July 2025
The idea of hypnosis may conjure up images of swinging watches, cartoon characters with spiralling eyes or a hapless victim clucking like a chicken on stage. That’s entertainment, of course! In a clinical setting, nothing could be further from the truth. This blog explores Solution Focused Hypnotherapy and how it can be used to treat mental and physical issues…
Hypnotherapy combines psychotherapy with hypnosis to induce deep relaxation and focused concentration, allowing you to access your subconscious mind to address issues like anxiety, phobias, pain, addiction and sleep problems. It does this by facilitating positive changes in both thinking and behaviour. It’s a safe process where you are always in control, and it helps you imagine a positive future, enabling you to think, feel and act in ways that lead to better self-image and problem-solving. By harnessing the brain’s natural capacity for change and healing, it leverages both psychological insight and physiological response.
What is hypnosis?
The term “hypnosis” originates from the ancient Greek word hypnos, which means “sleep”. Identified in the early 1800s, the state of hypnosis was initially thought to be a form of sleep (hence the name) but scientific understanding shows that it’s actually a state of heightened focus and awareness rather than a loss of consciousness.
Changes in the brain
During hypnosis, brain activity shifts from normal beta waves to slower alpha and theta waves, creating a state of deep focus and internal awareness. Beta waves are dominant when we are alert and awake, whereas alpha waves are linked to a relaxed state, similar to daydreaming, during which internal focus is enhanced. Awareness of your surroundings remains at this stage. As you become more deeply relaxed, theta waves take over, leading to greater introspection, creativity and imagination, along with a reduced awareness of the external environment.
Hypnosis also alters functional connectivity within the brain. Activity in the amygdala (the brain’s stress and fear centre) decreases, leading to a sense of calm. Meanwhile, the prefrontal cortex (which is responsible for rational thinking and emotional regulation) shows increased activity that facilitates a shift in perception and the way you react to stressors. Functional connectivity between the prefrontal cortex and the insula (the mind-body conduit) also increases, and the ACC (the anterior cingulate cortex, which forms part of the brain’s alarm system) reduces its activity levels, enabling more intense focus and a damping down of conscious awareness.
Put simply, these brain changes support highly focused attention (absorption) and a detachment from external stimuli or normal self-perceptions (dissociation), thereby increasing cognitive flexibility so that you are more willing and able to try new ways of thinking and explore different solutions.
The role of hypnosis in Solution Focused Hypnotherapy
There are various types of hypnotherapy, most of which use hypnosis to relax the client before and during the psychotherapy part (that’s the talking bit that helps you address your issues and develop solutions). Solution Focused Hypnotherapy is different in a couple of key areas.
Firstly, we don’t use hypnosis for the psychotherapy part of the session. Instead, we use it afterwards as a way of helping you to process the therapy part and to facilitate improved access to your internal wisdom and resources, so that you are better able to develop and implement your solutions.
The other significant difference is that we don’t talk about your issues or problems. This may seem counterintuitive, as most people’s understanding of therapy is that it’s about trawling through the past to seek understanding in order to move forwards. However, that can have a tendency to drive you back into a stress response, from which it becomes incredibly challenging to come up with new and better ways of doing things.
As its name implies, Solution Focused Hypnotherapy is all about focusing on solutions by fostering new, more helpful thought patterns and promoting positive behavioural and emotional changes.
A scientific approach
Solution Focused Hypnotherapy is grounded in neuroscience. Understanding how your brain works is a fundamental part of the therapy and is introduced during the initial consultation. This sets you up with concepts and terminology that we then expand and build upon in subsequent sessions. My clients find this enlightening and it equips them to deal much more effectively with stress and anxiety long after we’ve finished working together.
Summary
Solution Focused Hypnotherapy is a gentle, proven method to help you achieve positive change in a relatively short space of time. It works by providing you with the knowledge, tools, techniques and environment to rewire your brain for more adaptive thinking, leading to enhanced cognitive flexibility, better emotional regulation, improved mood and a solution-focused approach to life.
If you would like to find out more, why not book a free consultation.