Hypnotherapy

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The following workshops are arranged at various times and can be especially set up for interested groups or parties.
Contact David at info@cyprushypnotherapy.com for details, prices and dates.

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STRESS Management.

SELF HYPNOSIS seminars.

LEARN HOW TO MANAGE YOUR STRESS; Two day seminar on the subject of Stress Management. Learn the method and acquire the tools to enable you to manage the stress in your life both from work and home.
Places are limited to six per weekend so book in advance to reserve your place. Venue will be arranged,
light lunch and tea/coffee included in the cost @ ?70.
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Presentation on Hypnotherapy.

OBESITY.

ANGER Management.

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Self Hypnosis.

Seminar dates; Alternate Saturdays. Contact David at info@cyprushypnotherapy.com.cy
LEARN SELF HYPNOSIS; One day seminar on the subject of Self Hypnosis. Learn how to ENABLE yourself to realize your own potential. Unlock your subconscious mind and control your destiny. Manage stress in your life and enhance your health and achievements.
Early booking recommended for your place on the seminar. Venue be arranged, light lunch and tea/coffee included in cost @ ?70.
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INFORMATION

Published articles that may give you some help and knowledge are listed below. Just scroll down to the title that interests you.
All articles are protected by copyright. Should you wish to reproduce any article please contact the author for permission.

1. HYPNOTHERAPY AND WHAT IT OFFERS YOU.
2. HYPNOSIS AND HYPNOTHERAPY WHAT IS IT? HOW DOES IT WORK?
3. DEALING WITH ABUSE.
4. BENEFITS FOR STROKE VICTIMS.
5. A GRIEVOUS SITUATION.
6. HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT.
7. THE WONDERS OF SELF-ENLIGHTENMENT.
8. HYPNOTHERAPY FOR CHILDREN.
9. HYPNOTHERAPY FOR ALCOHOLICS.
10. VALUE VERSES WORTH.
11. HYPNOTHERAPY FOR SEXUAL DYSFUNCTION.
12. EATING DISORDERS.
13. SMOKING CESSATION.
14. MALE AND FEMALE ATTITUDES TO THERAPY.

1.
By David Heard-Smith D.H.P.

HOW WOULD YOU LIKE.......

+ To enjoy your life in happiness?
+ To enrich your Life?
+ To improve your reaction to STRESS?
+ To have your relationships provide fulfillment and success?
+ To understand more about yourself and how you function as you do?
+ To use to the full that part of your mind that is creative and successful?
+ To rid yourself of those negative thoughts and enjoy a pleasing and worry-free outlook?
+ To know where and who to turn to when you need guidance?
+ To lose that excess weight gently, quickly and safely?
+ To stop smoking?

These questions have only one answer. Understand your OWN subconscious mind and how to get the best from it.
With the willing assistance of your own subconscious mind you can achieve whatever you want.
All you need to know is how and then apply the techniques.It will be an exciting voyage
beyond your imagination. You need not travel this revealing and exciting journey un-aided.
Hypnosis is a naturally induced state of total relaxation. The relaxed state, enables your subconscious mind, to willingly and happily accept suggestions for your well being and self betterment. By amending your habitual thought patterns and employing these new patterns into your way of life, amazing things can happen.

A BACKGROUND TO HYPNOTHERAPY.

Over two hundred years ago, hypnosis was employed, knowingly, in the treatment of his patients by Franz Anton Mesmer, an Austrian physician, hence the term, mesmerism. Since that time many have been associated with Hypnosis and in the 1930's a psychologist, Clark L. Hull declared, after much investigation, that it was a normal part of human nature and thereby removed the mystery from the subject. Freud and Jung used hypnosis with great success, as have many others.
In the field of modern hypnosis there are two great influences worthy of note, Dave Elman and Milton Erikson, who, between them, advanced the teaching techniques of therapeutic hypnosis to the state which we are able to enjoy to-day.
Despite the fact that some ten years ago stage hypnosis enjoyed an uncertain evaluation by the press and television and was much confused with hypnotherapy by the public. Hypnosis, used as a tool in therapy, has made great advances in the treatment of physical, mental and emotional disorders. This state of affairs continues to grow and many Psychologists and Medical Practitioners have taken to using hypnotherapy as a useful tool in their own fields, or, more generally, have taken to referring certain of their patients to Hypnotherapists practicing within their local area. It is true to say that it is better by far to refer to a specialist in hypnotherapy rather than use it as a sideline.

WHAT IS HYPNOSIS?

Hypnosis is a natural state of complete relaxation, during which you remain totally aware of all that is going on and in complete control. The fact is that your senses will be greatly heightened. You will not be asleep but because the conscious mind is so relaxed the therapist is able to communicate with the subconscious mind with the complete co-operation of the subject.
This is a condition that anyone may attain if they want to, except for those suffering from brain damage and those under the influence of alcohol.
To be in hypnosis describes the state of relaxation and therapy is the treatment used whilst in this enviable condition. Generally the sessions will last for one hour and the number of sessions will normally range from one to eight depending on the problem being treated.
The subject is in complete control and no suggestions will be accepted that go against the normal moral or ethical judgments that the subject holds dear. In fact, should a suggestion be made that goes against this judgement the subject will immediately come out of the hypnotic state. At no time are drugs of any nature used.
Nature gives us all the amazing power of our own minds to enable us to make changes in the way we behave. Positive changes are therefore beneficial for us all. It is fair to say that this treatment is powerful, simple, quick and very interesting.

HYPNOSIS AND ITS EFFECTIVENESS.

Whilst you are in hypnosis you are in direct contact with the subconscious mind. It is in the subconscious mind that all experiences of life are retained, memories, beliefs and automatic reactions developed as a result of experiences of life are kept there for future use and referral.
The subconscious is responsible for every automatic function of your body, heart rate, blood flow, hormone production and regulation, body growth, hair growth and redistribution, hunger and thirst mechanisms etc. It programmes your habitual functions such as speech, holding a knife and fork, tying shoelaces, driving a car, making love and all other functions that you have learned to perform as a habitual function either well or badly.
Very importantly it is the centre of all emotional and behavioural responses and so extends or limits responses to experiences both new and old.
This is where much of life's difficulties originate because the subconscious never questions the information it stores but accepts it as a TRUTH.
Though you may well know that you have a bad or unhelpful habit and may really wish to alter this limiting behaviour your subconscious mind is far more powerful than your conscious wish to invoke a change.
It is a case of, "If what you are doing doesn't work then do something different," but the subconscious mind is reluctant to change. This is an area where hypnosis is probably most useful as it enables the Therapist, with your continual consent, to invoke changes to this stubborn unwillingness for a new and improved response. However, once these changes are accepted by the subconscious mind they become as strong as the original unhelpful responses.
During the process of negotiating these changes, you, the client, are able to come to a far superior understanding of yourself and why past behaviour was as you have experienced it. This in turn gives you a greatly improved control over your life and an awareness of how to prevent future unwanted reactions.
Positive thought patterns are not unlike putting your foot down on the accelerator of a car but negative thought patterns are equally powerful but liken to having the handbrake on all the time.
Hypnotherapy is the most powerful tool yet to assist in breaking free from these unhelpful and harmful patterns of life and replacing them with new and upwardly mobile patterns to produce a harmonious, peaceful and self-empowering future.
Hypnosis is also a powerful and invaluable aid to coping with the stresses of life. It is extremely effective in reducing anxiety, depression and susceptibility to all manner of ailments from the common cold and backache to migraines, fatigue and allergies. The medical professions now recognize that the mind and the body are inter-related and accept that emotional difficulties are frequently expressed in a physical pain or disease. Likewise the reverse can often be the case and a physical problem may well manifest itself as an emotional dis-ease. More frequently than you might care to believe, the remedy for that which ails you is but a hypnotherapy session away!

CONDITIONS TREATED.

There is a vast range of medical and psychological conditions that lend themselves to treatment under hypnosis, either to enable the suffer to cure themselves or to enable them to cope better with the pain or discomfort. All stress induced illness, behavioural problems, phobias, alcoholism, infertility, poor sexual performance or enjoyment, negative attitudes, migraine, irritable bowl syndrome and pain control are included in this list. It would be unreasonable to produce a long list here but a phone call will enable you to discover whether your particular problem is suitable for treatment. Dentists often advise clients who suffer from undue fear of going to visit them for treatment, to seek help from a hypnotherapist to help them overcome their phobia. Hypnosis is now frequently employed to assist women with childbirth and many and varied surgery operations are carried out using hypnosis as the only means of anesthesia.

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION.

My name is David Heard-Smith and I moved to Cyprus in November 2000. There were a number of reasons for making this move, not least the fact that I just love to wake up to blue skies and sunshine. Another reason was to enjoy a more relaxed way of life, but sadly I found this not to be so abundant amongst my fellows as I believed it would be. This promoted the thought that I could perhaps offer assistance where it was needed. I have been in Private Practice in the field of Complimentary Therapy since 1984. I am a qualified Reflexologist, Allergy Therapist, Masseur, Stress Control Therapist, Achievement Therapist and Hypnotherapist. I also have a very Down to Earth view of life without the affliction of Rose Tinted Glasses.
I originally practiced in Cornwall and then in Somerset on a less intensive basis. I draw on an extremely varied lifetime of experiences and a natural tendency to observe and analyze people and behaviour. What made them do that? A very interesting question, that demands an answer.
Of all the Disciplines that I have studied and employed I find the most effective and permanent to be Therapy under the Relaxed State of Hypnosis. It is to this therapy that I devote most of my efforts. I find that it is a therapy that promotes a considerable amount of interest and to which so many owe a great deal for that which they have managed to achieve in the way of overcoming ill health, eating disorders, disabilities, pain and general problems in life. There are three main types of hypnotherapy, analysis, hypnohealing and suggestion therapy, all of which have their specific uses. Frequently two or all three are used at the same time.
I predominately employ the methods of Dave Elman in my therapy as I find them to be quick, effective and kind to the client. I also employ Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). This, new discipline, was devised, by Richard Bandler and John Grinder in 1975 as a method of communicating with the mind.
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2.
HYPNOSIS AND HYPNOTHERAPY - WHAT IS IT? - HOW DOES IT WORK?
By David Heard-Smith D.H.P.

