Many people feel stuck in a rut: overwhelmed, struggling, and yearning for change. They might recognise that some of their patterns are unhelpful, but they’re unsure where to begin.
But what if I told you that the brain is designed to change itself, and we can use this ability to overcome challenges and become the best version of ourselves?
Solution Focused Hypnotherapy helps you do just that. And to understand how, we need to start from the brain.
The intellectual mind
Each of us has an ‘intellectual mind’ made up of a conscious part (the left prefrontal cortex) and a subconscious part (the main cortex of the brain). The conscious part handles deliberate, logical thinking, while the subconscious part, constantly working in the background, brings insights and solutions that seem to appear out of nowhere. Together, they help us navigate complex situations, make thoughtful decisions, harness our creativity, and achieve our goals.
Here’s a practical example. Have you ever had the experience of trying to remember the name of a film, or a song, or an actor… it’s right on the tip of your tongue but you just can’t seem to remember it? A few moments later, just when you’ve stopped thinking about it – it suddenly comes to you, as if out of thin air. This is the power of your subconscious mind, working away in the background to find answers to your questions.
The same thing happens for the bigger things in life, like when you’re trying to solve a problem, or working on a challenging project at work. Solutions come to us like bolts from the blue. Throughout history, people have attributed their creativity to supernatural sources, such as muses or divine intervention. In reality, it’s the conscious and subconscious parts of your intellectual mind, working in harmony, moving to the rhythm of your deeper purpose.
When our intellectual mind is in this beautiful dance, we feel braver, happier, more motivated and resilient. We find it easier to do the things we need to do. We make better decision, we can even cope better with stress and pain. And we’re free to thrive.
The primitive mind
In contrast, when we feel in ‘survival mode’, the intellectual mind is all but switched off. Our perception can become distorted, making things seem scary, overwhelming and hopeless. This is because another part of our brain has taken over.
The primitive mind (or limbic system) evolved very early on. Its nature is to be negative, obsessive and hypervigilant. And it’s built this way for good reason. Imagine you’re walking down the street, absorbed in your thoughts, when a cyclist swerves unexpectedly towards you. Your primitive mind instantly kicks in, prompting you to jump out of the way before you’ve even fully registered what’s happening. This is the fight/flight/freeze response in action.
The primitive mind does a formidable job of keeping us safe. However, it hasn’t fully evolved for the modern world. At times, it can react to a nasty email in the same way it would to a pouncing sabre-toothed tiger. When it pipes up too much and too often, it can create problems that make it difficult to go about our day-to-day lives. It can negatively impact our thoughts, feelings and behaviours. It can affect us physically too, leading to aches, pains, or a lower immune system.
If you’re struggling, chances are your brain is spending too much time in the primitive mind. It’s incredibly common and, arguably, one of the biggest challenges most of us will face in our lifetime. The first step is to understand how it all works.
The power of our thoughts
What causes our rational, positive intellectual mind to switch off and our anxious, angry and depressed primitive mind to be triggered? You won’t be surprised to hear: it’s the stress that we build up throughout the course of the day. And what causes this stress? It’s…
Our thoughts.
We’re not denying that life can throw us curveballs. But it’s not what happens to us that causes stress, it’s how we think about these things.
Picture this: you’re running late for an appointment, your car won’t start, the bus is delayed, and you can’t get hold of a taxi. How would you react? We all know someone who would fly off the handle: they might start sweating, crying, go into rage mode, or all the above. But most of us also know someone in our lives who would just be so… chill. They might call a few friends to see if they can get a ride, and if not, they’d simply have the appointment rescheduled. Zero drama.
The same situation. Two very different reactions. Perhaps you, too, have been one of these people at various times in your life, creating very different realities that affect how you think, feel and behave for the rest of the day.
Our brain generates negative thoughts by a) ruminating on the past and b) negatively forecasting the future. This causes stress because, emotionally, the mind can’t tell the difference between imagination and reality. Have you ever found yourself rehashing an argument that you had days, weeks, even months ago and getting really worked up? Your mind is reliving the event as if it’s happening in the present, triggering the same emotional and physical responses.
The stress bucket
The negative thoughts we have during the day are stored in what we call the ‘stress bucket’. Luckily, our brains have an amazing system to empty the stress bucket every night: REM sleep, which is when we dream. Brain scans have shown that during REM, negative thoughts are physically moved from the primitive mind to the intellectual mind. During the process, they change from being an emotional memory to a narrative memory, one that we have control over.
