The Limiting Beliefs that Keep You Worrying

When you are in the midst of a problem, it seems reasonable that you would worry. You’re only human after all. A small amount of worry is ok when it is productive but when it starts to be all that you do, going over and over things, trying to solve the problem but not getting anywhere with it, it can become detrimental. In fact, it can keep you in the problem for longer.

Before we go any further, let’s look at what worrying is. The dictionary definition of worrying is to feel or cause to feel anxious or troubled about actual or potential problems.

Our thoughts have a lot to answer for. They are, as the definition above states, what can cause us to feel anxious or troubled about something. Your thoughts are not innocuous, falling on deaf ears as you think them. Sure they are just words but they are words with power. You know all too well that your thoughts affect you in a number of different ways. They affect your emotions and behaviours but also impact you on a physiological level too.

I talk a lot about thoughts with my hypnotherapy clients, how they can be more aware of them, identify any thinking errors they might be having, disputing the negative thoughts and ultimately restructuring them into something more supportive and useful for them.

I have lost count of the times that clients tell me that worrying helps them. This is quite a commonly held belief among people with stress and anxiety. Unfortunately, holding this belief can be quite limiting. If you think worrying is helpful, then you’re going to want to keep doing it and then you’ll be stuck with the anxiety or stress for even longer. Here I am going to talk about some of the most commonly held beliefs about worrying.

Worrying Helps to Prepare Me
Anxious people often believe that worrying helps to prepare them for situations and events. I get that you want to be prepared for things. And thinking about upcoming situations can indeed be useful to ensure that you have everything in order. However, worrying about it all the time and thinking about all those what-ifs doesn’t help you be more prepared. Just think about all those times where something happened spontaneously and you were able to handle it. You weren’t able to worry about it beforehand because you didn’t know it was going to happen but everything turned out ok. There are so many ways that you can help prepare yourself both physically and mentally for something that doesn’t involve worry.

Worrying Helps Prevent Bad Things from Happening
Some people think that thinking the worst is a good thing because then when something bad happens, they aren’t surprised (and disappointed) by it. Other people with anxiety think that worrying actually helps prevent bad things from happening. Worrying can indeed make you decide not to do something, to avoid a situation. You might think that this is preventing something bad from happening but the avoidance behaviour reinforces your worries, making anxiety worse. This is when fears and phobias can start to form too. There are no guarantees in life and bad things do happen but there are many ways that you can build your resilience and be more in control so that if something does happen, you can cope effectively.

Worrying Motivates Me
There are some people with anxiety who believe that their worrying motivates them to do things. I kind of see their point in that when we have something in our life we don’t want, we can strive to move away from it. However we need to know where we’re heading too otherwise we can lose momentum. But wanting to move away from and towards something and being motivated to do that has a very different result to worrying about the situation you are in or the goal you have set yourself. Let’s say you had a goal to start exercising regular, perhaps do Couch to 5k, in order to get fit. If you worried about every aspect of the programme, what shoes to wear, where to run, who to run with, will you be able to even run for 1 minute, how long will it take for you to get to 5k, is that even possible or are you going to fail and just stay put on that couch. I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t bother going for a run at all if I kept thinking all those things. I would not feel motivated. Realistic and measurable goals can help to motivate you, as can focusing on the benefits of whatever it is you want to do.

These are the most commonly held beliefs about worrying that I’ve come across over the years whilst seeing clients. However, there are more. Some people believe that worrying shows that they are a caring person and it becomes a part of their identity. They mistakenly believe that if they stop worrying, people will think that they no longer care about things.

A little like the belief above about how worrying helps you prepare for something, some believe that worrying is an effective way to problem solve, that they are taking action to help them out of their problem. But worrying is not the same as problem-solving and nor is it taking action. Sure there are some similar characteristics perhaps, looking at the pros and cons of something, and the positive and negative what-ifs. However, problem-solving tends to have a goal in mind and is more structured whereas worrying tends to be more chaotic and all over the place with no specific destination in mind.

And another belief is that worrying protects you from negative emotions. But this is so far from the truth. When you're worrying, how do you tend to feel? Not amazing I bet! You’re experiencing negative emotions as a result of the negative thoughts that you are having. They might be different emotions to the ones that you were trying to avoid but they are negative emotions nonetheless.

Do you recognise any of these beliefs in yourself?

If you are experiencing anxiety or stress, in order to break away from it, you need to be aware of whether you are holding any of these limiting beliefs about worrying and then recognise that worrying gets you into far more trouble than you perhaps once thought. And then it’s time to rethink those beliefs. What would be a more useful belief to have about what worrying does for you?

