CLINICAL HYPNOTHERAPY FOR PTSD
It was thought that people could develop PTSD only if they were involved in disasters such as being in a plane crash, witnessing a homicide, or being trapped in a building that had collapsed in an earthquake or a bombing attack. War is in fact the main cause of PTSD, and in North America, the largest group of PTSD sufferers consists of Vietnam war veterans. Indeed, most of what we know about PTSD comes from studies of combat veterans. Recently however, the list of events that may cause you to develop PTSD has been expanded to include such experiences as being raped, being in an automobile accident and economic disasters for both individuals and families.
PTSD is often accompanied by depression and in the most serious cases, a genuine risk of suicide. Like people with any other mental illness, people with PTSD will probably also tend to abuse alcohol or other drugs. Sufferers do not simply experience memories of the traumatic event – they cannot stop their memories from coming back to haunt them. Some people experience flashbacks so invasive that it feels as if they are literally reliving the event.
Hypnotherapy cannot erase traumatic events, but it can directly address the event(s) and their effects. Hypnotherapy allows you to access information stored in your physical body, your subconscious mind, and your energetic field. The actual traumatic event can be examined; the wide array of emotion surrounding it can be claimed, processed, and expressed; any negative beliefs are then released and transformed.
In hypnotherapy, you are given multiple tools, resources, and opportunities to take back a sense of control. One method employs a variety of techniques to help you make direct contact with the parts of yourself that are strong, wise, and brave. By doing this, and providing a physical anchor to ‘lock in’ the resource via mind-body connection, you are reminded of their own strengths and virtues.
One of the primary goals of hypnotherapy is restoration of the self: for the your physical, emotional, mental and spiritual parts to be re-balanced. It gives a voice to the parts that were hidden away or shrouded in negativity as a means of survival.