After promising yourself that you'd start that new project Monday, you find yourself procrastinating...again. You pick up another pack of cigarettes after committing to quit the habit. The same toxic relationship patterns seem to play out in your life, constantly meeting the same person with a different face. Finding yourself being taken advantage of time after time in the same way, secretly feeling like a lost child, unloved, unappreciated, and alone.

Perhaps there have been efforts made to seek help, maybe even gone to therapy for years, attempting to break these unhealthy patterns but still feel as though you haven’t gotten to the root of the issue. You might KNOW what you need to do but can’t seem to create lasting change in your life.

You are not alone. These are problems that many clients face, and often feel frustrated or blame themselves for lacking what they perceive as “enough effort” to create change in their life. The problem is that often it can be difficult if not impossible to make conscious change without ever really accessing the place where the issues lie, deep down in the subconscious.

Hypnotherapy is a psychological intervention in which the client is induced into a deep state of relaxation in order to access the subconscious mind. This state of relaxation is called the trance state. To understand trance, think of how it feels when you get in the car and suddenly, you’re at work. Or the feeling of being totally absorbed in a great movie, not even realizing that two hours passed by. We naturally fall into a trance-like state regularly throughout the day, without even noticing. The only difference is that in a hypnotherapy session, the therapist induces the hypnotic state of trance in order to facilitate healing at a deeper level.

Once you are in a trance state, the therapist will guide the session with the goal of identifying the source of the unresolved issue, identifying any feelings that have been unprocessed in order to integrate the memory and release any unhealthy beliefs that might have been created based on the past situation.

Many clients describe the hypnotherapy process as “connecting the dots”. Most of the reason why we can’t consciously resolve issues like the ones described above, is because we are not consciously aware of when it started or what we started to believe about ourselves based on past situations. By going back and connecting the dots, we increase self-awareness and heal the part of ourselves that did not get the chance to process the emotion felt at that time. Once we heal and process those emotions, we can begin to change our behaviors in a more conscious way.

In the session we will also incorporate cognitive behavioral techniques, where you will have the opportunity to correct unhealthy, limiting cognitions and beliefs and replace them with more positive, healthy beliefs. What makes this process so powerful, is that those beliefs are created in the subconscious, therefore you are actively integrating and internalizing those new beliefs at a deeper level.

One of the greatest benefits of hypnotherapy, is that you can get to the core of your issue at a faster speed. The subconscious is where we store all our memories, experiences and beliefs about ourselves. Hypnotherapy functions as the shortcut to access that part of the mind and create long lasting change.

Another benefit of this process is the ability to actively engage in healing the part of yourself that was left wounded from the past. Typically, there is a child part of us that was afraid, abandoned, or began to believe that they were unimportant or unloved based on past experiences. As a result, we begin to treat ourselves the ways we were treated by the adults in our lives, disowning, abandoning and disliking ourselves. In this work, you will get the opportunity to change those behaviors, and begin the process of embracing every part of yourself. This increases a sense of self-worth, self-esteem, and self-love

This question reflects our culture’s lack of awareness on what hypnotherapy is. Many of us have had minimal to no exposure to the true form of hypnosis, therefore end up relying on what has been presented to us by pop culture or the media. The reality is that in hypnotherapy, you do not leave your body or lose control of yourself in anyway, you are consciously in the room the whole time. Some sessions might require remembering past experiences, however that does not mean that you lose contact or awareness of the present moment.

One of the most common fears amongst clients, is that they will lose control of themselves or go to a place that they are not ready to go to. Your subconscious is your friend! You are completely aware of what is happening and will have developed the resources in the session to manage any emotions that might surface. As you continue doing this type of therapy, you’ll notice yourself becoming more comfortable with the process and recognize that whatever it is you are ready to face will come to the surface organically.

Since you are in such a deep state of relaxation, the experience in which the trauma occurred will be processed in a “relaxed body.” The reason that a traumatic experience becomes trauma to begin with is because the overwhelming emotion triggered at the time of the event was never processed, but instead stay “stuck in the body” in a form of shock. Shock is the body’s way of keeping us safe in dangerous situations, activating the nervous systems which results in the fight or flight response (sympathetic) or freeze response (parasympathetic). When we are in a state of shock, we cannot process the emotion associated with the event, therefore it stays “stuck in the body.”

In hypnotherapy, you will have the opportunity to process the “stuck emotion” and release the emotional charge from previously traumatic experience. The experience will always be a memory; however it will not have the emotional charge that it had before.

Hypnotherapy can be utilized to treat a variety of issues including but not limited to:

• Anxiety/Stress
• Depression
• Addictions
• Low Self-Esteem
• Self-Sabotage
• Grief
• Trauma/PTSD
• Relationship Issues
• Codependency

1. The first step is to give us a call: (954) 488-2933 or send us an email at info@thepsychologygroup.com
2. The Psychology Group Fort Lauderdale offers complimentary 15-minute phone consultations. During this consultation our Certified Hypnotherapist, Samara Quintero, LMFT, CHT, will learn more about your needs and goals.
3. Next, you’ll meet with Samara for an initial session. There, she will get a very thorough understanding of your unique background, history and what you’d like to accomplish. She’ll share her ideas for an action plan and collaboratively, you’ll both decide next steps.
4. Hypnotherapy is not a “quick fix” and does not guarantee that your presenting issues will resolve within the first session. It is strongly suggested that hypnotherapy be utilized in conjunction with psychotherapy to ensure the presenting problem is being addressed in a comprehensive manner.
5. Treatment typically includes other team members as appropriate. You might be recommended to visit a general physician, psychiatrist and/or dietician as part of your treatment team to address both mind and body.
6. Hypnotherapy is typically very hands on. Examples of what therapy sessions will focus on include: learning how to relax the body and decrease physiological arousal, improving positive self-talk and developing positive core beliefs, understanding your triggers and increasing self-awareness, developing resources to better manage negative emotions and uncomfortable symptoms.

We look forward to hearing from you! Don't be shy, reach out today. No problem is too small. Hypnotherapy will give you the momentum you desire.