Negative self-talk: how it affects us

What is self-talk? Self-talk is the internal dialog we all have ongoing through our minds every day. This internal dialog can take two forms, positive and negative.

Are you a positive thinker or a negative thinker? Do you tell yourself: Yes I can do this. I can reach my goal. Or do you tell yourself: I will never get that job so there is no point going for the interview. I am fat. I am stupid.

We all have moments of self-doubt where we question whether we can achieve something, but the difference between a constant negative thought pattern and a positive one is the difference between a person who never feels good enough and a person who feels content with life, happily challenged.

We all know those people who seem to have it all. They are always so happy. But when you stop and look at their life next to yours they have nothing more than you - sometimes they even have less than you. The difference is their internal dialog is set to positive; they look for the positive and they appreciate the things they have got.

Negative self-talk affects us in many ways. It can lead to stagnation, self-pity, depression and many more negative influences. When we repeat a negative statement over and over again we begin to believe it. “I am not good enough” may prevent us from taking the steps to achieve a promotion that we are easily qualified for. It gives us a lack of confidence that isn’t based on anything real, but reinforced by the internal negative dialog. Eventually these thoughts become all consuming and you find that you approach every aspect of your life with this negativity, beginning to feel stressed easily, depressed and having a lack of confidence and motivation.

Changing the internal dialog to positive statements makes our life better and assists us in moving forward, giving us the confidence to achieve our goals. If instead of saying “I am not good enough”, say “I can do this”. Not only will you achieve your goals but you will happier and healthier. Positive self-talk gives you a permanent cheerleader in your corner, one that carries positive messages to all areas of your life and helps you to move forward. Once you have this positivity no one can take it away from you, as it comes from within you, from your own though process.

Very often the nature of our self-talk originates from a very early age. It may be a teacher that said you weren’t good enough, or a parent that always made you believe anything is possible.

Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP can help you to challenge the source of the negative thoughts and change them to positive ones. Eventually you will surround yourself with positive thoughts and that will create an environment that will allow you to live your best possible life.

Here a few easy steps to start to become positive:

· Smile more.

· Replace your negative thoughts with positive ones. This can be hard at first. Start by talking positively. When you have a negative thought or catch yourself about to say something negative, stop yourself and see if you can spin it on its head and turn it into a positive one. Soon this will become second nature and you will find yourself thinking in the positive first.

· Expect positive results. When you set a goal expect that not only will you achieve it but you will be better than you thought.

· Actually visualize the success you want. Picture it in your mind, picture what you DO want, rather than having a list of what you DON’T want. Have an image of what you DO want, and see yourself achieving your goal.

We all have the ability to retrain our minds, we do it every day. Give it a go. What do you have to lose? Nothing. What could you gain? Everything.

By Erika Keat

Erika offers Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP at Waterloo Body Station on Mondays between 2.30pm - 7pm, please contact Erika for more information.   
 

© EKTherapies

A look at the History of Hypnosis

We are living in a world of technology but at the same time the world is also looking for different ways to help people help themselves. We are starting to question if prescription drugs always are the answer, or if there is another way. Can we look after our body and mind? We are beginning to understand more and more how the power of the mind is incredible and if we work with it we can achieve the most amazing things. As this awareness grows so does the understanding of hypnotherapy. Hypnosis is no longer just what you see on the stage, almost like magic where the hypnotist seems to have power over people. It is now becoming recognised its abilities to help people to work with their own minds. The NHS now offers hypnotherapy; for some treatments like IBS it is one of the first treatment they recommend.

"The greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings, by changing the inner attitude of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives." William James

So where did it all start? How long has hypnosis really been about? Here's a few of the people and organisations that have influenced hypnosis and hypnotherapy over the years:

Sleep Temples (2000 BC)

Ancient India, Hindus cure sick in sleep temples. This ideology was adopted by Imhotep, who was an Egyptian priest. Also by the Greeks – Hypnos means sleep

Paracelsus (1493‐1541)

Swiss physician. First to pass magnets over bodies. Claims of healing, as it was thoughtbody’s magnetism went out of balance with disorders and magnets could restore the equilibrium

Father Maximilian Hell (1720‐1792)

1771 Took up earlier theories about the body’s polarity and used magnets over naked bodies to heal. A Viennese doctor named Mesmer was one of his students

Dr Franz Anton Mesmer (1734‐1815)

Austrian physician investigated effects of using magnets and brought concept of Animal Magnetism to attention of Western scientists – also known as Mesmerism

James Braid (1795‐1860)

Scottish surgeon. Braid put forward the concept of “protracted ocular fixation” –prolonged gazing at an object, which he claimed fatigued certain parts of brain, causing trance. He coined it neuro‐hypnotism meaning “sleep of the nerves”. He later named it hypnotism

