For my latest blog post, let’s go back to basics. What exactly is solution-focused hypnotherapy, and what are the benefits of this approach? Let’s take a closer look at SFH and how it can help you reach your goals and move towards a positive future.
What is solution focused hypnotherapy?
Solution-focused hypnotherapy (SFH) is a talking therapy that combines psychotherapy with hypnosis techniques. Unlike many talking therapies, the focus of SFH is on the solution rather than the problem. Yes, we will discuss your problems and the past, but we won’t dwell on them. After we’ve established what the issue is, we look at finding a solution – together.
SFH is a collaborative process between you and me, the therapist and the patient. You know what outcome you want, whether it’s something really tangible like stopping smoking or something broader like feeling more confident, and it’s my job to help you reach this goal. The hypnosis trance state supports this because we’re more receptive to positive suggestions when we’re in this state of guided relaxation.
You’ll be surprised by how much we can achieve together in a relatively short period. By having a clear goal and working on your own solutions (with guidance and prompting from me), SFT ensures the effects are lasting.
How did solution focused hypnotherapy develop?
Solution-focused brief therapy began life in the US in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Insoo Kim Berg and Steve de Shazer were family therapists who noticed that sessions were spent dwelling on problems rather than looking at solutions – hardly an effective way to support people experiencing negative thinking.
They developed a different approach that emphasised problem solving rather than problems. The therapist is still there to listen and guide, but they now prompt future planning. It’s an empowering way to take control of both your current mindset and your future happiness.
What can solution-focused hypnotherapy help with?
During a course of SFH, we work on rerouting your neural pathways to break negative thought cycles or unhealthy habits and replace them with positive future goals. Because it focuses on goals and positive thought patterns, SFH can help with a wide variety of issues.
Solution-focused hypnotherapy techniques can be extremely effective at helping people with depression, anxiety and low mood, while the goal-setting approach creates lasting results for those seeking to lose weight, quit smoking or manage a phobia.
Your desired outcome can be broad (“I want to feel more confident”) or very specific (“I need to be able to give a presentation at work”). Either way, SFH empowers you to make lasting changes, supported by your therapist.
Will solution-focused hypnotherapy work for me?
It sounds like a cliché, but if you really want to make a change, you will. I would say that you have to feel ready and willing to change before embarking on solution-focused hypnotherapy, because you’re the one doing the hard work! The goals and steps are self-generated, which is why they’re so lasting; and I and my fellow therapists are here to facilitate and guide, rather than direct.
The combination of hypnotherapy and talking therapy techniques is proving to be an effective approach, with a realistic and tangible goal-setting focus that helps people stay on track.
Why do we use a hypnotherapy trance?
We naturally go into trances all the time, when we’re driving or on the bus, watching telly or taking a shower. We’re still aware of what’s going on around us and we’re perfectly safe, but our minds are “drifting”. Hypnosis is simply a contrived trance state, and it has the advantage of bringing both sides of our brain together.
As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, we have a conscious brain and a primitive brain. The former is our solution-finding side, sometimes called our intellectual or rational brain. On the other side, we have the primitive brain, the part of us that responds to perceived threats and is still fighting sabre-tooth tigers in modern Britain. Our primitive brain can be the source of our anxieties.
When we’re in a trance, both sides of the brain can work together, so it’s the perfect time for the intellectual side to overrule the anxieties of the primitive brain and replace them with more rational thoughts – and solutions. I work with my SFH clients to set goals, then we use the trance state to reroute the neural pathways when the brain it at its most harmonious and receptive (we talk a lot about the neuroscience behind SFH during our sessions).
Does solution-focused hypnotherapy work alongside other treatments?
Yes, SFH works well with other therapies. I use elements of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) myself, as well as with specialist trauma therapies like Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR). It can also be used alongside prescribed medications for depression, anxiety and stress.
Find out more about hypnotherapy with Great Minds Clinic
If you think you’d benefit from solution-focused hypnotherapy or you’d simply like to find out more, please get in touch for a confidential chat.
