Metamorphosis Summer 2013

METAMORPHOSIS CHANGING IN A CHANGING WORLD - FREE

Neuroscientist’s life of balance Stress, disease & the power of the mind Sports Performance Corporate Therapy - get the best out of employees Metamorphosis | 1

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SUMMER 2013 | VOL. 1 | NO 2

W

elcome to this edition of Metamorphosis, the magazine published by the Association for Solution Focused Hypnotherapy. It’s our pleasure in sharing some of the fine work we do across the UK in helping people change problems into solutions.

This edition is a wonderful mix of different subjects and areas in which we work. Sports psychology, corporate therapy, over eating and stress - something for everyone.

H

ope you enjoy the magazine, any questions or quieries please send to me at journal@afsfh.com

Penny Ling - Editor

METAMORPHOSIS

Publisher: the Association for Solution Focused Hypnotherapy.

8-10 Whiteladies Road Bristol BS8 1PD Editor: Penny Ling Email: journal@afsfh.com Design & Advertising: Redhed Design UK http://redheddesignuk. wordpress.com 07508 658934 Metamorphosis can be found on-line at issuu.com Distribution is UK wide.

The Association for Solution Focused Hypnotherapy established 2010 represents the practice of solution focused hypnotherapists as a distinct profession in its own right. Membership is open to those practitioners who have the appropriate qualifications and experience within the field.

The contents of this magazine are protected by copyright and nothing may be reprinted without prior permission. The publishers cannot accept liability for content of material in the magazine.

CONTENTS A life in balance p4 ...................................

Sports performance & how to win p9 ...................................

Stress, disease & the power of the mind p12 ...................................

Over eating & dopamine p18 ...................................

Corporate therapy p20 ...................................

From indecision to a new life p24 ...................................

What the Dickens p26 ...................................

Metamorphosis | 3

A Life in Balance Debbie Pearce interviews Naeem Iqbal - a researcher in neuroscience at Bristol University.

Tell me a little bit about your background – childhood in a nutshell My background is in medicine, I have a medical degree from Pakistan. My favourite subject was neurophysiology I was fascinated by the brain and how it works When I completed my studies I came to this country and I was looking for something in neuroscience – something to do with the brain. So I did my Masters degree in neuroscience at the University of Bristol.

Then I got a job in research at the University and I have been working on two projects related to neuroscience.

What projects?

One was to do with muscular skeletal problems of the back and the other one was to do with cooling babies when they are born with brain damage. The second project is more closely associated with neuroscience – when a baby is born with brain damage it affects the cooling process and the research is looking into factors to protect the babies.

Then I went back to Pakistan and I worked for a charity with disabled people,

4 | Metamorphosis

especially people with cerebral palsy, for about a year and a half.

But my interest has always been in neuroscience. This is what I’m passionate about; the working of the brain.

There are obviously pathological conditions that affect the brain, but normally the disorders are emotional in origin. I think the disorders that come from our emotions happen when our emotions are not really balanced.

I really do believe that when people are disturbed emotionally then they get all sorts of disorders. Obsessive compulsive disorder or depression, anxiety and anger, these are rooted deep in that emotional imbalance.

Because balance is the key for anything to survive – like in a cell, all of the extracellular fluid, the intra-cellular fluid and ions, they all balance with each other, to keep the cell in a stable state. If the balance is disturbed then the cell dies.

Generally through the universe, all forces are balanced with each other, but if they’re not balanced everything would be colliding with each other.

So it’s similar with our emotions, we need to be balanced in our brain. We need our emotions to be in balance with each other, for instance anger needs to

be balanced with calmness. We need all of them, we can’t say we don’t need anger.

We do need anger – we do need all of our emotions, but they need to be balanced with each other.

So, that’s what brought me to hypnotherapy because in the training you find people talking about the same emotional balance.

What led you to the idea of balance?

All my previous studies in neuroscience guided me to this conclusion. I studied life at a molecular level; it tells you that all things are balanced with each other.

All the fluids are balanced, all the ions are balanced, they have to be in balance in a natural concentration. When you start comparing cells with other things, like for instance all the physical forces, they are balanced. So, everything you see needs to be balanced to remain in a certain way.

Some people do question: If you call someone normal, well, what is normal?

It is really hard to define. I believe that when all the forces are balanced with each other then that is normal. That gives you a steady existence.

When you are balanced with the rest of the people around you, then you’re normal; when you’re not balanced with them, that’s a problem. You can define it in that way – it’s the balance you have with others.

It’s all deep rooted inside you, in your

brain there are emotions and when your emotions are balanced then you act normally.

If you’re angry much more than you’re calm then the balance is disturbed and your survival becomes difficult, it affects you and other people as well. It needs to be balanced with calmness. And then if someone is too loving and calm, then there is a possibility that people can take advantage of that. So then that has to be balanced with being assertive.

