Cognitive Hypnotherapy
So firstly, what is Cognitive Hypnotherapy?
Within my practice, I tailor a blend of Cognitive Hypnotherapy and Coaching, depending on your individual needs.
Cognitive Hypnotherapy is a modern approach that combines recent discoveries from the world of Neuroscience with a mix of the most effective therapeutic practices within Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Positive Psychology, Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP), Gestalt Therapy, Transactional Analysis (TA), AMDR, (Applied EMDR), and Bespoke Hypnotherapy.
The beauty of this approach is that it is focused and structured, but remains utterly flexible. Cognitive Hypnotherapy empowers you with the knowledge and skills needed to take back control of your own thoughts, feelings and behaviours.
Take three minutes to watch this short animation narrated by Trevor Silvester, the founder of Quest Cognitive Hypnotherapy:
What does Cognitive Hypnotherapy feel like?
Some people see the word “hypnotherapy” and are unsure as to what will be involved. Will I wave a pendulum in front of you? Will you lose control? Will you start dancing like a chicken? Will I say in a monotone voice: “You are feeling veeeeeery sleepy…”?
The answer to all these questions is “no”. Cognitive Hypnotherapy is just a conversation between us. You will be in control at all times. You will not do anything that you don’t want to do. It might be that our entire session feels just like a chat, or it might be that you close your eyes and listen to my voice, but at all times you will know where you are, what you are doing and you can open your eyes and talk whenever you feel like it. My Cognitive Hypnotherapy services are designed to facilitate the process of reframing your brain so that the areas in life that are holding you back can gain a new meaning.
The great thing about this therapy is that people often leave the first session feeling different. You may be surprised to start noticing little changes starting to happen in your life, which gradually grow into big changes. Before you even realise it, you begin to think differently and behave differently to the point when you might not even realise why you were so worried in the first place! And the reassuring thing is that I am talking to your unconscious mind, so there is no pressure on you.
Trance
Have you noticed times in your day when you are “in a trance”? For example, when you are driving somewhere and arrive, barely remembering your journey? Or perhaps you are so engrossed in a good book, or film, that you don’t hear your partner asking if you fancy a cup of tea?
Cognitive Hypnotherapy believes that we all go in and out of trances every day. When we are “doing” our problem we are in a trance as well. Cognitive Hypnotherapy techniques seek to alter or disrupt the trance you are in when your problem takes over.
An evidence-based approach
The Quest Institute is run by the founder of Cognitive Hypnotherapy, Trevor Silvester. Quest Cognitive Hypnotherapy (QCH) launched a unique research project in 2011. Using a team of QCH therapists, clients with anxiety and depression were assessed using the same outcome measures currently used to assess the effectiveness of talking therapies within the NHS.
The pilot study was published in the Mental Health Review Journal in 2015. It recorded that, using 118 cases measuring the effectiveness of Cognitive Hypnotherapy for the treatment of depression and anxiety, 71% considered themselves recovered after an average of four sessions. This compared to an average of 42% for other approaches using the same measures (like CBT). To our knowledge, this is the only hypnotherapy approach to have been validated in this way.
For further information regarding the research project and pilot study released in the Mental Health Review Journal, please visit the QCHPA’s evidence-based therapy research page.
Interested to find out how you could benefit from Cognitive Hypnotherapy?
Una Murga offers English or Spanish Cognitive Hypnotherapy and Coaching in Buckinghamshire and online.