Everybody has their own idea of what hypnosis is and they are most firmly fixed in their belief. Generally this belief is based purely on total ignorance of that about which we speak, but try as you may, you will not shake this absolute ?knowing? of what hypnosis is. For 18 years now I have been a practicing hypnotherapist and, amazingly, still, I discover that so many people, who have never experienced it, know far more about it than I do. This is one of the wonders of the human condition. Ignorance is the foundation of so many peoples existence and they will not change it to save their lives.
Now in my opinion and that of other hypnotists, of which there are thousands, hypnosis is a state of deep relaxation in which the conscious mind is so relaxed it just cannot be bothered to take part in what is going on. It is nothing more nor less than that. The mind and body is so deeply relaxed, that, although it knows what is going on all around it, it just is not interested enough to take any real notice unless, and this is important, whatever is going on is against the personal moral or ethical standards or judgement. This one can be a thorny problem when it comes to one?s attention.
Hypnotherapy is therapy carried out whilst the person is under the pleasant influence of hypnosis. Now, at this point I must say that all thoughts of ?stage hypnosis, for the purpose of entertainment must be forgotten! Therapy and entertainment are very different words and have very different meanings. If I or any other therapist is conducting therapy the last thing they want is the client running around the room, clucking like a chicken and pretending to lay eggs, or something equally ridiculous.
Entertainment, is one thing, therapy is something very different!
Right, I have stated what hypnosis is, and believe me or not, I know.
Hypnosis is the finest state of mind a person can possibly be in for therapy. Why? Because the conscious mind, takes no part in the procedure and therefore does not exercise any disruptive input.
The subconscious mind is that part of the brain that is buried at the lower rear area of the skull and is involved with all the automatic functions of the individual. This includes functions such heart beat, respiration, digestion, hormone production, hair growth, reactions to various circumstances, mood swings and a multitude of functions besides. Its overall purpose in life is to look after you and protect you. Everything that you do not consciously make happen is caused to occur by your subconscious and this includes driving. The difference between a private driver and a highly trained professional driver is that the professional is thinking all the time as to what he or she should be doing. Taking notice of what is going on around them. We have, I am certain, all seen a police driving film in which the driver is reporting to his co driver everything that is going on. That is conscious driving! However as soon as that person gets into his or her car to go home all that is put behind them and they then drive like the rest of us, subconsciously. This is a very safe way to drive under normal circumstances. Remember, its purpose is to protect you. However, one basic requirement is that you have learned how to drive properly in the first place!
OK so you now know some of what your subconscious does. Emotions, fears, habits, beliefs and behaviour, all these and many more have to be laid at the door of your subconscious. Yes! You know your belief or opinion is the right one. Of course you do. Heavens above! what a boneshaker that would be if you were wrong. If that belief were wrong could, perhaps, others be wrong? Indeed do you actually have any beliefs that are correct? This could be worrying stuff. Take heart! None of us are all wrong but sometimes the way we see things are based on something that we may well have misjudged, and therefore our evaluations are erroneous.
Believe it or not, almost all personal behavioural and habitual functions are formed in the years up to around 8 years of age, most of them, well before that. Those people who are bad tempered, learned to be so for what they thought was their benefit, before they were 5-8 years old. For the rest of their lives they never learn how damaging a bad temper is to their cause. Phobias normally have their origins in those very early years as does our reaction to stress, along with our understanding as to how we should behave as an adult toward the opposite sex and how relationships should be conducted with our peers. Our basic opinions toward the matters of race and religion are generally set well on their path in those early years. Brainwashing is alive and thriving. We do become a recording of those views and opinions of our elders and peers even though for a short time around the late teens, early twenties we are apt to rebel and class is a big one for us to cope with. Unfair treatment by our parents, abuse by elders and siblings, all these things affect us for the rest of our lives, unless we go back and re evaluate them.
Panic not dear reader! All is not lost. Things can be redeemed.
With the aid of hypnotherapy we have the opportunity, if we want to take it, to go back into the recesses of our subconscious and find, understand and re assess those experiences that have shaped our behaviour and reactions to life. We can confront and debate the behaviour of others towards us, and then understand or forgive them for their genuine mistakes and evaluate our re actions to those events. To persuade our subconscious to behave differently in the future and to subtly change the way we react so as to limit the ill effects to our person and those around us. To re learn some of the basic facts of life, and the way in which we can deal with events and occurrences to our advantage.
Just as a cake is a result of the ingredients that are put into the mixing bowl so we as people are a result of the experiences of our life. Each new experience changes us to a smaller or larger extent and never more than when we are young and inexperienced. The limited knowledge, that as a child, we can bring to bear on each experience, ensures that our judgement is flawed.
Regression under hypnosis (ANALYSIS) for the purpose of re evaluation is the most powerful and simplest tool at our disposal to affect a change for our future wellbeing. Believe me it is also very interesting to find out why we have persisted in getting it wrong for so long.
All you need is an open mind and a strong desire to really improve your life, combined with a willingness to accept that you just may not be as right every time as you think you are. That one is the real shaker!
Fear, and particularly fear of change, is a very powerful inhibiter but it can be overcome when there is a deep desire or ?want? for positive improvement.
Medical intervention with the aid of drugs is frequently of great assistance to the sufferer but often the side effects can make the cure a ?double edged? sword. With many conditions it is the only source of relief and I would never suggest that one should not visit a doctor for advice, diagnosis and treatment, nor would I suggest that hypnotherapy is a cure all and efficacious in every case. However I will suggest that a considerable range of psychological, emotional, physical and behavioural problems can benefit from hypnotherapy.
Article Index

3.
DEALING WITH ABUSE
By David Heard-Smith D.H.P.

Abuse is an ugly word in most people?s eyes, and we hear a great deal about it in this day and age.
This was not always the case of course. Until quite recently, abuse of all kinds was commonplace throughout society and at all levels. Indeed much was considered proper, acceptable or not worthy of comment. Most was swept under the linoleum and rugs or viewed with a blind eye. It can be nothing but the truth that the vast majority of abuse of all kinds taking place today is still going undetected.
There are many different kinds of abuse; verbal, emotional, physical and sexual are really the broad categories within which we find a range of more particular types of abuse. Prolonged ill treatment of someone, insulting comments, this is the brief definition that my pocket dictionary gives. I don?t know that it needs to be prolonged to qualify. We hear a great deal with regard to sexual abuse and especially, paedophilia these days, and with reference to the latter especially, the impression is that it is a modern phenomenon. That is very misleading, for all abuse is as old as man, the species that is.
The misconception that these inhuman acts are carried out by men alone is just that, a misconception. Women are as guilty as men though they would rather you didn?t believe that. The ?gentle sex?, pull the other one. Inhuman? Rubbish! It is a very human act to abuse other people and nearly always those weaker than us.
I doubt that there is one person reading this that has not at sometime or another been guilty of committing an act of abuse of some description against another person, most frequently a loved one. I can just imagine all the hands going up in shock at the injustice of that statement. Yes, I know it wasn?t necessarily committed deliberately, or was it? The fact is, it, was committed.
Though this cannot be considered an excuse it is the case that most forms of abuse are learned responses. We learn from our role models, behaviour that at best is unacceptable but as it is common to us we take it into our future life and frequently find that we copy that behaviour. A reason why those who were sexually abused often abuse others is that they ?learned? the behaviour in their childhood. They were the victims! They are now, often, the perpetrators. This is a fact of life whether you like it or not.
Paedophiles are people who sexually abuse children. The fact that the victim is a child makes it so much more offensive and repugnant, but, the majority of these abusive acts are, carried out against children, and it has always been so. They are so much weaker than adults.
Now, I am not about to go down the path of discussing punishment. That is not my job. I do believe that it is most necessary however. The subject that concerns me is treatment. Treatment for the child and for the adult, hopefully sooner than later so that they can live their lives to the full despite the ill treatment they have received.
Abuse in early life is likely to affect the victim far more severely than an adult. It will certainly leave the victim with a neurosis that will damage their development and emotional growth. One can never be certain as to quite how this damage will manifest itself. There is no certain pattern but only likelihood?s. A young boy ill-treated or sexually abused by his mother, sister or other female might well grow up to be an abuser of women or find himself unable to relate to the ?fair sex? in a reasonable and healthy manner. Perhaps he will turn out to be a ?women hater? and who can blame him? He may well feel, deep beneath the conscious mind, that to abuse children is normal. If his abuser was a male then he could easily turn out to be an ?angry young man? and find it very difficult to relate to his own sex perhaps he will become homosexual.
A young girl who is ill-treated by a father, brother, uncle or whomever may well find herself in later life to relate this to how things should be and seek out the type of male companions that consider abusing women as being acceptable. She may see this behaviour as the true meaning of love. Not in her conscious mind but deep in her sub conscious. She may develop into what some would call a slut or find herself suffering from frigidity, or be bereft of the joys of the genuine emotion of love. Her sub conscious will certainly force a behaviour pattern to come into play that will harm her future well-being. Frequently it will compel her to eat excessively and reject exercise, the aim of which is to ensure that she is unattractive to the opposite sex. If she is unattractive then she will be safe from unwanted attention and assault. This behaviour often applies to men for the same reason. Should the abuser have been female then she will undoubtedly find problems with relationships with her own sex and perhaps develop a bullying type attitude to other women or, again, become a lesbian.
Any of you who have grown up in a family where extreme emotional outbursts of anger, foul temper and associated shouting or screaming were prevalent, whatever the reason or excuse, will recognise the pain that is suffered by the child in such circumstances. Should you, as an adult, be in a relationship that endures the same excessive emotional characteristics you might understand to some extent how that child feels or perhaps you might wonder why your partner behaves thus. What was it that promoted them to develop this manner of behaviour, how does it benefit them?
Criticism is an excellent aid to development and learning, it means, to judge, fault finding, to evaluate. It is essential in our lives. Without it we will learn very little of any worth for we will never know if what we have done is right, wrong or indifferent. It is through criticism that we learn to excel, to improve our skills and discover what we are doing wrong and why. Sadly so many children and adults alike are crucified on the cross of criticism due to the fact that the ignorant and inept or down right nasty amongst us are wonderfully efficient at fault finding, but very poor at then explaining how, whatever, might be better or more accurately achieved. Criticism is a powerful method of exercising verbal and emotional abuse and the abuser can so easily justify it.
The way in which these problems can be dealt with and healed, is basically simple, though often, it transpires that the sufferer is unwilling to deal with them out of fear. It may be that they feel they will lose a serviceable method of defence or protection. Sometimes they fear they will be denied an efficient tool to aid them in getting that which they want. The sufferer will not normally see it as this because they believe their behaviour to be appropriate. Mostly these neuroses are developed in the very early years of life and are always accompanied by an extremely powerful emotion, be it guilt, fear, embarrassment or anger etc. The fact of the matter is that the sufferer will rarely have any conscious memory of the ?particular? event or experience that caused the change in their subconscious mind and subsequent behaviour and the memory they do have will be erroneous. They will certainly not remember the power of the emotion that accompanied the experience. This is a fact, and the reason for it being so, is that the sub conscious mind is responsible for looking after you and to this end it protects from such powerfully upsetting emotions by burying them, thus inducing a very powerful and necessary amnesia for your future well being and this is essential to enable you to continue with life in some semblance of normality. The problem will remain buried until some form of stress or similar experience manifests itself. The one important thing to remember is that during treatment, although you will be required to revisit that experience and emotional upset it will not be happening again. It will only be revisited and then under the guidance of the therapist who will ensure your comfort and safety.
You will be invited to allow yourself to be deeply relaxed until you are in an altered state of consciousness. This is called hypnosis. In this state you are totally aware of everything that is going on, you will have full control of all your faculties, indeed your senses may well be heightened. You will not be asleep! It is not possible to suggest that a person in hypnosis do anything that is against their will or moral standards. Indeed such a suggestion would certainly shock the client into full awareness immediately.
The therapist will then seek permission from the clients sub conscious mind to allow him/her to continue to work with the client for the purpose of their well being and to take them back to revisit, in safety and comfort, the experience and emotions that were the original cause of the presenting problem. The client should readily accept that they are not going to shock or embarrass the therapist, who, from experience and training will have been made more than well aware of all the possible scenarios that can occur. When the client is back in the depths of their memories and is confronting the cause and reliving, under controlled conditions, the offending experience they will be guided as to how to re evaluate it with the advantage of an adult mind and a far greater experience and knowledge of life. The elements of understanding and, if necessary, forgiveness will be explored and employed. The anger and other feelings experienced will be therapeutically released so as to heal and make whole that injured and damaged child within. Negotiation will take place with the sub conscious so as to put in place appropriate safeguards and protection mechanisms for the clients future well-being. The matter of the child?s feelings of guilt will be dealt with and free the client of that heavy burden. Any other associated difficulties will be dealt with and then the client will be taken, with the aid of imagination, into a future situation, which would normally have caused them difficulties, to enable them to experience the new and healthy way in which they deal with that which had previously been a problem to them.
Other work such as re enforcing their feelings of self worth and confidence etc. will be undertaken before the client is returned to full conscious awareness knowing that they have arrived at a state from which they can start afresh with their lives. They are in control and they have given themselves permission to enjoy and live life to the full.
The only requirements are that the client is honest with the therapist, genuinely WANTS to get better and co-operates fully.
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4.
BENEFITS FOR STROKE VICTIMS
By David Heard-Smith D.H.P.

