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Applications for Hypnotherapy
The following list describes some of the successful applications
that MINDWORKS a hypnotherapy practice addresses in private, group,
and phone sessions, as well as in seminars, workshops, and tapes.
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Bolstering Self-Esteem -- Develop unconditional positive regard towards yourself. Gain a sense of self-worth that supports your success with feelings and beliefs that you deserve it. When you regard yourself as worthy, you treat yourself with respect and require others to do the same. You expect things to work out in your favor. You attract more opportunities, both professionally and personally, and then fully capitalize on them through constructive action. More on Hypnosis For Low Self-Esteem Go to top.
Creating a Positive Self-Image -- Successful people project a positive image
Defeating Negative Self-Talk -- Negative self-talk is one of the most
common and most destructive forms of self-sabotage. Many people fail to recognize
that their inner dialogue is consumed with negative messages that undermine their
well-being. Others are aware of this negativity, but feel victimized by it. They
hear the voices of their parents, teachers, or bosses, whose criticism they have
internalized and replay in their minds, often obsessively. By learning to stop
negative self-talk and replace it with positive, encouraging thoughts, you can
literally change your relationship with yourself, build healthy self-esteem, and
become your own personal coach.
Healing Your Inner Child --Wounds from childhood held deep within your
subconscious mind can continue throughout adulthood to cause psychic pain that
interferes with your personal growth, happiness in relationships, career success,
and a zest for life. Learn how to nurture and support your inner child to free
yourself from this deep emotional pain and achieve resolution and peace.
Stopping Self-Sabotage -- Perhaps the single most common reason why people fail to create the life they desire is not the lack of talent, intelligence, vision, or hard work. It’s self-sabotage. Self-sabotage includes any behavior you engage in, consciously or unconsciously, that harms you or undermines achievement of your goals and the realization of your dreams. It includes performing actions that are counter-productive to your goals, as well as omitting actions necessary to accomplish them. Holding on to negative beliefs and attitudes that undermine your confidence and squash your motivation are also forms of self-sabotage. Succumbing to negative emotions and repressing negative feelings are other ways to self-sabotage.
In hypnotherapy, you first become aware of the ways in which you sabotage yourself, and the reasons why you do so, and then you learn how to replace that behavior with constructive, positive, actions, beliefs, feelings, emotions, and desires that support accomplishing your aspirations.
Instilling Self-Confidence --
Turbocharging Motivation -- Have you lost that fire in your belly, that passion that catapults you over the finish line? Do you lack the mental energy to complete your projects, prepare sufficiently for the exam, broaden your skill set, or train for a more fulfilling career? The seat of motivation lies within the subconscious mind. Learn how to access your subconscious and feed that fire with the fuel that drives you onward to accomplish your goals. Go to top. Overcoming Bad Habits -- Habits are behaviors repeated often enough that you do them automatically, without deciding first. Making your bed, brushing your teeth when you wake up, and checking your voice mail are all behaviors that were once done with conscious intention, but later became habitual. Bad habits are those that result in negative consequences relative to the goals you hold. They are often very difficult to overcome permanently because they are so well established in the subconscious mind, which believes that these behaviors serve a positive purpose. For example, biting your nails may relieve stress, procrastinating on your term paper may distract you from the fear of getting a bad grade, or eating junk food may numb feelings of loneliness.
By using hypnosis to relieve the stress, instill confidence in your ability to get
good grades, or motivate you to cultivate friends or find a life partner, you can
replace these bad habits with constructive action that achieves what you want without
negative consequences.
Stop Smoking Permanently -- If you are a smoker, ask yourself: How many times have I tried to quit, or quit successfully for weeks or months or even years, only to start again, feeling ashamed, defeated, and fearful of the consequences? In your conscious mind, you still have all the same reasons why you wanted to quit -- to regain health and stamina, to avoid social stigma, to dramatically decrease the risk of catastrophic illness, to set a good example for your children, to save money, to become more physically attractive, and the list goes on -- so why don't you?
