Category Archives: hypnotherapy

Expanding range of Eastern and Western modals of therapy

An ever increasing diversity of models modalities of psychoanalysis

As a psychotherapist, psychoanalyst and hypnotherapist with over 25 years experience, I am of course bound to pick up more modals and methods over time simply because therapists have to do 25 hours or so continuous professional training each year.  For me though, it is about far more. Right from the start of my career I was trained in being multi-modal: being competent in more than one modal alone or in combination. So for me continuing to add modals at competence level or above is a natural thing to do.

Eastern and Western Modals, and in between

Although I started off very much with western based modals with Level 5 Diploma (Graduate level) training in Cognitive Behavioural, Hypnosis based, humanistic and Psychoanalytic, by the time I completed by second set of accreditation (post graduate) with the NACHP I was fascinated by using mindfulness and Eastern Psychology in psychotherapy.

Since then I have revived my long time interest in eastern psychology, Buddhism and Taoism (which goes back to my teens!) and completed a variety of competence and CPD courses in forms of eastern psychology, Buddhism, mindfulness and Zen based mindfulness.

I have also studied Hygge as a northern European alternative, and am currently (Nov 2018) studying Chabbad based Jewish mindfulness.

Fitting the “faith” models into clinical psychotherapy

In the west we had the process of enlightenment, which included something called reductionism. This meant reducing topic areas down into labels.  It is also referred to with similar related terms of Atomism and Positivism.  Before this happened mental health was part of Theology and Philosophy. Later it became psychology.

In other parts of the world, especially the far East, this process never occurred and therefore within Taoism, Kabbalah, Buddhism and other faiths there are also entire psychological theories which do not require faith adherence to use in therapy.

Lets be clear here: you do not have to have any faith at all to benefit from psychology principles taken from Eastern faiths.

Using different models in a clinically effective way

I believe in being holistic, caring and not over medicalised. Treating a label like “depression” is only treating how the person’s overall problem is showing up. It is like giving a head ache pill for a head ache without asking why it happened.

However when working with clients it makes sense to use methods that together BOTH treat the label, AND help the long term well being of the client. Therefore I base my work around research evidenced and NICE recommended core therapies (to address the labels) with psychodynamic and humanistic deeper processes to address the person!

Ironically when I started using mindfulness and other methods they were considered rather alternative, but now they are some of the best research evidenced methods around today.

 

Key words
Mindfulness, faith, multi modal psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, counselling. eastern psychology, western psychology, philosophy of the mind, depression, anxiety, mental health, personal development, disorders, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Falkirk, Scotland, Skype, psychotherapist, psychoanalyst, counsellor

 

NACHP

National Association of Counsellors Hypnotherapists and Psychotherapists. Accredited clinical psychotherapist. Counselling Hypnotherapy Psychotherapy
Psychoanalysis
CBT

National Council of Psychotherapists. Psychotherapy, Counselling, Psychoanalysis, Life Coaching, Hypnotherapy, Psychology, Mental Health

 

New emphasis on clinical mindfulness

Clinical mindfulness, back to basics

Stuart has been involved in mindfulness since his teens. Beginning with transcendental meditation and self hypnosis, he then studied Taoist meditation and yoga alongside Japanese and Chinese martial arts.

For Stuart, mindfulness is a natural way of life, and in recent years he has studied formally a range of additional courses and CPD certificates to refresh areas of competence.

Stuart has completed clinical mindfulness training for groups, CBT and mindfulness for depression and practical meditation training, as well as certification courses in additional theory. His clinical training has been with NHS and private practice clinicians at courses here in Scotland.

Stuart has run training courses at levels 4 and 5 in mindfulness and uses both active and passive mindfulness in clinical practice in Edinburgh, Falkirk and Glasgow. Methods include MBSR, MBCT, teaching mindfulness and hypnosis based mindfulness.

Key words
Mindfulness, MBSR, MBCT, Teaching mindfulness, meditation, mindfulness for depression, mindfulness for stress, mindfulness for anxiety, psychotherapy, counselling, hypnotherapy, psychoanalysis, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Falkirk, Scotland

Contact via the contact us page HERE

Ongoing Continuous Professional Development

Ongoing professional development and improvement

Stuart is dedicated to ongoing professional development and improvement. As part of his professional registrations he is required to complete around 20 hours a year of CPD training. Stuart however regularly completes far more than this.