Before we proceed I must make it perfectly clear to all that I am not a doctor of medicine. I am a hypnotherapist and it is in this sphere that my expertise lies. I have studied extensively, as a requirement to this area of work, the effects that a stroke has on different areas of the brain and the brains? innate ability to compensate to effect an extensive repair to the systems that become impaired by reorganization of the areas used to control various brain functions.
We are, most of us anyway, aware that we use only a very small percentage of our brain?s capacity and therefore there is a vast reservoir of spare capacity to which we can turn for replacement parts. This is where hypnotherapy can readily help, through direct access to the subconscious mind. It is the best method of providing much needed hope and motivation that I am aware of and enjoys the ability to exert considerable and powerful influence on a willing subject.
Simply and briefly I will lay out below, the functions of both sides of the brain and the systems that are controlled along with those systems that are most likely to be damaged as a result of a stroke to the left or right side of the brain.
The brain is divided into four primary parts: the right hemisphere (or half) controlling left side motor coordination, the left hemisphere controlling right side motor coordination, the cerebellum helping to provide smooth, coordinated body movement and the brain stem controlling breathing, heartbeat and articulate speech.
Keeping in mind that the Right side of the brain controls the Left side of the body and conversely the Left side of the brain controls the Right side of the body. The victim of a Right Brain Stroke may experience: - 1. Paralysis or weakness on the left side of the body. 2. Ignoring objects / people on the left side of the body (neglect). 3. Difficulty with feeling (sensation) on the left side of the body. 4. Problems with dressing or grooming. 5. Problems with concepts of time. 6. Decreased attention span. 7. Problems with memory. Should the victim experience Left Brain Stroke then the following functions could be affected: - 1. Problems with speech and language. 2. Paralysis or weakness on the right side of the body. 3. Problems with voluntary movements. 4. Difficulty with feeling on the right side of the body. 5. Being unable to see things on the right side of the body or seeing double.
It has been discovered by some very eminent people in the realms of stoke victim recovery who have bothered to endeavour to affect as good a quality of life, post stroke, as possible that the use of hypnotherapy is most efficacious in a large number of cases.
Firstly it is an ideal way to clear out all the repressed psychologically damaging emotional experiences that have certainly played a great part in causing the stroke in the first place. Secondly it provides a simple and effective way for the victim to learn to relax properly and effectively. Thirdly and most importantly it provides a direct path to the subconscious mind whereby the therapist can teach the victim how to use the power of their own mind to utilize the two available bridges between the hemispheres to divert the neural communication and employ an unused area of the brain to take over the functions that have been lost or damaged. These bridges are named as the Corpus Callosum and the Anterior Comissura but the most useful for our purposes is the former that forms a small roof above the Thalamus and joins the two hemispheres.
With reference to the work of Marlene E. Hunter, M.D. of Vancouver, Canada it is admitted that there is no research to validate that hypnosis can facilitate enhanced recovery of function but this is not at all surprising bearing in mind the Medical professions reluctance to consider the effectiveness of non medical practice There is, however, a great deal of anecdotal evidence from hypnotherapists and their stroke victim clients that a considerable improvement is attainable. It is accepted that the very worst that can happen is that a little time and money is wasted but this is not my experience. What the medical profession does acknowledge is that the brain will, with help from physiotherapy, speech therapy and other like therapies facilitate recovery of function by employing previously idle parts of the brain to take over the damaged part?s function. Hypnotherapy is able to accelerate this recovery with or without those therapies being used and bring about, what is probably most important, a feeling of hope and where this hope exists so the human psyche will cause it to happen.
The fact is that it is commonly said that the stroke victim has to relearn these lost abilities but this is not so. The fact that the person has suffered a stroke does not mean that they have forgotten how to walk, talk or feel but that they have to find another way to transmit their mental desire, to accomplish these things, to the relevant muscles etc. via a different path through the nervous system. This can also be employed to regain memory that is buried inside the damaged area and cannot readily be retrieved. When the wiring is connected in a different way to another part of the brain, hitherto unemployed, new capacity becomes available for use with the lost skills.
To put it simply, due to your left brain having suffered a stroke you are having difficulty with your words, the challenge is, teach your right brain to do what the left side used to do.
It has been shown conclusively with the use of MRI scans that as this process evolves the activity on the left side of the brain slows down and the activity on the right side increases considerably. After the sufferer practices more and more their newly learned right brain use so the activity on that side reduces to show that the new part of the brain has genuinely got the hang of it and is performing the function automatically, just as the damaged side used to. As to whether full function is attained as previously enjoyed is a matter of conjecture but some function is infinitely better than none and as you use it more so it functions better.
Remember the old adage, ?if you don?t use it, you lose it?, and surely with practise then ?Every day, in every way you will get better and better and better?.
Hypnotherapy must never be considered as a panacea but like the drug Aspirin, it has been found to have very many more extremely powerful applications than even hypnotherapists dreamed of. However, this should come as no surprise as it employs the very power of the individual?s own mind to effect a suitable resolution to the individual?s own problems.
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5.
A GRIEVOUS SITUATION
By David Heard-Smith D.H.P.

The subject, about which I write, is one that a person can find very difficult to associate himself or herself with. That subject is GRIEF! Grief and how to deal with it, along with the accompanying guilt, loss, anger, love, hatred, unspoken words and disappointment. Indeed, the totally misconstrued cause or object of grief can be even more baffling and dangerous to our health.
From the experiences that I have shared over the years with other people, good friends, clients or acquaintances, and now through a very personal experience, I feel that I am in an ideal position to offer some advice. Advice, that, I chose to accept from a colleague and a friend. For many years now I have had the privilege to help clients deal with problems that turned out to be caused by an unresolved grief situation. Between us we were successful in dealing with the problem and affecting a resolution but never before have I truly understood, from personal experience, the real power of this phenomena.
Grief is a very important and healing emotional experience but only when the bereaved person is able to grieve fully without interruption in the process, either because of a supposed duty to others, an unfeeling or unsympathetic partner, the feeling that they are making a fool of themselves and being unmanly, self pitying or self indulgent or due to their own ill health. Another serious mistake is the idea that many parents have that a young child would not understand or not be able to cope with a funeral. It is so very important that they are allowed to attend this final intimacy between the dead and the living. They cope very well in their own way provided the adults treat them properly and take the time to explain and comfort them. Life is for the living and death is inevitable, a child needs to be aware and prepared for all that their world will bring.
When someone dies, whether that person is a close relative, a friend or just a casual acquaintance. Indeed, it may well be a pet for which you have cared over many years or nothing more than an animal that you accidentally ran down or killed in an accident. The simple fact is, that if you are affected emotionally by this event then you are likely to be affected by the subsequent emotion of grief. Life can seem very unfair at times. When emotion is involved with any experience it is remembered in a very different way to the normal events of life.
Let me suggest that perhaps you had a major row with one of your parents or a loved one, relative or friend, who subsequently died very soon afterwards. The guilt of that unresolved difference could be immense. Remembering that there are many types of abuse, maybe you believe that a person close to you or indeed remote, abused you in some way and you have failed to resolve the matter. There is then, an extremely volatile situation that remains unresolved with the very likely effect of eating away at the persons psyche and physical being. Unsettled business, which is so common amongst us all, due to our pigheaded refusal to confront or deal with it, remains the cause of so much ongoing misery in our lives.
This emotional imbalance can be and is often, responsible for an awful lot of ill health, unhappiness and disease during our lifetime. You may well learn to live with it but you certainly do not go unaffected by it and, of course, neither do your relatives, friends and colleagues.

What to do about it?
Well the problem is simple and, unfortunately, so is the solution. I say unfortunately, because most people like to ?enjoy? difficult solutions to their problems, because it gives them credence. We have to confront it with all the relevant emotion and resolve the situation, with the knowledge and experience learned through life. Everyone can make mistakes, say something or do something for which they feel ashamed, get hold of the wrong end of a stick or behave in a manner that they would wish they had not, had events and circumstances been different. Understanding and forgiveness is the key to your relief. Yes, forgiveness, even for the most dire sins or crimes committed against or by us. This is for the wellbeing of the perpetrator or the victim, whichever you are. We, who are left behind, are the ones that suffer and this is about us achieving peace of mind and subsequent good health and happiness. If you believe in any religion, even to a minimal degree, you will know that the dead are above such problems and if religion is a myth then they are just dead and out of it all together.
You could seek counseling and to some extent that will be helpful but it falls short of the straightforward confrontation that is the cure to the problem. Without wishing to be disrespectful it is, in many circumstances, pussyfooting around, holding onto a crutch instead of throwing it away and walking unaided. Face it full frontal. Deal with it using the same emotional degree and content that produced the problem in the first place, that is the only sure fire way to resolve the matter successfully. Be brave and empowered. Forgive and forget. Be happy and well.

How to deal with the problem!
All events that have occurred in your life that had a powerful emotional content are very deeply entrenched in your subconscious mind and more often than not repressed. Your subconscious mind is responsible for every function of your being and it is with your subconscious mind that you must make your peace.
Hypnotherapy is the most effective and quickest way to deal with the troubled subconscious mind. With the aid of hypnotherapy, conducted by a qualified and competent therapist, you can swiftly confront the situation that troubles you and resolve the matter outright.
Does this sound too simple? Well, all problems are simple and, surprisingly, all solutions are likewise. Give it a try or, better still, seek help to deal with it!
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6.
HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT>
By David Heard-Smith D.H.P.

Christmas has come and gone and many of you will have put on a few pounds of extra blubber. Some of you will have added this extra blubber to that which you were already carrying before Christmas moved in as a convenient excuse for over eating and drinking. There are others of you who have spent a great part of your lives as a fat person. Nasty words blubber and fat! Yes indeed, but if the cap fits, wear it.
What to do? Wring the hands in despair or sort the problem out once and for all. Your choice, entirely! However here is a little advice and encouragement, do with it as you will.
The first thing that is needed is a little honesty. You may have put on a few pounds, sorry kilos, (there?s not so many of them to an extra 2? expansion around the waist). You may however have just added a goodly amount to an already over burdened skeleton and heart.
Now words have a very special meaning, ?I?ve put on a little weight?, means just that. ?I?m so fat I can?t get into any of my clothes?. Likewise! ?I must go on a diet?. Now that is confusing. Diet is a word that means, ?food that a person or animal regularly eats?, but has taken on various other meanings over the past sixty years.
Diet, is that food and drink that you regularly take into your body and it is partly responsible for your state of health and body mass. You ARE what you EAT! If you consume certain types of food you can guarantee to put on weight but likewise you can be certain to lose weight if you consume other types of food and when I say food I mean solids and liquids.
Diets include weight maintenance, weight reduction and weight increase regimes. Not just diets. Many of the diets that people gravitate to are almost certain to achieve the opposite to that which is intended and certainly a follow up adjustment is required to maintain any advantage achieved.
Now some poor souls can do nothing about being very large, they suffer from some form of medical condition that by its very nature causes them to put on a large amount of bulk. Fortunately the number of these people is small. Something in the region of 1% of the population are large due to illness. The rest of us are just FAT due to over eating and insufficient exercise. EXERCISE, now that is a horrible word to many people. It means that you have to get up off your oversized backside and move. Could the Good Lord treat his people so?
Most people who are FAT will tell you with much conviction, they hope, that they do not eat very much. They lie!! Sorry! You do not get fat by not eating. What you eat also has a bearing on the situation. Hamburgers, crisps, chocolate and any processed food will undoubtedly cause you to put weight on. In Cyprus you do not have any excuse for doing that.
To maintain a healthy weight you need to do no more than eat the right food, in reasonable amounts and exercise, try leaving the table feeling you could eat that meal again is a good maxim.
If you do not put the food into your mouth, you cannot possibly gain weight. If you do eat too much but exercise sufficiently each day then you will burn it off, however you must learn to adjust your intake so that it matches your exercise regime. This, of course, is the reason why people who retire from an active job or change their employment to a more sedentary one tend to become larger.
WEIGHT! is the evil word in most peoples mind but it is not the important one. BULK is what is important! If your waistline has increased from 24? to 26? over recent months you have increased bulk but not necessarily put on very much weight. If your breasts now extend over the boundaries of your previously well fitting bra, you have increased your bulk. Four breasts may seem a good idea to some but generally they appear excessive. If that belt, that has hitherto managed to extend around your middle and hold your trousers in the position your tailor intended, can no longer achieve this requirement then you are going to look a slob and feel very uncomfortable.
Fit people generally carry a goodly amount of weight but very conservative degrees of bulk. They consist of muscle! Muscle weighs considerably more than fat and in moderate cases of excess inches when you go on an exercise regime to tighten and firm your muscles you will find that although you appear to be very trim and healthy looking, you will actually weigh much the same as you did before you started to move about.
Re distribution of bodily mass and firming up of the tissue is far more important than weight. Weight is irrelevant!! Fitness is all important!!!
Right then, what are we going to do about all this spare flesh? Tighten it up and make it work for us in the attraction market. Just remember that those over weight TV presenters, who applauded being fat a year or two ago have been likewise applauded by all and sundry for losing weight. Why? Generally because they have met someone they wish to impress. If a fat person had the chance to be slim overnight they would be falling over themselves to take that opportunity not shouting from the rooftops that ?Big is Best?. TRAITORS! to their cause.
Now where do you start on this voyage into the unknown state of healthy, but fit, bodily condition.
Firstly you have to decide that you REALLY want to feel better and look better. Then you must take a serious look at your diet. You need to reduce your intake of alcohol. This is important as booze helps to put on bulk. You need to eat plenty of fresh vegetables and fruit, not difficult in Cyprus. You need to eat far more protein than carbohydrates. You need to, ?grasp the nettle? and start to take more exercise.
Come this spring and summer, we, the local populace do not want to look at all your excessive rolls of fat. The pool syndrome is fast approaching. Bellies hanging over the top of shorts, bums and breasts that fail miserably to remain within their natural confines are not at the top of the list of beautiful sights. If you are unable to deal with this problem yourself, then consider asking for help.
Hypnotherapy can be a great help with the problem by enabling you to re-train your mind so that it will happily change the way you eat, what you eat and how you feel about exercise.
Sometimes being fat is a great advantage or support to people with a neurosis. Don?t panic, we all have at least one of these to contend with. A neurosis is a mental disorder and they abound amongst the human race. Hypnosis is a quick and simple way of sorting out these problems.
It can help you realize the cause of your problem, re-negotiate the behaviour of your mind and induce a happy willingness to overcome the problem.
Be SLIMMER and FITTER using the power of your OWN mind!
WEIGHT IS LESS OF A PROBLEM. BULK AND BEING UNFIT IS THE KILLER!!
Very often the subconscious mind, in an attempt to protect the person, will deliberately cause them to become over weight and subsequently less attractive. Sometimes it is to bolster their confidence and make them seem more important or successful. Big equals success in many peoples mind. Sadly it invariably does the reverse. Over eating can often be a way of giving comfort to your self. Life presents a problem and the first thing that type of person does is grab the biscuits or a chocolate bar. Frequently it can be a ?learned response?. Your parents ate too much and they were, after all, your role models. You may have been encouraged to clear your plate as a child, ?don?t waste food, think of all those poor starving children in Africa?, comes to mind. This is almost guaranteed to make you feel guilty about leaving food on your plate. The type of food your parents fed you would have set a pattern for you to follow throughout your life. A natural aversion to exercise can easily be induced in the child?s mind. If Mum and Dad were ?couch potatoes? it follows that the child will be one also and what you learn as a child stays with you for life.
Whatever the subconscious mind believes to be best for you it will cause to happen and so make it very difficult for you, firstly, to reduce your size and secondly, to maintain that state.
Sorting out the subconscious mind?s attitude to size and fitness will reduce the stress and trauma of getting into shape. You need to have it on your side. Exercise will reduce the negative effects of stress on the mind and body. Looking good and feeling good will do wonders for the self confidence and bring about a genuine increase in self esteem and cause others to regard you more positively.
Now is the time to act! Not next week or next month, they never come. Make your decision and act on it now, but remember the decision is yours alone to make. Do not allow external pressure to force you into making a change, do it because you really want it. Above all remember that the benefits of being fit and healthy are primarily for you to enjoy.
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7.
THE WONDERS of SELF-ENLIGHTENMENT
By David Heard-Smith D.H.P.

