Beating the blues with hypnotherapy and NLP
If you are struggling to shake off gloomy winter thoughts, Nicola Preston Bell, BA DHypPsych(UK) GHRP, explains how hypnotherapy could help.
Many people find that after the long Winter months, they are suffering from fatigue and feeling a bit “down in the dumps”. An accumulation of short, dark days, cold weather, rain, wind and snow can make you feel like you want to hibernate until the daffodils appear!
If you are struggling into work on crowded trains and standing on draughty platforms you will probably find this does not help your mood either. If you work at home, then the darker days and early evenings can result in excuses to avoid going out, which then leads to feelings of isolation and boredom. The more time that is spent indoors thinking about the catastrophes sold by the media in the papers, on the radio and television, the more the mind will focus naturally on events that make us gloomy, a mind set is established that enables our unconscious to always be on the lookout for something that will put us in a bad or sad mood.
I have many clients who then resort to comfort eating high carbohydrate foods and then feel even more fed up because they put on weight and suffer from energy slumps.
So now that Spring is here at last, it is time to shake off those gloomy thoughts. If this is proving a struggle then hypnotherapy could help.
So how can we break this cycle of misery with hypnosis and NLP?
I will often explain to my clients some characteristics of the human brain first; knowledge is the beginning of power! As a way of describing how the brain will naturally filter the information it is receiving, just imagine someone suggests you count all the green objects in a room. At the end of the task you might have a good score for green things you spotted, but you will not have paid attention to all the red, yellow or blue objects there. If you don’t really like the colour green you might not be in a great mood either! In other words, if all you talk about and look for are the unpleasant aspects of your life, that is what you will notice, at the expense of all the positive things that are sure to be there too.
If we remember that “there is nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so” (Hamlet, Shakespeare), then we can begin to break the negative trance that winter can induce, and prime ourselves to look out for some of the good and enjoyable things that happen.
With hypnotherapy this negative trance state in clients can be gently broken down with solution focused questioning.
This encourages the client to think about the times when they are feeling more relaxed, or less anxious. This begins to send their minds on a more positive search for exceptions and just the realisation that actually every day is not completely bleak from beginning to end is helpful.
I will often explain how the mind will produce tension in the body just by thinking or imagining that life is tough, difficult or plain uncomfortable. Remember that time a loved one was late getting home and didn’t get in touch? What were the scenarios you imagined? Some might have made you angry, others anxious, by the time they walked cheerily through the door you were ready to burst into tears or yell at them! Your mind and body had produced all the adrenalin needed to fight a sabre tooth tiger, just because you were imagining danger.
Conversely, if you remember a wonderful day on a particularly good holiday, when you were really relaxed, and let your mind really come up with the colours, sounds, smells and tastes of that day, the way the sun seemed to warm you right through, you’ll find your mood lighten and body relax with the memory. Your imagination can take you on a refreshing and free holiday, all for the price of five minutes in a comfortable chair! And it is interesting to note that when we feel calm, we can solve problems more creatively, and deal with adversity more effectively.
There are many ways to break a negative trance that focuses on the cold, dark days and sees the blue skies as temporary random moments.
Trance is a natural state of focused attention, and depending on what we focus on we can feel better or worse. When a client gets “stuck” in the misery of bad weather or some other perceived adversity, then it useful to persuade them to notice friends and colleagues who have broken free from that frame of reference. These people might be digging out the seed catalogues or holiday brochures so they can spend the longer evenings imagining and planning beautiful gardens, fun outings or trips away. The client can then begin to learn how that person manages to stay so cheerful along with some useful strategies.
A very important part of therapy is teaching the client to breathe in a slower, more relaxed way.
With a slightly longer exhalation, which gives the body a chance to calm down a bit, especially if you focus on something calming and pleasant – remembering a lovely walk you enjoy, looking forward to and imagining a great night out, or just imagining what the most tranquil place you could be in would be like – real or imagined. I suggest that all the senses come into play, would it be inside or outside, what colours would predominate? What sounds and smells would lull you and sooth you into a deeper more satisfying reverie? This is the art of daydreaming taken to another level, allowing the mind to benefit from a change of focus and consider the benefits of being on the lookout for the life-enhancing moments amongst the pouring rain and dark evenings.
“So, by encouraging the client’s natural ability to go into trance and teaching them to challenge their way of looking at the world and explaining it, you can lift their spirits and give them the skills to enjoy life whatever the season.”
About the author
Nicola Preston Bell BA DHypPsych(UK) GHRP is a solution focused psychotherapist and hypnotherapist. She works from Sussex Osteopath & Complementary Health Clinic in Hurstpierpoint where she treats a range of conditions from anxiety, depression and panic attacks through to smoking, weight management and phobias. She can be contacted on 01444 819075 or www.optionsinmind.co.uk.
Article copyright YourDoc Medical Ltd 2010. All rights reserved.
