INSOMNIA

HYPNOTHERAPY

Hypnotherapy is becoming a more commonly used procedure in the treatment of Insomnia. This is generally for variations of the condition with non-organic causes.

 

Whilst Sleeping pills are generally prescribed to patients in the early stages of this condition, these pills are usually meant to be a short term intervention in the hope that the condition will clear up. In my experience of working with this Condition, pills often do not resolve the problem, although pills they can give patients relief from the worst of the symptoms.

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Hypnotherapy has two key applications in the treatment of Insomnia: behavioural and analytical interventions. A behavioural intervention would focus on the premise that insomnia, rather than being a kind of disease, is more of a behavioural condition. This means that an insomniac develops a maladaptive behaviour based on a set of circumstances in which a lack of sleep might be an appropriate response, but the symptom (insomnia) has outlasted the circumstance. For example, a client might have developed a sleep issue at university during the final exam period due to long hours of revision and a genuine concern about their passing the exams.

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​In an analytical approach to insomnia, a practitioner would employ age regression techniques to go back to the issue that caused the insomnia in the fist instance. For example, regress the client back to the finals period for the above mentioned case and help the client to recognise that at that time the sleep issue was appropriate, but no longer. Alternatively a practitioner might employ age regression to take a client back to a time when he/she was able to sleep perfectly and to take that state of mind into the present day in order for the client to achieve the good night sleep he/she craves.