Hypnosis anyone?

I was seeing a counsellor who happened to also be a licensed hypnotherapist so I asked for a session to help with insomnia. No appreciable effect.

My husband gave up smoking with hypnotherapy.

Went from smoking at least a packet a day and many failed attempts to give up to literally never having another cigarette again.

I tried it to have an easier labor after two very long ones. My third on have been much easier, but I have no idea how much the therapy had to do with that, because I was also doing other things. I don't know if you can call it hypno, really, though it marketed itself as that - more like a series of guided audio meditations that I could listen to as I went to sleep.

I figured at worst it would do nothing, so might as well give it a shot.

At some point I read a book about how you could hypnotize *yourself* and that was a fascinating idea. I can't remember the title - I think I picked it up randomly at the library.

ReenieHJ wrote: »

Thank you all for your input. I think she'd use the hypnosis primarily to quiet her mind during the night so she can sleep. She's tried so many things and after seeing the dr. a couple days ago, she's just about given up. The best the dr. could suggest was prescriptions for sleep meds., all of which she cannot take due to having glaucoma. I barely survive on less than 5-6 hrs. of sleep a night; I have no idea how she does it on 3-4, night after night.

I'll talk with her more about it and see if there are options within 100 mile radius. Living in a small town we don't have many options.

Bear with me for a little background, I have a point.

While I was seeking solutions for my sleep interruption insomnia, I consulted the professional counseling staff at my (large) employer's employee assistance program, looking for help finding a hypnotherapist.

The counselor (psychologist) asked me questions about my insomnia. What I learned in that conversation: The most common type of insomnia is the type where the person either has trouble getting to sleep, or trouble going back to sleep after waking, because their mind just keeps spinning with daily life concerns (or similar) and that thought process prevents sleep. (It sounds like that may be your sister's issue?)

The counselor was very clear that they had found short-course Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) - just a few sessions - to be quite effective in helping people improve sleep, and control that type of insomnia.

She seemed a little disappointed that that was not the type of insomnia I had, because she felt they would've been able to help me at no cost to me. (She did help me find a psychotherapist who used hypnotherapy, and that worked pretty well for me, half a dozen one-hour-ish sessions with recordings to take home for future use, but that was on my own nickel.) At the time, the per-hour pricing was similar to what I'd expect to pay for professional services like credentialed massage therapy, independent good-quality personal training, etc. - less per hour than (say) lawyers.