Free Yourself from Phobias with Hypnotherapy

Did you know that fear of heights is called acrophobia? Or that brontophobia is the fear of thunder?

There are many types of phobias, some are very common others quite exotic, but if you have one it doesn’t really matter what it’s called. What does matter about these irrational fears is how they restrict your life and your ability to enjoy it. Anxiety in general is on the increase (Anxietyuk.org.uk) and phobias are a very common anxiety, which may have serious life curtailing outcomes.

Frequently the fear of the phobia is worse than the phobia itself and you may find yourself taking extraordinary measures to avoid certain situations or things. It may lead to more unpleasant physical and mental consequences such as blushing or sweating, or even panic attacks. You may find some relief in prescription medication from your doctor.

But whenever this excessive fear began and however it started, it something that can often be helped rapidly and safely with hypnotherapy, usually without needing to know the exact origin though many will remember the activating event in vivid, graphic detail. When patients are describing uncomfortable situations to their therapist, they may be surprised to find themselves smiling or laughing as they realise how unfounded their fears actually are. It is the beginning of changing perspectives and seeing things in proportion. If necessary, however, it is even possible to work with a phobia without discussing it fully.

Phobias are especially well matched with hypnosis as they are unconscious responses and hypnosis is all about unlocking the unconscious mind. Furthermore, in your imagination, facilitated and enhanced by hypnosis, you can replicate phobic situations or objects which can be difficult, and potentially a little frightening, to do in real life in the four walls of a therapy room. In therapeutic trance patients usually feel relaxed and comfortable despite the somewhat unpleasant content of the session making the process more effective than the equivalent real life exposure.

Most people respond quickly to the use of what is called systematic desensitization. This technique is based on the patient’s particular phobia and trigger situations which are discussed fully beforehand. You are next encouraged to imagine these scenarios that begin quite gently then progress in disturbance, step by step, at your own pace and within your control. Your unconscious mind begins to associate relaxation, rather than fear, with the phobic situations.

Even if you don’t reach your own ‘worst-case scenario’ you may very well have moved on enough in your unconscious mind to have overcome your phobic responses. This process may be carried out over more than one session and you can return to the last comfortable point the next time, perhaps finding you have become even less sensitive over the intervening period. This method can bring a surprisingly large and rapid improvement to quality of life that as a therapist is almost as rewarding to see as it is for the patient to experience.

Generally specific phobias are overcome in around three sessions but can be resolved even more rapidly if necessary (for example if you are due to fly in the very near future). Occasionally other approaches are needed to help more complex cases such inner child work or parts therapy, but all of these can be incorporated in the hypnotherapeutic process.

Patients often gain increased self-confidence from overcoming a fear, particularly if it has been a part of their lives for a long time or has stopped them doing something they really want to do. Overcoming phobias can be a life changing achievement, regaining control and opening up new possibilities – going where you always wanted to go without worrying about flying or perhaps driving on the motorway, for example -  giving you back your time and liberating you from fear.

Kirsty Grant
www.kirstygrant.co.uk

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Open Access Journals

Students and therapists often ask us about where to go to get current research. There are of course the old favourites of PubMed and ScienceDirect. What many people don't realise is that there are a plethora of highly respected peer reviewed journals whose content is available for free on the web. These are known as 'open access journals'. As there are literally thousands of such journals available searching for them can be daunting. The good news is that there are two very good directories that list these journals and provide links to their respective websites.

The first is the Directory of Open Access Journals. This gives a comprehensive list of all scientific and scholarly open access journals available.

The second is BioMed Central. The list here is more focused on science, technology and medicine.

Both have very good search facilities that allow you to search through their entire catalogue of journals looking for relevant articles. Have a look around and enjoy the wealth of knowledge to be found for free on the internet.

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Typical Calories Used in Exercise

Ever wondered how many calories are used up in exercise? Here's a brief guide that you and your patients may find useful:

Typical number of calories used
                                                                                  
Running (calories per hour at 8-minute mile pace)                    913

Swimming (calories per hour for continuous laps)                    730

Uphill walking at a 10% gradient (calories per hour )               694

Rowing (calories per hour at a moderate pace)                        611

Cycling (calories per hour at 12-14mph pace )                         584

Jogging (calories per hour at 12-minute mile pace)                  511

Walking (calories per hour at 15-minute mile pace)                  365

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Fat Burning Exercise Tips to Help Your Patients

As we all know, one of the not-so-secret secrets of effective weight management is to exercise regularly. To that end, here are some exercise tips to help your patients burn off some of that excess fat. Of course, your patient must always check with their doctor that it is safe for them to take up more exercise.

