Hypnotherapy?

[Bashful]

Has anyone tried hypnotherapy to combat anxiety/increase confidence? If so, do you feel it has worked?

I've seen that Anxiety UK offer a clinical hypnotherapy service, and have been thinking about it. Just worried it may turn out to be a waste of money.

On the other hand, I feel this may be a last resort as have had two lots of CBT, which have had no effect!

[Kipper]

I tried hypnotherapy way back in 1977 in an attempt to free myself of my intense blushing habit. It chiefly consisted of me lying on a couch with my eyes closed while the practitioner gently rubbed a small area in the middle of my forehead. He sad things like '' You will lose the blushing feeling'' and '' Relax''. Each session was taped to enable me to listen to it at home. Did it work? Well here we are 40 years on and I'm still the same! It may well work for you, Bashful, but I think a lot hangs on the competence of the practitioner and your ability to unwind and relax during each session.

[Ronnie_Pickering]

^^ that's basically what hypotherapy apps are like, listening to the hypnotherapist repeat some sort of positive words. I do reckon hypotherapy can somehow work, somehow we've duped ourselves into sa behaviours, so it must be possible to do the counter with equally a proficient dupe.

[JohnnyBoy55]

I tried hypnotherapy a few months ago but I only went for one session.
I have to say I did feel really relaxed and comfortable at the time, but nothing really changed with my anxiety and confidence after the session. To be honest I probably needed more than one session, but I suspect some people are more susceptible to hypnotherapy than others.
I'm not saying I wouldn't give it another try though.

[Clementine]

^ Yeah, I think it's been proven that some people are susceptible to it and some just aren't. I dont think it's something that would likely work for me personally but if you're open to it then it can't hurt to give it a shot.

[limey123]

Tried it. The practitioner said I was the most tense person he'd ever met. He couldn't send me into a sleep/trance or whatever and the therapy failed for that reason.

[Aelwyn]

I tried one session, sitting there with my eyes closed made me feel very tense. I was asked to think of a stressful situation I'd been in, so I chose one, then the therapist said imagine how it would be to go through that situation in a relaxed way. Well I tried and absolutely couldn't, he said I must have a mental block. Then I was talked through a relaxing scene of fish in a river, it had no effect on me, and I didn't go back. That's not to say hypnotherapy wouldn't work for some people, but I didn't like it.