Lurking deep within your subconscious mind dwells the belief that smoking satisfies
one or more important needs you have. Your subconscious mind goes back to smoking because
Dissolving Fears & Phobias -- What is the distinction between a fear and a phobia? A fear tends to be rooted in memories of actual events that would generate a fearful response in any rational being. For example, a child who was severely burned roasting marshmallows at a campfire would naturally develop a fear of fire. An adult male with a family to support would tend to develop a fear of losing his job if he has a track record of job losses. In contrast, a phobia is a specific, persistent, irrational, and intense fear that does not result from any actual experiences that were threatening or harmful. Often, the person suffering from the phobia is preoccupied with thoughts of the object of the phobia and will go out of their way to avoid coming into contact with that object, even if it means disrupting their lives to do so. Phobias are common and include fearful reactions to heights, open spaces, loss of control, public speaking, snakes, spiders, thunder etc... When a fear or phobia interferes with the performance of your job, your relationships with friends, co-workers, and family, or your enjoyment of activities, so that you start avoiding situations where the fear might arise, hypnotherapy can help. Left untreated, fears and phobias can become more and more debilitating and generalize to other situations, causing more fears and phobias. Through hypnotic techniques involving desensitization and extinction, you can learn to overcome these obstacles and gain a sense of security, confidence, and enjoyment of life. Go to top.
Conquering Test Anxiety & Stage Fright -- No matter what your level of education
Sharpening Memory, Concentration, and Productivity -- Although some people enjoy a photographic memory, most lament their inability to sufficiently retain and recall facts, concepts, and information as easily and quickly as they would like. If you find yourself struggling to remember names, dates, words, ideas, formula, or the details of personal experiences, hypnotherapy can help you reverse that tendency. Scientists believe that all the information and experiences you have ever had are stored within the subconscious mind, comparable to a massive computerized database. Through hypnosis you can learn to access that information on demand. When you implant into your subconscious mind the beliefs and attitudes that overcome forgetfulness, you unleash your power to remember.
The abilities to remember, focus, and concentrate are all vital for accomplishment and personal satisfaction. Becoming easily distracted, mentally lazy, or overloaded with useless information are all impediments to sustained attentiveness and sharp retention. Using hypnosis, you can retrain your mind to eliminate these obstacles and, like a mental sponge, soak up and hold onto the images and information you want to absorb, recalling them easily and effortless. Go to top. Improving Reading Speed, Comprehension, and Retention -- Living in the information age means constantly being bombarded with information to absorb and retain. With the busy lives most people lead, making the time to keep up with their reading and remember what was read becomes a formidable challenge. Ironically, research shows that the slower one reads, the less one tends to remember what was read. In studies to test whether using hypnosis can improve reading speed, comprehension, and retention, many subjects achieved positive results.
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Enhancing Creativity -- When you think of creativity, you may think of the brilliance of Picasso, the genius of Beethoven, or the amazing comedic talent of Robin Williams. Creativity is commonly regarded as a rarified, elusive quality of mind that most ordinary people lack or lack most of the time. The truth is we all possess creativity. Whether coming up with a new recipe for barbecue sauce or discovering a way to clone human hair, the creative process unfolds in us as part of our nature. We are curious, problem-solving, playful, imaginative, and observant beings -- which is what makes us creative. Sometimes, however, the flow of creativity feels damned up. Flashes of insight come few and far between. Fear of losing ones creativity may take over. Mental exhaustion sets in. Self-criticism brings the process to a screeching halt. Using hypnosis, you can dispel these limitations and get back in the flow, opening up to diverse possibilities and allowing your intuition to guide you in new and different directions. You begin to think outside the box, coming up with alternative solutions to problems that had not previously crossed your mind. You gain insight, pose interesting questions, and think more clearly. Go to top.
Promoting Stroke Recovery -- Brain scientists have conducted considerable
research regarding the efficacy of hypnosis for stroke recovery. The loss of speech,
Stroke survivors suffer from many other issues for which hypnosis can provide effective adjunct treatment. These include high blood pressure, poor sleep, low self-esteem, inadequate self-image, lack of motivation to exercise, addiction to smoking, shallow breathing, poor diet, and the inability to concentrate. Go to top. Preparing for and Recovering from Surgery -- No one looks forward to surgery. Whether it's you first time under the knife or you're a veteran when it comes to invasive procedures, there's always some apprehension. Even with elective cosmetic surgery, the prospect of an operation and stay in the hospital causes some level of nervousness and fear in virtually everyone. In addition to calming the anticipatory fear, hypnosis can create a peaceful and confident state of mind that can actually reduce stress on the body and help the procedure go more smoothly. Practicing hypnosis during the post-operative period can help incisions heal, boost the immune system, speed recovery, and increase physical energy and psychological well-being. Go to top.
