Once you have chosen a Solution Focused Hypnotherapist to work with, the day may dawn where you are to attend or dial in via zoom to your first session. This can be exciting, or you may feel nervous and apprehensive. This article details what to expect in a Solution Focused Hypnotherapy session. Hopefully, this will allow you to feel a bit more reassured.
Attending your first Solution Focused Hypnotherapy Session
Upon entering into the therapy space for the first time, you can expect every effort to be made to make you feel welcome. There will be a little bit of small chat. However, this is quite a big chat as it allows you to see your therapist, hear their voice, assess them on body signals, assess how friendly, empathetic, smiley they are. It also gives you the opportunity to "suss out" the environment. Is it clean? Does it smell nice, is it pleasant and relaxing and are there any certificates of their qualifications in frames on the wall?
These chats are essential to both the client and the therapist. Quite a few mirror signals will be shared between you, raised eyebrows, smiles and nods. These all convey a willingness and openness to proceed. It is important to know that whilst therapists take their work seriously, they are usually in this line of work to help others. They are, in the main, open, friendly and empathetic people who also enjoy a bit of a light-hearted moment where appropriate (or is that just me?).
Getting to know you.
From here, the first session will be about gathering some info about you. How can the therapist help? Your personal information, a bit of medical information and a bit of family history info. All this information is kept under lock and key, with the strictest confidentiality. It is not shared unless there is a medical emergency requiring this. From here, the therapist will start to discuss a bit about how the brain works. This is central to the Solution Focused Hypnotherapy method, as understanding, how we think as we do, act as we do, suffer as we do, is a cornerstone to the efficacy of the treatment.
You can find out a bit more about me here if you like.
The Science Behind It
All of this might take a while. During this time, you will have had a chance to ask questions and learn from the get-go. We cover aspects of brain revision or relevant scientific information for your condition or desired outcome in each session. The repetition of these discussions is most helpful to you as it will enable you to self-manage and move forward consistently.
As this session draws to a close, the therapist will suggest a few simple things for homework and book in your next session. They will give you a relaxation audio so that you can start to listen to this daily at home. This begins the process of listening to a positive and comforting voice, which is not much different to a lovely relaxing bedtime story.
What is the format of the hypnotherapy session?
The following sessions have a similar format, essentially:
25 minutes of psychotherapy,
combined with 25 minutes of hypnosis, and
5 minutes either side for other smaller items and areas of discussion.
During the psychotherapy part of the session, the therapist will be asking lots of questions and starting a process designed to help you to get into a positive mindset. This can be difficult for clients as often they have the desire to offload and may be feeling depressed and wanting to talk it all out. Whilst there is a therapeutic benefit to talking, this cannot be denied, the process in a Solution Focused Hypnotherapy session is to move away from the problem and start trying to stimulate a different area of the brain, an area of the brain which is great at problem-solving.
What Will The Future Hold?
During this section, the therapist will go through more brain revision with you, and this is a great space for gently challenging your own behaviours, beliefs and limitations in a safe way allowing you to start to imagine what your preferred future may be like. E.g. if these problems shifted, what would that be like?
As these discussions evolve, using methods from Solution Focused Brief Therapy, we get to a stage where you will have identified something you’d like and maybe even a small action you can take toward it, that feels comfortable. We then would get you relaxed and do a wonderful relaxing trance, where the scripts, full of metaphors and meanings, will stimulate your subconscious mind, creating inner change, in the direction you are seeking.
Depending on the treatment plan and the condition, most clients require at least 6-8 sessions and some may need 12-18. However, it depends on the condition.
If you have any other questions about what a Solution Focused Hypnotherapy session is like please feel free to get in touch.
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