Just for a minute, think about something that happened recently that you worried about. And ask yourself these questions: What happened? Did the worrying really help you? Did it protect you? Prepare you? Motivate you? Prevent negative emotions or bad things happening? If you hadn’t worried about it, do you really think it would have been worse? Now imagine that you hadn’t worried about it, what do you think the most likely outcome would have been then? Would it have been better, worse or about the same as when you spent all that time and energy worrying?

It is very possible to gain all the perceived benefits that you get from worrying elsewhere. By learning a variety of ways to relax and destress, gain control over your emotions, build confidence and resilience you can become more prepared, motivated, and in control so that you no longer feel the need to worry.

Related articles:
Are Your Thoughts Setting You to Fail?
Creating a Pathway to Positive Thinking
Combat Stress; Think Happy Thoughts!

Paced Breathing & Other Breathing Techniques

Breathing is important but I'm sure I didn't need to tell you that. It is automatic. Something that we just do without having to pay attention to it at a conscious level. It just carries on while we go about our day.

When we are calm and happy, our breathing is relaxed, measured and regular and supports us as it should. However, when we are stressed and anxious, it starts to change. It can become shallow, faster, irregular, and sometimes we can even hold our breath. In some people their breathing can become so out of control that they find themselves hyperventilating which can make them feel light headed and weak.

Whilst breathing is typically an automatic behaviour, it is something that we can also take conscious control of and make changes to. Changing our breathing has a physiological effect on the body which in turn can affect how we are feeling and thinking. This is because breathing techniques which involve regulating your breath, slowing it down, and making the breaths deeper trigger a relaxation response within our bodies. This relaxation response reduces the neurotransmitters in the brain which are associated with stress helping you to feel calmer.

Of course people who experience breathing irregularities when they are stressed or anxious will benefit greatly from taking control over their breathing but you don't have to be experiencing noticeable breathing irregularities to benefit from paced breathing or breathing exercises though. Typically, we only breath in a relaxed, measured way when it is safe to do so. So by consciously controlling our breathing, whether it is causing us a problem or not, it sends a nice clear message to our brain (and our body) that we are safe and that it is ok to relax.

I am going to talk about a couple of breathing techniques that I often recommend to my clients.

1) Paced Breathing 
Paced breathing is a slow, deliberate deep breathing exercise which is sustained for a specific period of time. Typically we are aiming to take a total of 6 to 8 breaths per minute. Using paced breathing for 10-15 minutes each day can really have a positive affect on your levels of stress and anxiety. Paced breathing has been researched widely to examine its efficacy and it has been found to be beneficial for a wide variety of issues, both physical and psychological.

There are a number of ratios recommended for paced breathing. The most popular one is 7-11 breathing where you breathe in to the count of 7 and breathe out to the count of 11. Some people find this ratio a little tricky at first and reduce it a little, perhaps to 5-9, until they get used to taking longer breathes. Another popular one is 6-2-6-2 breathing where you breathe in to the count of 6, hold it for 2, breathe out to the count of 6, and hold it for 2. If you are in the habit of holding your breathe, I would recommend that you go for the 7-11 breathing technique as opposed to the 6-2-6-2 as the latter one could potentially reinforce your current habit of holding your breath.

There are lots of great apps out there that can really help guide you through paced breathing. They indicate when to breath in and for how long, when to hold your breath and for how long, and when to breath out and for how long. These apps can be useful when you first start out doing paced breathing so that you have the guidance but once you have become more familiar with it, you will be able to do it without the app which perhaps will make it a more flexible technique for you to use. I use the rather imaginatively named Paced Breathing app but there are many others to choose from. There is also a website called eXHALeR which can guide you through paced breathing.

2) Circular Breathing 
This is a new favourite technique of mine which I learnt at the UK Hypnosis Convention from hypnotist James Tripp. I would recommend closing your eyes to do this if you can as it allows you to focus more on what is happening. Become aware of your breathing. Notice your in breath and out breath. Notice that there is a peak to both breaths, with the in breath, just where it peaks before becoming the out breath and the out breath, just where it peaks before becoming the in breath. Notice those peaks and the sensations you experience at them. Then start to make your breathing circular. A constant flow so that there are no peaks. Soften the transition between breathing in and out so it feels smooth and constant.