Sigmund Freud (1856‐1939)

Founder of psychoanalysis. Employed hypnosis in his early career but abandoned it, due in the main to being a poor practitioner of it and focused more on psychoanalysis. Defined sexual desire as being a prime behavioural driver

Carl Jung (1875‐1961)

Student of Freud but went on to disagree with much of his theories on psychoanalysis. Utilised hypnosis. Founder of analytical psychology, dream analysis and the concept of the archetypes, as well as synchronicity and collective conscious. Myers Briggs psychometric testis principally based on Jung’s philosophies

British Medical Association 1892

BMA unanimously endorse therapeutic use of Hypnosis, although they reject the theory of Mesmerism (animal magnetism)

Dave Elman (1900‐1967)

Helped promote medical use of hypnosis. His definition of hypnosis is still used today. No medical education, but trained the greatest number of physicians and psychotherapists in USA in hypnosis. Known for introducing and eliciting rapid inductions

Milton Erickson (1901‐1980)

Developed many ideas and techniques in hypnosis that differed from previous practice. His style, commonly referred to as Ericksonian Hypnosis, has greatly influenced many modern schools of hypnosis

British Medical Association 1955

23 April BMA approved use of hypnosis for psychoneuroses and also for hypnoanaesthesia, where it was accepted as beneficial for pain management in surgery and childbirth. BMA advised all physicians and medical students to receive fundamental training in hypnosis

UK National Occupational Standards (NOS) 2002 & 2010

2002 Department for Education and Skills first developed NOS for Hypnotherapy. Revised by Skills for Health and Hypnotherapy Regulatory Forum in 2010 Dave Elman’s definition. Hypnosis is a state of mind in which the critical faculty of the human mind is by passed and selective thinking established

Hypnotherapy today

Largely based on work of Milton Erickson ‐ regarded as “Godfather of modern day hypnotherapy”.  Erickson made use of the informal conversational approach, along with complex language patterns and therapeutic strategies. His  style was ‘modelled’ by Richard Bandler and John Grinder, founders of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP)

So as you can see Hypnotherapy has been around a long time. I work using a combination of Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP. These three therapies work well individually, and extremely well together. Click here to see what kind of things these fantastic therapies can help you with.

 By Erika Keat

Erika offers Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP at Waterloo Body Station on Mondays between 2.30pm - 7pm, please contact Erika for more information.   

Surgeons told to Hypnotise your patient

Came across this article by Amelia Hill written for The Observer in June 2009 and had to share it.

“Doctors should be taught to hypnotise patients not to feel pain instead of using general anaesthetics during some operations, the Royal Society of Medicine will be told today.


In what he has described as a "clarion call to the British medical profession", Professor David Spiegel, of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences at Stanford University in the US, will also call on the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) to add hypnotherapy to its list of approved therapeutic techniques for the treatment of conditions ranging from allergies and high blood pressure to the pain associated with bone marrow transplantation, cancer treatment and anaesthesia for liver biopsy. Nice has already approved the technique for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome.


"It is time for hypnosis to work its way into the mainstream of British medicine," Spiegel will say at the joint conference of the Royal Society of Medicine, the British Society of Clinical and Academic Hypnosis and the British Society of Medical and Dental Hypnosis.
"There is solid science behind what sounds like mysticism and we need to get that message across to the bodies that influence this area. Hypnosis has no negative side-effects. It makes operations quicker, as the patient is able to talk to the surgeon as the operation proceeds, and it is cheaper than conventional pain relief. Since it does not interfere with the workings of the body, the patient recovers faster, too.


"It is also extremely powerful as a means of pain relief. Hypnosis has been accepted and rejected because people are nervous of it. They think it's either too powerful or not powerful enough, but, although the public are sceptical, the hardest part of the procedure is getting other doctors to accept it."

Professor Marie-Elisabeth Faymonville, head of the Pain Clinic at Liege University Hospital in Belgium, who has operated on more than 6,000 patients using hypnosis combined with alight local anaesthetic, said: "The local anaesthetic is used only to deaden the surface of the skin while a scalpel slices through it. It has no effect inside the body.

"The patient is conscious throughout the operation and this helps the doctor and patient work together.The patient may have to move during an operation and it's simple to get them to do so if they remain conscious. We've even done a hysterectomy using the procedure."


The theory behind medical hypnosis is that the body's brain and nervous system can't always distinguish an imagined situation from a real occurrence. This means the brain can act on any image or verbal suggestion as if it were reality. Hypnosis puts patients into a state of deep relaxation that is very susceptible to imagery. The more vivid this imagery, the greater the effect on the body.

