There are many times in our lives where we all feel anxious or stressed. This is quite a normal response to various everyday aspects of our lives. However, it can become a problem when these feelings do not go away. They may pop up without a seemingly good reason and perhaps prevent you from doing things you want to do.
Generally, 1 in 4 people will experience some sort of mental health problem in England each year (McManus et. al., 2009). When it comes to anxiety, 8 in 100 people will suffer from mixed anxiety and depression and 6 in 100 from generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) (McManus et. al., 2016).
In regard to your health, experiencing new things (big scans or tests) or finding that you may have become sick could trigger the anxiety or stress (or both). To help with this, various therapies can be used to aid you in relaxation or understanding of your emotions which could help reduce the anxiety and stress.
Echelon Health has partnered with award-winning hypnotherapy expert Malminder Gill who is also based on Harley Street. She will be working closely with our team and clients to help them if they are experiencing any anxiety regarding their upcoming health assessments. Malminder has created a special audio program specifically to help ease health scan anxiety.
If you are interested and would like to find out more, please contact Echelon Health or Malminder Gill for more information and access to this audio program.
We hope that this will further amplify the quality of service received by our clients and make their journey even more enjoyable as they delve deeper into finding out about their health and wellbeing. And, if you are unsure about what hypnotherapy is or how it works, then this blog is for you!
What is hypnotherapy?
Hypnotherapy is a type of therapy that allows a person to fall into an altered state of consciousness. While in this state a person is deeply relaxed, focused and extremely open to suggestion.
This type of therapy is used to aid in the management of various health issues including stress, anxiety, weight loss, addiction, sleep disorders and helping to quit smoking (Garba and Mamman, 2020).
How does hypnotherapy work?
Hypnotherapy, or hypnosis is usually combined with psychotherapy because when a person is in a hypnotic state, it becomes easier to access and explore painful memories, thoughts, and feelings that they may have hidden away from their consciousness.
It may help people look at things differently or block an awareness of physical pain. There are different types of hypnotherapies, however first you will start with a conversation with your therapist to discuss what your goals are for this therapy and how you wish to get there using the methods available.
During the hypnotherapy session itself the therapist will lead you into a deeply relaxed state. In this state they will talk to you and analyse how they can help you achieve your goals, for example by suggesting you do not like smoking. After gradually bringing you out of this state, you may feel more refreshed.
At any given time, you are fully in control and do not have to do anything you do not wish to do.
Does hypnotherapy work?
After their sessions with a hypnotherapist, many people have reported that they feel more confident and relaxed in situations that have been causing anxiety previously. They report more feelings of clarity and those who suffer from poor sleep due to the anxiety or stress find that they are able to sleep better.
There are several things that hypnotherapy can help with as found in studies by Alizamar et. al. (2018) and Olendzki et. al. (2020) both of which show how effective hypnotherapy can be in reducing stress levels.
Different studies looked at how hypnotherapy is effective at aiding with general anxiety (Golden, 2012, Madani and Zavareh, 2019) as well as anxiety stemming from nursing examinations (Hamzah et. al., 2021) and anxiety among people who suffer from cancer (Pei-Ying et. al., 2017).
Apart from stress and anxiety, hypnotherapy has shown to be effective for depression (Alladin and Alibhai, 2007) and helping reduce anxiety and pain during labour (Sahour et. al., 2019). In addition to that, it has shown to be effective with obese and overweight people (Roslim et. al., 2021).
These are just a few of the many benefits of hypnotherapy, other areas where hypnotherapy may help with include:
- Fears and phobias
- Sleep disorders
- Grief and loss
- Relationships
- Self-esteem and confidence
We are very glad to be working with Malminder Gill, and we know this partnership will bring many benefits to our clients. If you would like to find out more please contact Malminder Gill at [email protected], or our very own Echelon Health team at [email protected].
Our health assessments will help anyone wanting to have peace of mind about their health; to find out more about how our experience and technology helps detect up to 94% of preventable causes of death download our brochure or head over to another blog!
Sources:
McManus, S., Meltzer, H., Brugha, T., Bebbington, P. E., & Jenkins, R. (2009). Adult psychiatric morbidity in England: Results of a household survey. Health and Social Care Information Centre.
McManus, S., Bebbington, P. E., Jenkins, R., & Brugha, T. (2016). Mental health and wellbeing in england: The adult psychiatric morbidity survey 2014. NHS digital.
Garba, M. H., & Mamman, M. (2020). Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy: The Role of Traditional Versus Alternative Approach. Hypnotherapy and Hypnosis.
Alizamar, A., Ifdil, I., Fadli, R.P., Erwinda, L., Zola, N., Churnia, E., Bariyyah, K., Refnadi, R. and Rangka, I.B., (2018). The effectiveness of hypnotherapy in reducing stress levels. Addictive Disorders & Their Treatment, 17(4), pp.191-195.
Olendzki, N., Elkins, G. R., Slonena, E., Hung, J., & Rhodes, J. R. (2020). Mindful hypnotherapy to reduce stress and increase mindfulness: A randomized controlled pilot study. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 68(2), 151-166.
Golden, W. L. (2012). Cognitive hypnotherapy for anxiety disorders. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 54(4), 263-274.
Hamzah, F., Mat, K. C., & Amaran, S. (2021). The effect of hypnotherapy on exam anxiety among nursing students. Journal of Complementary and Integrative Medicine.
Sadat Madani, S. A., & Tavallaii Zavareh, A. (2019). The effectiveness of cognitive behavioral hypnotherapy in reducing symptoms and treatment of anxiety. Health Research Journal, 4(1), 16-22.
Chen, P. Y., Liu, Y. M., & Chen, M. L. (2017). The effect of hypnosis on anxiety in patients with cancer: A meta‐analysis. Worldviews on Evidence‐Based Nursing, 14(3), 223-236.
Alladin, A., & Alibhai, A. (2007). Cognitive hypnotherapy for depression: An empirical investigation. Intl. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 55(2), 147-166.A
Sahour, A., Fakhri, M. K., & Pourasghar, M. (2019). Investigating the effect of hypnotherapy on reducing anxiety and pain during labor. BRAIN. Broad Research in Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience, 10(3), 25-33.
Roslim, N. A., Ahmad, A., Mansor, M., Aung, M. M. T., Hamzah, F., Hassan, H., & Lua, P. L. (2021). Hypnotherapy for overweight and obese patients: A narrative review. Journal of integrative medicine, 19(1), 1-5.
