Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Some Hypnotists or Hypnotherapists have specialized training in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). However, depending on the severity and symptoms, this disorder is more commonly treated by psychologists or psychotherapists.

PTSD can affect anybody who is exposed to any traumatic situation. However, it is often ignored because people think it is something associated only to jobs with extreme exposure such as the Military, Paramedics and Police Officers.

Some of the symptoms of PTSD are:

-Reliving the event over and over trough thoughts or having nightmares

-Intense agitation

-Amnesia such as blank spots

-Severe worrying

-The feeling of numbness, like when the person does not enjoy anything anymore or cares

  for anything.

-Shame and/or guilt in regards to the event

-Becoming easily angry or aggressive

-Sadness or depression which can lead to drug usage

-Feeling uptight all the time

-Avoidance of places, people or situations that might remind them of the event

-Or just having the feeling that something is wrong, but not knowing what it is.

The severity of the disorder depends mostly on the duration the person was exposed to the traumatic event and on whether or not the person has ever been exposed to a similar situation.

 Some of the things a person with PTSD can do to help themselves are:

-Write about their experience

-Stop any type of stimulant such as artificial sugars and coffee

-Be a support to someone else

-Have a healthy amount of exercise

-See a hypnotist that has training in PTSD

-Talk about how they felt as much as possible

-See a psychologist or Psychiatrist

Monica Dumont, 

http://monicadumont.com

Social Anxiety

I was asked by one of the readers to write a little bit more on how social anxiety affects a person’s body and a person’s career. So I thought this would be perfect to follow my previous blog.

When a person feels anxious particularly in a social situation such as public speaking, eating in front of others or meeting new people, the body may start to sweat, blush or shake. The person may feel nauseous, dizzy, may have an increased heart rate or even have the need to cry or go to the washroom.

In most cases social anxiety can affect a person’s career in the sense that this type of anxiety stops the person from trying out for new job opportunities or to achieve higher levels of education or training because of fear of rejection, fear of not being perfect, fear of a new environment, fear of authority figures, testing and writing in front of others etc.

When social anxiety affects a person in the form of not allowing them to speak clearly or in the form of shyness, the person may also be perceived as incompetent or as not being motivated, which can also cause a problem in that person’s self-esteem.

As a performance and motivational trainer, my advice would be for a person with this type of anxiety to frequently expose themselves to what they fear for longer and longer periods of time. The exposure should be predictable and controlled by that person.

And by no means should that person try to be perfect because there is no such a thing as perfection. An easy tip for the socially anxious person to remember is that whatever others think of them, it is not of their business. Keeping this in mind can help the person be more relaxed when dealing with others.

Now seeing a hypnotist on regards to social anxiety would probably help overcome any type of fear in a much faster way, but the person should not expect it to be like taking a magic pill, it requires work from both sides for a successful outcome.

Monica Dumont, 
http://monicadumont.com

Anxiety

Anxiety is mostly caused by a person’s interpretation of an event or situation which is based on their beliefs and thoughts.

There are different types of anxiety. To name a few, we could say Social Anxiety, Separation Anxiety, Generalized Anxiety or even Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

Anxiety can affect a person’s behaviour, body, career, love life and even the way people perceive them.

So where does Hypnotherapy come into the equation? Well, if a person has chosen not to take medications for the anxiety they are experiencing, then hypnotherapy can help change the way a person perceives or sees situations in their daily life.

In other words, through hypnosis a person can be taught to stop over-estimating how badly an event or situation might go and help them stop imagining unbearable consequences.

A great little exercise an anxious person can do on their own is to start noticing their thoughts when they start to become anxious. The individual should then stop, take a deep breath and ask themselves if what they are thinking is realistic.

Monica Dumont,  

http://monicadumont.com

Forgiveness and Hypnosis

The other day someone asked me what my personal opinion was on forgiveness and hypnosis.

To answer this question I must speak through a very personal point of view.

I believe that true forgiveness comes when a person operates from a point of self-empowerment, when a person can take full responsibility for all the good and bad of their own lives.

Only then can one forgive; because we see that we are the ones in power to change and create what we want in our lives. And once we see and know that, then what others have tried to do to us or whatever has happened to us does not matter anymore. Allowing us to release whatever it was that held us back and ultimately free ourselves.

So my answer to the question is yes, hypnosis can help with forgiveness because we can use different hypnotic exercises to help us empower ourselves. However, there are many other ways in which self-empowerment can be born in a person. Such as a life changing experience or through advanced meditation practices.

Monica Dumont,  
 http://monicadumont.com