Be intense with your exercise
Don’t be fooled by the so-called fat-burning zone. This is the misguided notion that working at a lower intensity is better for fat burning than working at a higher effort level (say, for example, walking instead of running.) The harder you exercise, the more calories you will burn and it is this that really counts when it comes to losing fat.

Choose your exercise carefully
There is no such thing as the ‘ultimate’ calorie-torching activity. Energy burned is dependent not just on the activity itself, but on how much effort you put in, how skilled you are at it, how long you do it for, and how often. So choose something that you are going to do regularly and consistently. That means an activity that you actually enjoy (unless you want your workouts to involve untold misery and boredom!) and one that is practical and accessible.

Exercising larger muscles
Serious fat-burning activity uses the large muscle groups of the body – the thighs and bottom, chest and back. The greater the overall recruitment of muscle, the higher the calorie expenditure. So in the gym, you are much better off using, say, the rower than one of those arm-cranking machines.

Sustainable exercise development
To fire up the calorie furnace, fat-burning activity has to be sustainable for a reasonable period. So while skipping is great exercise, it’s not much use if you can only do it for three minutes. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends 20-60 minutes per session, three to five times per week. It doesn’t have to be continuous effort, however …

Interval training
Interval training, in which you mix hard efforts with bouts of recovery, is one of the best ways of maximising calorie expenditure, improving aerobic fitness and making use of limited time. To get the most out of an interval session, ensure that you work outside the comfort zone on the efforts and ease right off during the recoveries. Try a 2:2 rest/work ratio to start with.

Carry the exercise load
Activities that are weight bearing, such as walking and running, use more calories than those in which your weight is supported (such as swimming or cycling), simply because you have to shift your own body weight against gravity.

Running on empty?
You may have heard that exercising on an empty stomach in the morning burns more fat. It is true that the body has to rely on fat stores if you don’t break the overnight fast, but then again, the lack of a ready energy supply may mean that you don’t work out for as long, or as hard, as you may have otherwise done.

Go for the afterburn
One of the best things about exercise is that the fat-burning benefits continue long after you’ve got out the shower. This ‘afterburn’ (increased calorie expenditure) is far greater following exercise at 75% of maximum heart rate, or higher – another reason to eschew those low-intensity workouts!

Increase exercise intensity
If you want to keep seeing results in your fat-burning programme, you must keep increasing the intensity. This isn’t the same as increasing your effort, because as you get fitter, your body will be able to cope with increasing demands. If you rest on your laurels, the benefits will begin to tail off.

Keep moving
Maximise your daily fat burning by moving! Researchers at the Mayo Clinic have found that leaner people tend to stand and move more than overweight people in normal daily life. Their ‘non-exercise activity thermogenesis’ (NEAT) was as much as 350 calories higher each day. So don’t just sit there, wiggle your toes, shake a leg, get up regularly and move your body!

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Top Tips For Mental Wellbeing

The Mental Health Foundation in the UK recently released the following tips for improving mental well being. They are worth reading as they can provide a template for that feel good factor not only for ourselves, but for our patients too:

• Eat a balanced diet and drink sensibly: Improving your diet can protect against feelings of anxiety and depression. 

• Maintain friendships: Just listening and talking to friends who are feeling down can make a huge difference. So make sure your devote time to maintaining your friendships both for their sake and your own.

• Maintain close relationships: Close relationships affect how we feel - so nurture them and if there is a problem within a relationship, try and resolve it.

• Take exercise: The effects of exercise on mood are immediate. Whether it is a workout in the gym or a simple walk or bike ride, it can be uplifting. Exercise can also be great fun socially.

• Sleep: Sleep has both physical and mental benefits. Physically it is the time when the body can renew its energy store but sleep also helps us to rebuild our mental energy.

• Laugh: A good laugh does wonders for the mind and soul.