3) Heart Breathing 
This is another technique that I learnt at the UK Hypnosis Convention from hypnotherapist Melissa Tiers. Again, I would recommend closing your eyes for this one. Place your hand over your heart area. Focus your attention on where your hand meets your chest. Focus in on your heart. Notice it beating, any movement felt by your hand as it rests there. Then imagine that you can breath in and out through your heart. Take a few nice slow, deep breathes. Allow your breaths to be smooth, unforced and relaxed. Notice what it might look like and what it might feel like if you could breath in and out through your heart. Whilst you connect with that sensation, create a feeling of appreciation, of gratitude to boost your sense of general wellbeing. Think about what you are grateful for, appreciate in life and/or what has been good about your day. I like to do this at the end of the day as it puts me in a nice positive mood ready for bed.

4) Hand Breathing 
This is quite similar to the previous technique in that we are assigning the ability to breath to another part of our body, this time the hands. Close your eyes and imagine that you can breath in through your fingertips. With the air, comes calmness. Imagine it spreading throughout your whole body. Imagine what it might feel like and what it might look like to breath in through your fingertips and have that calmness spread throughout your body. You might include colours and/or sensations to what you're imagining. Then, imagine that you can breath out through your feet. With the air, you breath out any stress or anything else that you wish to get rid of (negativity, fatigue, tension, unwanted habits etc.).

5) Breathe in Calm 
I've already briefly covered this one in the previous technique but this can be done without closing your eyes or the need to visualise anything. Just suggest to yourself that with every breath you breathe in, you breathe in calm and for every breath out, you breathe out any stress, any tension, any anxiety and fatigue. Breathe in calm and breathe out stress. You might also like to tag on an affirmation such as "I feel calm" or "I am relaxing" or perhaps just "breathe in calm, breathe out stress" with each breathe.

These are just a handful of breathing techniques that I use with my clients but there are so many more out there. What's great about breathing techniques is that they are free, simple and everyone can do them. They really do make a difference. Let me know how you get on!

Reducing Christmas Stress with Hypnotherapy

As the winter holiday season approaches, I thought it might be a good time to highlight how hypnotherapy can help those who might be anticipating a less than happy Christmas or holiday season.

Depression and anxiety are on the increase in the UK, with more than 12 million people going to see their GP with some form of mental health issue each year- and many more struggling on without any form of help. For some people, the festive season exacerbates their existing symptoms, and for others, depression and anxiety are quite specific to this time of year, approaching it with dread rather than excitement. When everyone else seems to be getting ready for a merry time with their loved ones, for some people this time of year only worsens their feelings of isolation, depression and loneliness, and for others, the struggle to cope with the pressures associated with having a great time, managing finances, family and all of the associated stressors creates a tremendous feeling of anxiety.

What sorts of things cause this “Holiday Stress”? Well, it depends - these feelings are all individual, and of course what makes one person sad, anxious or depressed may not affect another person at all.

Typical sources of holiday stress can include trying to balance all the demands of family with shopping and the social engagements, unrealistic expectations, financial worries and sometimes bereavement - this can be a very difficult time of year. Sometimes the pressure of being with people (often family) that you would not choose to be with can lead to relationship tension. There’s been a lot of talk in recent times of environmental factors too and Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).

So it’s not a great time for those who feel depressed or anxious. Symptoms can range from increased headaches, excessive drinking, comfort eating, insomnia, trouble concentrating, to mood swings, fatigue, tearfulness – while everyone around seems so happy. So what can be done to help?

Hypnotherapy can help by overcoming negative thinking styles. Solution Focused Hypnotherapy (SFH) uses practical, modern and well-researched strategies to help make significant, positive changes in your life in a relatively short period of time. We focus on what you want to achieve rather than on the problem(s) that prompted you to seek change. The approach focuses on the present and future and not on the past. This enables you to identify possible solutions for yourself and work towards them. Hypnosis itself reduces anxiety and this is done very simply through relaxation and visualisation, allowing you to focus on the positive aspects of your life that encourages a shift in perspective.

I am enthusiastic about how hypnotherapy helps clients at this time of year. I have been able to help many people to deal with holiday sadness, depression and anxiety. It is such a powerful and truly positive technique as I am able to work with what the client wants to happen rather than focus on negatives. It’s great to know that I can work with people to proactively help them have a happier festive period.

Overcome Your Fear of Needles on World Blood Donor Day

World Blood Donor Day is being marked today, 14th June 2012. The theme of this year’s campaign, “Every blood donor is a hero” focuses on the idea that every one of us can become a hero by giving blood.

