Hypnotherapy Helps With Almost Everything

/0 Comments/in , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , /by

 

Hypnotherapy is undergoing a bit of a renaissance right now. Around the world, people are remembering it as an effective method for managing many things. This includes post-surgical recovery, easing chronic conditions (including pain), reducing the symptoms of stress and burnout, dealing with mental health diagnoses such as anxiety, depression and OCD, and on to building confidence and focus, as well as working on other life coaching goals. It can even help you improve the health of your energetic body (think meridians and chakras). And, if you are on a spiritual path (Druid, Shaman, Wiccan, Buddhist and so on), it can even help you with that.

 

The BBC magazine  Science Focus recently ran a piece called Rethinking Hypnosis (click here), as they have just cottoned on to how good it can be and have realised that the scientific community seriously needs to investigate, not only how it works, but also what it can work on.

 

Not only that, but American psychiatrist Dr David Spiegel has a self-hypnosis app (Reveri) that is constantly in the news to rave reviews. It has appeared in the Financial Times, The New York Times, Women’s Health and more. You might want to click here for more info on that.

 

And just a few weeks ago, mental health and wellbeing magazine Happiful happily extolled  the virtues of it in surgery and stomach pain management following two new studies (click here).

 

Plus, there’s my book, How to Cope With Almost Anything with Hypnotherapy (simple ideas to enhance your wellbeing and resilience). Published by Green Tree/Bloomsbury, it contains a ton of advice, including how to hypnotise yourself, together with 23 helpful, healing recordings. And you really do want to be clicking here for that.

 

Also, hypnotherapy is currently a global wellness trend. Don’t just take my word for it. There’s an in-depth industry business report that’s making that claim (click here).

 

This means that around the world, a lot of people seeking hypnotherapy out, either from individual hypnotherapists or as part of the wellness retreat holiday excursion. The report states that a post-Covid (and ever-increasing) awareness of what hypnotherapy can do is the main factor driving this demand.

 

Even the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) has noticed this growing popularity, especially in places such as Indonesia, where hypnotherapy is so popular, it’s almost a way of life (you know what to do). LSE researcher Dr Nicholas Long said that it “does have something to offer in terms of thinking about the mental health and wellbeing challenges that so many people are facing in the contemporary world.”

 

Those challenges include anxiety, depression, anger management, stress management and more. However, you can also have it for weight control, pain control and stopping smoking. You want to build coping strategies? It can do that. Achieving gnosis? It can help with that too. Whatever it is that you want, if it is not delivered in a hypnotic state, it’s not hypnotherapy.

 

What is it?

At its most basic, hypnotherapy is therapy conducted in a state of hypnosis. And, as you can see, there are different therapies for different things, depending on what it is you want to achieve.

 

Hypnosis itself is an altered state of consciousness, very similar to daydreaming or losing yourself in a really good book. In this altered state of consciousness, your unconscious mind becomes very susceptible to positive suggestion. Especially when those suggestions are tied to a goal you already know you want to achieve.

 

A hypnotherapist then, is someone who helps you drift into a hypnotic state, there to deliver suggestions related to your therapeutic, coaching, healing, or life goals.

 

And hypnotherapy works as well online as it does face-to-face which means that, when it comes to finding the right fit hypnotherapist for you, you’re not constrained by location. If you live in London and want a Bristol hypnotherapist, you can have one. Similarly, if you live in Manchester, but want a London-based hypnotherapist, you can have them too.

 

Live in Canada but really like the sound of that UK-based hypnotherapist that everyone has been talking about? Not a problem.

 

When delivered online, you just need a crystal-clear connection. In my experience, people much prefer the sound of my voice to come at them from EarPods or headphones rather than from speakers (it’s more personal and immersive that way). Apart from that, you just need to be sitting comfortably. And the therapist needs to be able to see you clearly, so a laptop or tablet is way better than a smartphone for that.

 

For a taste of hypnotherapy delivered by myself, please take a look my newish YouTube channel (you’ll find it here). And feel free to check in on a regular basis, as more content is being added all the time

 

While I don’t know what it is you want hypnotherapy for, I do know you will be jolly glad you tried it.

 

 

It’s Worth a Shot!

/0 Comments/in , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , /by

Say hello to my single session therapy and coaching service . . .

 

Do you have a very specific problem in mind, one that is causing you stress but, that you can articulate well? Is there something on the horizon that you would like to prepare for, either physically or mentally? Are you motivated to make rapid but significant changes and achieve your goals sooner rather than later?

