Hypnotherapy
Hypnotherapy is one of those practices that tends to provoke an immediate reaction — curiosity, scepticism, or a vague image of a swinging pocket watch and a man in a cape. It is often dismissed because of its association with stage shows, or approached with uncertainty born from not quite knowing what it actually involves. Before anything else, let's set the record straight.
Hypnosis is not something exotic or unusual. It is a natural mental state — one most of us move in and out of without noticing. The focused absorption of reading something that pulls you in completely. The almost automatic quality of a familiar drive. That drifting, in-between feeling just before sleep takes over. In all of these, the ordinary chatter of the mind has quietened and attention has settled somewhere specific.
What makes this state interesting therapeutically is how it’s often described from the inside. People tend to say the mind feels less busy and less defended, more able to sit with an idea or a perspective without immediately arguing with it. That’s the state hypnotherapy works within, and it’s why people sometimes turn to it for patterns that have stayed stubbornly in place despite their best conscious efforts.
What is hypnosis?
What can hypnotherapy help with?
Hypnotherapy is used for a broad range of difficulties. The research is uneven — better established in some areas, such as pain management, than in others. Whether it’s a sensible route for what brings you is something we’d look at together before deciding anything.
People come to hypnotherapy for:
Anxiety, panic and phobias
Insomnia and disrupted sleep
Stress, and physical symptoms with a stress component
Pain management, acute and chronic
Habits and behaviours someone wants to change, including smoking
Persistent patterns of thought or behaviour that haven’t shifted through other approaches
It can work alongside other therapeutic approaches. Some people find that working in this more focused state lets them engage with something differently than they manage through talking alone.
Hypnotherapy isn’t the right route for everything, and part of my role at the start is to say so if I think another approach, or another professional, would serve you better. Where something would be better addressed with medical input, or alongside it, I’ll tell you that.
I work with hypnotherapy the way I work with everything else: as a considered, collaborative piece of work, shaped around you. There’s no generic script, and I won’t promise you a one-session fix.
I’m trained in several hypnotherapy approaches and draw on whichever feels most appropriate for you, either based on our initial assessment together, or your own preference once we’ve discussed the options.
Ericksonian hypnotherapy An indirect and permissive approach that works with your imagination and your own inner resources, offering possibilities and inviting change rather than imposing it. Rather than telling your mind what to do, it uses metaphor, storytelling and suggestion. This approach tends to feel natural and unforced, and is often used for anxiety, trauma responses, and long-standing habits or beliefs.
CBT hypnotherapy A more structured approach that combines the principles of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy with hypnosis. This can be useful when there are specific thought patterns or behaviours you want to address.
Parts therapy / Ego state therapy This approach works with the idea that we’re made up of different “parts” — inner states or aspects of ourselves that can sometimes be in conflict. The work involves helping those aspects communicate and resolve conflicts, moving towards a more integrated sense of self. People often find it useful for internal conflict, ambivalence, or difficulties that seem to resist change.
Hypnotherapy can be offered as a stand-alone approach — for clients who come specifically for hypnosis, that is exactly what we do. It can also be used as one tool within broader integrative counselling work. Sometimes clients begin with hypnotherapy alone and choose to move into therapy afterwards; that transition is always possible.
My approach to hypnotherapy
The first session is always a conversation before anything else. We talk about what has brought you, what you are hoping to change, and which approach might suit you best. There is no pressure to move into hypnotherapy straight away, the groundwork matters.
When we do begin, you will simply be invited to sit or recline comfortably and follow my voice. Most people are surprised by how ordinary it feels: not strange or dramatic, but quietly focused, and often restful. You remain aware and in control throughout. Nothing happens without your consent.
Afterwards, experiences vary. Some people feel settled and clear. For some, something shifts noticeably quite quickly. For others, changes emerge more gradually in the days that follow, in how they respond to something, or how a situation feels. And for some it doesn’t land the way they’d hoped, in which case we look at that together and decide what makes sense next.
Sessions are 50 minutes and are available in person in West Hampstead and Paddington/Lancaster Gate in London, and online.
What to expect from a session
“You’re asleep during hypnosis” Sleep and hypnosis look similar from the outside, but the experience from within is quite different. Most people remain fully aware throughout: the mind is focused, not absent.
“The therapist controls your mind” Stage hypnosis has a lot to answer for here. In therapeutic hypnosis, you retain your free will. A suggestion only works if you are willing to engage with it. You cannot be made to do or say anything against your wishes, during or after a session.
“What if I can’t come out of it?” This isn’t something that happens. Hypnosis is a temporary state, not a condition you can become stuck in. If a session were interrupted, you would simply drift into natural sleep and wake normally.
“Only certain people can be hypnotised” Most people can enter a hypnotic state to some degree, though people vary in how readily they do. Concentration, imagination and a genuine willingness to engage with the process all play a part.
Common concerns
If you are curious about hypnotherapy and would like to talk through whether it might suit you, please feel free to get in touch. I am happy to answer questions before you commit to anything.