Unfortunately, fear can stop us being the hero that we want to be. Phobia of needles, blood and all things medical is more common than you think and these phobias can have a big impact on our lives.

Now I know giving blood is voluntary so for those with a fear of needles, they simply avoid the process. However at some point in our lives we will need necessary medical intervention such as blood tests and vaccinations which we can’t “opt out” of. Again, some people may avoid these essential procedures because of their fears, putting themselves at risk of ill health, while others go ahead with it although feeling very scared and anxious. But there is another option - Ditch the fear!

Our brain has the ability to learn when new things are dangerous. Unfortunately, our brain can sometimes learn that some things are dangerous to us when they are not. The good news is that in addition to being able to learn that something is dangerous, we can also unlearn it, which is where hypnotherapy comes in.

Hypnotherapy first off works to reduce general anxiety levels in a person. When we feel more stressed and anxious, our fears are heightened so this reduction of general anxiety is necessary to help get rid of the phobia for good. Hypnotherapy then addresses the current templates that are stored on how to react to needles, blood or whatever the phobia is. Our brain will always refer to previous patterns of behaviour in any given situation. So for example, if you reacted to a blood test in an anxious way last time you had one, then your brain will encourage you to do the same again. With hypnosis, we create a new template for your brain to refer back to which is much more helpful to you, allowing you to deal with the situation calmly. You’re never going to “love” needles or blood – that isn’t the point; but you will be able to be in control of the situation and feel calm and relaxed.

Find out more information on how hypnotherapy can help you overcome phobias and fears.

Read about how I overcome my phobia of needles, allowing me to give blood.

Creating a Pathway for Positive Thinking

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -- I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference." - Robert Frost

Throughout our lifetimes, there are bound to be times when we have negative thoughts. It's quite normal and in fact our brain is setup to think this way for our self preservation. Back in cave man times, if we had encountered a sabre tooth tiger we wouldn't have thought "It's probably eaten, I'll just carry on collecting these berries"; we would have quite rightly thought "It's going to eat me; Run!". So when we are faced with a dangerous situation, or a situation which our brain perceives to be a danger to us, it will always see things from the worst possible perspective in order to keep us alive.

Unfortunately, when we suffer with stress and anxiety, our brain can think we are constantly in danger and as a result encourages us to think in that same negative way. The more we think in a negative way, the more our brain encourages us to continue that line of thought and we then become trapped in a cycle of negative thinking.

In order to break this cycle, we need to train our minds to think in a more positive way! You may well ask "how do you train your mind to think in a positive manner?"

Well, I like to think of our mind as if it were a field in the countryside. When I was a child, there were fields and woods near my house. My family would often go over their in the summertime for walks. Generally, we would follow the paths which had been worn down and made by others who had walked there. These paths were easy to follow because the ground was even and there was more space to walk, but they weren't always the quickest or most interesting routes to take. The overgrown path, or even where there was no path at all, was very difficult to navigate and although they might be more interesting and quicker to take, we very rarely did; we just stuck to the paths that we had taken many times before - the paths that we were used to!

On occassions, I would tackle my way through one of these overgrown paths through the fields and woods only to come out the otherside covered in scrapes, bruises, and nettle stings for my efforts. This often deterred me from doing it again! Now if I had carried on walking that overgrown, more difficult path, it would soon have become easier to walk along: the path would have become worn down, flatter and wider and I would have got less and less minor injuries each time. Until one day, it would have become a solid path; THE path to take, and the other, less efficient path would no longer be needed and would start to become overgrown, until eventually nobody would have even known there had been one there.

Our minds are very much like that field. Over time, the paths through the field that we walk down the most often become the ones that we are most prone to take. We are creatures of habit and our mind soon learns to take the paths which are most often used. In effect, we are choosing a well worn path in our brains. Our brains learn that this is the right path, whether or not it is the best path to take. This is how habits are formed, whether they are negative ones such as negative thinking, smoking, biting our nails, or comfort eating; or positive ones such as positive thinking, exercise, healthy eating, or relaxation.

We need to show our brains that the right path to take is that of positie thinking and the way we do this is by consciously starting to think positively. To start with this can be difficult and those negative thoughts, niggles and worries will often crop up still. But the more we consciously think positively, being aware of our thought processes and changing our line of thought when those negative thoughts do crop up, our brain realises that this is the right path to take until thinking positively becomes easy, more natural, and becomes a part of who we are. Positive thinking can become a habit for you!

We only form a new path by walking down it frequently - So best get walking!

Combat Stress; Think Happy Thoughts!

