Hypnotherapy Targets Exam Stress!

Im focusing this month on the issue of stress caused by exams as many people start to revise (or cram) for those oh-so-important examinations this summer.

Thousands of people up and down the country will be taking an exam of some sort during the late spring and early summer. Other than the obvious (GCSEs, A levels, and Degrees) there are many people taking exams leading to professional qualifications, and many rely on a good pass grade to obtain a place at university or college, a professional qualification leading to employment, or even being able to just keep their job in todays climate. All very stressful and, although most of us get through exams without too much difficulty in the end, there are a significant number of us for whom the pressure can become too much, leading to poor results, or being physically unable to participate in the actual exams resulting in associated negative outcomes.

 “It is completely normal, and in some ways a positive thing, to feel some anxiety around preparing for and taking exams, just as it can be with other important events in life. A little bit of anxiety, that ‘nervous tension’, can act as a motivator and can help the person to focus their attention, keeping the mind alert. However, exam stress becomes a problem when it reaches a level where it interferes with the ability to prepare for and perform in exams. Too high an anxiety level interferes with clear, coherent, and creative thinking and can also create a negative mindset, which in turn can lead to panic.”

Solution Focused Hypnotherapy (SFH, a modern research-based combination of hypnosis and psychotherapy, is a great way to reduce stress and create new positive study habits. “It can help during study periods and also help on the day of the exam itself because you are feeling more in control and relaxed, it can also improve and restore confidence and the motivation to succeed. “

 “Solution Focused Hypnotherapy is a fantastic way to help to reduce stress. Even students who have been away from study for some time can benefit, as they can be especially prone to stress and may need help to get back into the rhythm and discipline of studying.”

I work with the client to help them make positive changes and move forward in a relaxed, calm and confident manner. We know that too much pressure can lead to a range of physical and mental health problems, you don’t need this at any time, but especially when you need to be on top of your game and get those grades. Stress affects the way we think, feel, and behave, impacting every area of our lives.

I use solution focused hypnotherapy which offers powerful techniques and strategies to enable clients to deal with exam stress and to help them think and behave in a more positive way, which has many benefits prior to, during, and after those exams”.

I encourage clients to focus on how they want things to be. I avoid problem-talk and instead help clients to visualise their preferred future, encouraging clients to think and express themselves positively helps improve their outcomes and they get the results they dream of.

I read an article in the Guardian recently, that reminded me of my roots as a Solution Focused Hypnotherapist and I just wanted to share some of that thinking with you all today.

Milton Erickson was a firm believer in finding solutions. Between the 1950s up until his death in 1980, he had continued to develop and refine his techniques in the practice of hypnosis and psychotherapy. Among his most famous techniques, the use of anecdotes, metaphors and client-centred therapy have endured as major approaches in modern therapy, and specifically for those like me, who specialise in Solution Focused Hypnotherapy.

Equally influential, in the 1980s, two therapists based in Milwaukee, Steve de Shazer, and his wife Insoo Kimberg, began to experiment with their clients using alternative questioning techniques to see if they could get better outcomes in their therapy sessions. Instead of focusing on the persons problem, they dared to ask the client what life might look like when the problem was gone? This question has evolved over time and as a modern day practitioner I now use, what is widely known as,“The Miracle Question” with all of my clients.

Just ask yourself this question: “Suppose that one night, while you were asleep, there was a miracle, and your problem was solved. How would you know? What would be different?”

In their imagined miracle worlds, clients come up with all sorts of preferred futures, one might say, “I’d be happier at work.” Another might say, “Id be talking more at social events”. Another might find themselves in control of their eating.

What a simple but powerful change in approach, looking for signs of change, rather than ways to change. This approach moves us into a third-person perspective, where it’s easier to identify steps that move us towards our preferred future.

Even more intriguingly, Shazer, and his wife, Insoo Kim Berg, with whom he went on to found “solution-focused brief therapy”, realised not only that their clients knew what a solution would look like, but that it was often already happening, if only occasionally, together they were able to draw out these exceptions.

In the early 1990s, David Newton, who I had the absolute pleasure of being trained by in 2008, created a new approach to therapeutic hypnosis, which combined the most successful elements of the approaches outlined above, combining a solution-focused approach with hypnosis and neuroscientific understanding about the brain…and Solution Focused Hypnotherapy (SFH) was born!