In the Times on Boxing Day this year (2018), this article was published about the use of hypnotherapy for anxiety and depression. The study was done at Southhampton University and showed a reduction of 60% in both anxiety and depression.
There is so much evidence with regards to the effectiveness of hypnotherapy, one wonders why it is not used more within the medical world.
At The Surrey Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy, we see the positive effects that hypnotherapy has on our anxiety clients every day of the week.
How hypnosis can soothe anxiety and depression
December 26 2018, 12:01am,
Nicola Woolcock, Education Correspondent
Hypnotherapy was first offered two years ago as an alternative to counselling at the University of Southampton. It has been extremely successful and popular with those who chose to participate. Sixty two students accessed hypnotherapy in 2016-17 and that rose to 150 in 2017-18.
Lizzie, 22, graduated this year in biological sciences. She was taking medication for depression when she started at university and had also experienced anxiety since her teens, but this had not been diagnosed.
She became tired and introverted and felt constantly on edge. She saw a doctor who prescribed medication but also told her that other counselling services were available.
Lizzie tried cognitive behavioural therapy, which helped, and then six weeks of counselling. She was then offered hypnotherapy. “At first I laughed. I thought it would be a bit like: ‘You are feeling sleepy’ and that someone would put me in a trance,” she said. “There were no swinging pocket watches. The therapist talked me through the science of how it worked. They call it a trance but I knew exactly where I was and what I was doing, but it almost felt like I was somewhere else, and very calm and happy.”
The university said: “We first offered hypnotherapy via a small pilot in October 2016 as an alternative to counselling. Due to the successful feedback of the initial small group, we took this forward for the rest of the academic year and have been very pleased with how students have engaged with the therapy and the feedback they have given us.”
Students reported positive results: their anxiety scores were reduced from an average of 13.2 to 5.1, a reduction of more than 60 per cent. And depression scores were down from 13 to 4.8, also about 60 per cent.
If you’d like to find out more about how hypnotherapy can help you with anxiety or depression please visit our anxiety page.