When I left Uni at 22 years old, I was desperate to travel. As a result, my long-term relationship broke up and I experienced my first ever heart break. I felt disorientated and lost being out in the big wide world – my confidence was on the floor and I felt stuck and unable to move forward. As my head and heart continued to wage war with each other, I started having panic attacks. I felt scared and out of control of what was happening to my body and mind.
A friend who was struggling with anxiety mentioned he had been seeing a cognitive hypnotherapist with transformative results. I had always considered this type of therapy for overcoming phobias or giving up smoking. Actually, cognitive hypnotherapy (CH) is a psychodynamic therapy that focuses on the unconscious mind (ie, thoughts, actions and emotions) that are no longer in our conscious awareness. Seeing my friend have such amazing results, I decided to try it for myself.
During my third session, I distinctly remember recognising how my own inner critic was holding me hostage in my life. After leaving the session, I went straight to a travel agent and booked a one-way ticket to Australia.
I never needed to return to the therapist after that. She had unlocked the fear that was holding me back. I felt free and able to move forward for the first time in months. It also sparked a realisation of the power of our sub-conscious mind and how it can control our life experience IF we allow it.
Camilla Ross, Seed’s Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapist, sees clients of all ages, including children, teens and adults for a wide range of issues including stress, anxiety, negative habits, phobias, menopause, weight management and much more.
Sitting down in her cosy treatment room at her home in Gerrards Cross, I felt instantly relaxed. To start the session, Camilla used calming words and techniques to bring me into a state of deep relaxation.
Put simply, the aim of cognitive behavioural therapy is to establish new neural pathways via ‘neutral’ thinking. For example, a depressed or anxious brain has typically been reinforcing negative rather than positive thought pathways over time, often resulting in cognitive distortions, or skewed thought patterns.
During a therapy session, once the conscious mind is calm or ‘neutral’, the sub-conscious mind is more accessible and susceptible to positive suggestion and change.
During our session, we focused on “Hypno-Menopause” due to my age and fluctuating hormones. Here, Camilla worked from a specifically created, scientifically proven programme including guided visualisation and grounding techniques to induce a sense of calm and help ‘reframe’ the way I was experiencing certain thoughts and emotions.
SUMMARY
CB Hypnotherapy is a powerful therapy working at sub-conscious level to help reframe our thoughts and feelings and subsequently positively transform our life experiences and subsequently our outcomes.
Camilla is calming, compassionate and reassuring and i felt truly safe in her hands. As well as the sessions, she provides super helpful and effective take-home tools that can be used as and when needed to help overcome negative thinking and restore emotional balance.
As a former school teacher, Camilla has lots of experience working with kids and teens. For parents with young people struggling with negative habits, phobias or patterns of thinking, Camilla is a refined practitioner who is excellent at what she does and is committed to helping her clients create positive change in their lives.
Writer – Kate Kirrane