Category: hypnotherapy for Fears and phobias

1. British Airways wants to hypnotise its customers during flights

   Posted on 9:34am Friday 19th Feb 2016

   British Airways is starting to use hypnosis on its passengers 

   For many people the thought of getting on a plane can cause them to break out in a cold sweat. Of course often these same people turn to hypnotherapy to help them overcome the fear. I certainly see an increase in people who have decided it’s time to let go of their fear of flying as the summer holidays approach.

   Now BA have decided to offer hypnotherapy to its passengers during their long haul flights.

   For a long time now the entertainment packages available have been getting more sophisticated and now, for the first time you will be able to listen to hypnosis audio recordings as well as watching the latest blockbusters and episode of Mr Bean. The new service starts on the 1st March and bearing in mind that British Airways have 13 million long haul passengers a year it really opens up a world of opportunity for people to understand that hypnosis and all the thoughts and feelings that go along with hypnotic ideas are really not about taking control of your mind like you see on cheesy television shows!

   The recordings will help you if you are thinking about quitting smoking, cutting down on your drinking of alcohol or even if you want to eat more vegetables. All in all there will be five different experiences that you can listen to. Each one lasting for 30 minutes. 

   As a clinical hypnotherapist myself, I always make sure that I record the work that I do with cients so that they have it ot listen to at home and it really does help to reinforce the work that we do. I'm not sure how well listening to something once whilst on a flight will work. However, even though these can only be generic recordings and not tailored to individual needs, just taking some time out to relax will always be a good idea.

   It will certainly be interesting to find out how well listening to a hypnosis CD on a long haul flight will work. You definitely have plenty of time and nowhere else to go, so there will be no issues of someone ringning your phone or doorbell whilst you are trying to listen!

   If you want to listen to a relaxation MP3 for yourself to find out just how calming it can feel to switch off for a few moments, then just click the link at the top of this page.

2. Words can ease operation anxiety better than drugs with conversational hyposis

   Posted on 12:31pm Sunday 25th Oct 2015

   Have you ever encountered a Doctor with a great bedside manner and felt very at ease? Or perhaps you have felt that during a hospital procedure you were made to feel more scared during a time when you would be in a heightened state of anxiety anyway?

   As a hypnotherapist I work with people who are worried about health issues and may even have a fear of needles or an operation that they really need. I even work with dental patients who know that if they do not overcome the problem then their teeth could suffer, or even fall out. I know how much the words that I say help people and of course this means that I am very aware of the language and what can often be called converstainal hypnosis.

   Study shows that words can help patients before surgery even more than pills.

   In fact conversational hypnosis may do a better job than pills for relaxing patients before surgery according to a brand new study being presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY™ 2015 annual meeting. Anxious patients heading into surgery often receive medication to ease their fears, you may have been in this situation yourself, but in fact a few calming words from the health professionals might actually be an even more effective medicine.

   Emmanuel Boselli, is the lead author of the study and a physician anesthesiologist at édouard Herriot Hospital, Lyons, France. He said...

   "The anesthesiologist uses calm, positive words to divert the patient's attention and help him or her feel more comfortable. It reflects a change in the way the physician interacts with the patient and takes just a few minutes."

   It's in the way that you say it.

   The way that you phrase the information that you present makes all the difference. For instance talking quietly and with a positive aspect to the patient and saying things like  "Keep calm and quiet" instead of  "Please don't move". Alongside this they showed that focusing the patient's attention on something other than the preparations for surgery and anesthesia procedure has a great effect.

   This was compared to the use of a standard medication called hydroxyzine, which is taken orally to relax patients before their procedure.

   Asked to rate the effects on a scale ranging from 0 (no comfort) to 10 (maximal comfort) the results may well surprise you.

   Words vs Pills

   The average comfort scale of those who had received hypnosis was 6.7 before and 9.3 after, while patients who had medication averaged 7.8 before and 8.3 after. So clearly the calming words and distraction worked better than the drugs and medication.

   It’s interesting to note how just the way that you are spoken to makes a real difference, and if even more effective that drugs.

   It’s something that we see in dentistry. When the dentist says to you before an injection “This is just a little scratch” then that’s what you feel. If your dentist says “I hope this doesn’t hurt too much” then you would feel more pain...and perhaps it would be time to think about changing dentists too!

   If you feel anxious about a medical procedure then you really can get help and learn to be more relaxed right the way through it.