PTSD

Hypnotherapy has been shown to be an extremely and a credible, evidence-based treatment option for sufferers of PTSD.

PTSD, Post-traumatic stress disorder, consists of a series of symptoms that arise from a traumatic event which occurs in one’s life. The symptoms of PTSD usually consist of but are not limited to the following:

1. Intrusive flashbacks (reliving a violent scene in your mind)
2. Anxiety disorders resulting in chronic physical pain, body tensions, teeth grinding
3. Overreacting to situations with seemingly little control
4. Sudden outbursts of rage or temper tantrums
5. Unexplained fears or phobias, such as a fear of butterflies
6. Sleep disorders
7. Inability to relax the mind and the body
8. Persistent stress, tension, fears
9. Nightmares or recurrent bad dreams
10. Inability to concentrate, loss of memory

Certain people or situations may remind the suffering person of the traumatic event. This is called a trigger.

An example of a PTSD trigger is someone who has served in combat who may be walking down the street and hears a car backfire. The individual then reacts in a similar manner to when they were in a high-stress combat situation, re-living the past as if it were happening in the present.  This trigger from the car backfire may cause this combat veteran to begin to sweat, feel his heart pounding, his breathing may increase rapidly, and he or she may even find himself running for cover. The triggered PTSD veteran may begin to have flashbacks where intrusive memories flood their mind and they may, for some period of time, feel like they are right back on the battlefield

Hypnotherapy mainly deals with unlocking the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind is a huge sensory vehicle consisting of the ability to experience our world through our senses: sounds, smells, tastes, visuals or pictures, and/or feelings. One way to locate what is stored in our subconscious to help an individual suffering from PTSD is to understand what the PTSD triggers actually are. 

It is very important to emphasise that anyone can suffer from PTSD

PTSD often goes undiagnosed by the medical profession and even in the psychological community. Common examples of undiagnosed people with PTSD can be adults who, as children, grew up with parents who were alcoholic, where there was violence, yelling, fighting and bullying in the household. A person who was physically, emotionally or sexually abused during the formative years most likely has grown up with symptoms of PTSD without it ever having been recognized or treated as well. Familiarity with the principles of the mind through hypnotherapy gives us the most effective tools to truly recognize, diagnose, and then treat PTSD.

Hypnotherapy for PTSD is an evidence-based treatment and can effectively treat the symptoms as well as the underlying causes. The people who have the most severe PTSD symptoms and who will likely benefit greatly from hypnotherapy are people who have had previous trauma or stressful experiences during childhood. Here are some of the unique ways that hypnotherapy is effectively used in the treatment of PTSD:

1. Immediate installation of powerful stress reduction exercises that can be recorded so the PTSD client can replay recordings of these exercises daily or as often as needed after leaving the treatment facility
2. Desensitising of symptoms so that the PTSD client can slowly reduce his or her reactions to the common triggers
3. Identifying each trigger so that the client experiences more control of situations in their life
4. Hypnotherapy to go even deeper into individual memories to see if other, previous stressful events are adding fuel to the PTSD wildfire

 Hypnotherapy can be a powerful treatment for PTSD because it treats the issue at its core: the triggers. Heal the triggers, heal the person.

Because hypnotherapy is primarily a method for accessing and treating the subconscious, it is perfect for PTSD and countless other issues that originate in some type of trigger or locked away memory.