The following case study demonstrates how hypnotherapy can make a real difference to a person’s life.
Joan is a singer. She sought help through hypnotherapy to improve her self-esteem and reduce anxiety, in particular pre-performance nerves. She was particularly concerned about remembering the words to her songs and speaking with confidence to her audience. On the day of a performance she would be suffering from palpitations and extreme nausea and would be unable to eat.
Joan held the belief that because she is dyslexic, and had experienced severe embarrassment at school in reading aloud to her class, that she did not have the ability to remember the words to her songs. This belief affected her general self-esteem and confidence levels, created fear and anxiety and held her back from auditioning for public performances. She was constantly worried about what her audience would think of her, anticipating that something would go wrong during a performance and fearing that she would make a fool of herself.
Through solution focused therapy and hypnosis we worked on changing Joan’s negative self-beliefs and thought patterns. By encouraging Joan to think in a positive solution focused way about what she wanted to achieve and how she wanted to feel (as opposed to what she didn’t want) she learned how to be more relaxed and to recognise that she had all the resources she needed to deliver a professional and engaging performance. The techniques used during the hypnosis part of the therapy sessions helped Joan to remove the negative emotions attached to her childhood memories of the school classroom.
Within just a few weeks Joan felt considerably more relaxed and more in control of her thoughts and feelings. She was now eating on the day of a performance, coping well with unpredictable moments on stage and felt excited about learning new songs. The hypnotherapy sessions helped Joan to build her general self-esteem and confidence and she soon found herself walking into clubs and bars and asking, without hesitation, if she could audition for future gigs. Joan now has a successful business, performing as a professional singer at popular events and functions, and is loving every moment.
This is what Joan said about her experience of hypnotherapy:
“Having hypnotherapy has changed my inner self. I didn’t realise what anxiety I was holding on to for all those years. Hypnotherapy has helped me to be the person I want to be, inside and out.”