Tag: professional hypnosis

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PTSD

PTSD and Its Link to Chronic Pain | Boca Raton, FL

One might not consider that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and chronic pain can be directly correlated with one another. Yet, according to Psychiatric Times, “Many individuals with chronic pain suffer from PTSD due to the incidents that caused trauma-related distress, but chronic pain is also commonly found in individuals with PTSD as their primary disorder. Hence, a better understanding of this comorbidity may be important for the treatment of both disorders.”

According to the studies examined in the full Psychiatric Times article above, there are three potential explanations as to why the two may not only coexist but negatively enhance one another. Here is a breakdown of these potential explanations, and how hypnotherapy can work to alleviate both PTSD and chronic pain for individuals who experience one or both of these life-altering conditions.

One study found “that underlying predisposing factors or traits cause the development of both PTSD and chronic pain. In particular, anxiety sensitivity may amplify the intensity of the initial emotional response to a traumatic event, thereby increasing the risk of developing either condition.” This is referred to as shared vulnerabilities and is one of the potential reasons why PTSD and chronic pain may coexist for someone.

An individual’s sensitivity to pain can also be traced to PTSD as traumatic events may heighten or decrease one’s sensitivity to pain. According to the research, PTSD from combat-related incidents increases a person’s pain threshold, meaning these individuals develop a greater tolerance to sensations of pain. Yet, for those whose PTSD is not combat-related, disassociation can actually increase someone’s bias towards the sensation of pain resulting in a lower threshold for withstanding pain.

The third link, mutual maintenance, refers to the seven means by which PTSD and chronic pain work to negatively enhance one another. Essentially, the researchers uncovered seven different ways an individual may begin to experience “heightened expectations, overestimations, and selective and negative interpretations of both pain-evoking and fear-evoking stimuli… evoking fear and PTSD intrusion and hyperarousal… physical deconditioning, inactivity, disability… limited capacity to employ adaptive coping strategies.”

How Hypnotherapy Can Help

This is a lot for any individual to manage; either disorder is likely to shake one’s ability to move through life, and both may leave someone feeling hopeless. Thankfully, strategically formulated hypnotherapy can address and resolve the underlying conflicts that keep a person from functioning well and getting the most out of life. 

As a licensed clinical psychologist, psychotherapist, and hypnotherapist, I can work with you to formulate an individualized program to address your pain and teach you how to tame it. I can help you to safely access your memories, examine and reprocess them, and better understand your feelings about the trauma you carry. 

Together, we can begin to reduce the negative impressions fixed in your subconscious by your traumatic experience and help you gain control over and reduce your pain. Relief is possible, and if you have tried other interventions without success, hypnotherapy may be the solution you have been looking for.

For 30 years, I have helped thousands of patients who struggle with PTSD and chronic pain overcome their symptoms and begin to live a life free of the symptoms they experience. If you would like to learn more about my practice or would like to schedule a free consultation appointment, visit us online or call our office today at (561) 377-1039.

Dr. Eimer proudly serves patients in Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Wellington, Lake Worth, Boca Raton, Deerfield Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, West Palm Beach, and surrounding areas.

Categories
Anxiety

Hypnotherapy to Treat Generalized Anxiety Disorder | Boca Raton, FL

Life during covid-19 pandemic. Portrait of stressed stylish woman in blue blouse with medical mask outdoors on the city street.

Persistent anxiety associated with pervasive worrying, apprehension, and nervousness is called generalized anxiety disorder. Symptoms of this disorder also include restlessness, feelings of panic or dread, rapid breathing, trembling or muscle twitching, difficulty focusing, and an obsession or preoccupation with the inability to prevent bad things from happening. 

Anyone can experience anxiety when external factors make us fearful, nervous, or tense, but it’s when we feel this way consistently that it starts to become a diagnosable issue. In fact, a generalized anxiety disorder can seriously impact our ability to work, be social, and wind down when it is appropriate to do so. Individuals with generalized anxiety disorder remain wound up most of the time. This degrades a person’s quality of life and can lead to dependence or addiction to tranquilizers, sedatives, or pain pills.