I believe that the finest way to enable people to evaluate and make up their mind as to whether something is likely to be useful to them is to give them a good understanding of the subject. This alleviates problems caused by anxiety, fear, ignorance and misinformation. Lets face it, the word hypnosis and subsequently hypnotherapy does promote some very silly and fanciful ideas in the minds of a great many people. To this end I am going to present a few abbreviated case histories to show the power of the subconscious mind and its ability to get things wrong regardless of its best intentions. These case histories are altered in time and identity so as to maintain the clients confidentiality but the facts are accurate. Although the purpose of your subconscious mind is to control every aspect of your being and to care for and protect you, it frequently fails in its task. The reason for this is that it is not capable of rational thought or logical interpretation therefore applying your logical, conscious, mind to the problem will be of no avail. It is very childlike in it?s behaviour and functions purely on emotion, feelings and reaction, all of which are capable of getting things very wrong, even though they might seem appropriate at the time. We have all experienced the mistaken reaction we have made to something we?ve heard, said about us or to us, only to discover that we only managed to hear half a tale or missed the important word. How many times have we reacted badly to something someone has done, with the very best of intentions, simply because we didn?t take the trouble to think about their motives instead of assuming. It is a fact that perfectly normal people are totally unwilling to accept that they are being driven by their own subconscious mind. They like to believe that they are in control. They fear the unknown and insist that, ?nothing is wrong with me, I certainly don?t need any help. I have nothing controlling me.? That very attitude itself is indicative of a psychological problem because we are all affected by something unknown from our past.
These cases may seem to have no bearing on the reader?s situation and, although I admit that they involve very unpleasant experiences, they are certainly not unusual and the subject had no conscious knowledge of the events. I am certain that most readers will consider that there is no relationship to them and their particular problems but if I tell you that two of the three clients had no conscious memory of the events that caused their respective problems and the third had an entirely different conscious recall compared to the realities, it might just make you think for a moment or two. The one thing that the subconscious mind is very good at is repressing all memories of events that caused severe emotional upset or altering the recall of such events so as to protect the person involved. However it is never too late to change things for the better. It is also a fact that far more women find themselves wanting to do something about their problems than men. I believe that men consider it somewhat demeaning to admit to their problems but this is slowly changing for the better as the stresses of life force them into poor health ever earlier in their life. Maybe it is better to prevent health problems rather than rely on the possibility of a cure. Albert Einstein once said that a stupid person is someone who continues to do the same thing but expects a different outcome.

Case 1.
The first case is one of a young lady, I will call her Sally, who presented with difficulties in her sex life. Sally admitted to enjoying sex very much but in, her words, not mine, ?goes absolutely bananas? when she was tied to the bed. During this period of bondage she would experience feelings of considerable pleasure, anger, pain, humiliation and embarrassment but never guilt.
I conducted an in-depth analysis with the aid of hypnosis over a period of eight or nine weekly sessions during which she revealed that some years previous, unbeknown to her conscious mind, she had been raped by four young men who had firmly held her down to facilitate the assault. Sally failed to tell anyone of the event at the time and her subconscious mind quickly repressed the memory. She also recalled, much to her chagrin, that she had felt considerable pleasure during the event as well as anger, pain, humiliation, embarrassment and guilt at actually receiving pleasure from this abuse. Although it is taboo to say that some women do gain enjoyment from rape, it is, nevertheless, a fact of life. The physical response is associated with the possible danger to their life and the instigation of the primary basic instinct of preservation of the species.
The realisation of the truth, enlightened her to the fact that now, when she is tied to the bed, she can safely say that it is not my fault. Now, when she is tied to the bed she can say to herself, ?I?m struggling, it?s not my fault, someone is making me do this.? She is able to satisfy the guilt attached to enjoying the sex during the rape and can lay back and have a good time.
The outcome of this revelation was that Sally could now put things into perspective using her acquired knowledge of life and her experiences. She was able to understand that she had nothing to feel guilty about, that none of it was her fault and so be free from the feeling of guilt that had so affected her. In her ?follow up? contacts, the young lady admitted to finding herself to thoroughly enjoy her sex life without the need to be tied up and found herself able to relax and participate as an active partner rather than as a submissive one.

Case 2.
This case is also one involving a young lady, I will call her Julie, of 18 years of age who had for many years suffered from Anorexia Nervosa. When she presented herself with her elder sister and mother it was very clear that the whole family were in need of help but I agreed to deal with Julie first as her problems seemed to be somewhat more pressing. Julie appeared to be a well rounded young woman, very attractive, of a jolly disposition and seemingly in good health. The history was that at age 13 to 14 she had developed a need to be slim. Apparently this need became a drive that she was unable to control and eventually developed into anorexia. She had lost so much weight that she had been admitted to hospital in an attempt, successful obviously, to save her life. On admission her body weight had dropped to 77lb = 35kg. It was necessary to force feed her to increase her body?s weight and she was given limited psychological help.
I put her on a course of analysis again using hypnosis and after some four or five sessions Julie started to recall bits of a conversation at the kitchen table when she was 13 years old, which, caused alarm bells to ring in my head. During the seventh session she recalled that she was a bit on the chubby side, ?puppy fat? it used to be called and was ?stuffing her face? with some, less than healthy food, when her Father came in. He noticed what she was doing and became very angry with her. It needs to be said at this point that Julie was a healthy 13 year old and very pretty and, what is more, her father?s ?little princess?. In his anger he shouted at her, ?How can you expect anyone to love you when you are so fat? You will make yourself unlovable.? This outburst upset her but no more than was to be expected.
During the next session Julie suddenly became extremely emotional and was in some distress. Eventually she started to recall that her mother had entered her bedroom early in the morning and asked her if she had seen her father, to which she replied that she had not. Her mother then asked if she would go and look for him, as she needed to prepare breakfast. Julie searched the house to no avail and then went out into the garden. She couldn?t find him there so went to the garage to look. On opening the garage door she immediately saw her father, hanging by the neck from a roof joist, dead. She was staring at her dead father who had hanged himself because of her. She ?just knew? she had killed him because she was so fat and unlovable. He had killed himself because she was so fat that he couldn?t love her anymore.
Is it so surprising that this poor child developed an eating disorder?
This memory had been repressed by her subconscious to protect her and although the family knew of it they didn?t discuss it and even if they had Julie would never have realised it?s significance.
When last I saw Julie she was 20 years old and full of life with absolutely no eating problem whatsoever.

Case 3.
This involves a man of 50 years of age who came to see me about a lack of confidence. During the course of hypnoanalysis he revealed that he had suffered great difficulties when dealing with the opposite sex from early childhood right through to the present day. These difficulties were not catastrophic but had made mixing with girls and eventually women, problematic to him. During about the fifth or sixth session John, as I will call him, revealed that he had been sent to spend the day with his mother?s friend. This woman had four daughters ranging from three years older than him to three years his junior, he was at the time 9 years old. During the course of the day their mother went out shopping and left the children at home to play. Well play they did, at least the girls did and what they played with was John. They forced him on to the sofa and took his trousers off along with his pants and started to play with his penis. They also poked fun at him and it and told him how their mother said that boys and men were no good and that they should all be put down and that only girls and women were worth anything. John, not surprisingly, became extremely upset and emotional as he recalled this experience.
Eventually they allowed him to dress himself to the tune of their continued verbal abuse and in time the mother returned. John was collected by his own mother at the appointed time and went home. During the short journey he was somewhat quiet and subdued to such an extent that when they arrived home his mother asked what was wrong with him. He started to explain to his mother all that had taken place but before he had told half the tale his mother became angry and told him that if he was going to try and make trouble between her, his father and her friend he could get out, leave the house. She would not stand for it.
Who?s surprised that John had a problem with the ?fair sex?.
John?s subconscious mind had repressed this experience to protect him but had made him feel very uncomfortable in the company of girls and women for the rest of his life up until coming to see me. After the catharsis brought about by analysis, the realisation and reassessment of events in the light of adult knowledge and reasoned thought he was feeling very much better in his relationships with the opposite sex but he still had a lot of learning to do. I recall that one of the first things he said after returning to full awareness was, ?I wish they would do that to me now. Things would definitely be very different.?
John did have one other problem to sort out and that was to confront his now ageing mother with regard to her part in the events of so long ago. She did eventually admit that she had handled it badly and that she knew something had happened but couldn?t possible confront her friend, especially as she was well aware of her opinion of the male sex. This confrontation was beneficial for John and his mother but it is not always advisable.
You, the reader may see little or no relevance in these cases to your own situation. Certainly it is unlikely that your problems will be caused by the same experiences but you would be surprised at how powerful your subconscious is and the lengths to which it will go to protect you from those hurtful emotional events in your young life.
Hypnoanalysis gives you a most wonderful insight into why and how you behave as you do and it is never too late to make the change.
If what you are doing and have always done doesn?t work then do something different. To enable you to achieve that state of difference you need to find out what it is that controls your subconscious behaviour.
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8.
HYPNOTHERAPY for CHILDREN
By David Heard-Smith D.H.P.