Dispelling Anxiety and Panic Attacks --
People tend to associate anxiety
and panic with catastrophic, life-threatening situations such as a plane crash or
Anxiety can also result from genetic factors or even the withdrawal from some medications or simple substances like alcohol or caffeine. Left unchecked, it can have harmful effects on physical health as well, by raising blood pressure, taxing the immune system, interrupting sleep, diminishing appetite, and increasing bad cholesterol. Panic attacks often share some of the same symptoms with anxiety, such as heart palpitations, dizziness or nausea, shortness of breath, profuse sweating, and headaches, but differ from anxiety in their intensity. Strong feelings of terror, impending doom, or a fear of dying often accompany anxiety and panics attacks, which are characterized by the Institute of Mental Health as the nation's most common form of mental illness. Many calming techniques practiced under hypnosis, including deep diaphragmatic breathing, progressive relaxation, positive self-talk, calming triggers, and creative visualization can be very effecting in managing these problems. Go to top. Moving Beyond Loss, Separation or Grief -- The emotional impact of loss can be disorienting if not devastating. Losing something or someone you love creates a void your mind abhors. A desperate sense of separation or deep longing to get back what was lost can lead to rash actions that backfire rather than soothe. You might reach out too soon to replace what was lost with something or someone else, only to find yourself unable to cope, feeling more overwhelmed and drained by new responsibilities. If you attempt to numb yourself with mindless activities or drugs, you may discover that this behavior is exhausting and dramatically impairs your ability to function. As a result, you experience feelings of low self-esteem, emotional paralysis, lack of motivation, or hopelessness. Stages of loss, including grief, anger, denial, depression, and bargaining encompass a process of resolution that can involve repetitive re-experiencing of these emotions before you attain final resolution. Hypnotherapy can be a useful adjunct to the work done with a psychotherapist, psychiatrist or clinical psychologist. It can hasten the healing process. When you come to me to deal with grief, I offer confidentiality, support, and empathy. I encourage you to take the time you need to express yourself in the privacy of my office in whatever ways are necessary, without judgment or repercussion. I regard tears as a healthy way to release pent up emotion. Yelling and spewing angry words can help.
Increasing Relaxation and Managing Stress -- We live in a technologically advanced, information-exploding, ecologically compromised, post-9/11 era, perhaps more complicated, demanding, and stressful than mankind has ever known. The average person is overweight, sleep-deprived, exhausted, dehydrated, and suffering from some form of addiction or illness. Tools to manage stress and tension in a healthy way are in great demand. Hypnotherapy and self-hypnosis provide safe, natural, drug-free, pleasant, and effective means to decompress, relax, and allow the body, mind, and spirit to rejuvenate. Go to top.
Resolving Sleep Problems -- The consistent enjoyment of a restful night's
sleep that promotes awaking the next morning refreshed and ready to start the day
The psychological causes for sleep disturbance are no mystery. They include extensive worry and fear about career, finances, and family life, poor diet, chronic pain, unresolved health issues, over-stimulation from substances such as coffee and caffeinated beverages, and blood sugar imbalances. Since the deepening trance states of hypnosis fall somewhere in between alert consciousness and sleep, you can learn to smooth the way from disturbed wakefulness to restful sleep by inducing the relaxed state of hypnotic reverie. Once we identify the causes of your sleep problem, I can create custom scripts filled with corrective suggestions to implant into your subconscious during the hypnotic portion of your session. I also record these scripts on tape for you to replay between therapy sessions, so that before going to bed or when awakening in the middle of the night, you can use the tapes to fall off to sleep or resume sleep more easily and quickly. Go to top.
Losing Fat and Achieving Physical Fitness -- Unlike smoking, an activity that
damages and threatens life, eating is necessary to support and perpetuate life. T
he primary sources for the nutrients your body uses to regenerate itself, down to the
cellular level, are food, water, and air. In addition to hereditary factors and exercise,
it is the quality and quantity of the food you eat, water you drink, and air you
breathe that determine your health.
Having a lean, strong, and healthy body is a matter of the choices you make.
As it is true for computers, so it is for your body: Garbage in and garbage out.
You may know at the conscious level what choices you should make, but at the subconscious level, the bad health habits persist because they continue to serve some purpose. For example, you might eat fast food because you believe it saves you time and money. Or you might drink several beers at night because you believe it relaxes the tension you built up at work. You may come home from work and veg out on the couch because you believe it will restore your energy. In hypnotherapy, you discover healthy choices to replace the bad ones and yet serve the same purposes. Once you learn to access your subconscious mind, you can feed it with ideas, images, feelings, beliefs, and attitudes that support making these healthy choices consistently, so that they become good habits that enable you to lose weight and become fit. Go to top. Improving Sports Performance -- Does your golf game suffer from an unwanted slice when you drive the ball? Do you fear standing at the net when playing tennis? Does your athletic performance fall apart in competition because you allow yourself to be psyched out by your opponent? These problems and many others that both professional and amateur athletes face are correctable using hypnosis. Not a substitute for acquiring the proper techniques and skills required by the sport, hypnosis can help you fine-tune your abilities, overcome your weaknesses, and develop the mindset of a fearless competitor. When you strengthen your confidence in your ability to perform, you not only improve your performance but add to your overall enjoyment of the sport. Go to top. 