According to the Mayo Clinic, “generalized anxiety disorder includes persistent and excessive anxiety and worry about activities or events — even ordinary, routine issues. The worry is out of proportion to the actual circumstance, is difficult to control, and affects how you feel physically. It often occurs along with other anxiety disorders or depression.” In fact, untreated generalized anxiety disorder often gives rise to clinical depression as persistent feelings of helplessness eventually turn into hopelessness. 

Hypnotherapy is a commonly overlooked solution to generalized anxiety. It is a powerful tool for treating the symptoms of anxiety and for finding the underlying causes and resolving them. However, as with any tool, hypnosis is effective if it is employed by a trained and experienced professional therapist. In the wrong hands, a tool can be ineffective or worse, cause damage. Therefore, in searching for a therapist to help you overcome generalized anxiety, it is important to do your homework. Your best bet is a licensed mental health professional with an appropriate graduate degree (e.g., Ph.D., Psy.D., MD, DO, LCSW, LMFT) who has the requisite education and experience. And you need to feel comfortable honestly confiding in this person for therapy to work!

In my practice, I employ an evidence-based approach that combines cognitive-behavioral therapy, mindfulness, and clinical hypnosis techniques. When we work together, you will learn how to relax and reevaluate external triggers, as well as develop coping mechanisms and problem-solving skills that work for your anxiety. Over time, as we work together and you begin to apply these methods in your daily life, you will respond differently to the situations that used to trigger you. You will build your self-confidence and achieve freedom from debilitating anxiety.

If you have tried and exhausted multiple treatment options without finding relief, hypnotherapy may be the solution you have been seeking. 

For 30 years, I have helped thousands of patients who struggle with generalized anxiety disorder overcome their symptoms, and begin to live a life free of anxiety. If you would like to learn more about my practice or would like to schedule a free consultation appointment, visit us online or call our office today at (561) 377-1039.

Dr. Eimer proudly serves patients in West Palm Beach, Lake Worth, Wellington, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, Boca Raton, Deerfield Beach, Pompano Beach, Parkland, Coral Springs, Hallandale, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and surrounding areas.

Categories
PTSD

Hypnotherapy for PTSD | Boca Raton, FL

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental health disorder commonly associated with military veterans, but anyone who has experienced a traumatic event can struggle with symptoms of PTSD. While many people can overcome their experience through coping mechanisms, time, and self-care, sometimes symptoms can get worse and last much longer than anticipated. When symptoms last for months or years and begin to interfere with daily functioning, you may have PTSD.

According to the Mayo Clinic, symptoms of PTSD include but are not limited to recurrent, unwanted, and distressing memories, intrusive flashbacks of the traumatic experience, avoidance, negative thoughts or mood, physical or emotional reactions, and an increase in the intensity of symptoms over time. There are several ways individuals dealing with PTSD can begin to overcome their symptoms. Typically, it is necessary to work with a therapist who has skills and experience in helping people recover from PTSD. 

A PTSD therapist should have an appropriate graduate degree (e.g., MD, DO, Ph.D., Psy.D., MSW, MSN) and be licensed in a mental health profession (e.g., psychology, clinical social work, psychiatry). Said therapist should have appropriate training, education, and skills using appropriate therapeutic modalities (e.g., psychotherapy, hypnotherapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, EMDR, medications, etc.). The therapist should have an ample amount of experience treating people with PTSD. Last and not least you should be comfortable with your potential therapist. Run from therapists with whom you feel uncomfortable, as you are unlikely to be able to develop the necessary trust in such a person. 

Psychotherapy provides the individual a safe space to express himself or herself and learn coping techniques to employ when needed. Hypnotherapy helps make psychotherapy both deeper and briefer and more effective. 

As a licensed clinical psychologist, psychotherapist and hypnotherapist, I can help you safely access your memories, examine and reprocess them, and better understand your feelings about the trauma you carry. I can help you identify your triggers and work with you to mitigate your reactions and feelings toward them. The work helps to reduce and prevent unhealthy disassociation and reduce anxiety as you reframe your memories and feelings surrounding past traumatic experiences. The ultimate goal is to help you recover control over your life.