For those of you who have read any of my previous articles on the subject of hypnotherapy you will know well enough that our psychological and emotional problems are put in place in the first eight to ten years of our lives. The longer these neuroses have been in place the more entrenched they become, ?I always do that? or ?That?s how I am.? Well, it need not have been that way! There was no real need for you to have struggled with a lack of confidence or low self-esteem. Phobias, bad tempers, compulsive habits, migraine, allergies and so many difficulties, both psychological or physical, need not have caused you so much stress, worry, ill health or habitually choosing the wrong partners. Eating disorders, forever fighting the fat, smoking or excessive alcohol consumption would not have been a constant part of your life.
To be free of these difficulties you have to undergo hypnoanalysis to find the cause and correct the situation but for your children this need not be the case.
Within the range of skills possessed and mastered by a good hypnoanalyst there should be a gentle and successful technique particularly developed for use with children. The technique that I employ, was invented by an excellent practitioner and teacher, some twenty five years ago and its use has helped thousands of children to develop into well balanced adults ever since. Sadly, the only way you can get this particular help for your children is through a hypnotherapist trained in its use. Luckily for you and your children this treatment is available here in Cyprus.
During the emotional gauntlet of growing up a child is subjected to many experiences and emotions that are of a very powerful nature. Hopefully the great majority will be of a positive nature but there will be some that have an extremely negative effect on the forming mind of the child. Occasionally, depending on the kind of experiences the mother is subjected to during pregnancy, a neurosis can even be instigated whilst the child is in the womb. Parents, teachers, religious authorities, government, society, bullies, siblings, accidental events, swimming pools and so many other people and activities can be responsible for extreme emotional upset in children.
Children are excellent subjects for hypnosis; they enjoy it and accept it without the stupid qualms and prejudices that so many adults express. If I were to take a class of 11-12 year olds through the procedure then you would see a lot of emotion being discharged in that classroom and the children would be the most rational, logical, straightforward, uncomplicated and nice people you will ever meet in later life. Think how that would reduce the costs to the Health Services but then consider how much it would reduce the profits of those who manufacture diazepam (Valium) and anti depressants!
The technique is designed to be used as a one-session therapy employing hypnosis to remove obstacles to adolescent development so that the adolescent can progress to be the best possible person they could be without the intervention of fate.
This technique requires the attendance of one or, preferably, both parents with their child. This provides obvious security to the child, safeguards the therapist and allows the parents to be a part of the procedure and they frequently experience great benefit themselves. The technique is particularly useful for both general and specific problems amongst which I list bedwetting, (enuresis) which is probably the most common with children, stuttering, school phobias, general misbehaviour and so on. Amongst the specific problems I would list night terrors, eczema, psoriasis, the effects of abuse, either sexual or other, some allergies and many other psychologically based problems, for which the general medical treatment would include, powerful chemical substances complete with their appalling side effects and lack of success.
I limit this treatment to children from early school age to sixteen and do insist on full and enthusiastic parental involvement. From the upper age limit onward it would be necessary to employ the normal analysis method except where a slightly older teenager is particularly immature.
It is useful if we attempt to realistically understand the awful levels of stress placed upon children in modern times and not least amongst the stress causing problems is the lack of parental, school and social discipline which confuses the child by virtue of the fact that no proper boundaries or parameters are set as to how they must behave. The conflicting and inconsistent level of behaviour by parents, in particular, for whatever reasons, confuses young minds. The powerfully unsettling influence applied by peer and commercial pressure along with the inability of the child to differentiate between real life behaviour and the examples impressed on them by television and computer game playing.
Children must be treated by society as children and not as diminutive adults because their minds and bodies are insufficiently developed to enable them to cope with the pressure and responsibility applied to them. They find it very difficult, if not impossible, to cope with warring or drunken parents. Parental infidelity confuses the young mind and the frequent culture of lying that is involved with this parental life style is certainly going to teach the child that telling the truth is something you just do not do. Why? Mummy said not to tell Daddy or visa versa. There cannot be anything worse in life than trying to deal with a pathological liar as a child and then adult. The latchkey child suffers from insecurity because it needs to have at least one of its parents there for them at the end of the school day. Sadly, today?s parents are yesterday?s children and bring their acquired neuroses into their adult and parenting life.
Life is difficult in this day and age because it is so insecure. There is so much more that we all must have but really cannot afford. We are aware of all our many rights and demand them freely but of course there is no such thing in life as ?your rights?. No woman has the ?right? to have a child. No man has the ?right? to have a job. Nobody has the ??right to a roof over their head or food on their table. All these things have to be earned or achieved. There is, I believe, one exception to this and that is that anyone who becomes a parent has the right to care for their child to the best of their ability and likewise any child has the right to expect their parents to do their very best on their behalf. This means to look after them and give the very best start to life possible. This does not mean ?designer trainers? and the like. It means to be fed and watered and protected from the dangers of life. It means good education in all its aspects, not just the three Rs but how to be a proper and well developed human being and this means to be as free as possible from the effects of the many psychologically damaging emotional experiences that can strike a child at any time.
There is nobody in society who has escaped the traumas that cause neuroses. There are millions who can see that this statement applies to everyone else but, of course, they are ?alright?. There are a few million, right across the range of society, who have been fortunate enough to become aware of the help available and taken advantage of it.
It is beholden upon loving and caring parents to ensure children are able to enjoy this distinct advantage before they are forced to join that big, difficult and sometimes very dangerous adult world.
Hypnotherapy has been apart of conventional medicine for a very long time. It has fallen into disuse by doctors over the years in favour of chemical drugs. They are very useful and successful in many situations and have the advantage of enabling the doctor to spend as little time with a patient as possible. They are wonderful in many cases for masking the symptoms rather than affecting a cure and surely that is all the patient is worth. Why cure them if we can just make them believe they are not suffering? If your mind and body was fortunate to be treated as well as a Formula 1 racing car there would be few problems but unfortunately that is not the case. You would have no difficulty taking your pulled muscle to the physiotherapist for treatment so what is the problem with taking the most important part of yourself, your subconscious mind to a psychotherapist using the direct link of hypnosis?
Your children will be well served for the rest of their lives by a visit to your local, properly trained and experienced hypnotherapist / hypnoanalyst.
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9.
HYPNOTHERAPY for ALCOHOLICS
By David Heard-Smith D.H.P.

When is an alcoholic no longer an alcoholic? After he/she has undergone a successful Hypnoanalysis! This is true for 75% 0f sufferers!
Cyprus is not a good place for alcoholics!

Alcohol is a part of most people?s lives and has been so for eons of time. In itself, to the majority, this is perfectly acceptable with the exception of those people who suffer from a religious or psychological aversion to ?drink?. These people will suffer from their personal neurosis, as must we all, including the alcoholic, until they decide to get help.
There are, I believe, many misconceptions with regard to alcohol, its effects and those who are labelled alcoholics.
It is a proven truth that a reasonable quantity of alcohol per day is good for the person. It has medical benefits, at least it did at the time of writing, whereas, not so long ago it was not considered to be good for anyone. We all know how frequently the medical researchers reverse their findings. It?s a very sociable pastime, helps to lower one?s inhibitions and enables people to relax. Having said that, it is quite obvious to all but a fool, there are many dangers attached to the excessive consumption of alcohol.
In this article I wish to concern myself with those people who have become alcoholics and those who are currently suffering from the effects of having an alcoholic parent, sibling, partner or friend whether dead or alive. I will endeavour to offer information that will enable such people to understand why some people become alcoholics and others do not and at the same time make them aware of what can be done to help.
An alcoholic is a person who is allergic and addicted to alcohol just as others are allergic and addicted to many other types of drugs including heroin, some medically prescribed drugs, caffeine and so many more. There seems to be an unreasonable chart of acceptable and unacceptable addictions in accordance with which many people sit in judgement over the sufferer. This judgement is unfair, cruel and unhelpful and normally exercised by people ignorant of the facts or suffering from a ?holier than thou? mentality, stones and glasshouses spring to mind. Even many who basically understand the problems are guilty at times of peering down their nose at drunks and drug abusers.
It is, of course, simple to avoid. Don?t imbibe or in anyway sample any drug. There is one problem with this. Apart from the obvious, such as heroin, crack cocaine etc. how do you know what substance will have a severe adverse effect on you? Well in truth, you don?t have a clue. How much chocolate do you need to eat before you become addicted and allergic to it? Lets face it, if you find that chocolate makes you feel better and that whenever you are emotionally stressed or upset you resort to taking chocolate then you are addicted and allergic to it and will certainly be in danger of becoming adversely affected by it!
Practically all that I write from here on can be equally applied to all addictions and allergies but I will concentrate on alcoholics.
Some people have an addictive personality, which, simply, means that there is a gene or two in their personal make up which inclines them toward becoming addicted to something or other. We can blame our genes for nearly everything these days. This inclination can be inherited or not, it really doesn?t matter. If you have it then you are in danger. You do not need to be inclined in this way to become addicted though. It can happen to anyone, especially if you consume something to excess over a long period of time. The best example is surely ?mine host? who is expected to drink with his customers when asked. It?s good for business and encourages his customers to see him or her as a friend but little account is taken of the fact that for them it is every day rather than a couple of times a week.
A person becomes an alcoholic because they drink far too much alcohol for their personal physiology. It?s that simple! The really important thing is why! Before they became alcoholics these people like everyone else could have a drink or three with their friends or solo and go home drunk. They would wake up with or without a hangover and invariably remember most of what they did the night before. They could visit a pub or the like and have a single drink then pop out and go about their business. They could ?feel? like a drink but they didn?t ?need? a drink. If they drank at home it would only be a couple of cans or glasses of wine, this is not a problem. Then slowly a subtle change begins to overtake them and they find themselves needing a drink and the amount starts to increase, usually quite slowly. They are becoming addicted to alcohol. Then, perhaps, they start to find that they are unable to remember all that occurred or was said during the session and thereafter.
Slowly they may find that people close to them become a little critical of their new drinking habits and the drinker becomes irritated by this criticism. After a while the drinker becomes a little secretive and then more quickly things start to become worse. Suddenly we find that the drinker starts to experience behaviour changes when they have imbibed just one or two drinks. They have now become allergic to alcohol and addiction is close on the horizon.
It is well known to experienced analytical hypnotherapists that most allergic reactions are caused by an emotional trigger though, in general, the medical world do not see it as such. I have no intention of joining an argument over this because my experience has shown it to be true. Whether it can be proven in laboratory tests or not is outside of my remit and I doubt you would ever achieve sufficient really successful analysis?s under such conditions, I make my judgement in the same way as other analysts, by results.
The alcoholic who wishes to beat the illness can do no better than to find a suitably trained hypnoanalyst and go through the process of analysis until the emotional trauma that lies at the heart of the problem is found and dealt with to produce the catharsis necessary to free the person from the allergy.
Probably the biggest problem is to persuade the alcoholic to admit that they have a problem and then to agree that they are unable to handle it by themselves and to seek assistance. They are rarely likely to volunteer for this course of action as they are desperately endeavouring to hide it from all and sundry and convince themselves that they do not have such a problem. The fact that society, that?s the rest of us, is, generally, unwilling to see alcoholics as people suffering from an illness but instead look down their collective noses at the sufferers, especially those who are themselves alcoholics, does not help the situation. The G.P. as a rule, through no fault of their own, will be of little or no help here and their close family are angry, frustrated and emotionally to upset to be of any help either and the sufferer will probably see them as a threat even if they are understanding. Where then, does an alcoholic turn for help? If they are wealthy enough and can afford to book themselves into a specialist clinic then they may be provided with help but from what I see of it this help does not last for long. Soon they are back in the clinic or give up completely and remain a drunk. Occasionally an alcoholic will ?find religion? and suffer the emotional torment of the great battle between booze and God. Frequently they will fall by the wayside and have to suffer the almighty guilt that accompanies this failure. In general they will not find understanding in the company of those around them with the exception perhaps of one or two and an occasional understanding vicar. They will certainly not find a comfortable and effective cure with happiness, confidence and self-respect. A cure! I hear you chorus. You cannot be cured of alcoholism. You can only be a recovering alcoholic for the rest of your life. Is that so? Well if you remove the trauma that caused the person to become addicted and allergic to alcohol in the first place and by so doing cure the allergy then by definition the addiction element is also removed. Of course, this statement flies in the face of every diagnosis known to medical science and thinking, well that has happened before and proved, in time, to be correct. My experience has proved to me that an alcoholic who has put themselves through the experience of, and successfully completed, a course of psychoanalysis, conducted under hypnosis, is more than able to return to social drinking without behaving differently to those who would class themselves as normal people. This applies only to those who have not sustained irreversible damage to internal organs to such an extent that more alcohol will induce a fatal breakdown of that organ.
I have digressed from the point I am discussing which is, where does an alcoholic turn? What is left? Alcoholics Anonymous of course! This is a local group of alcoholics who endeavour, without criticism, to support each other in the battle to remain a non-drinker of alcohol. When a member of their community falls off the wagon they are there to help and support that person to climb back aboard it. They talk to each other about the horrors that have afflicted them due to the extreme consumption of alcohol. They do not criticize. They applaud the bravery that each shows by standing there and confessing these most awful events and experiences that have occurred to each and every one of them and through which many have lost family, loved ones, friends, jobs, homes, self respect, health and income. They build a mutual respect for each other and through this respect and understanding they are able to act as a collective crutch to each other. There has to be a better way to help these brave suffers, to enable them to cast aside that crutch and I believe there is a way. I believe, no, I know that hypnoanalysis is able to offer a way to find and root out that powerful experience, that severe emotional trauma that is the original cause of their individual problem or problems. The sufferer will have no recollection of the event and emotion because the subconscious will have repressed it to protect the person and enable them to continue to live a life as best they can. Frequently this life will be, on the face of it, a very successful life but the sufferer will certainly live it at considerable cost to their wellbeing.
I make no claim that I, or any hypnotherapist, can cure anyone. I do claim that a good hypnoanalyst can help a victim of alcohol abuse, whether they suffer first hand or second hand, to find the cause of their problem and guide them to effect the cure for themselves. I do not claim that by so doing any physical or mental damage can be repaired. I do not claim that this treatment is efficacious in every case. I do state categorically that a person must be sober when the analysis is taking place. I am willing to speak with anyone or any group, free of charge, which is genuinely interested in knowing more about this therapy or investing in their future by undergoing such treatment.
Article Index

