13 Therapy Techniques That Complement Hypnotherapy Sessions
Are you dealing with chronic pain? Do you suffer from anxiety or depression? If you answered yes to both those questions, let me ask one more: have you considered trying hypnotherapy?
When it works alongside your own mind’s abilities, there’s a lot that hypnotherapy can do for you. Hypnosis can be applied to many different therapies to solve chronic pain and health issues, alleviate emotional burdens, and achieve your personal goals.
Have you considered seeing a massage therapist or chiropractor for a problem area? Or are you planning on seeing a dietician or nutritionist to help curb cravings or create a healthier meal plan after a surgery or illness?
Guess what? Hypnotherapy supports and enhances these therapies and practices too, while simultaneously helping with symptom management and the development of healthy behaviours. It also provides much-needed insight into addressing and resolving subconscious blockages to better health.
Did you know that hypnotherapy is not only complementary as a therapy, but also it can boost the effects of all these therapies listed below? Check it out!
1. Acupuncture
Many will use acupuncture to relieve dry mouth, fatigue, menopause symptoms, pain, pregnancy issues, sleep problems, depression, and anxiety. Using fine needles to stimulate specific nerves causes a release of endorphins and serotonin to promote feelings of well-being.
If you as a patient have a phobia of needles, hypnotherapy can help address that phobia to allow you to use this treatment. Or maybe you’re finding it hard to stay still (needles are left in place between 10-30 minutes), which may be due to pain. Hypnotherapy can help with alleviation of pain and time distortion (speed up the perception of time) to make the process of the treatment tolerable.
2. Art Therapy
Art therapy uses art to work through emotional issues, where you may not be able to use words to express your feelings effectively. “Automatic writing,” a hypnotic phenomena, can achieve that flow found in all creative efforts, as it connects the subconscious mind in hypnosis to give you the opportunity to communicate using pen (e.g. crayon or brush) and paper. This allows a reduction in critical interpretation from your conscious mind and greater access to your deeper emotions.
3. Chiropractic
Seeing a chiropractor can include manual therapy approaches and lifestyle/self-care advice to help address pain, headaches, and tension. Should you need treatment for your body that involves manipulation of the spine and other joints, hypnotherapy can help to reduce your stress and anxiety levels before (or during) the session, helping you to better connect with the process of the therapy.
Undergoing hypnotherapy can help you identify and find the subconscious reasons as to why you may not be able to let go of your pain yet.
4. Counselling
If you are seeing your therapist for unresolved past trauma, for example, you are provided a safe space for you to explore and discuss your trauma. Your therapist will question you to help you think about your trauma and explore how it made you feel.
Hypnotherapy uses hypnosis to help you relax and access your subconscious mind where our deepest thoughts and experiences are kept. Regression may be used at this point to take you back to where you first experienced your trauma.
Using questions and suggestions can be used to heal your trauma carrying it through to the present day. When you are finished with your regression hypnosis sessions, regular counselling for follow-up and regular check-ins can continue in a discussion-based way.
5. Diet
Assessing and treating dietary issues and promoting good health is what you will experience seeing a registered dietician. They may work with your doctor to treat medical conditions you may have, such as diabetes, heart disease, or allergies. They can help you to lose weight before a big surgery or manage a healthier diet after dealing with a serious illness.
Hypnotherapy can help with boosting motivation and connecting to the future benefits of losing weight, as well as help with pain management of medical conditions you may have.
Additionally, if you’re wanting to lose weight without a literal gastric band, the Virtual Gastric Band can be a good choice for an alternative.
6. Drama Therapy
Like art therapy, drama therapy is an alternative therapy for those who have trouble expressing their feelings. It uses role play and storytelling to connect to these feelings, thought processes, behaviours and addresses personal issues. Hypnotherapy can help with role-playing, encouraging the imagination to connect with situations more vividly and explore different ways of responding and behaving.
7. Massage Therapy
Massage uses many approaches from strongly vigorous and firm, through to gentle and soft, together with the use of pressing, stroking, kneading, and tapping movements. There are many types of massage, including the most common “Swedish” massage (full body, gentle to firm), deep tissue (deeper muscular attention), sports (sport preparation or rehabilitation), and shiatsu (blending stretching with acupressure).
Hypnotherapy aids in reducing your stress and tension before the massage. It will also help to manage your discomfort during a deep tissue massage, or connect you to your imagination during a relaxation focused massage.
8. Music Therapy
Live musical interactions are used to engage you to participate in a psychological therapy process for boosting your communication and emotional well-being.
Like the other creative therapies mentioned, music helps you express your inner emotions and conflicts that you may have issues using your words to convey. Hypnotherapy is used to further connect a less auditory/sound-based person to the auditory therapy medium.
Reducing critical interpretation with hypnosis helps you connect better with the deeper parts of your mind.
9. Nutrition
Helping to address illness and disease and enhance your health with diet and nutrition is what you experience going to see a nutritionist. They are your health coach, providing one-on-one counselling to help you reach your health-related goals.
Hypnotherapy can help you to understand and connect with your conscious and subconscious nutritional needs, and how you can connect these needs to your future goals and actions, and find and hold on to the motivation for positive change that you’re looking for.
10. Occupational Therapy
Occupational therapists help you achieve everyday activities within healthcare settings and in the community. They will help someone cope with recovering from a major illness or injury or help someone with disabilities cope with adjustments to their lifestyle and living routines.
Hypnotherapy helps to address limiting, unhelpful, or negative beliefs or emotions and helps to transition you to a positive mindset adapting your limitations with optimizing your opportunities for living a full life.
11. Osteopathy
Like massage and chiropractic, osteopathy is a hands-on therapy, focusing on manipulating the muscles and bones to help ease pain, reduce swelling, and improve movement. Hypnotherapy with your osteopathy session helps you to relax and feel more relaxed and comfortable with the therapy process. Hypnotherapy for pain management and time distortion can help with any discomfort you may experience during therapy.
12. Physiotherapy
Physiotherapy helps to address physical issues that affect movement, using massage, exercise, and a range of therapeutic tools and equipment. Hypnotherapy helps to focus on your goals and suggestions can be given to boost your motivation, with future pacing to help you look at the best ways to connect with your home self-care programs.
13. Reflexology
Reflexology is gentle pressure on the feet or hands, designed to stimulate energy pathways within your body and promote your body’s own healing process. It is commonly used for reducing stress and anxiety, relieving pain, and boosting mood and well-being. Many who would benefit from this treatment dislike their feet or hands being touched or may be hyper-sensitive.
Hypnotherapy can help reduce the perception of sensation or transform the sensation to something more acceptable. It can also help with boosting mental and physical relaxation during your reflexology session.
As you can see there are many ways in which hypnotherapy works with complementary therapies and alternative healthcare practices, before, during, and after treatment. Adding hypnotherapy to your healthcare treatment plan may be right for you if you’re experiencing any of these symptoms and many more.
If you are interested in what else hypnotherapy can do for you, check out 20 Things Hypnosis Can Genuinely Help You With.
Do you have any further questions about hypnotherapy sessions? If so, you can contact me today, or you can click here to book a free 20-minute consultation.
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