Keep in mind that the motto is SAFETY FIRST. Once we establish a safe place in which to work, the first order of business is to make sure we establish stability. This is because you have to be stable to examine past traumatic memories. We help you build resources so that you have the stability and strength to do the harder work of therapy. The harder work of therapy is reprocessing the traumatic memories. In tandem with the reprocessing work, we are always staying practical and grounded. That means we are always working on maintaining stability and practicing coping skills. 

For over 30 years, I have helped thousands of patients who struggled with PTSD recover so they could eventually live a more symptom-free life. If you would like to learn more about my practice or would like to schedule a free consultation appointment, visit us online or call our office today at (561) 377-1039.

Dr. Eimer proudly serves patients in West Palm Beach, Lake Worth, Wellington, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, Boca Raton, Deerfield Beach, Pompano Beach, Parkland, Coral Springs, Hallandale, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and surrounding areas.

Categories
Pain Relief

Understanding Pain and Hypnosis | Boca Raton

To understand if hypnosis for pain is right for you, it’s important to first dissect the type of pain you feel, and if there are any other underlying feelings affecting your ability to cope. First and foremost, all pain is real and valid. The difference lies in whether what you are experiencing is acute or chronic pain.

Acute pain can be caused by injury, surgery, illness, trauma, or painful medical procedures or serve as a warning of disease or a threat to the body. It generally lasts for a short period of time and is typically alleviated when the underlying cause has been treated or has healed. Chronic pain on the other hand may be caused by a variety of factors but is characterized by persistent pain that lasts weeks to years. Depending on what is causing the pain, there are a variety of methods that can be explored to alleviate it.

Hypnosis for acute pain comes into play when there is no identifiable or treatable cause. In this case, we must address the patient’s anxiety. It has been said that the fear of pain is often worse than the pain, and in turn, fear can make the pain worse. For chronic pain, there is almost always old emotional baggage that needs to be released. Living with unrelenting chronic pain makes most people experience some level of depression, making the pain worse. Successful employment of hypnotic techniques involves altering pain sensations and distracting the client from their preoccupations with the pain.

If you are a health professional or hypnotherapist interested in learning more about the use of hypnotherapy for pain, I offer intensive one-day, two-day, and three-day fundamental and advanced Pain Control Hypnosis Practitioner courses. These courses are designed for professional practitioners who see patients with severe acute and chronic pain in their respective fields and are in a position to offer precise hypnotic pain relief. These courses will provide a fundamental understanding of the intersection of hypnosis and pain, as well as the skills necessary to implement this technique in your practice.

In short, a Pain Control Hypnosis Practitioner’s job is to help patients with pain build ego strength, self-confidence, and self-love, find faith, develop curiosity, and mobilize courage in order to be able to learn new pain coping skills.

For 30 years, I have helped thousands of patients who suffered from persistent pain get relief and lead more fulfilling lives. If you would like to learn more about this practice or would like to schedule a free consultation appointment, visit us online or call our office today at (561) 377-1039.

I proudly serve patients in and around Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Lake Worth, Wellington, West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, Deerfield Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and surrounding areas.

Categories
Uncategorized

Weight Management Hypnosis | Boca Raton, FL

Hypnosis for weight management may seem like an odd concept, but my methods are designed to retrain the unconscious mind. Our unconscious mind is what drives our habitual, imagined, and desired actions. If you have tried alternative methods to help reduce your weight or stop habitually eating the foods you crave but need to limit, hypnosis may be a valuable tool for you.

It is important to understand why retraining the unconscious mind works to actively change your desires, imagination and habits for long lasting effects. The following is a breakdown of the rationale behind the use of hypnosis to reduce cravings. 

If you struggle with your weight, it’s likely your willpower in the present is at odds with your imagination. When our perspective is centered around “I can’t eat this”, it actually fuels your desire for that food – it intensifies desire which feeds the imagination. And reciprocally, the imagination fuels desire. The unconscious mind does not distinguish between desire and action.

One of principles of Habit Change is that when the willpower is contested with the imagination, imagination always wins the contest. So, the key is to change your unconscious mind’s perspective – to shift it from “I can’t eat this unhealthy food” to “I want this healthy food”. 