10.
VALUE VERSES WORTH
By David Heard-Smith D.H.P.

Much has been and is still being said about how much we value ourselves and what we consider to be our self worth. This subject stands as the ?root cause? of practically all of our psychological, emotional and behavioural problems along with our automatic reactions to just about everything. So many people consider themselves to be worthless! A large percentage of these people will insist to the larger world that they are worthy but in private they hold a very different opinion of themselves. Very often this is a deeply buried evaluation and only rarely do they admit it to themselves and this, normally, occurs when they are depressed, upset or things are getting on top of them. One of our most powerfully disabling traits is Self Denial and this blinds us to the true picture of ?what we truly can be? and ensures that we stay as we are.
Recently I have experienced two very good, worthy and hard working clients who have failed to complete their therapy because of this very factor coupled with a great fear of what they may come to know about themselves. This fear has now ensured that they will, probably, never be at peace with who they are, never allow them to overcome their personal problem and continue to enact a powerful controlling influence over them from within but which is entirely beyond their own control. They do not consider that they are worthy of being truly and deeply happy with their life, health and achievements. They have succumbed to the power of fear, though they have absolutely no knowledge of what they are frightened of. What a very common human condition! Whatever happened to them in their childhood has already happened and cannot happen again but they, as adults, are consumed with this unknown fear that they allow to perpetuate their condition. Voltaire said that, ?Common sense is not so common?, how right he was. Albert Einstein and Franklin D. Roosevelt both offer a version of another true saying, which, in its bastardised form, states that, ?If what you are doing doesn?t work then do something different.?
The cause of this low self esteem is always embedded in the subconscious mind at a very early age and the extremely powerful experience coupled with an intensity of emotion is more often than not of little importance to the adult mind. The subconscious is childlike in its assessment of experiences based on feelings and emotions without the advantages of the adult ability of judgement. When the cause is serious, the adult mind is able to rationalise the event and deal with the emotions involved through educated and assisted evaluation processes aided by the therapist. Any anger, grief, frustration, conditioning or other emotion involved will be neutralized by the client as they work through it with the therapist to achieve a truly enlightened condition. The whole process is totally confidential and within a surprisingly short period of time the client is free from its previously powerful effects. The experience will control the victim all the way to the grave unless it is dealt with properly.
All of us have the ?absolute right? to be the best person we can be for our own benefit. We owe it to ourselves to be ?selfish?. If we do not take care of ourselves then we will be of no ?bloody use? to anyone and conversely, if we function at our very best then we are able to be most effective in whatever we put our hands and minds to. Just by being comfortable with whom we are and loving ourselves is guaranteed to induce comfort and hope in others. Many people invest a great amount of energy in religion and enable the Almighty with the power to achieve all things. What a wonderful ?cop out? that is. Blaming whichever deity you support for everything that happens in your life, right or wrong. ?He? must get truly fed up to the back teeth with that whimpish behaviour when in truth YOU are responsible for You and that is the truth of it. Stop denying that you have a problem and do something, anything different to that which you have previously done that didn?t truly work. Do you really have the right to live your life in any way but to it?s fullest. Personally, I do not believe you have that right because it is such a waste. Fix your problems and get back up on your bike. If you are able to say that you know what causes your problem and that you are able to deal with it then you are lying to yourself.
Look at yourself. Are you overweight, filled with unreasonable fears, relying on outside stimuli or drugs, allowing yourself to be controlled by others, giving way to illness, suffering deep emotional trauma or pain or perhaps you?re just a ?Can?t? person. Remember that can?t is not actually a word but as most people use it more than any other word it is best to know what is meant when you use it. It means either ?I do not know how? or ?I do not want to?. Well the first is easy to fix, just ?Learn? how! The second is, even, more simple to deal with, just admit you do not want to do it and to hell with those who are trying to make you do what they want you to do. That could as easily as not include me.
It is a wonderful feeling to know that you really understand and know yourself. To know why you do things in the way you do and to know for certain why you react to different things in the way you do. Whether this state is completely achievable I am unsure but I do believe you can get to within ninety five percent of your goal with considerable ease. All you need to do is to stop denying you have problems, admit that you want life to be better in the future, decide what that is truly worth to you and then go and get it fixed. Remember that each and every one of you is a miracle of evolution and Mother Nature?s grand efforts from shortly before the moment of conception right up until now. You are unique but unfortunately damaged by the experiences of life, most of which can be reversed or corrected, a bit like an old car that has come into the hands of a good mechanic and panel beater.
Many people profess to know the value of something but very few actually know the worth of it. This is because its worth is peculiar to the individual. When it comes to finding a treatment to help them overcome their problem a value is placed upon it. The practitioner values their time and knowledge and levies a charge. You, the sufferer must consider if the benefits make the treatment worth it to you. This consideration will be based on how much you value yourself. If you were making this consideration in respect of your child it is likely that you would place a greater value on the child?s life than your own but is that right. Your worth to that child is inestimable. If you therefore add the child?s worth to your own then we have a very high value commodity in you. With this in mind, whilst selecting a treatment that will fix your problem, you have to throw out the idea of going along with the cheapest or easiest and concentrate on the one that is most likely to work. The fancier the trappings and equipment the more expensive as a rule, it all has to be paid for. The likelihood of it working is also worth assessing. You know that all the problems mentioned above and so many more are caused by your own subconscious mind so it is reasonable to assume that it is that same powerhouse that is best suited to make amends and invoke the changes necessary for your cure and recovery. Even the most closed minded amongst you know full well a drug will only mask the symptom for a short period of time and that the problem will return with a vengeance.
Article Index

11.
PROBLEMS WITH SEXUAL DYSFUNCTION
By David Heard-Smith D.H.P.

INHIBITED OR REPRESSED SEXUALITY PRODUCES ANXIETY!
ANXIETY PRODUCES INHIBITED OR REPRESSED SEXUALITY!
This is a well known fact within the realms of all forms of psychological therapy though many therapists have trouble dealing with the subject.
Sexual activity for pleasure within the animal world is peculiar to dolphins and human beings and during the greater part of the nineteenth and early twentieth century men and women in general did not believe that women were capable of enjoying sexual intercourse. Men didn?t know that women could enjoy or even achieve an orgasm nor did they have any idea how to help a woman to experience one. It is questionable that they even cared. Women were equally ignorant with regard to their sexual abilities. It wasn?t until Marie Stopes, a campaigner for women's rights and a pioneer in the field of family planning, wrote her first book ?Married Love?, published in 1918 that people began to take an interest in the subject.
Marie Stopes? first marriage was annulled in 1914 due to her husband?s impotence. Her reading on the subject prompted her to put pen to paper. The book was condemned by churches, the medical establishment and the press but was still very popular, selling 2000 copies within a fortnight.
In 1921, Stopes opened a family planning clinic in Holloway, North London, the first in the country. It offered a free service to married women and also gathered data about contraception. The Catholic Church was Stopes' fiercest critic. In 1923, Stopes sued Catholic doctor Halliday Sutherland for libel. She lost, won at appeal and then lost in the House of Lords, note how the men and the establishment stuck together. What?s new? The case generated huge publicity for Stopes' views and thus started the sexual revolution. Those of you who think you kicked it off in the sixties are sorely misguided.
There is today, much said and written about the female orgasm and how many or what kind women should strive for but sadly, remarkably few actually achieve a truly satisfying sex life as my twenty years in private practice clearly shows. This can be due to medical reasons in a small percentage but by far the greater majority of problems in this field are caused by psychological difficulties along with problems in their relationships with men, unsuitable environmental situations and male ignorance or egos. Casanova was a user!
Stopes confined her views to married couples and completely ignored single people; in fact, she was ardently against any form of pre or extra marital sex. This meant, of course, that a very large proportion of the population was left in a state of frustration and anguish.
Within our collective subconsciouses certain major functions are held for the very existence of the human species. These are: our memories, feelings, emotions and our basic instincts.
Of all these, the basic instincts are the most important as it is they that aid our survival. The most powerful of these basic instincts is that of procreation for the purpose of the continuance of the species. Like it or not we are animals. Nothing more or less. This fact is beyond question. We are animals of the species, Homo sapiens. We were not born to be Rocket Scientists, Brain Surgeons, Archbishops or Bus Drivers but simply to produce more Homo sapiens.
Anyone dealing with reality in a rational manner knows full well that this has absolutely nothing to do with GOD. It is to do with the Evolution of the planet and its natural life forms. God is to do with an absolute and blind belief of faith designed to control the masses through fear, check the history. The degree of indoctrination of the species by parents, teachers and priests during that vulnerable period of early childhood or whilst severely debilitated through emotional stress and crisis is truly amazing. Before the fairy tales, Homo sapiens, worshipped, through the inherent superstition and fear steeped in his psyche, sensible and important deities such as the sun, rain, wind etc. useful, necessary and extremely important essentials to the continuance of life. They also worshipped fertility, especially the future production of crops, resources and new life. This was a satisfactory and intelligent basis for worship or belief because it was directed at the realities of life, at the continuance of life in all its forms. This is, of course, now denigrated as Pagan worship (even the word Pagan is misconstrued as it means a Minority religion) but it satisfied the premier basic instinct of the species. Since the virtual outlawing of such beliefs and the belittling of this deepest function of our reality much internal conflict has been caused and supported entirely due to the denial of the species? basic and instinctive natural needs.
From the moment of your birth you have been indoctrinated by society, religion and your parents, who were themselves so taught and indoctrinated, that sex and sexual activity is liken unto the ?original sin?. It is permitted only for producing children under the strictest of circumstances for the purpose of increasing the membership of the particular religion to which you were compulsory enrolled. Clearly, any right minded person would immediately question this situation or would they? Yes, on the face of it and in view of the, now, very large percentage of single parent families this restriction is no longer recognised but society, government and religion still quietly frown upon the perpetrators. Indoctrination is a most powerful tool for total control.
It is obvious to me that any deity, should such a thing possibly exist, would never give the new child all the feelings and instincts of their sexual functions and compulsions if it did not intend for it to be used. It would not arrange through natural development that such conflict be caused due to the completion of the process of puberty and the age of consent, set by the powers that be. Clearly, they would be coordinated. The interference of past power mongers, priests, is obvious. Why? Control! If you look at the behaviour of every other animal on this planet you will notice that no such conflict exists.
These indelible misrepresentations of the natural truth to which our basic instincts adhered cause a considerable conflict within the subconscious part of our minds. This subconscious mind is responsible for our entire well being and healthy function and any thinking person would immediately realise a conflict is bound to cause anxiety and unrest within the person. No matter how deeply devoted to religion the person is, the natural instincts will cause untold problems when denied.
Further to the causes above, life produces more problems for the child whilst growing up. They are frequently subjected to forceful verbal and physical abuse when they are discovered masturbating, a perfectly natural and instinctive act, which, even in this day and age, is gravely frowned upon. To the child there is absolutely nothing wrong with this behaviour he/she doesn?t even know about sex or sexual activity yet. All they understand is that it feels very nice and makes them feel good. Just as it felt when Mum or Dad towelled them off after a bath. Do you remember how they giggled and smiled? Now, suddenly, this is the cause of a whole heap of trouble being brought down upon their heads. Why? Because the unthinking or indoctrinated parents believe it to be bad even though they often did and probably still do enjoy an occasional act of self stimulation or is it really self abuse? Remember the trouble you found yourself in and your children still do when indulging in that age old game of ?You show me yours and I?ll show you mine.? How else are they going to learn the difference between the genders? In times past people used to go about naked, many still do. They have few problems with perversion in those societies. Everyone knows what the male and female look like when free of all the weird attire they wrap themselves in and its normality induces an acceptance. Certainly climatic conditions require clothing for the protection from the cold and heat but it is the puritanical hypocrisy of the attitude to the human body that causes so much trouble. In those areas where sexual relations between ?married? couples occur naturally within the hut or tent it only serves to educate the children to its normality and insignificances within the normal life. The next problem for the child might well be having a father, uncle or brother who finds themselves unable to resist interfering sexually with the small child, male or female. The mother, aunty or sister is frequently as guilty of this sexual interference as are the males. Of course it is not appropriate, especially amongst women, to consider that one of their own gender could possibly be involved in such terrible deeds but, alas, a very high proportion are guilty. More than you would think.
Then of course we have the situation where a child stumbles upon its parents, having passionate intercourse of a sexual nature instead of the normal passionate and violent argument. What a shock to the system this experience is! The father is pounding up and down on the mother and both are making very strange animal like noises. Mother may well be waving her arms and legs about and shaking her head. What is daddy doing to my mum? He is hurting her. Beating her. She is in pain. Well, to the unaware child, practically every part of sexual intercourse appears to be a most violent action and with the appropriate sound effects confusion, fear and guilt are very real emotions to the child. Remember that one of the biggest problems with abuse is that the child usually feels guilty because it is their fault. Why? Because the adults are always right. They never do wrong things, or so they cause the child to believe.
I could give many more examples but I suspect that if you haven?t got the picture by now you are clearly in denial. So what is there to be done about this mess? Well, what we have is a child who has developed a neurosis because of the over powerful emotional reaction to an experience that they are ill equipped to understand. They have developed an inhibition or repression to their sexuality, which is absolutely bound to affect their wellbeing and emotional comfort. It will cause anxiety and stress. Life requires them to have sexual relationships, they feel compelled to do so by their most basic instinct but the dis-ease they experienced inhibits their behaviour and enjoyment. Sometimes they force themselves to over compensate and become overly sexually active. Other times they find it very difficult to have anything to do with sexual activity other than that which is forced upon them. Many women find it impossible to achieve an orgasm by either penetrative sexual activity or masturbation and some by one or the other but not both. Many men have a lot of trouble achieving an erection or maintaining one. They are often mortified by premature ejaculation. Their egos, which are fragile enough, can be severely damaged which in turn can produce a serious change for the worse in their behaviour patterns. Anger and violence ensues in an attempt to reinforce the damaged ego. Much the same sort of thing can and does happen in the female but this is normally blamed on the male or some other cause. Humiliation of sexual partners who fail to bring about the required result is another way of setting in place a sexual dysfunction. It is amazing just how downright cruel both women and men can be to each other. I have often thought that there exists a great deal of fear and almost hatred between the two genders but, generally, at some point they cannot do without each other. This should not be a surprise as it is natures? intention that they fulfil their basic and animal instinct to procreate. Your most powerful basic instinct firmly implanted in your subconscious mind during the foetal stage of life is to procreate. Your only purpose on earth is to continue the species. Ouch! Sorry but it is true. It is also a true fact of life that many psychological problems evolve due to this problem with the conflict in the mind between natural behaviour and teachings or indoctrination. Acute depression, poor sleep, migraine, vaginismus, premature ejaculation, erectile dysfunction, nightmares, promiscuity, seeking abusive partners both male and female, enuresis (bedwetting), psychologically based homosexuality as against genetically caused homosexuality, anger, misogyny, male-hatred and so very many more illnesses and conditions can be laid at the altar of sexual abuse. The problem with sexual abuse is the shame, guilt and fear. The denial that you could possibly have experienced that sort of thing at the hands of someone who was supposed to love and protect you is powerfully damaging. Sometimes the blame that?s placed on the other carer for not protecting the child can be more powerful than the blame on the abuser. The only truth in the whole horrible business is that it is not the fault of the abused and very often it is the fault of the way society and religion have interfered with the natural instinctive behaviour of the species homo sapiens. The rigid beliefs and practices within the family and community along with the powerful concerns of what other people think of you are indicative of the critical lack of self confidence and assurance of most of the human race. Even, no especially, those so obviously overconfident can suffer the most. To over-compensate is par for the course in human nature.
What can be done to help those sufferers of known or unknown abuses that result in a sexual dysfunction of one sort or another?
A great deal can be done to alleviate the effects of abuse and this can be done safely, comfortably and, importantly, without the apportioning of blame which merely causes more conflict. After an initial consultation to determine the known facts and existing problematic symptoms, an analysis is conducted under the influence of hypnosis. This takes approximately six to eight hours over a period of a like number of weeks. The result of this analysis is to allow the adult to re-visit the experience of their childhood, about which they have little or no knowledge, and re-access the whole experience with the knowledge and experience of an adult rather than of the pre-ten year old child. The emotional content of the experience will also be re-experienced but this time within the safety of the controlling environment of analysis. The result of this psychological healing is that you no longer suffer the effects of the neurosis or neuroses that have hitherto affected your life in a negative way. Your major problems are resolved and you have the freedom to live a very much more satisfactory life than was previously possible. Other tools are available to help people come to terms with this new freedom and all this will be discussed and thoroughly dealt with at your Initial Consultation.
Clearly this particular type of problem is only one of the many that can be resolved by the use of analysis or other procedures and there is absolutely no reason why anyone should not telephone to find out how they might be helped with their own particular problem. Remember that your subconscious mind controls every function of your being however vigorously you may deny it. It is the most powerful force you will ever come into contact with in your life.
Please be clear that I do not practise eclectic therapies but only pure hypnotherapy procedures.
Article Index