For example this year (2017) so far:

By June 2017 over 14 hours face to face CPD, over 100 hours university learning (Open University), Over 10 hours nutrition CPD learning, over 20 hours mindfulness refresher CPD learning.

Short courses in MBCT, Buddhism, Shamanism, Gestalt, Mindfulness, Hyge and meditation have all been completed.

Later in the year a complete post qualification Compassion based therapy course is booked and another 100 plus university hours expected.

This is a fairly typical year, and should demonstrate the level of service improvement Stuart expects from himself.

Key words

Ongoing professional development, continuous professional development, service improvement, CPD, OPD, additional training, post qualification training, standards and qualification.

Contact via the contact us page HERE

Back in Glasgow

Psychotherapy in Glasgow

Glad to announce that after an absence of running clinic in Glasgow for a couple of years due to other commitments, Stuart is now back from the 15th June 2017.

Psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, counselling, hypnotherapy, mindfulness in Glasgow

A full range of therapy models and integrative multi modal therapy work is available again in Glasgow.

Glasgow City Centre Therapy

Therapy is provided from the Consulting Rooms in Glasgow City Centre, near the Queen Street rail station.

 

Key words

Glasgow, psychotherapy, psychotherapist, hypnotherapy, hypnotherapist, counselling, counsellor, hypnosis, hypnotist, mindfulness, MBSR, MBCT, CBT, CBASP, depression, anxiety, psychoanalysis, psychoanalyst, NLP, analysis, psychoanalyst, bipolar, eating disorders, holistic therapy.

Contact via the contact us page HERE

New voluntary regulator gathering support

New voluntary regulator gathering support and now launched

The field of complementary and psychological therapies has been complicated in terms of regulation for some time. The Alliance for Counselling and Psychotherapy, of which the author is a member, helped to block statutory regulation of counselling and psychotherapy with a judicial review. This was primarily because the proposed regulation was not fit for purpose and was based on false assumptions. There simply is no evidence of mass abuse or danger to clients, and most professional bodies already took appropriate action. Also statutory regulation would not prevent continued practice under a different job title.

The Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council was set up with Government support and funding and became the voluntary regulator of choice for complementary therapies, including confusingly hypnotherapy, which is of course a psychological therapy (psychotherapy).

Next the Government set up the Professional Standards Authority Accredited Register scheme, essentially letting any professional body with the quality (and large amounts of money) to gain accreditation from the PSA, who incidentally also oversee statutory regulators. It should be noted that PSA AR status can only be given to existing registers, so any new organisation can not gain accreditation immediately, it has to set up first, gain members and have a “register” and then apply for accreditation.

Various professional bodies now have PSA AR status, including the CNHC voluntary regulator.

New organisation on the block

The Register of Health Care Practitioners (ROHCP) is a new voluntary regulator set up by actual therapists, and seeking to have a more profession driven approach than the CNHC which is sometimes seen as rather bureaucratic and imposed on the profession.  The ROHCP covers essentially all complementary and psychological therapies, and does have the long term goal of PSA AR status once the finance and numbers are there.

it should be interesting to see if the ROHCP can provide a true alternative and competition to the CNHC, and how this will play out.

Stuart’s involvement

I support any organisation hoping to improve the standards of the profession in an appropriate way.  I have been a volunteer promoting the CNHC and I am registered already with them and the FHT (also a PSA AR). I am published on the topic of regulation and am known to be a critic of dividing types of psychotherapy up into different types and having registers for each. I am also in the process of assisting another professional body (hopefully) gain AR status.

In the long run I think it would be healthy for some specialist PSA AR accredited bodies to exist, and also however some integrated umbrella organisations to be voluntary regulators too, preferably with AR status, and I would welcome it if ROCHP was such a body.

Key words
Regulation, standards, professional standards, industry, PSA AR, Professional standards authority, voluntary regulator, voluntary regulation, complementary therapy, psychological therapy, counselling and psychotherapy, statutory regulation, client safety, patient safety, psychotherapy, counselling, hypnotherapy, mindfulness, life coaching

Contact via the contact us page HERE

New Book Launched

New publication on future of psychological therapy

 

Colleagues and clients alike are recommended to take a look at the new book Edited by my colleague John Lees. It has contributions from several other colleagues of mine, and I wrote Chapter 3. It looks at the future of the profession through a critical lens from several perspectives and would be very useful for a student therapist or new graduate.

