What is parts hypnotherapy?

Do you want to change, but find there’s a part of you that’s holding you back? There are several things that we need to have in place to achieve our goals. This starts with either a desire to do something, or a need to change something. Ensuring that our goals are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-Bound) can set us on a good path for success. But, what if you have all this in place and still you find there is a part of you that just can’t change? A part of you that sabotages your efforts and pulls you back into bad habits. 

Have you ever heard someone say there is a ‘part’ of them that deals with the finances, or a ‘part’ of them that just doesn’t like something or someone? Sometimes we can’t even put our finger on what that part is, but it’s there in the background; influencing our decisions.

We talk about our minds in these different parts. As if each part has its very own personality. And the truth is, in a way it does. Our mind is split into many different elements, each in charge of its own role or function. And this ensures that we become masters of multitasking. While we can argue over how effective we actually are at this, when you think of how we can walk, talk, breathe, eat, drive, and countless other things simultaneously, we can’t deny that our brains manage all of this seamlessly.     

When these parts are working together in your best interests, they work great. But, sometimes, you may feel like a part of you is holding you back. Despite being motivated towards your goal, you just can’t make the change. And, often, you don’t know why this is, which can lead to immense frustration. This creates an internal conflict between the different elements of your mind; the part of you ready and willing to change and the part of you that just wants things to stay the same, creating a barrier to your own success. 

Your mind isn’t trying to harm you or hold you back. The reverse is actually true. It functions by establishing learned behaviours and habits to either protect or pleasure us. So, often, these things that we now want to change were actually things that, at one stage, our brain thought were helping us in some way. 

Take for example the self-defeating behaviour of procrastination. Maybe as a child, we wanted to get out of doing a boring task, and so we put it off to do something we did enjoy instead. Or maybe we put it off because we feared we may fail at the activity, and so procrastinating gave us the excuse that we could have always done better if we had actually started earlier. Now these habits are causing you unnecessary stress and you want to change it, but you just can’t find a way to break this cycle. Sound familiar? 

So how can we change this? Well, that’s where ‘parts therapy’ can help. 

Parts hypnotherapy

Parts hypnotherapy is an advanced therapeutic technique. Instead of using visualisations and imagination to implant suggestions for an alternative option, it empowers the client to search the different parts of their mind to reach their own solution.

To achieve this, it is important for the client to reach a deep hypnotic state first. Therefore, this may not be the best option for your first session, depending on how easily you are able to reach this state. Remember, like any form of learning, the more you practice it, the better you will get at it. So, if you are interested in this approach, it might be best to discuss that you would like to try this with your hypnotherapist. They can then give you advice on how many sessions you may need before you give this a try.

This hypnotherapy technique is a powerful tool to stop you from standing in your own way of success.

During the session, the hypnotherapist will enter into a two-way dialogue of sorts with your subconscious. You may be wondering how your subconscious communicates back and this is often in the form of a signal, such as a movement of a finger or hand, for example. This involuntary movement in itself can be very powerful because you will have an awareness of this movement and yet it is not something you will be able to control. And so, you can easily see that the treatment is having an effect. 

The therapist will ask your subconscious to identify what part of your mind is in charge of the habit or behaviour that you want to change. Once this has been established, you can build an awareness of what purpose it was performing; to either bring you pleasure or protect you from harm. 

The hypnotherapist will call upon you to thank that part for the role it has played, before asking your subconscious to search your mind for an alternative part that can implement a new, healthier habit to take its place. This provides you with an understanding that the old behaviour is no longer positively serving you and it needs to change. Only at the point your subconscious mind sources a replacement, will it communicate with the therapist to advise that it has one. 

Once an alternative solution has been sourced, some time may be spent on establishing how you will achieve the change that you want to make, with the help of this new part. Now we have removed the obstacle that was standing in our path, we can establish the foundations of goal setting as we would do in any other situation. Or maybe, while you are in this deep hypnotic state, you may explore if there are any other barriers to your success that you need to work to remove before being brought out of hypnosis. 

This hypnotherapy technique is a powerful tool to stop you from standing in your own way of success. People will often feel like they have tried everything. They’ve usually accepted defeat that whatever it is that they want to change will just be a part of their life forever. But this does not have to be the case. You just need to dig deep in your mind to find the part of you that can implement the change. 

Connect with a hypnotherapist today. You can search over 1,500 hypnotherapists working online and across the UK easily using our advanced search tool. Simply browse profiles until you find a therapist you resonate with, and send them an email.

If you found this article useful, you might like:

• Should I pay for hypnotherapy?
• Can hypnotherapy work over Zoom?
• Does hypnotherapy really work?