If you have answered yes to any of the above, then One Shot might just be for you.

One Shot is a bespoke service available almost immediately, with no delays or waiting lists. If suitable, you and I agree to work together for one focussed session only, there to resolve your immediate challenges and achieve your goals.

One Shot gives you help almost right there and then; it can give you clarity and focus; it draws upon your own innate strengths and inner resources, and it gives you a concrete plan of action going forwards.

It’s not just for people who have an immediate problem, or sudden challenge that needs addressing, it is also a great preventative; a way of heading things off at the pass. We would all be in better shape, physically as well as mentally, if therapy and coaching were used as prevention rather than reparation and repair.

 

With a One Shot session there are three points of contact overall:

 

Point one:

The initial consultation. This will be undertaken either over the phone or via Zoom and will last for approximately 15 minutes. This is where we both figure out if One Shot is suitable for you. If we both agree that it is, we will book the session in and I will send you a short questionnaire to be returned in advance of the session.

 

Point two:

The One Shot session itself. This lasts from one-and-a-half to two hours and can involve a combination of rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT) and positive psychology, as well as hypnotherapy. The aim is for you to leave, not only with greater insight and understanding but, also, with several key points for you to act upon. You will be sent a recording of our therapy / coaching session, together with a copy of the hypnotherapy element (if this was included in your protocol). *

 

Point three:

A follow up call. Either a few weeks or months following the session (at a pre-agreed time and date) I will contact you and check in on your progress following the session. Here we can discuss various things, including possible improvements, and further requirements (such as a full course of therapy if wanted).

 

One Shot can help with:

  • Anxiety
  • Anger Management
  • Adjustment difficulties
  • Coping with change
  • Dealing with uncertainty
  • Relationship problems
  • Stress in all its forms
  • Personal development
  • Decision making
  • Preventative mental health care
  • Sudden life crisis management
  • Building better habits
  • Confidence and self-worth
  • And more

 

 

If you are interested in One Shot, please contact me either by email at info@danielfryer.com or via
WhatsApp on +44 (0)7947 310 052

 

 

 

* A PDF transcript of the session can also be provided upon request, but at extra cost.

Swearing at the Coronavirus Might Just Do You the Power of Good

/0 Comments/in , , , , , , , /by

 

Sometimes, you’ve just got to call a spade a spade and, sometimes, you’ve got to look at something that’s a bit shit and just say, “fuck it.” Believe me, it will help you, as swearing at things can be a very empowering and life-affirming thing to do.

 

Many studies have backed up the usefulness of swearing in a variety of settings. Swearing can help you cope with adversity, get on with people more quickly, cope with difficult and demanding situations and, even, bolster the persuasiveness of your arguments, speeches and conversations.

 

One such experiment, from researchers at Northern Illinois University, examined the effects of swearing on the persuasiveness of a speaker. Participants were invited to listen to three versions of a speech. One where the word ‘damn’ appeared at the beginning, one where it appeared at the end and one where it didn’t appear at all. The results showed that swearing at the beginning or the end of the speech significantly increased not only the persuasiveness of the speech but also the perceived intensity of the speaker. 1

 

Meanwhile, Professor Richard Stephens, over at Keele University in Newcastle, has tested swearing in a wide variety of ways over the years. He and his team have discovered that people who do swear can hold their hands in freezing cold water for longer than those who don’t swear and that, in a test of anaerobic strength, people who swore produced more power wattage and a stronger handgrip on a stationary exercise bike than those who did not.

 

Elsewhere, other studies have shown that people who swear, as long as swearing is part of their overall and otherwise extensive vocabulary, tend to be healthier, happier and a whole lot more honest too.

 

 

Swearing then, is not only good for your physical and mental health, but it is also a great way to gain control over your pain, your stress and your emotions.

 

There’s a lot going on at the moment; a lot of things are currently out of our control and it’s easy to feel powerless and lost. However, if you want to lift your spirits and feel more resilient in the face of the current adversity, don’t be afraid to drop the F-bomb.

 

It’s not for nothing my therapy book is called The Four Thoughts That F*ck You Up (and how to fix them). In fact, it when it comes to self-help books with swearwords in the title, it’s not alone.

 

We have The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson (as well as his follow-up, Everything Is F*cked) and The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F**k by Sarah Knight, as well as Healthy as F*ck (Oonagh Duncan), Wake the F#ck Up (Brett Moran) and, my favourite, Fuck Off (a mindfulness swearword colouring book for adults). Finally, there’s the daddy of them all, F**k It Therapy by John C Parkin (plus his two f*ck-related follow ups). In a similar, but also slightly different refrain, we have Get your Sh*t Together by Sarah Knight and (proving that even Knights of the Realm thing swearing is good for you) How to Fix Your Sh*t by Sháá Wasmund MBE.