12.
EATING DISORDERS - Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia, Obesity and Over Weight.
By David Heard-Smith D.H.P.

Each of the above conditions are caused by a psychological problem or neurosis and require the correct treatment to enable the sufferer to enjoy a proper and normal state of good health, emotional peace, self respect, self love, correct body mass and self confidence.
Each of the above conditions is extremely dangerous to the individual and will lead to unhappiness, depression, ill health, physical damage and death.
Anyone who suffers from one of these disorders, would, if they told the truth, just love the idea of having a magic wand waved over them and be free from the problem immediately. However, they rarely tell the truth!
The sufferer generally denies there is a problem and pretence of contentment and acceptance is displayed to the outside world, ?Big is beautiful?, ?I?m happy being fat?, ?It?s hereditary? or ?I?m fat and need to lose weight?. Rubbish, a load of old tosh! The truth is that these disorders are anything but acceptable and cause intense suffering to the individual involved. The victims are being controlled by something within their own subconscious but entirely beyond their control. Self-denial is the victim?s greatest ally and, tragically, their worst enemy.
Anorexia and Bulimia are absolutely caused and founded on an abuse of one sort or another, which occurred in the early, formative years of their life. This abuse may have been caused by a second party or, as is often the case, by the sufferer themselves.
Obesity is caused by either an abuse or learned response. Allowing oneself to be overweight can be due to abuse, learned response, self-neglect, and/or lack of self-respect or a reaction set in place at a very early age. Whatever the cause the sufferer is in deep but unrecognised emotional pain. A very small percentage of people, comparatively, are unhealthily skinny or fat due to a physical health problem. The great majority become as they are due to psychological problems and these can be put right. Wonderful! Well it would be if the poor souls could only admit to themselves that they have a problem and seek help. Sadly they rarely do seek help, well, they just don?t think they?re really worth it, do they?
If a child is abused sexually then the subconscious will often try to protect it by inducing compulsory or comfort eating habits until it becomes fat and, lets face it, if your are fat you will certainly be less attractive. The protection mechanism is now in place. If a dearly loved person upsets a child by causing emotional abuse, probably unintentionally, through a thoughtless remark about their chubbiness and then dies in an accident or vanishes from their life shortly after or something similar, the child will react irrationally and do all in their power to lose weight. The child just knows that they are the cause of the upset because, quite simply, they are too fat.
The subconscious functions according to how things feel physically and emotionally and is not capable of rational thought or criticism. The subconscious mind is the most powerful force you will ever encounter in your life. The conscious mind is entirely impotent when it comes to dealing with neuroses.
Deep emotional pain is invariably the cause of weight and eating problems. The fatty is suffering a really intense emotional pain but is unlikely to be aware of the true cause of that pain. They do not need sympathy or pity they need genuine professional help and that does not include a variety of different dietary changes. There is absolutely no point embarking on reduction diets or some form of fad diet that happens to be in fashion at the time until the sufferer deals with the psychological problem driving the disorder. The diet industry is guilty of imposing it?s own kind of abuse on people desperately seeking to lose weight. It is criminal but of course driven by the great God Mammon. People suffering from being overweight spend and waste a fortune attempting to achieve their goal by dietary remedies, without clearing their subconscious mind of the repressed and powerful emotional hurt that drives their condition. Do not look to the diet industry for help though. They are making a fortune out of the fatty?s suffering and rubbing their hands together all the way to the bank. Get rid of the neurosis and you will lose weight naturally. Get rid of the neurosis and you will cure yourself of the eating disorders and the inappropriate self-criticism. First, however, just like the alcoholic, the sufferer has to admit to himself or herself the truth and that is, simply, that they have a weight problem. Once they find and rationalize the problem and deal with it, they will quickly and naturally acquire healthy eating habits and subsequently gain or lose weight according to their body?s needs.
ANOREXIA NERVOSA: A life threatening nervous disorder manifested by profound aversion to food, leading to extreme emaciation. The ?typical? patient is a younger woman. Someone who is a sufferer can, rightly, be uncertain of reaching middle age and beyond. Usually she is not particularly concerned about her extreme thinness, as she believes herself to be fat and may even insist that she eats well. ?They? say that management of the condition requires explanation, encouragement to eat, hospitalisation and psychiatric help. Use something that really does work. Hypnoanalysis!
BULIMIA: Insatiable appetite, requiring enormous meals for satisfaction, usually followed by self induced vomiting. Use something that really does work. Hypnoanalysis!
OBESITY: Excessively and life threateningly fat due to continuously overeating, ingesting poor quality and fattening foods and foregoing exercise. Use something that really does work. Hypnoanalysis!
OVER WEIGHT: Being more than a stone over the ideal body weight for the height and structure of your skeleton. Having a waistline larger than your chest measurement. Experiencing mild discomfort when bending down, from a sitting position, to tie your shoelaces. Being unable to view your nether regions by simply looking down. Having a rear end the size of a bus or like a sack full of ferrets. Heavens above! You know when you?re overweight! You do not have to be like this!! Use something that really does work. Hypnoanalysis!
All these conditions will cause acute depression, along with a lack of confidence, self-respect and self-loathing.
Feel good about yourself. Feel comfortable in your clothing. Be happy and proud to look at yourself, naked, in the mirror. Be able to walk briskly upstairs. Be able to lie, prone, on the beach and watch the waves by merely lifting your head. Be able to walk about in shorts without your belly and/or breasts hanging out over your shorts and/or bra.
People are very willing to support you and help you to help yourself. They do not dislike you but dislike the way you treat yourself. People will applaud you for doing something positive about your condition and improving your appearance, your self respect, your health and life expectancy, your demeanour, your energy levels, your emotional wellbeing, your sexuality, free from depression and your renewed ability to enjoy life, love and happiness. Use something that really does work. Hypnoanalysis!
There is absolutely no reason for you to continue suffering in this way. All these conditions lend themselves, ideally, to Hypnoanalysis as a curative treatment.
Diet, quite simply means, that food which you normally eat. Going on a diet or following a diet is meaningless unless you qualify it by stating what you require the diet change to produce for you e.g., increasing bulk, energy, reducing bulk, perhaps increasing muscle or controlling cholesterol and then continuing it for the rest of your life. How many of you have forced yourself to adopt a particular diet to lose weight and then, even when it was truly successful, you stopped and returned to your previous inappropriate eating habits. What made that happen?
Using diet alone to control your weight or size will never be successful. You need to correct the neurosis or psychological problem that forces you into the situation from which you long to be free. Use something that really does work by dealing with the neurosis, that deep-seated emotional trauma from your childhood of which you are unaware, or that learned response. These neuroses are caused by a powerful emotional experience being repressed by your subconscious to protect you as a child, but are now inappropriate, and by definition you are unaware of them consciously. Give yourself a break, be kind to yourself, you deserve it so that you can be happy. Give me a call and arrange for an initial consultation, which is free of charge and obligation, from there on you can start on your revitalized life leading to self-respect, happiness and success. Relieve yourself of all the emotional baggage that you are carrying through your life of which you are unaware.
Everyone, without exception, will have acquired a neurosis of some kind before they reach their teen age, some, a number of neuroses. When that intensive and powerful emotional event occurs a part of the child?s psyche ceases progressing to maturity. The effect of that emotional experience will prohibit full maturity of the individual in some respect or another. Using Hypnoanalysis, the adult can go back to that point in their development and re-assess the experience and emotion with an adult perception and work through the situation to resolve it. Once that is done, then that cessation of the process reverts to an immediate acceleration to full adult maturity and the problem is solved.
For those amongst the readers who think I am being offensive or unkind. I can only say that what I have said is the truth. My experience over 20 years as a Hypnotherapist confirms the facts and if you choose to take the steps toward your freedom from the controlling influence within your own subconscious mind, you will be overjoyed at the new state of wellbeing that overwhelms you.
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13.
SMOKING CESSATION
By David Heard-Smith D.H.P.

