You are about to read a mini case study that shows how I use hypnotherapy to help people achieve their goals. If you have any questions about this case study, feel free to leave a comment.
Meet John*
John is a 35 year old software engineer who lives in the north of England with his wife Lisa and their 3 children; F (6), M (4) and M (3).
John has some traits and behaviours which he was now feeling thoroughly miserable about:
- He has always been a perfectionist and a worrier.
- He spends hours analysing every detail of his work, his relationships, and his life.
- He constantly questions his decisions and doubts himself.
- He also imagines worst-case scenarios and worries about things that might go wrong.
This makes him feel anxious, stressed, and unhappy, especially since his unwanted behaviour and emotions seem to “get worse every year”. By the time he came to see me, he was having panic attacks almost daily – and felt his life was “falling apart”.
How he sought help
John decided to try hypnotherapy after one of his friends received it and was very pleased with the results.
He went to the CNHC website and searched for a local clinical hypnotherapist. He wanted to have face-to-face sessions, as he had not found online counselling helpful in the past. He also wanted to find a hypnotherapist who was very experienced.
John’s initial consultation
We offer all prospective clients the opportunity to have a free initial consultation. These consultations look a little for everybody, but in John’s case:
- We discussed his goals and what he wanted to achieve from hypnotherapy. John said he wanted to reduce his overthinking, increase his confidence, and improve his well-being.
- I explained how hypnosis works, preemptively answering questions which most people ask.
- Answered all his questions.
- I explained what he could expect from each session and what a typical hypnotherapy session looks like.
- Explained the intervention(s) that I was considering, along with what he could expect in terms of number of sessions required.
- We recorded his starting SUD (Subjective Unit of Discomfort) score. This is a score, rated from 1 to 10, where lowest scores indicate that issues aren’t that bothersome and higher scores indicate the issues are impacting many areas of his life. John started off with a SUD score of 9.
- John rated his difficulties as a 9. When I asked him what score would be acceptable to him, he said that 4 would be tolerable.
At the end of the consultation, John said he wanted to proceed, so we booked his first session.
How we measured his progress
At the beginning of each session, I’d ask John his SUD score for that week like to measure the effectiveness of my clinical practice, so I asked John to rate his difficulties on a scale of 1 to 10. I explained that 10 meant that his difficulties were very troublesome and affected many areas of his life, while 1 meant that his difficulties were not noticeable at all.
Sessions and progress
All hypnotherapy sessions began with an induction (a way of getting a person into hypnosis) and ended with a wake up. The induction could take different forms, such as:
- Using visualisation exercises
- Use of calming words a
- Introduced gentle suggestions.
John said he felt very calm and comfortable as he entered hypnosis.
In the sessions, I used various techniques to help John change his unhelpful thought patterns and negative beliefs. In summary, I helped John to:
- Identify and challenge the irrational thoughts that caused him to overthink. This involved asking his subconscious mind to alert him when he was having unhelpful thoughts. Eventually, John became very good at spotting them himself.
- Replace the negative thoughts with positive affirmations and realistic expectations.
- Visualise himself in situations where he felt confident and relaxed.
- Access his inner resources and strengths.
- Develop coping skills and strategies for dealing with stress and anxiety.
In total, John had 6 sessions with me, each lasting about 45 minutes. He noticed a significant improvement in his overthinking after the first session (SUD level 7), and continued to feel more positive and relaxed as the sessions progressed, with reducing SUD scores too. He reported that he was able to focus on his work without getting distracted by irrelevant details, that he felt more confident in his decisions and abilities, and that he enjoyed his life more without worrying about the future. His final SUD score was recorded 4 weeks after finishing his hypnotherapy and was rated at a 2. Therefore, his hypnotherapy had achieved his goal.
Follow-up work
I also gave John some self-hypnosis exercises to practice at home, including listening to a recorded script. I have successfully used this method to boost favourable results for many years.
How he felt about the results of hypnotherapy
John was very happy with the results of hypnotherapy. He said that it helped him to quieten his mind and overcome his overthinking habit. He also said that he felt more in control of his thoughts and emotions, and that he had a better quality of life. He thanked me for helping him achieve his goals.
Conclusion
John’s final SUD score was a 2; a long way from the 9 or so which he reported before his first session.
I hope you liked reading this case study of how I used hypnotherapy to help John overcome his overthinking habit. Hypnotherapy is a powerful and effective tool that can help you change your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours for the better. If you want to find out more about how hypnotherapy can help you, please contact me for a free consultation.