 

The Future of Psychological Therapy: From Managed Care to Transformational Practice

Prelaunch order at Amazon HERE

Contact via the contact us page HERE

Dis-associative Disorders

Psychological therapy for Dis-associative Disorders

Dis-associative disorders are conditions where the sufferer dis-associates for periods of time. What this means in basic terms is they mentally “switch off” or “blank” in a way that may either appear to be day dreaming, or which may just resemble a silent few moments. In more severe cases two other presentations may occur: dis-associating into a different personality, or with a loss of consciousness.

Short blank disassociations

This is the most likely version to be seen, the person reacts to stress or an anxiety trigger by “being elsewhere”. it can also be the result of a flash back being triggered where a historical event is being recalled. The person may appear inattentive, distance, and seem to be ignoring you. This can lead to misunderstanding, conflict and accusations of laziness or inattention, especially in adolescents in education or when it occurs in the workplace. Depending on whether a task is under way at the time, it is possible for this task to be interrupted for a moment, or even, for example, for a cup of tea being made to be split or dropped.

It should be noted that it is very hard to tell these short blanks apart from epileptic “absence” seizures and  it is important to discuss them with your medical doctor and not assume they are psychological in nature.  It should be remembered however that it is more usual for psychological disassociation to be misdiagnosed as epilepsy.

Personality change disassociation

In more severe cases the personality of the sufferer undergoes a change in the disassociated state and a person may appear to have changed in their behaviour, attitude and even in what they believe and remember. What occurs in this state may not be remembered afterwards.

It is a matter of debate whether this is related to schizophrenia or not,  with some sufferers of disassociation adamant that it is a different condition entirely, and some sufferers of schizophrenia claiming that their condition is itself a form of disassociation.

Loss of consciousness disassociation

Often called Non Epileptic Attack Disorder (NEAD) or pseudo-epilepsy,  this is the ultimate disassociation response. The person will loss consciousness and will often shake or spasm as one would expect to see in epilepsy. NEAD is often initially misdiagnosed as epilepsy.

Most people are aware of flight and fight responses to danger. The third response however is that seen in the humble possum. The person loses consciousness, lies still playing dead, the body is flooded by natural pain killers, and for the predator the sufferer / possum appears to be a long dead and unpalatable prey. This state is often associated with loss of bowel or bladder control, again to make the prey smell “off”.  This is a highly primal response to extreme danger.

Causes of disassociation

Disassociation occurs when the sufferer has a history of being faced by traumas such as abuse or rape which can not be coped with at their mental state or age. Thus it is common for these conditions to be present in adult survivors of child sexual abuse or domestic violence. Essentially the subject learns to “opt out” of the situation they are incapable of handling.

Treatment of disassociation

There are two main strategies for addressing disassociative disorders:

1. Increase the sufferer’s ability to cope with stressful situations. This may involve cognitive behavioural therapy to reduce stress response with methods like stress inoculation therapy. It may also involve analysis of interpersonal relationships to adjust perceptions and behaviours which may otherwise lead to conflict. Interpersonal psychotherapy methods, CBASP, CAT or other analytic cognitive behavioural methods might be employed. This is therefore an attempt to use psychoeducation and personal analysis to better manage the condition day to day.

2. Addressing any history of abuse. Addressing PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) as a condition may reduce the underlying effects presented as a disassociative disorder. Psychoanalysis, cognitive behavioural analysis, trauma debriefing such as specialist hypnotherapy “trauma runs” can all be used if appropriate.

Co-morbid presentation

It is common for persons with disassociate disorders to have a history of different diagnosis, and to have elements of different mental health conditions. These might include depression, anxiety, self harm, mood disorders or OCD.

