People seem to have an insatiable appetite for reading about celebrities. There are more and more stores in the press about people in the public eye who have turned to hypnosis to help them.

One of the things that often shows how famous people are slightly different from the rest of us is something that you may not have considered before....It's simply that they are not afraid to ask for help. They know that we cannot do everything for ourself and so looking for assistance with a problem is something that comes very naturally to them.

Here are just some of those people....

Simon Cowell, actor Matt Damon, Singer Adele, Samuel L Jackson, Ben Affleck, Ellen De Generes, Drew Barrymore, Charlize Theron  and Prince Harry have all used hypnotherapy to quit smoking. The Prince’s sister in law Kate Middleton used also used hypnotherapy to regain her appetite following a very widely reported bout of morning sickness. Kate Moss has also used those hypnotic techniques to help her with the stress and worry of pregnancy, as has Jessica Alba.

Reese Witherspoon has used hypnosis to overcome her insecurities after finding that Hollywood knockbacks were affecting her self esteem.

Spice Girl Mel B has had hypnosis for stage fright. Geri Halliwell has seen a therapist too.  Another performer who also suffered a fear of performing and had panic attacks is Michael Ball. You can see him talking about learning EFT in this video...

Actress Eva Mendes had hypnotherapy to overcome her arachnophobia and conquer her fear of spiders. 

Actor Aaron Eckhart has said that hypnosis changed his life forever after he used it to give up smoking and alcohol.

Kevin Costner, star of Waterworld even used it to help with seasickness.

Orlando Bloom had help to deal with eating too much chocolate. Did you know that you can learn to just turn down cravings!

The Duchess of York known as Fergie hired a hypnotherapist to help her to stop biting her nails, and a different Fergie, the singer from Black Eyed Peas sought help for an addiction.

Top Sports people like Tiger Woods and David Beckham have long known about the benefits of using their mind to help their sports performance coaching too.

There are so many more people who have seen the benefits...and as long as they do and keep talking about it the more we can learn about changing things that what want help with and that you do not have to face problems alone.

As a Hypnotherapist sometimes people come to me who think that it is all about just closing your eyes and listening but in fact there are many different techniques and types of intervention available to me in order to really help you these can include:

Cognitive behavioral therapy.

CBT is a form of talking therapy that combines cognitive therapy and behavior therapy. It focuses on how we think about the things going on in our life – our thoughts, images, beliefs and attitudes (our cognitive processes) – and how this impacts on the way we behave and deal with emotional problems. It then looks at how we can change any negative patterns of thinking or behavior that may be causing us difficulties. In turn, this can change the way we feel.

Solution focused hypnotherapy.

Solution Focused Hypnotherapy uses practical, modern and well researched strategies to help people make significant, positive changes in their lives in a relatively short period of time. SFH looks at what the client wants to achieve rather than on the problem that prompts them to seek change. This approach focuses on the present and future and not on the past. The Hypnotherapist asks the client to consider their preferred future, for instance, what would be better if the problem had improved? What would have changed? This enables the client's possible solutions to become more apparent and aids working towards them.

Ericksonian Hypnosis

Many people think that hypnosis is a case of telling people what to do. Ericksonian hypnotherapy uses more of what it is called indirect suggestions. Indirect suggestions are much harder to resist because they are often not even recognised as suggestions by the conscious mind, since they usually disguise themselves as stories or metaphors. An example of an indirect suggestion is " and perhaps your eyes will grow tried as you listen to this story, and you will want to close them, because people can, you know, experience a pleasant, deepening sense of comfort as they allow their eyes to close, and they relax deeply."

Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing.

EMDR is a comprehensive, integrated approach that contains many elements of therapies designed to maximise treatment effects. It is an information processing therapy that uses an eight phase approach to address the clients issues. It attends to the past experiences that have set the groundwork for pathology, the current situations that trigger the dysfunctional emotions, beliefs and feelings, and the positive experience that can enhance the future behaviours and health.

Timeline Therapy

Our "Time Line" is how we unconsciously store our memories or how we unconsciously know the difference between a memory from the past and our imagination of the future. Behavioural change in an individual takes place at an unconscious level. People don't change consciously. The Time Line Therapy techniques allow us to work at the unconscious level and release the effects of past negative experiences and change "inappropriate" programming in minutes rather than days, months or years. By taking the client back and forth over their timeline excellent responses can be achieved in a short period of time.

NLP

NLP stands for neuro linguistic programming. Created by Richard Bandler and John Grinder its techniques can be used to effectively reprogram the brain. Sometimes called “software for the brain” Modelling is a core activity in NLP, and is the process of extricating and replicating the language structure and behavioural patterns of an individual who is excellent at a given activity. Many people study NLP to help them become more effective in their chosen field. The patterns can be employed across a wide area of applications ranging from fields as diverse as education, team building, sales, marketing, personal development, leadership and coaching. Wherever there is human interaction and growth potential, NLP can be used to develop and enhance performance. It is ideal to use with clients who are resistant to the thought of going into trance.

These are just some of the techniques and as a practitioner being able to call on many different “tools in the box” means that it really can help to find the best way forward for you. When looking for a hypnotherapist do be sure to ask them about training and the different ways that they can assist you.