As Mental Health Awareness Week is approaching at the end of the month (21 - 28 May 2012), I thought I would write a post to highlight how hypnotherapy can help you cope with stress by generating positive images of the future.

A recent survey shows that 3 million people in the UK suffer with an anxiety disorder. The good news is that recent research into the relationship between what we think and how we feel could help you think yourself happier.

It seems that worrying thoughts and imagining unpleasant situations can produce physical stress in the body. A study in 2007 found that performing guided imagery of moderately unpleasant situations results in physical responses such as accelerated heart rate, faster breathing and sweating.(1) It seems that imagining unpleasant events can activate the brain’s fear network and result in an activation of the sympathetic nervous system.(2)

If we ever needed proof that worrying is not good for us, well here it is! Just by imagining these unpleasant situations, it triggers the "fight or flight" response as if it were actually happening to you at that precise moment, resulting in all those unpleasant physical sensations which are associated with anxiety.

The good news is that the converse also seems to be true; imagining positive events can make us feel better. A large part of my role as a hypnotherapist is helping clients imagine their preferred future, how they want things to be rather than how they don't want them to be, which as well as helping them feel happier, also enables them to make the changes necessary to make that future become a reality.

The validity of this approach would seem to be supported by research which demonstrates that the benefit of generating images about positive future outcomes may not be limited to mood but extend to subsequent behaviour.(3)

I use Solution Focused techniques in combination with hypnotherapy to help my clients replace unhelpful, negative thinking patterns with more beneficial thought processes. By thinking more positively, their anxiety levels reduce enabling them to cope better with life’s challenges.

So there you have it! To combat stress; think happy thoughts!

For more information on Hypnotherapy in Bristol

References:
(1) Sebastiani L, D’Alessandro L, Menicucci D, Ghelarducci B & Santarcangelo E L (2007), Role of relaxation and specific suggestions in hypnotic emotional numbing, International journal of psychophysiology, Vol.63 pp.125-132
(2) Kosslyn S M, Ganis G & Thompson W L (2001), Neural foundations of imagery, Nature Reviews: Neuroscience, Vol.2 pp.635-642
(3) Pictet A, Coughtrey A E, Matthews A, Holmes E A (2011), Fishing for happiness: The effects of generating positive imagery on mood and behaviour, Behaviour research and therapy, Vol.49 issue 12 pp.885-891

How Hypnosis Allowed Me to Give Blood

Being able to give blood is such an amazing gift that I can now do thanks to overcoming my fear of needles with hypnotherapy.

Giving blood is such a quick and easy process and saves lives. Despite this fact, in the past I have been unable to even contemplate doing it. Not because I had an illness or travel regularly that prevented me from doing so but because I had a phobia of needles, also known as Trypanophobia. Just the thought of having an injection or giving blood made me break out in a sweat and feel anxious.

As far back as I can remember, I have been scared of needles. I remember standing in line at secondary school waiting to have an injection and the closer I got to the front of the queue the more wound up I became about the whole experience until eventually I had a panic attack. As I got older I thought this would improve but in fact it just got worse. Instead of acting in an adult way when faced with an injection or blood test, I would be reduced to a child-like gibbering wreck. Needle phobias are quite common but that wasn’t really a comfort to me. I resigned myself to the fact that this was how it would be for me, never thinking that my experience with needles could change in some way.

Then at the beginning of 2010, I decided to embark on a career change and started training to be a Clinical Hypnotherapist at The Clifton Practice in Bristol. About three months in to the course, I learnt about the fear response and phobias. It was kind of an enlightenment moment for me as it was at this time I realised why I reacted the way I did and that this could be changed allowing me to act in a more rational, calm, and adult-like way when I’m having an injection or blood test. It was a great relief for me. On one of the training days, I was grouped with two fellow students to practice the very effective fast phobia cure or rewind technique. We worked on each others fears which included a fear of heights, a fear of being sick and my fear of needles and we all went away feeling much calmer about our respective fears.

Six months later I got to test it out! I was due to go in to hospital for an operation on my foot and as with all operations, I was required to go for a pre-op assessment to check my health and during this appointment I had to have a blood sample taken. Instead of resisting, crying, panicking and having to lie down in case I fainted, I just sat there calmly and even watched the nurse draw blood from my arm with no anxiety at all. I was so proud of myself and very impressed with the result. My needle phobia was cured!

Getting rid of this phobia opened up the opportunity for me to give blood, something I could never have done before. So I went online and registered my interest to donate blood.

