Six session packages

Therapy options

Brief therapy - six session programmes for specific problems

Brief therapy is best suited to problems where there is a clearly defined focus, such as alleviating specific symptoms or altering particular patterns of thoughts or behaviour. This approach works well for:

 Insomnia100Insomnia   headache100Stress panic10088Panic
IBS100 Irritable Bowel  menopauseMenopause chronicm100 Chronic Illness

 

These programmes usually last for six 90 minute sessions, and are based on treatment approaches that have been found to help a large proportion of people with these conditions.  In order to achieve change in such a short time-frame (remembering that your problem may have been developing for months if not years...) hypno-psychotherapy is combined mainly with cognitive and behavioural strategies and the aim is to give you the skills to continue your own therapy. 

Each session includes adequate time to talk about your feelings, to provide information and strategies to address the problem, and to include an experience of hypnosis or relaxation and visualisation.  Hypnosis is time consuming, so 90 minute sessions are needed to allow adequate time for each element and to ensure you are fully alert when it is time to leave.  In order to benefit fully from this condensed approach it is vital that you practice the strategies and relaxation at home between sessions.

If you are unsure whether this form of therapy would help you, click on the word or image above for more information about each of these difficulties, or on the side menu on the right to go directly to a description of each 6 Session Programme.

Although psychotherapy is always adapted to suit individual needs, the aim of these programmes is to allieviate current symptoms and help you learn relevant self-management techniques, rather than to explore the underlying cause of the problem. However, if you have already tried CBT or hypnosis for your problem and feel a more flexible or reflective approach would suit you better, you may prefer to consider the short term therapy options described below.

Extremely brief therapy is only appropriate for very specific and relatively uncomplicated personal difficulties. Where problems seem more complex, or have troubled you for a longer time without resolution, a more gradual and reflective approach is likely to be more helpful.

When things are more complex...

Short term (12- 24 sessions) and longer psychotherapy

For: (click the links for more detailed information on each topic)

stress100Anxiety depressionDepression identity100 Self-esteem
social anxSocial anxiety griefComplex Grief infertility100Infertility

 

Very brief focused approaches are best suited to dealing with single, relatively clear issues which have developed recently and where you have a good idea what you would like to achieve in the limited time. But problems such as low self-esteem, enduring grief or anxiety may be more complicated. Often people feel confused and cannot pinpoint exactly what is wrong, but know that their emotions are having a significant impact on how they feel about life and their relationships.

Half a dozen sessions provides a starting point, but is rarely an adequate solution for these more serious difficulties. Therapy is expensive, and many people balk at the cost, but of course there is always an emotional cost to years of worry, under-achievement or unsatisfactory relationships.  Short term therapy is a compromise - it still aims for a focused approach which identifies and explores a key area of difficulty, but it allows greater scope for personal exploration, understanding, and experimenting with different ways of being.

If you are seeking help for longer-term depression, anxiety or interpersonal problems then it is essential to allow yourself enough time to

  • explore and begin to understand what is causing your distress, as well as seeking solutions
  • build a strong, trusting therapeutic relationship which can support you through the process of change
  • ensure that changes are genuine, based on firm personal foundations, and supported by clear plans to address any sign of relapse . 

My approach to more complicated problems tends to look at the interpersonal context of your life and how you feel in relation to others.  Hypnosis and relaxation techniques may be used to help this process where appropriate, but will not feature in every session as they are not the best form of therapy for complex emotional issues. There is some evidence that hypnosis is helpful for depression, anxiety and infertility, and it certainly promotes a sense of well-being, but the psychotherapy component of hypno-psychotherapy is given greater emphasis for more serious problems.

For long-standing emotional problems you may wish to read more about the psychotherapy and counselling I offer on my other website: www.psychotherapy-counsellling.net

How many sessions will I need?

People differ in how rapidly they are able to process their experience, achieve insight or allow themselves to discover new ways of being and behaving. A rough guide for long-term difficulties might be to say that you would need at least one or two sessions for every year that you have experienced the problem. But therapy is not always about relieving symptoms - it can be an essential support in getting through a difficult phase, or a way of making sense of your experience during a major life transition.  There is no typical course of therapy as everyone is unique, but the majority of clients come for anything between three months and two years, having weekly sessions at the beginning and then moving to fortnightly or monthly meetings as time progresses.

Hypnosis alone - without a suitable psychotherapeutic framework - is never an adequate treatment for severe emotional problems, and you should be suspicious of anyone who suggests it is.