In an ideal world, we’d all wake up each morning with an empty stress bucket, starting the day without anxiety, anger or depression. But that’s not always the case. If our stress bucket consistently overflows, or if our sleep isn’t great, over time, we end up in a negative cycle:
- We wake up with stress still in the bucket
- Which causes us to spend more time in the primitive mind
- Which causes us to have more negative thoughts
- Which fills up our stress bucket
- And so on…
This is what’s happening in the mind when we’re stuck in survival mode. And, let’s be honest: it sucks.
From vicious to virtuous cycle
How do we break free from this hellish, never-ending domino effect? We need to get our intellectual mind back in the driver’s seat. This is where Solution Focused Hypnotherapy steps in. Each person is unique and requires a personalised approach. However, broadly speaking, these are the underlying principles that guide our work:
- We get your sleeping patterns working properly again. Most SFH practitioners will give you a sleep hypnosis recording that’ll help you doze off. When you maximise your REM sleep, you can empty your stress bucket every night and wake up feeling refreshed, ready to face the day.
- We get you focusing on the good things in life. In our sessions, we use robust and science-backed techniques to help you shift your thoughts, feelings and behaviours away from the negatives and towards the positives. This keeps your stress bucket levels down.
- We help you tap into your inner resources. Remember the subconscious part of the intellectual mind? This is the part of the brain that lights up during hypnosis. When we bypass the critical mind, we can speak directly to this brilliant, powerful, creative force to help you find solutions to any challenge you might be facing.
By using this comprehensive approach, over the course of a few sessions, we can turn the tide of your thoughts and get your mind working for you, not the other way around.
Hypnosis and the brain
Remember at the beginning when we said that the brain is designed to change itself? This is called neuroplasticity. It’s the brain’s ability to constantly form new neural pathways, a process that happens throughout life.
Imagine that your unhelpful patterns are like well-worn roads. Travelling down them is so fast and familiar, you do it as if on autopilot. Through SFH, we map out the ‘road less travelled’, the one that will lead you to achieving your goals. By tracing this new path to success, both in hypnosis and in your life, it becomes the newest, fastest mega-highway of your mind, while those unhelpful patterns will be used less and less until they’re wiped off the map.
Hypnosis plays a crucial role in this process. As we said before, the mind can’t tell the difference between imagination and reality. In hypnosis, we can turn this to our advantage by tracing new pathways in our imagination. We’re essentially training our brain to form new neural pathways, rewiring our thought patterns to achieve real, positive changes in our reality.
During a hypnotherapy session, we guide you into a state of focused relaxation where your subconscious mind becomes more open to suggestion. In this state, we can introduce and reinforce positive thoughts and behaviours, effectively ‘training’ your brain to follow new, healthier pathways. Hypnosis bypasses the critical mind, allowing us to speak directly to the subconscious, where deep-seated patterns and beliefs are stored.
This is why hypnosis is such a powerful tool in therapy. It accelerates the process of change by leveraging the brain’s natural ability to adapt and rewire itself. Through consistent practice and reinforcement, the new pathways become more dominant, and old, unhelpful patterns fade into the background. This paves the way for lasting transformation.
At this point, it might be helpful to explain how Solution Focused Hypnotherapy is different from other therapies you may have tried in the past.
Solution Focused Hypnotherapy is not…
- Dwelling on the past. You may have noticed that I haven’t once mentioned your childhood or that time in year 5 when that really embarrassing thing happened. Unlike traditional therapy, which often ‘forages for trauma’, SFH focuses on your present goals to propel you towards the future you want. We do this for practical reasons: studies show that people who focus on solutions fare better than those who concentrate on problems. If you choose to share past experiences, this is your decision entirely and we will always listen with empathy. But it’s not a prerequisite.
- A long-winded process. SFH works quickly because it bypasses the need to delve deeply into past traumas or problems. Instead, SFH directs attention to your present goals and future aspirations. By combining the power of psychotherapy with the benefits of hypnosis, we can achieve fast and lasting changes. Your progress may feel a bit like magic. However, it’s important to understand that it does require effort.
- Passive participation. SFH is not about sitting back and waiting for change to happen. It requires your active engagement. During our sessions, you’ll be encouraged to take actionable steps towards your desired future. Your commitment to the process will empower you to make meaningful progress.
- Just hypnosis. While hypnosis is a key component, SFH also incorporates elements of solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) and neurolinguistic programming (NLP), which includes goal setting, positive reinforcement, and building on existing strengths and resources.
- A one-size-fits-all approach. Every individual is unique, and SFH recognises that what works for one person may not work for another. We tailor our sessions to your specific needs, goals, and circumstances to create a personalised roadmap for positive outcomes.
Solution Focused Hypnotherapy offers a refreshing and effective approach to personal growth. By understanding the brain, we know how to harness its power. Shifting your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours toward a better life is possible. If you’re feeling stuck and yearning for change, SFH might just be your roadmap to go from surviving to thriving.
