently published in the journal Cancer has revealed that individuals who light up first thing in the morning stand a higher risk of developing cancer than those who have their first cigarette later on in the day.

The study in question looked at 7,610 smokers, 4,776 of whom had lung cancer and 2,835 of whom did not. The results showed that patients who smoked within the first 30 minutes after waking up were 70% more likely to have developed cancer than those who waited for a minimum of an hour.

The researchers said that even after they statistically adjusted the results to take into account other factors such as the number of cigarettes smoked per day, the negative affects of having a cigarette within 30 minutes of waking up were still present.

An additional study which was published in the same Cancer journal looked at 1,850 smokers, 1,055 of whom were suffering from either cancer of the neck or head. Similarly to the above study, the second also revealed that individuals who smoked in the first half an hour after waking were 59% more likely to have developed a tumour than those who waited.

In terms of why smoking first thing in the morning has this effect experts remain unsure, however, Dr Joshua Muscar who was the lead researcher believes that these smokers may have higher levels of nicotine and tobacco toxins in their body and may be more addicted to smoking than those who refrain from lighting up as soon as they wake.

Professor Robert West from Cancer Research UK also said that smokers who light up early in the morning are more likely to smoke intensively, meaning that more smoke is taken into the lungs and the exposure to cancer causing chemicals is higher.

If you are a smoker who is looking to give up, please visit our fact sheet on hypnotherapy for quitting smoking to find out about how it could help you.

View the original BBC News article.

Dr Peter Naish, president of the Royal Society of Medicine’s hypnosis section has said that hypnotherapy is a useful tool which he would like to see used more widely across the NHS.

Naish commented that busy GP surgeries probably don’t use hypnotherapy very often, though there are cases where practice nurses have received training.

He also said that it is now known hypnotherapy is not simply a placebo and thus should not only be used as a last resort because nothing else has worked. Instead, he wants to see the treatment placed in the tool bag of medical professionals as a regular standby which is worth trying.

The experts said they would ideally like to see hypnotherapy being used more broadly than just in GP surgeries. There are many cases in which cancer specialists and anaesthetists have effectively used hypnotherapy but unfortunately they are in the minority.

By broadening it’s usage the NHS could save money in areas such as medication, and could also help hypnotherapy to become more commonplace.

Dr Naish and Dr Gerada also discussed the issue of hypnotherapy currently being unregulated. As it stands no legal guidelines have been established which specify the level of training and qualifications a person must have in order to set themselves up as a hypnotherapist.

In order to reduce the number of individuals going to see unqualified hypnotherapists, Dr Naish and Dr Gerada said they would like to see hypnotherapy introduced as part of standard NHS training so that in the future all NHS medical professionals will have it there to use as a tool.

What are your thoughts on hypnotherapy being offered exclusively by NHS professionals in the future? Join the discussion today on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

Listen to original BBC radio 4 broadcast.

Jessica Thom was diagnosed with Tourette’s Syndrome in 2006 and is now just one of the 300,000 individuals in the UK who is affected by uncontrollable tics.

Jessica belongs to the 10 per cent of Tourette’s sufferers who involuntarily use’s offensive language. Her tics also frequently include the word ‘biscuit’ and can also involve a complex combination of phrases and sounds.

The syndrome now means that Jessica has to consider many things that most people take for granted. For example her unpredictable and involuntary movements mean that she is unable to use knives, she avoids carrying delicate objects, she wears gloves to stop her biting herself, lids have to be placed on cups to avoid spillages, cinema trips are difficult and she tends to limit the places she goes to where she has been before and people know her.

However, despite her many setbacks Jessica is determined that her condition will not prevent her doing anything she wants to do.

Jessica has now created a new blog – TourettesHero.com (currently under construction) which she hopes will spread awareness of the condition and allow others to share and celebrate the funny side of Tourette’s. The blog surrounds a superhero character ‘Touretteshero’ who speaks her mind in a witty and inspiring way.

“I have said so many funny, strange things and I want to celebrate them. There’s much more to Tourette’s than swearing. Writing and thinking about Tourette’s is good way of giving me the language to explain it to other people,” she says.

Jessica has decided not to use medication to keep her tics under control and instead has tried various techniques such as relaxation and cognitive behavioural therapy instead.

Many individuals who struggle to control their outbursts find that hypnotherapy has been a useful resource. To contact a counsellor dealing with this issue please visit the homepage of this site and use the search tool.

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While the risk of death in adults is currently very low at below 1 per cent, there are a number of complications for teenagers who are considering the surgery including birth defects. Procedures such as this can reduce the absorption of critical vitamins and minerals, in particular folic acid which is a key element in the prevention of spina bifida and other neural tube defects.

Joan Han of the U.S. National Institutes of Health has suggested that surgery such as this be used only after every other avenue has been exhausted.

Teenagers who are overweight and considering gastric band surgery may want to explore the option of hypnotherapy for weight loss as the process involves helping individuals identify the emotional issue which has lead them to overeating in the first place.

Not only will it help those suffering with weight issues to develop a different attitude towards food and eating habits but will also help individuals to get back in control of how much they eat.

To find out more about how hypnotherapy could help you and to find a professional in your local area, please visit the homepage of this site.

Original article

Women like those described above usually experience pain through what is known as a metastatic tumour, which simply means it has spread to beyond the breast to other parts of the body such as the bones and liver.

The study in question involved 124 women who were suffering with breast cancer. The group was split into two with half given hypnotherapy as part of group therapy sessions and the other half receiving nothing.

Over the course of the next year the participants continued to receive treatment and their pain levels were monitored throughout.

Though the hypnotherapy seemed to have no effect on the frequency of their pain it did appear to ease any discomfort when it happened.

Original article here

The Trichotillomania Learning Center has estimated that between 6 and 8 million Americans are suffering from the condition at any one time.

If you believe you may be suffering from Trichotillomania then your first port of call should always be visiting your GP who will be able to provide you with professional advice and support. An option you may also want to consider is that of hypnotherapy. A hypnotherapist will be able to tap into your subconscious mind. Your subconscious mind is the part of your brain which processes the automatic reactions we do throughout the day. This could be anything from automatically locking the back door when leaving the house through to switching on your computer without thinking when arriving at work.

Hypnosis will work to change these actions that we perform without thinking. The practitioner will work with individuals in order to programme their subconscious into thinking of hair pulling as a negative habit, meaning that when you go to pull your hair in the future your negative reaction will stop you from doing so.

If you would like to contact a hypnotherapist regarding this matter or any others then please use the homepage of this site and use the search tool to locate a qualified professional in your local area.

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