My Weight Reduction Hypnosis Program is designed to make it easy for you to replace your unhealthy food cravings with healthy eating habits. The program is effective because the hypnotic suggestions I prepare for you are in the precise language your unconscious understands. I give you these individualized suggestions while you are “in hypnosis” and when you are “out of hypnosis” (in a slightly different form). Your unconscious then recognizes these suggestions as being fitting and familiar. It feels as if you gave these suggestions to yourself. And the fact is that after an effective hypnotherapy session with me, you will! This makes acting on the suggestions prepared specially for you so very natural and easy.

Through hypnosis, I can guide you to reprogram your unconscious mind. An initial consultation will allow me to understand who you are, your weight loss journey, your motivation for change and any hinderances to your ability to succeed. I then design a hypnosis plan of treatment specifically for you, so we can retrain the aspects of your unconscious that have been the biggest hinderance to your ability to lose the weigh and keep it off.

For 30 years, I have helped thousands of patients who struggle with weight loss retrain their unconscious mind. If you would like to learn more about my practice, or if you would like to schedule a free consultation appointment, visit us at www.BruceEimer.com or call our office today at (561) 377-1039.

I, Dr. Bruce Eimer, proudly serve patients in the areas of Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Lake Worth, Wellington, Deerfield Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Palm Beach, West Palm Beach, and surrounding areas.

Categories
Hypnosis

Is Regression Therapy Valid?

Do you know anyone who is uncomfortable getting on an airplane? Over my years of practicing professional hypnosis, most clients who saw me for the fear of flying experienced the success of overcoming the problem rather than simply learning to fly despite their anxieties. In fact, some of them became frequent flyers, logging tens of thousands of miles.

Find the cause

The reason is that instead of simply trying to suggest the problem away, I use Hypnotic Regression Therapy (aka Regression Hypnotherapy) to guide the client back in time during the session in order to discover and release the core cause of the fear of flying. Numerous clients seeing me for other problems over the years have also enjoyed success as a result of hypnotic regression therapy; yet in recent years, a number of hypnosis professionals have hotly debated the topic of regression hypnotherapy.

The regression therapy controversy

The controversy did not come out of thin air. Hypnotic regression therapy enjoyed high popularity for a number of years during the latter half of the 20th century; but even before the end of the 1990s, it became the subject of considerable debate. Genuine concerns are at the heart and core of the controversies. Here is a brief summary of the arguments for and against the use of regression hypnotherapy.

Those who use regression often assert that it is very useful in helping the subconscious discover and release the cause of a problem, and that effective use of hypnotic regression therapy often achieves lasting results. Those who oppose the use of hypnotic regression techniques usually state one or more of the following reasons for opposing its use: (1) the risk of false memories and/or (2) the belief that clients do not need to experience abreactions (emotional discharges) while remembering unpleasant experiences from their past. Occasionally a third reason is posted, criticizing hypnotherapists who use regression with almost every client.

What is a hypnotic regression?

Imagination is the language of the subconscious. Inside your imagination, you have total power and total freedom to be anywhere you wish and to do anything you choose. In addition, we can use the imagination to move through time as well as space.

During a hypnotic state, moving back in time inside the imagination is called a regression. Many hypnosis professionals use regression to guide a client back in time in order to discover the cause of a problem. Sometimes people simply wish to remember details about an event. There are also forensic applications of hypnotic regression techniques as used in police investigations to solve a crime.  While the subconscious does make a record of everything we experience through the five senses, emotions can alter our perceptions, resulting in inaccurate memories. So hypnosis professional who use regression techniques must be careful!

A primary reason for the skepticism regarding regression is that many therapists  over the years have formed preconceived opinions regarding the causes of problems before hypnotizing their clients, and then proceeded to use regression to validate those opinions. This is inappropriate leading. It is a major cause of what we call “false memory syndrome,” which means that a client may believe false perceptions to be facts.

I will write more about Hypnotic Regression Therapy in future posts to address the value of this form of therapy and the caveats. If you want to learn more about Regression Hypnotherapy, go to Dr. Bruce Eimer’s website: www.BruceEimer.com. Also, you can check out our book, The Art of Hypnotic Regression Therapy. If you would like a free initial consultation, or you would like to book a Hypnotic Regression Therapy session, call Dr. Bruce Eimer at 561-377-1039.