Key words
Disassociation, disassociative disorder, disassociative seizures, NEAD, non epileptic attack disorder, possum response, flight and flight, PTSD, post traumatic attack disorder, sexual abuse, domestic violence, survivor of childhood abuse, child abuse survivor, personality change, mood change, mood disorder, anxiety, depression, OCD, self harm, multiple personalities, multiple personality disorders, loss of memory, stress response, psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, cognitive behavioural analysis, cognitive behavioural therapy, CBASP, CBT, hypnotherapy, counselling, psychotherapist, psychoanalyst, analyst, hypnotherapist, couhsellor, therapy, therapist, psychology, psychologist, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Falkirk, Stirling

Contact via the contact us page HERE

Group therapy

Group therapy and mindfulness in Edinburgh

Group therapy on Saturdays in Edinburgh at the South Side Centre will provide support for persons with mental health issues including anxiety, depression, stress and anger.

A combination of CBT, CBASP, Coaching and mental health support methods like WRAP and Mental Health First Aid processes will identify problems and responses, while mindfulness, meditation, visualisation and hypnotherapy processes will be taught to reduce stress and enable relaxation.

The group will be led by Denise, with support and cover from Stuart

Key words
Mindfulness group, group therapy, group self hypnosis, group coaching, stress management group, anger management group, stress and anger therapy Edinburgh

Professional Standards Authority Accredited Registers

Professional Standards Authority Accredited Registers

 

The PSA has launched a report on the new Accredited Registers that list professional healthcare personnel not subject to Statutory regulation. Accredited Registers are professional registers that meet the stringent PSA standards for professional practice. They include registers for complementary therapists and holistic therapists such as the CNHC, NHS (hypnotherapy society) and FHT, and registers for counsellors and psychotherapists including the BACP, COSCA and UKCP.

Real standards, real contribution to health

The report discusses the real standards required to be registered on an AR, standards that protect the public and ensure quality has been checked.

The report also concludes that the AR registers must play a vital role in the provision of integrated healthcare in the UK

Accredited registers in our psychoanalytic practice

 

Both of our practitioners, Denise and Stuart are registered on both the CNHC and FHT Accredited Registers under the hypnotherapy category. The CNHC representatives on the 13th March 2015 at the meeting in Edinburgh confirmed they recognised that counselling and analysis were vital job functions for hypnotherapists and delegates commented that hypnotherapists virtually always provided these additional therapies.

Stuart and Denise are registered with the Society of Stress Managers, a professional body representing Analysis, Stress counselling and Hypnotherapy, and the National Association of Counsellors Hypnotherapists and Psychotherapists, both of which are CNHC accreditation routes. Although they use the titles of Analyst and Hypnotherapist, naturally psychotherapy and counselling are within their job functions, and as such they are registered and insured for these as well. Notably both therapists have received specific training in counselling, psychotherapy (including CBT), life coaching and psychology.

REPORT HERE

Key words
Professional standards authority, professional therapists, psychotherapy, counselling, hypnotherapy, psychoanalysis, analysis, CBT, cognitive behavioural analysis, Edinburgh, Falkirk, Stirling, life coaching, regulation

Stage hypnosis fake nonsense from ITV

Fraudulent nonsense for cash

ITV are digging up the previously though dead nonsense of stage hypnosis 🙁

Scofield and a stage hypnotist are running the “back in the room” game show from this week.

Paid to pretend!

Contestants are not being hypnotised, they are being PAID to act like idiots, and are therefore deliberately volunteering and colluding with the “hypnotist”.

Incorrect terminology and descriptions

Hypnosis is wrongly described as a “dark sleep”, which it simply is not, and this idiotic series will wrongly tell people all sorts of things about hypnosis, made up in the name of entertainment.

Bad for the public, bad for the profession

HypnoTHERAPY and the use of clinical hypnosis is a professional therapy and form of psychotherapy subject to voluntary regulation, national occupational standards and monitoring via the Professional Standards Authority Accredited Registers. It is recommended by organisations including NICE and Anxiety UK as a useful therapeutic tool. CNHC (regulator) registered hypnotherapists are not permitted to engage in stage hypnosis, since it is UNETHICAL.

Professional Therapists

The CNHC, the voluntary regulator which covers hypnotherapy, and the other PSA accredited registers have banned therapists from having anything to do with stage hypnosis, because it is unethical and brings the whole area into disrepute. Shame on ITV for reintroducing this sham!

The public should look for CNHC registered hypnotherapists, or hypnotherapists subject to any of the other PSA accredited registers (such as CNHC or FHT). Professionally qualified and AR registered therapists have nothing to do with this nonsense.