 

Swearing crops up very frequently in my therapy room.

 

I once had a client who had an anger management issue and a very short fuse. “You must respect me,” he believed. “It’s intolerable to not be respected and people who don’t show respect me are arseholes.” This belief allowed him to kick off whenever he felt disrespected by anyone and, even, anything. He once ripped an IKEA cabinet to little bits and pieces just because ‘Thing A’ disrespected him by not fitting into ‘Groove B.’

 

The healthy alternative to all this was, “I like to be respected but I don’t have to be respected; I find it difficult to deal with when I’m not, but I know I can stand it; people who don’t respect me are not arseholes, they are worthwhile fallible human beings.”

 

With a little vim and vigour, his healthy beliefs became “I like to be respected but I don’t fucking have to be respected; I won’t like it when I’m not but it won’t fucking kill me and people who don’t aren’t fucking arseholes, they’re all-fucking-right really.” Eventually, over time, he whittled all this down to just, “fuck it.” And that was enough for him to gain control over his anger and keep calm, even when other people were being less than his ideal.

 

Profanity can be quite profound, you see; and this Coronavirus well, it can just fucking do one, can’t it?

 

 

1:Cory R. Scherer & Brad J. Sagarin (2006) Indecent influence: The positive effects of obscenity on persuasion, Social Influence, 1:2, 138-146, DOI: 10.1080/15534510600747597

 

 

There’s No Need to Panic About this Pandemic

/0 Comments/in , , , , /by

 

Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) makes a distinction between unhealthy anxiety and healthy concern. Both share the same theme, or inference, as both are about the threats and dangers of everyday life. It doesn’t matter if the threat is real (something that is happening or is about to happen) or imaginary (something that hasn’t happened yet and probably won’t happen at all); anxiety and concern are all about threat and danger.

 

Unhealthy anxiety is the result of irrational (or unhelpful) beliefs about a given event or situation; whilst healthy concern arises when you hold rational (or helpful) beliefs about the exact same event or situation.

 

When you are unhealthily anxious you overestimate the probability of that threat occurring and underestimate your ability to deal with it, you can create an even more negative threat in your mind and might find it difficult to concentrate on other matters. Typically, the anxious will avoid the threat (physically or mentally), ward off the threat, tranquilise their feelings and seek reassurance about it.

 

When you are healthily concerned, however, you are more realistic about the probability of the threat occurring and are equally realistic about your ability to cope with it. You do not create even more negative scenarios in your mind, and you are able to concentrate on other tasks and matters. As a result, the concerned are more able to face up to the threat (if it even occurs) and are more able to take constructive action to minimise said risk or danger.

 

This also applies to health anxieties. A health anxiety is an obsessive and irrational worry that you have caught or are about to come down with a severe medical condition.

 

And, right now, as a health anxiety, as a public and medical concern and as a severe medical condition Coronavirus, or COVID-19, is right up there and scaring us all.

 

But, are our news outlets and our governments overdoing it or not; are we all literally making a drama out of a crisis; are our fears rational or irrational; founded or unfounded? In short, are we experiencing collective Coronavirus anxiety or COVID-19 concern?

 

Considering the statistics (at the time of writing of the 107,828 cases so far, 86 percent have been of a mild condition and a massive 94 percent have so far recovered and/or been discharged.) it would seem to be the former. And so, asset stripping the shelves in supermarkets and chemists of bog roll, antibacterial hand gels and facemasks does seem like reassurance seeking writ large, whilst completely shunning people, public places and public transport could count as avoidance.

 

Beating people up based on their ethnicity or holiday choices, meanwhile, is definitely overkill.

 

Yes, people have sadly died but there have been other factors involved (such as age and other underlying health conditions).

 

Caution is advised, certainly, but the current advice is to wash your hands regularly and thoroughly (for at least 20 seconds) and that’s about it. That is considered effective protection, not just against COVID-19, but all other cough and cold-related germs and viruses.

 

Whilst the Coronavirus is something to be concerned with, and something to take reasonable precautions against, it is nothing to get anxious about.

 

For more on the current global pandemic panic, please feel free to read my post over at Psychology Today (click here).

 

If you want to know more about REBT, the thoughts that can freak you out and, more importantly, how to deal with them, please feel free to purchase a copy of this book that I wrote (click here).