Feel more calm, peaceful and focused with evidence-based stress reduction therapies.

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Lowering our daily stress levels might sound like a lovely idea but often doesn't land very high up on our ever expanding 'to do' lists. Perhaps it sounds like a pipe dream reserved for meditation enthusiasts. Or something that, if were lucky, we might glimpse a peek at by the end of a long holiday.

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But did you know that there are proven psychotherapeutic techniques which can dramatically lower stress in the short and longer term?

 

And did you know that lowering your baseline stress levels could have a profound effect on not only how calm and peaceful you feel day-to-day, but also on your health, immunity and energy levels?

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Did you also know that stress is proven to deplete cognitive resources, interfere with executive functions and alter brain activity? And that there are now multiple studies showing  that reducing stress can significantly improve neural efficiency, which leads to improved:

 

- Focus and attention.

- Problem solving and complex task completion.

- Working memory function.

- Linguistic complexity.

- Reasoning and emotional regulation.

- Impulse control.

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How can reducing stress lead to these sorts of changes?

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The reasons for this are hidden in the neural architecture of our brains.

 

When we are stressed, this activates the primal 'survival' response in our body, which withdraws our mental resources from 'higher functions' (those activities listed above) and redeploys them in favour of ensuring our immediate survival. This is why things like complex language, memory and sustained attention are inhibited. These are replaced by urgent response centres which are designed to scan for threats and plan our defence or escape (otherwise known as our fight/flight/freeze response). Not all that helpful if you're actually just trying to answer an annoying email.

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The problem is that our survival/stress response is something that we developed a long time ago as hunter gatherers, when our lives, our needs and our challenges were very different to what they are today. Despite those differences we still run on this primitive hardware. So when you feel stressed, your brain will automatically shift states into its stress/survival mode.

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Stress Reduction Therapy

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The effects of stress on our physiology and cognitive function is thought to be why stress can have such far reaching effects on our lives. In fact, when it comes to improving our quality of life, lowering our baseline stress levels seems to be one thing that all areas of cognitive, behavioural and physiological sciences agree emphatically on. Less stress = better outcomes all round, and profound improvements in many cases.

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Fortunately, learning to shift your body and mind out of its primal stress response and into a state of calm does not take weeks away on a retreat or a regimental meditation practice. In fact, it is a skill which your body and mind can learn just like any other. Through simple focus and repetition.

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In Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy we strategically employ evidence-based techniques proven to reduce stress in the immediate and long-term. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is considered the gold-standard in it's field, predominantly because it is the most researched form of Psychotherapy.

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A meta-analysis on using hypnotherapy as an adjunct to CBT showed that the addition of hypnosis substantially enhanced treatment outcomes. So much so, that the average client receiving this combined therapeutic model showed greater improvement than at least 70% of clients receiving Cognitive Behavioural Therapy alone.

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In part, this is due to the efficacy of using hypnotic techniques to induce relaxation and increase focus. Both of which are directly beneficial when working with relaxation skills training, which is one of the principle techniques of CBT.

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What does Stress Reduction Therapy involve?

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Your first session will comprise of an introduction to the therapy, an in-depth assessment and the development of your treatment goals. Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy is a solution-focussed therapy so we work to SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-based).

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Follow-up sessions include discussion and review, evidence-based hypnosis, CBT skills training (i.e. relaxation skills training, coping skills training, relapse prevention) and review of your goals and progress. You are also provided with recordings to listen to between sessions.

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We utilise evidence based-hypnotic techniques throughout the process. The experience of being in hypnosis varies from person to person. For some people they simply feel a bit more calm and focussed than usual. For others they become more deeply relaxed and mentally absorbed. We tend to measure hypnosis by its results rather than the feeling of being hypnotised. However, it is important to know that in hypnosis even though you are relaxed, you will remain awake, aware and completely in control throughout the process. 

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Sessions can be held online or in person in Reigate, Surrey.