The debate on smoking is at last entering the social and business elements of life in Cyprus due to the dictates of the EU. Things are going to change and those who choose to smoke will become the pariahs that they are in the UK and other countries. Personal choice is defined, seemingly, as some people having a particular view being able to dictate what other people with a differing view may or may not do.
Personally, I am of the opinion that if a person chooses to smoke then they are entirely within their rights to do so, as are those who choose to eat and drink excessively. These last two are probably more hazardous to good health and longevity and invariably caused by a neurosis.
Clearly, however, consideration should be made for other people?s comfort and wellbeing. I believe that those who profit from the patronage of smokers, drinkers and diners have some responsibility to use a little of their profits to provide reasonable air conditioning or separation to ensure their clients? comfort. Business premises should provide areas for those who wish to smoke to do so. Good sense could well be encouraged. Smokers, and this is the subject on which I write, do not, generally, like to be in smoke filled rooms anymore than non-smokers. Just as most people equally object to being in close proximity to those amongst us who allow themselves to pollute the atmosphere with their personal body odours. I have noticed that the loudest protesters to other people smoking are ex smokers who resent the fact that they no longer allow themselves to partake whilst others continue to do so. To some, smoking is offensive but no more so than a drunken non-smoker or having to watch the appalling eating habits of so many of the population.
Good sense and consideration would probably solve the problem but there is little of that to be found and vociferous fanatics amongst the ex and non-smokers really do not have the right to enforce their views upon others in an attempt to curtail their respective human right to smoke if they wish.
All that said and done, it is true to say that smoking is as likely to do a body more harm than good as is drinking and eating too much and avoiding reasonable amounts of exercise. With this in mind you will be well advised to stop smoking but only if it is by you exercising your own free will.
The medical fraternity in general will and do use every method they can to convince the populace that smoking is the cause of practically every ailment known to man even though a great many lifelong non-smokers are affected and die from these same ailments. By so doing they damage their own argument and do disservice to us all. It is more likely that most of the vices with which we dabble would be fairly harmless if that indulgence took a moderate form.
The content of tobacco smoke, particularly in cigarettes, is a noxious concoction of extremely dangerous toxins or poisons. The following lists a number of them.

What is in Tobacco Smoke?

Cigarette smoke contains 4000 chemicals amongst which are nicotine, carbon monoxide, ammonia, arsenic and tar. At least 50 of the chemicals are known to cause cancer of the throat, mouth, bladder and/or kidneys.
NICOTINE is a powerful drug that acts as a stimulant and is said to be responsible for your dependence on tobacco. It causes the release of adrenaline, which, in turn, raises the heart rate and blood pressure. Another effect is that it narrows the arteries and this is compounded by the build-up of fatty substances in the walls of the blood vessels increasing the possibility of heart attack.
CARBON MONOXIDE, a gas present in the tobacco smoke, attaches itself to the haemoglobin in the blood and thus lessens the available oxygen carrying capacity of the blood. This causes breathlessness and, over time, swelling of the airways reducing further the supply of air to the lungs.
TAR is the collective name for the many chemicals that form a thick sticky substance that coats the inside of the lungs and, in turn, increases the risk of lung cancer. Changing to low tar cigarettes does not solve this problem because the smoke is simply inhaled more deeply into the lungs.
All is not lost, however, as you can see below.

The Health Benefits of Giving Up!

There are immediate and long-term benefits to giving up smoking which are ~ after approximately; 20 minutes. Blood pressure and pulse rates return to normal and circulation in the hands and feet improves.
8 hours. Oxygen levels in the blood return to normal and the chance of experiencing a heart attack starts to fall.
24 hours. Carbon monoxide is eliminated from the body and the lungs commence clearing debris from within. This will cause a period of coughing and spitting but all in the cause of improved lung function.
48 hours Senses of both taste and smell are greatly improved and the breath smells better.
3 months Lung function increases so breathing is easier and the nagging ?smokers cough? disappears. Risk of gum disease is reduced and tooth staining starts to fade.
9 months The risk of experiencing complications during pregnancy has reduced to the level of a non-smoker. Clearly any woman intending to become pregnant should stop smoking 9 months before conception for the baby to enjoy the full benefits of having a non-smoking mother. That?s a difficult one unless you are very clever.
18 months The lungs have completely cleared to the level of a non-smoker.
5 years The probability of contracting mouth, throat and oesophageal cancer is reduced by 50%.
10 years The risk of lung cancer is reduced to half that of a non-smoker and the risk of heart attack drops to that of a lifetime non-smoker.

What is the best way to stop smoking?
Hypnotherapy has been proved to be, by far, the most successful method for Stopping Smoking. You can check the facts of this statement in WHICH Magazine and NEW SCIENTIST Magazine 2001. Both report the findings of a large and comprehensive study carried out by the University of IOWA. (Check the internet for this report.) The least successful method was found to be the help offered by the medical fraternity. Have you ever questioned why so many nurses and health professionals smoke?
The method I use approaches the subject comprehensively and is approximately 95% effective.
Using the method of hypnotic suggestion, which the subconscious will accept because you WANT to Stop Smoking, changes the way the client thinks and feels about smoking. It changes the powerful Belief System and gives Tangible Reasons to stop rather than ?nice ideas?. I will ask some probing questions before the therapy to ensure that I am not about to remove the client?s much-needed crutch. If the client suffers powerful neuroses then it would be unethical or cruel to stop them smoking until they have undergone an analysis to resolve their inner conflict. The new successful non-smoker will not experience powerful withdrawal symptoms, put on weight nor will he/she become grumpy and bad tempered.
I have said on many occasions that Hypnotherapy will only work if the client genuinely wants it to because a hypnotist is unable to make a person in hypnosis do anything that is against their will or beliefs. Please forget all the rubbish that you have read in books and seen on the television to the contrary, this is for dramatic effect. Ignore all the tales that your friends tell you about a hypnotist MAKING someone do something at a show they have witnessed or been told about. What I have stated is the truth and after 20 years of practice I believe I know more about it than your friend.
To Stop Smoking successfully and without all the reported side effects most people need help. The best method to use is Hypnotherapy but only if you genuinely WANT to STOP. What I find amazing is that so many people are prepared to pay good money for treatment to stop smoking when they really only feel that it is a good idea to stop or that, perhaps, they ought to stop. Of course they then take great delight in announcing that ?It didn?t work? or ?He couldn?t make me stop? as if it is some sort of badge of merit. The truth of the matter is that they really didn?t want to stop in the first place and refuse to take responsibility for their own actions or desires. Many other people will come for treatment but refuse to go into hypnosis and say ?I can?t do it ?. ?Can?t?, a non-existent word meaning either ?I don?t know how? or ?I don?t want to?. Everyone can enjoy hypnosis unless they are brain damaged or under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Having a ?strong mind? is no bar to this pleasurable therapy unless it is strongly against receiving help.
For those amongst you who genuinely want to stop smoking it will be successful if you use hypnotherapy. For those who do not have that ?want? it will probably fail as any method of stopping smoking will, making their life and the lives of those around them a misery.
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14.
MALE AND FEMALE ATTITUDES TO THERAPY
By David Heard-Smith D.H.P.

The different attitudes to illness, whether physical, mental or emotional, between men and women are based on their psychological differences. We are all aware of the theory that men come from Mars and women from Venus and that there is a considerable difference between the genders of species, the obvious physical differences and the less obvious mental and psychological differences. The female brain is very different from that of the male in it?s physical make up and function. This difference is based on the distinctive purposes of our existence.
It is necessary to generalize, of course, because a percentage of both genders are endowed with excessive elements of the other and society is now, often, of the opinion that females should be ?lads? and males should be ?lasses? or at least a very diluted version of their natural role. This is a ?time bomb? rumbling away and waiting to explode but that is another subject.
Apparently, according to the experts, the original split from another species that commenced the evolutionary development of present day man, occurred some three million years ago. A further change occurred between two hundred and three hundred thousand years ago, which started the development of Homo sapiens. Following this, at around sixty to seventy thousand years past, the present day version of the species came into being. In evolutionary terms this is but a ?blink of an eye? and so you and I are still endowed with the very basic instincts of pre historic man. This means that our subconscious mind is still functioning on a very basic instinctive level and as it controls every function of our being it is going to cause serious internal conflicts between how we want to behave and the behaviour that society demands. Yes, we are still animals to our very cores, even if the thought horrifies you.
In our basic instinctive subconscious mind we need to live our lives in the historic manner. Men are hunters, providers and protectors. Women are bearers of children, nurturers, homemakers and carers. When this psychological need is disturbed it causes conflict in our subconscious mind and this conflict can, and will, cause emotional and physical dis-ease along with depression.
It is common for women to criticise and belittle men by referring to them suffering from an ego problem, forgetting or denying that they suffer likewise. The ego is ?the self? and everyone has a self. If this self feels threatened then it will develop a strategy to protect itself, sometimes causing problems in doing so.
In their role as a ?man? men generally have to employ a tunnel vision attitude to events. He must concentrate on the target of the hunt or battle, whether that is a sabre-toothed tiger, a raiding party from another group of humans intent on rape and pillage, achieving promotion at work or just keeping his job. Worrying about the d飯r of the cave or cleaning up his offspring is not really of great importance to them. He must have a very strong ego and a deep conviction in his own ability and power. Total confidence in his own invincibility, strength, skills and the unwavering trust and support of those he is responsible for. To question any of these is to undermine his very existence. To accept that he is ill, injured, weak or in any way less than one hundred percent in perfect condition both mentally and physically is to weaken or destroy the very foundations of his existence. To admit he needs therapy or help of any sort, willingly seek it out and undergo whatever the therapy requires is an anathema to him. Women would do well to understand this fact of life. Likewise men would do equally as well to understand that women are the reverse.
Women, due to the roles that they are destined, by nature, to fulfil, see things in a different light and are far more inclined to consider their wellbeing as being of import. Their maternal and nurturing role requires that they be ?right? in themselves to enable them to be available to administer to those that rely on them. Their mental attitude is generally more loosely confined, enabling them to be aware of a wider field of different subjects at the same time. The new infant that they are carrying, the existing children, the cave environment, the sustenance to be prepared and their own personal condition are all of importance to them and can be considered at one and the same time. This, however, does not alter the fact that no one can do more than one thing at the same time properly, no matter what their personal belief might be. No man or woman can go out to work and at the same time nurture children successfully. Something has to suffer. Women rarely have a life-threatening situation to deal with on a par with men. Even rape by a raider is, in nature, a perfectly normal function of life and not inclined to cause death, just change. This less intensive level of physical and mental concentration allows the foundation of their ego to be less rigid and more flexible, hence, less fragile than that of the male. They can consider that they might not be in perfect physical or emotional condition and thus seek help without any trauma to their egos. The subconscious can comfortably cope with this knowledge.
It is for these reasons that women are far more likely to be sensible and look for help with their problems than men. It is a fact of life that far fewer men than women are prepared to accept that there is anything wrong with them and the result of this is that men die younger from stress related illnesses, are less content with their existence and tend to be a complete pain in the proverbial when unwell.
Hypnotherapy is very useful to both sexes as it enables them to come to terms with the psychological upset of the conflicts between their subconscious need and the requirements in modern life. Women know this and hopefully men will come to know it in the fullness of time. Preferably before the stress factor kills them all off with heart attacks, strokes and diseases based on the failure of their immune systems. Alcoholism, drug abuse, workaholicism and abusive violent behaviour are also factors to take into consideration as shortening life expectancy.
Society has a part to play in the future of the good health of the population and much of that part is to realise that the modern human being, both male and female, is unable to cope psychologically with the ever changing demands and fashionable thinking placed on them by modern government, religion and commercial interests. The fact that our basic instincts and needs are still wallowing in the quagmire of life, as it was thousands of years ago must be recognised. Article Index