Upon arriving at the local donation centre, I was greeted by one of the nurses and taken through a quick medical questionnaire, had a quick pin prick test to check if I was anaemic and then hopped on the couch for the donation. I felt that the needle was just a minor inconvenience when compared to saving a life. The actual blood donation part only lasted 5-10 minutes and then I was escorted to the refreshment area where I was given a cup of coffee and some biscuits. I felt extremely chuffed with myself afterwards, knowing that my blood is going to someone in great need of it. I’m looking forward to my next visit in January!

I completed my Hypnotherapy training at the beginning of 2011 and I now help other people combat their fears, among other things, using Hypnosis. There are so many people out there with phobias of spiders, heights, and confined spaces, to name a few, and they no longer have to be limited by them any more. Hypnotherapy helped me overcome my phobia and it can do the same for you.

Find out more on how hypnotherapy can help you overcome your fears and phobias.

Hypnotherapy Provides Support for Asthma Sufferers by Helping to Reduce Anxiety

A Hypnotherapy Association is marking Asthma Awareness Week (9-15th May 2011) by highlighting how the therapy can help clients cope with the condition by reducing their levels of anxiety.

According to Asthma UK, a charity dedicated to improving the health and well-being of people whose lives are affected by asthma, 5.4 million people in the UK are currently receiving treatment for asthma: 1.1 million children (1 in 11) and 4.3 million adults (1 in 12).

There is an inter-relationship between anxiety and asthma – for some people, anxiety can be a trigger for asthma, for others it is the asthma itself which causes anxiety. After all, there are few things more frightening than struggling to breathe. The link between anxiety and asthma can lead to an unhelpful cycle of cause and effect which can be difficult to break.

In fact some of the symptoms of a panic attack (hyperventilation) and asthma overlap making it difficult to distinguish between the two. In some cases, a panic attack can actually lead to an asthma attack in someone who already suffers with asthma.

It’s not just asthma patients who are affected by anxiety – parents, partners and other carers can become anxious if the condition appears to be poorly managed.

Hypnotherapy combines psychotherapy (a talking therapy) with hypnosis and can provide clients with effective coping mechanisms aimed at reducing their anxiety generally. Used in conjunction with a patient’s prescribed medication and treatment regimes, hypnotherapy can help clients deal better with life’s stresses, thus minimising the anxiety which could precipitate an asthma attack.

There is a large body of research on the effective use of self-hypnosis, guided imagery, hypnosis and relaxation in asthma in adults and children. A review of research into hypnosis and asthma carried out in 2000 highlighted that studies conducted up to that date consistently demonstrated an effect of hypnosis with asthma. Although more research is needed, the studies showed that its efficacy is enhanced in subjects who are more “susceptible”, where the practitioner is experienced, when it is administered over several sessions, and when it is reinforced by patient self-hypnosis. Children in particular appear to respond well to hypnosis as a tool for improving asthma symptoms.

Hypnotherapy helps to reduce anxiety by assisting clients to visualise their preferred future, i.e. a future in which they are coping better with the problem that is causing them stress. This helps clients to regain a sense of perspective and breaks the cycle of anxiety-asthma-anxiety. The therapy encourages positive thinking by helping clients to focus on solutions to problems, rather than dwelling on the problems themselves.

The Association for Solution Focused Hypnotherapists (AfSFH) has been established to promote the benefits of the Solution Focused approach to improving mental well-being so that the public are more aware of this valuable resource.

I am a member of the AfSFH and I am very enthusiastic about the efficacy of the approach. “Clients are often relieved to learn that we will not be dwelling on their problems or on how bad things are. They soon get the hang of thinking in a more positive way – describing how they want things to be, rather than how they don’t them to be. It sounds simple, but in fact it is an amazingly powerful technique”.

I am a Clinical Hypnotherapist practising at The Harbourside Practice in Bristol. Call 07851 307 062 to book your FREE initial consultation. For more information on Sarah Mortimer Hypnotherapy, visit www.bristolhypnotherapy.co.uk.

To find out more about the new association, visit www.afsfh.com

For more information about Asthma Awareness Week, visit www.asthma.org.uk.

Research:- Ewer and Stewart, 1996; Hackman, Stern, and Gershwin, 2000; Maher-Loughna, Macdonald, et al, 1962
- Anbar, 2001; Anbar, 2002; Castes, Hagel, et al, 1999; Kohen, Olness, et al, 1984
- Hypnosis and asthma: a critical review, Hackman RM, Stern JS, Gershwin ME, 2000