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that radiates outwardly from the self-image they hold within their own minds. They expect
success and manifest it because they regard themselves as successful and prepared to do
whatever it takes. By systematically implanting deep within your subconscious mind positive
ideas, expectations, imagery, feelings, and beliefs that represent self-love, I help clients
recreate a healthy self-image.
Without belief in yourself and your ability to
accomplish what you desire, too often the conscious effort you exert is met with
unconscious resistance that says I cant do that or I don't have what it takes.
Because this resistance sabotages your good intentions, you fall short of
achieving your goals. True self-confidence comes from an attitude held within
subconscious mind that is never contingent on external circumstances, outcomes, or events.
It stems from an inner sense of power and efficacy that can be acquired using
hypnotherapeutic techniques.
those needs were not being met when you quit. Was it to relax and manage stress,
to pep up, to satisfy a craving for nicotine, to have something to do with your hands,
to increase your concentration, to keep the acceptance of your buddies who smoke, or to
gain oral pleasure? When you discover what the reasons are and use hypnosis to reprogram
your subconscious mind with healthy replacements for the smoking behavior that satisfy
those needs, you can quit once and for all. 
or how high your IQ, scoring below your ability on academic tests or entrance and
licensing exams could ruin your chances for achieving career goals. Butterflies
in the stomach, nausea, dizziness, shortness of breath, trembling, and a racing heart
are just a few of the symptoms that have plagued singers, actors, comedians, students,
public speakers, business professionals, and clergy. Hypnosis allows you to move from
a paralyzing state of anxiety to a resourceful state of calm and self-control, so that
you quell these symptoms and remember lines, recall formula, retain facts and figures
almost effortlessly. While not a substitute for preparation, hypnosis enables you to
prepare with confidence and perform with ease. 
Similarly, if your mind wanders easily during an activity, so that your attention
span is brief, causing you to abandon what you started before you achieved what you
set out to do, your power of concentration is weak. With hypnotherapy you can develop
the ability to focus, to become fully absorbed in what you are doing, and to stay with
an activity to completion. You accomplish more in a shorter period of time. You learn
to multi-task and organize your work more effectively.
Does your self-talk include labels like poor reader or a slow reader?
Hypnosis can be effective in recreating a self-concept within your subconscious that
includes the beliefs that you can read quickly and understand fully; that you can retain
what you've read and recall it effortlessly. Since what you believe about
yourself at the subconscious level is what you experience, instilling the belief
that you are a fast and successful reader will lead to improving your reading
speed and comprehension.
memory, and motor skills are some of the most common impairments that those who have
suffered a stroke experience. In many cases, hypnosis has been an effective tool,
most often in conjunction with physical therapy and medication, for the restoration
of these abilities. Neurophysiological studies have demonstrated that imagining
moving an arm or leg under hypnosis actually causes some neuromuscular firings
along the same pathways activated during actual movement of the limb.
This behavior reinforces the ability to relearn intentional movement.
Studies have also shown that using hypnosis the opposite side of the brain
that was unaffected by the stroke can be taught to perform behavior for which
the damaged side was responsible.
severe physical abuse, or with major life changes, such as the death of a spouse or
the loss of a job. In reality, these negative emotional responses can result
from the build-up of tension when multiple everyday stressors all happen at once.
For example, a single parent who has lost her retirement fund in a stock scandal
and is relocating her family across country may experience heightened anxiety or
panic attacks when she discovers her underage daughter has become sexually active.
When I induce hypnosis, I gently guide you into a relaxed, calm, secure state in
which you constructively deal with the painful emotions you feel as you work through
each of the stages of loss. You learn how to move on with your life. You release the
negative emotions and feelings connected with the loss and replace them with positive
feelings of optimism, self-regard, peace, and acceptance. Once this happens, motivation,
goal-oriented behavior, energy, and self-esteem return, as you find yourself moving
forward again with your life. 
is on everybody's wish list. Unfortunately, sleep problems are practically epidemic.
Difficulty in getting to sleep, staying asleep, getting enough sleep, or sleeping soundly
and deeply can have serious mental, emotional, and physical repercussions that
jeopardize health, family, career, friendships, and overall enjoyment of life.
