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Busy lives, media exposure and intense marketing encourage people to eat highly processed and other unhealthy foods and drinks! Lack of exercise and sedentary lifestyles are the norm for many people. Others find themselves stressed out by pressures at work, while social and financial pressures affect many others. All create different conditions in their own way that have a detrimental affect on our physical wellbeing. This has resulted in a rise in obesity, weight loss, cardiovacular issues, gastric issues, type 2 diabetes and unhealthy habits including smoking/vaping and alcohol for example. Most of these conditions can be treated or even reversed using therapy. However this presupposes that the client has made a decision to embrace and commit to change.
As would be expected, mental health and Lifestylye related problems, greatly overlap. A few examples of Lifestyle related problems, regularly treated include the following, but the list is not exhaustive.
- Weight related problems including obesity
- Insomnia
- Bruxism (grinding teeth)
- Irritible Bowel Syndrom (IBS)
- Addictions (e.g. gambling, smoking, vaping, alcohol, and specific food and drinks)
- Managing pain including relief from arthritis, physical injuries, and migraine, for example.
- Lack of confidence and low self-worth
- Changing limiting decisions and beliefs that hold you back
- Irrational fears and phobias (e.g. flying, driving, public speaking, exams, and spiders)
- Miscellaneous Lifestyle related problems
The methods and techniques used in pathways to improve Lifestyle and Health are also configured from
LifeChanges therapy. As with Mental Health, treatment involves a first session to assess your condition and treatment outcomes, and to prepare a treatment pathway for your specific needs.
Hypnotherapy tracks tailored to each client's specific needs are provided, where appropriate, to support the client on their journey of improvement.
During follow-up sessions your progress is reviewed and adjustments made to the pathway, if required.
As you would expect there is a strong overlap between the Lifestyle and Mental Health pathways. A few examples of methods used in Lifestyle pathways are provided below:
Increase Motivation
Many people have difficulty in motivating themselves for health, fitness and wellbeing, whether it be exercising, dieting, or trying to give up other unhealthy behaviours. For example, rather than focussing on how good they feel and look after exercising, some may focus on being out of breath and the discomfort in their bodies, while their internal dialogue is directed to the futility of trying to get into shape and wishing that the session was ended. No wonder peple give up trying after a short time. To overcome this negativity and lack of conviction, strategies for increasing motivation linked to their relevant values and beliefs, which act as turbo-chargers, will be provided to clients. Methods involve modifing existing or creating positive internal images, improving internal dialogue, and generating new supporting behaviours.
Goal Setting
Goals and corresponding action plans are prepared with clients wishing to lose weight or improve their physical wellbeing and health, for example. Goal setting involves creating a powerful motivational statement and images depicting themselves 'as if' they have achieved the goal at some future date. To improve the success of achieving the goal its impact on the client's behaviours, resources, values and beliefs, and identity (or self-image) is worked through with the client to align them and check for congruence.
Boost self confidence and self-worth,
A number of methods are available to improve low confidence and low self-worth. For example powerful visual approaches involves the client looking at him/herself from the perspective of trusted and loved others who admire them. Anchoring positive states based on previous experiences or by modelling others, or classic condition provides another approach.
Pain Management
Pain management methods include visualisation techniques to emulate the body's natural pain control mechanisms to encourage release of pain reduction hormones such as dopamine and endorphins. Other methods involve negotiating with the unconscious mind to reduce or even eliminate the pain that no longer serves as a useful safety mechanism, in the case of chronic pain. An integral part of pain management is to provide clients with the resources they need to manage pain whenever it occurs.
Utilise Mind Body Effect
It is well established that the mind has a key role in influencing physical conditions, affecting health and wellbeing. For example, chronic stress is linked to high blood pressure, stroke, increased risk of cancer, IBS, obesity, digestive problems and a weakened immunity system plus other physical conditions and diseases. By directing and focussing the mind, symptons of physical conditions and diseases can be effectively managed and controlled to bring about 'healing' (Note: healing does not mean to cure! It means that the client feels comfortable and at ease, with a positive acceptance of their condition.)
A range of methods and techniques is available to clients to manage their conditions including, deep relaxation, mindfulness, targetted visualisation, managing physiology and improving levels of physical activity, for example.
Eliminate Fears and Phobias
Fears and phobias can have a limiting affect on lifestyle holding people back from doing what they would like to do. Some examples of phobias include public speaking, injections, medical operations, flying, school exams, dogs and cats, spiders, and so on. Examples of methods for treating fears and phobias include utisation of associated and dissociated physical and mental states, i.e. associate into positive states and dissociate from negative states; exposure therapy; using visualisation techniques to relieve trauma; applying the fast phobia technique to neutralise unpleasant events or remove fears.