Archive for the 'Exam Stress' Category
So it's that time of year when parents and teenagers start the battle on exams and revision and it can be one of the most stressful times in the annual calendar as parents and teenagers know only too well. So each week I'll be publishing a blog to help with different aspects to help you.
There are several things you can do as a parent to reduce the tension in the household.  Firstly, hold back that temper and stay calm, you have about 25 seconds to catch your emotional outburst before it controls you. I've heard stories of parents smashing computers and computer consoles but afterwards have felt remorseful and embarrassed. Don't do it! Communicate with yourself and then communicate with your child.
Getting angry helps no one, if you feel your temper escalating then check what frustrations you are ignoring. Are you communicating exactly what is frustrating you, before it gets out of hand? There are more effective ways of communicating that will help you to change the outcome of your discussions.
When I speak at events for parents and teachers I help them to reflect on who is driving the revision because if the teenager isn't, then it will feel like you are pushing a broken down car with the brakes on. Teenagers need to own the exam revision but you can help them by showing them how to build an exam revision plan. It helps them to get focused and plan their time in a more positive way.
Hypnosis for procrastination and lethargy is a very effective methodology that can help teenagers to get more focused and build their confidence more effectively.
For more details contact us on 0845 643 6117.
Next time we'll discuss, exam stress and exactly what is happening and how you can help.
What is Hypnosis and the Hypnotic State?
Hypnosis employs a naturally occurring state of mind and it may surprise you to learn that we experience trance states often during our lives, in fact several times a day. Just drifting into ordinary sleep involves a kind of trance state, typically one where the mind is becoming free of verbal thinking (left brain) and entering a more visual state (right brain), similar to that of dream sleep.
The experience of hypnosis is in many ways is similar to the sleepy hypnogogic state, being neither asleep nor awake and prone to imagery and association with a pleasant feeling of calmness and relaxation underpinning it all.
The hypnotic state occurs normally in everyone when certain physiological and psychological conditions are met and it is possible to use this state to make deep and long lasting changes to thoughts, feelings and behaviour. If your problem has an emotional, habitual or perhaps psychological origin, then hypnotherapy is an excellent way to communicate with these parts of the mind.
Hypnosis is a different state of consciousness to the normal alert state and you can easily enter it so that, for therapeutic purposes, beneficial instructions may be given directly to your receptive unconscious mind. In hypnosis, the tendency is for these suggestions to be accepted far more than in the normal state and we may 'seed' constructive ideas which then change behaviour and attitudes at their source.
Thus, hypnosis is an effective way of making contact with our inner (unconscious) self, which is both a reservoir of unrecognised potential and knowledge as well as being the unwitting source of many of our habits and limitations.
Myths Uncovered about Hypnosis
No-one can be hypnotised against their will and even when hypnotised, a person can still reject any suggestions offered to them or return to normal alert consciousness at will. Hypnotherapy is actually a state of purposeful co-operation between the therapist and the client, to obtain a specific result, agreed upon beforehand. Similarly a common fear is that under hypnosis a person could be made to reveal personal details that they would rather keep secret but again this is not possible. If it were, the police would be the keenest students of hypnosis! I suspect the image of trance created by the media is at fault here as people expect that 'under' hypnosis they will become quite unconscious and robotic, not aware or realising what they are doing or saying. The truth is that you may remain quite conscious and aware, perhaps even more so than usual. However, we will keep you at the balancing point where your critical faculty is suspended and beneficial directions can be given to your unconscious mind. Many people have had the experience of driving along a familiar road and suddenly realising that several miles have gone by of which they have been completely unaware. This is very similar to the hypnotic state, you are awake and aware - but somehow not quite there.
Clinical Hypnotherapy
Clinical Hypnotherapy means using hypnosis to treat a variety of medical and psychological problems. It does not usually deal with problems that have an organic origin but those that are due to emotional and psychological sources. It is estimated that 85% of people will readily respond to clinical hypnotherapy and it may even succeed where other, more conventional methods of treatment have been slow to produce the desired result. The benefits are usually long lasting and often permanent. It is completely natural and safe, with no harmful side effects.
When To Use Hypnotherapy?
Hypnotherapy is used successfully to benefit the following:
• sporting performance • weight control • performance anxiety • self-confidence • phobias • exam nerves • anxiety and panic • improve learning • memory and concentration • stress reduction • eating disorders • compulsive behaviour • pain control • blood pressure • self-image problems • stopping smoking • skin problems • Irritable Bowel Syndrome
The main criterion is that the cause of the presenting problem lies within the unconscious mind, often due to a 'seeding' event or to unintentional behavioural conditioning in formative years. It's interesting to note that the unconscious mind always acts in such a way that it attempts to protect and preserve the individual and many fears and phobias have at their root a form of exaggerated self-preservation. Unfortunately these can become over-exaggerated over time, even to the point where they begin to restrict a normal life.
In one example, the client was a business man who had turned down, successive promotions because they would have required him to travel by plane. Eventually he decided to try hypnosis after seeing it work successfully for a phobia sufferer on a BBC television programme. Quite interestingly the casual event turned out to be an accident in his childhood, when he was playing on a garden shed roof with his older brother. They had begun some horseplay and together rolled off the roof and onto the ground, neither was seriously hurt, though both would have been shocked, however the first words out of his brothers mouth were "you'll go to prison for that now!" Though the event was quickly forgiven and forgotten, years later the gentleman in question was in a real sense 'in prison', held back under lock and key by an irrational fear of flying (or more accurately, fear of falling). A skilled hypnotherapist can be likened to a locksmith in situations like these and the man was soon released. Originally all habits are intended to be useful. Many of the routine activities of our daily lives would become a nuisance if we had to consciously think them through each time we wanted to do them. Alas this habit making force can turn against us, particularly when it comes to things like smoking or overeating but with hypnosis we can intervene and reprogram our unconscious minds with healthier requirements. The power of hypnosis is quite literally the power of habit and we all know how strong that can be!