Dr Martin Wall, president of the Section Hypnosis and Psychosomatic Medicine at the Royal Society of Medicine, said hypnosis fundamentally alters a subject's state of mind. Hypnosis is not, he said, simply a matter of suggestibility and relaxation.
Nice said it would welcome submissions for hypnotherapy to be considered as an approved therapeutic technique on the NHS if it could be cost-effective, and consistent delivery could be guaranteed.

But Professor Steve Field, who chairs the Royal College of General Practitioners, said he was sceptical as to whether hypnotherapy could meet these standards.
"It is a useful tool used by some GPs and patients for relaxation, but I don't think it is something that we should support being rolled out to all medical students and all doctors,"  he said.


"We can't call on the NHS to support it without there being a firm medical and economic basis, and I'm not convinced those have been proved to exist."


It is brilliant to see hypnotherapy becoming more and more recognized for the amazing therapy it is. Although there is still a long way to go and there needs to be guidelines put in place for governing bodies etc, it is a great step in the right direction.


To find out what other things hypnotherapy, CBT and NLP can help with please click here.

By Erika Keat

Erika offers Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP at Waterloo Body Station on Mondays between 2.30pm - 7pm, please contact Erika for more information.    

Hypnosis Becoming More Recognised

The world of hypnosis is changing. Not so long ago the only version of hypnosis people knew was from stage shows, but hypnotherapy is becoming more recognised and accepted for the amazing changes it can make.

Hypnotherapy is now more widely available on the NHS, with the NHS even recommending it as the main option for certain treatments.

This report from the BBC in June 2010 states that “Hypnosis should become a standard technique on the NHS to treat a range of conditions. The hypnosis and psychosomatic medicine section of the Royal Society of Medicine says the technique can be used to relieve pain and treat stress-related conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome.” Full article and video at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-13664587

Whilst hypnosis is currently an unregulated practice, unlike acupuncture, the industry is taking the steps to have a government recognised qualification. I did a 1 year training course with a qualification awarded by NCFE - the HPD is the first national accredited diploma in hypnotherapy. I also belong The GHR  who are taking the steps to make hypnosis become a governed therapy. When this happens the GHR will be one of the bodies that complies with government standards.


We have already seen this change take place in massage, with massage now being widely accepted for its amazing healing qualities.


We are becoming more and more aware that we can take control of our thoughts and feelings and change the ways that we approach a situation, affecting its outcome.
To find out how Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP can help you to achieve your goals please contact Erika for a non-obligation chat.

Click here to find out what kind of things can be treated.

By Erika Keat

Erika offers Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP at Waterloo Body Station on Mondays between 2.30pm - 7pm, please contact Erika for more information.    

What does Hypnotherapy feel like?

What does Hypnotherapy feel like? This is a question I get asked a lot. The world of hypnosis is becoming more recognised now, with the NHS even recommending hypnotherapy to treat certain conditions such as IBS, Anxiety, Insomnia ect. But what can you expect to feel when you come for a hypnotherapy treatment?


The feeling of a hypnotic trance is something we experience every day. It is the feeling when you become absorbed in one thing, lost in thoughts, daydreaming, driving your car and zoning out, driving on auto pilot, going for a walk, or perhaps simply through meditation. There are so many different ways that we enter into this completely natural trance-like state every day.

Being in a hypnotic trance is a similar feeling to just before you fall asleep, where you are still aware of things but are beginning to drift off. You are able to hear and sense things around you but at the same time your muscles become relaxed and your mind begins to release the stresses from the day. There is a sense of distance from where you are as the passage of time gets distorted and often you feel the pleasure of deep relaxation allowing both your body and mind to relax completely.

Everyone’s experience of hypnosis will be personal and slightly different and you may find that you feel different every time you get hypnotised depending on the level of relaxation you reach. As you begin to feel more comfortable with the hypnotherapist and the more you work together, you begin to allow yourself to relax further entering a deeper state of trance. Although you don’t need to experience a deep trance state to be able to have life a changing experience, it can be enjoyable to experience a deep trance and allow yourself the pleasure of letting go completely and being guided through suggestions.

As you enter hypnosis, your awareness is withdrawn from the normal alert state that we walk around in and goes inward. The power of hypnosis is your ability to harness the full potential of your mind without the normal restrictions of the critical mind. This is when a hypnotherapist can help you make dramatic changes in your life, with the suggestions you listen to and how much you embrace these new ideas.

Hypnosis feels very relaxing, the big difference is in what you are guided to experience during this relaxation. A hypnotic trance is simply a naturally relaxed state of mind, which almost everyone can achieve at some level. You are still you, with your own thoughts and beliefs. You remain in full control the whole time, being able to bring yourself out of the trance at any point.


To find out the kind of things Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP can help with please click here. Take the first step today to understanding the power of your mind and how you can help yourself to achieve your goals in a positive and focused way.

By Erika Keat

Erika offers Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP at Waterloo Body Station on Mondays between 2.30pm - 7pm, please contact Erika for more information.