Beyond The Swinging Watch - Hypnosis and Psychology in Everyday Life

An anxiety condition caused by  intensely stressful or traumatic events. Update: 13.01.21 Who Cares for the Carer?  A recent study in the Journal of Occupational Health is being widely reported today after it found that out of the 709 NHS Intensive Care staff studied, 45% met the criteria for PTSD and other associated serious mental health conditions (depression, anxiety, problem drinking). The impact of COVID-19 on mental health is going to roll on long after we have got the virus under control. Practical and emotional pressure are fertile ground for PTSD to establish itself. This is even more of a concern when we acknowledge the study was conducted in June and July 2020, before the current increase of hospitalisations When we consider that trauma could be summed up are experiences that are unpredictable, uncontrollable and unmanageable we can see how the current situation is likely to lead to mental health problems. Unpredictable: Even with all guidance, training...

Welcome to Week Three of the challenge to improve the quality and regularity of your sleep. By this stage, many of my clients report that they have noticed positive changes to their sleep. Often they also report feeling more in control of the things that usually stressed them out. The key was not being a slave to the challenges, rather they promised themselves that they would apply them as often as possible; around 80% of the time.  The 80% Rule We are not robots! We are fallible human beings and we cannot expect ourselves to behave and think in predictable ways all  of the time. So often people will 'fall off the wagon' of their diet, exercise programme or combatting that annoying habit because they had a moment of 'weakness'. It isn't weak. It is the human condition and once we stop striving for most  of the time (80%) we achieve what we set out, without the other 20% making any difference.   Following something,  most  of the time is more sustainable...

Which of the following descriptions sounds most like you? You have believe that you control the events in your life. You believe that what happens to you is the result of your own abilities and efforts. Rather than relying on the opinions of others, you think and behave independently. You are rarely influenced by others and are more likely to seek out the appropriate information to make your own decisions. OR You believe that things just happen and we have little influence over events. We can be lucky or unlucky, that’s just how it is. When faced with choices you tend to go with the flow and believe that things will be what they will. You have a tendency to be influenced by others and their opinions. They describe two extremes of personality traits we call a person’s Locus of Control. They refer to the perception of personal control we have over our behaviour. The first represents a high internal locus of control  while the second describes someone with a high exter...

Emile Coue (1857-1926) proposed his Law of Reversed Effort which suggests, even if you want something to happen but fear/imagine it won’t then, with all probability, it won’t. The idea gives birth to the idea. Our imagination is influenced by our subconscious and makes sure that the efforts of the conscious will are opposed. Consider the frustration of trying to remember someone’s name. You want to remember it (conscious will) but when it doesn’t spring to mind straight away you fear you won’t be able to remember it (imagination) and sure enough you can’t remember it. If you then take your mind away from it, you remove the imagination, and it is likely to pop into your thoughts. A lot of the difficulties people have motivating themselves in life could be explained by the Law of Reversed Effort. The smoker who wants to stop smoking but imagines that they are going to find it difficult no doubt will; imagination winning over conscious desire.  The learner driver who wants...

It all began a month or so before lockdown when I noticed how many sleep aids there were in the chemist.  That same week I had four people contact me for help with sleep problems.  This made me ask myself: “What does psychological research and Hypnotherapy tell us about getting a good nights sleep?” A positive psychological approach focuses on what makes people healthy rather than unhealthy. Instead of looking at the behaviour of someone who is struggling to get a good nights sleep, we should focus on the person who frequently sleeps well. How is the behaviour different? Can we copy it? I began teaching people to use these psychological techniques alongside Hypnosis to nudge their sleep pattern. I was pleased to see the differences that could be made…but more people are needed to really see how effective it could be. Fancy a challenge? You need to apply the principles for the next three weeks and review the changes to your to sleep.  Each princip...

Welcome to Week Two of the Sleep Challenge. I say challenge, it's more of an experiment. Sleep issues are one of the most common direct or indirect symptoms my client refers to. For some, the problem is getting to sleep while for others it's staying asleep. There are some people who unfortunately suffer from both and feel exhausted most of the time.  When I worked with clients on the three principles I outline in this challenge, they reported improvements in how easily they went to sleep and the quality of their sleep.  I have laid out the principles here for people to work through and let me know how they get on. The only difference for my clients is they also had three hypnosis sessions as part of the programme. If you want the same experience, let me know! So... on to the second principle. The 3 Better Sleep Principles In the first week, we discussed expectations and how they are formed not only by direct experience (what happens) but by our thoughts. We look...