• Cry: It is good to cry. Even though it may feel terrible at the time, a good cry can release pent up feelings, and people often feel better afterwards.

• Ask for help when you need it: The longer you leave a problem, the worse it will get. Don't be scared to ask for help from a family member, friend or professional.

• Make time for you: Do you sometimes feel like you have no time for yourself?

• Make time for your hobbies and interests.

• Remember, work isn't everything: Ninety one million working days a year are lost to mental ill-health in the UK so take it easy.

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Hypnosis and Food Intolerance

Originally written for FoodsMatter.com

In recent years the field of mind body medicine (known as psycho-neuro-immunology or PNI) has been gaining wider recognition. Clinicians are now realising that the Cartesian dualist viewpoint with regard to medicine and healing (that the mind and body are separate entities that do not communicate) is no longer applicable, and that a holistic approach to the treatment of a patient is desirable.

Increasingly the patient’s emotional state, beliefs, etc. are being addressed as part and parcel of their treatment package. This not withstanding, it has been known for a long time that emotional factors play an important role in the course of disorders of the intestinal tract and that to treat conditions such as irritable bowl syndrome, food intolerance and food allergy, psychological stability and well-being needs to be attained.

From this position the realisation that other gastrointestinal disorders (as well as organic disorders in general) will benefit from the alleviation of psychological upset has become widely acknowledged, and that both positive and negative emotional factors can and do influence the functioning of our immune system (the part of our body responsible for maintaining our health). Many clinicians are now recommending that some form of psychological intervention accompany standard treatment approaches and much has been written in the scientific press detailing the efficacy of such interventions. These studies have also shown that the hypnotherapeutic approach is particularly effective in alleviating symptoms, improving quality of life, and reducing absenteeism from work.

What is hypnosis?
The use of hypnosis as a therapeutic tool has a very long history. The earliest recorded examples are found in the sleep temples of ancient Egypt where archaic hieroglyphs detail procedures that in this day and age would be considered hypnotic. (The word ‘hypnosis’ was only invented in the 1800s.) Interest in its use has fluctuated throughout the years and is currently in resurgence perhaps due to the ever expanding scientific literature detailing its efficacy, combined with the general public’s search for a viable alternative/accompaniment to so called conventional medicine.

Hypnosis is, in essence, a very pleasant and natural state of deep mental and physical relaxation that is often referred to as trance into which almost anyone can enter if they so wish. In this state a person is open to accepting beneficial suggestions delivered by a therapist (a process known as hypnotherapy) that can help alleviate a wide range of presenting symptoms.

However, for some the very word hypnosis is steeped in mysticism and many erroneous myths have arisen surrounding the subject. For example, the belief that it is akin to brain washing is far from the truth, and it is important to realise that hypnosis is not mind control. A patient in trance is not ‘under the power’ of the therapist. On the contrary, full control is maintained throughout with the unconscious mind protecting the subject, rejecting unwanted suggestions or any that are alien to a person’s ethical or moral beliefs. Essentially, hypnotherapy is a therapeutic method that allows a person to regain control over an area of their life where they feel control has been lost, thus helping to alleviate both psychological and physical symptoms. 

By Peter Mabbutt

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Thousands are Dodging the Dentist

Hard-up people are putting their health at risk by avoiding trips to the dentist, a new survey shows.

Sixty eight per cent of dentists said their patients were deferring treatment and 59 per cent reported cancelled appointments.

The poll of 251 dentists in England, for the British Dental Association (BDA), found the knock-on effect was a clear rise in the numbers needing emergency treatment.

More than a third (34 per cent) of practitioners questioned in October and November said they had seen increased demand for emergency treatment over the previous 12 months.

Dental check-ups often reveal more serious underlying health problems than simple gum disease.

Some dental diseases are closely linked to many serious health conditions including heart disease, arthritis and diabetes.

‘It’s understandable that, at a time when there is widespread concern about household finances, some patients’ financial anxieties are leading them to defer dental appointments and treatment,’ said Susie Sanderson, of the BDA.

‘Achieving short-term money savings at the expense of longer-term health problems isn’t wise, though.

‘Neglecting your oral health can increase both the complexity of the problems you face and the cost of the treatment you must eventually have.’

Click here to read more.

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