Whenever you see that the mind and the emotions are disturbed then the problems start arising. So that’s the theory behind it.

How would you restore balance?

I see hypnosis as the way forward because hypnosis actually relaxes you, your emotions, to start with, and then all the emotions interact in a way in trance and then you can play with them to move them around. It works because, through the positive suggestions, you are actually working on those emotions which are harmful, and emotions which are stronger can be put in their place.

So it’s like your intellectual brain and your primitive brain are being regulated through the trance-work conditions, you are putting all the emotions in balance.

That’s why we need to do more research.

We need to define in which areas we can actually work and which areas are beyond

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the demarcation line into pathology. We have to define where therapy ends and the medicine takes over. So there has to be a line defining the boundary.

We can’t go on in an unlimited way, thinking that we can treat everything.

That’s not possible. There have to be boundaries attached to it, defining the area where we can work and limiting areas where we can’t work. That’s very important, to know where the boundary line is for us as hypnotherapists. There is a huge element of self determination in the emotional changes which are causing the neuronal pathways to alter. We can do work on that to put the emotions back in place.

But when there is a tumour or Alzheimers and other conditions where there are physical changes taking place, then obviously we can’t work on those.

Do neuronal pathways actually exist?

The neuronal pathways do, indeed, exist.

These brain circuits they all exist – they are anatomically there, they are present. The neuronal pathways are developed through the connections between the neurones and they are all connected through the synapses. So they are all connected and they make these connections and the electrical circuits – all the molecular connections are all there. They influence the genes to form proteins which in turn affect memory.

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So we have to work on the basis that we have all the scientific knowledge that’s available and we can work on the emotions of the individual, seeing how they have been disturbed and how we can put them back in balance. We do this by working through their thought processes. Because in hypnotherapy thought processes are very important and so is how they can impact the brain. So if something is caused by the thought processes, we can revert back to balance through thought processes.

If you change someone’s thought processes through hypnosis that will actually change the neural pathway. There is more research needed around that and obviously science is developing new technologies all the time.

We need to do more research as well to prove that these things happen- these practices need to be investigated. That would be really helpful.

How do you see your role?

Because of my background and my scientific knowledge in the field, I can be useful if there is any research taking place. I can be involved in that and then whatever changes the hypnotherapy practices deliver can be measured. This is because there are factors which allow us to measure the changes. For example, we can measure the cortisol levels in the

blood before and after treatment, or we can use EEG to see changes to the brain pattern.

of my projects have been in research, as was my Masters degree, so I am very familiar with all the necessary protocols.

Over what period would cortisol levels change?

You’re a good find!

Cortisol levels can change quickly. There are two types – there is acute and chronic and the changes are, again acute and chronic.

Cortisol levels usually change quickly and after a while if the stress persists, then the cortisol level is persistently raised. So the levels can be monitored in clients so we can see what’s happening from the effects of trance.

I can take up this cortisol-measuring project - that would really interest me and also to find out how the brainwave patterns change. In fact there are a lot of measures, which can be used to evaluate the evidence of hypnotherapy interventions.

I don’t think this sort of work is being done at the moment, because I haven’t read any scientific papers where the research is carried out according to acceptable levels for research protocols. You need to record what methods were used, what were the practices, what were the outcomes and what changes happened within the client.

I would love to be involved in this sort of research. We can liaise with the university and I can ensure that we are following all the correct protocols. All

So that is a project well worth doing. I think we’ll find out what is the truth – we’ll have the evidence to see if hypnotherapy makes measurable changes in our clients.

If it doesn’t we find out, if it does we find out. It would be good to have someone from within hypnotherapy doing the research on a very scientific basis.

We will get people in and give them hypnotherapy we’ll measure their cortisol levels before and after.

We know from our own experience that clients do get better. Once we have substantial scientific evidence hypnotherapy will be more accepted, we can demonstrate what changes we can make, exactly what therapy is doing within the brain.

We can then be clear about what we can do – what are we doing to the brain.

We’ll be able to explore the outcomes and then begin developing hypnotherapy according to our findings – we can pioneer it!

It’s a big job, but it’s not unachievable.

Do you see yourself practising as a hypnotherapist?

Yes, I’m quite passionate about it. I think

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it’s a great service as well. I am practising as a student, I am working with some people and I am finding it very interesting – it’s amazing how the different techniques can bring big changes in their personality.

You start to do the process and then you start to see the changes - that makes a difference. I am loving it – I’m thoroughly enjoying it.

Will this inform the work you do at the university?

I see myself as bringing university expertise to the CPHT and show the physical evidence of all the work being done. If I can achieve that, it will be brilliant.

I can prove to the world this is another way forward and there is a scientific process to it. Not only that, it will let us know exactly how much therapy is needed – we’ll be able to tailor our treatment programmes according to the needs of the client.

It won’t be like giving a broad acting antibiotic – when you don’t know what bacteria are there then you give a broad spectrum antibiotic, but when you do know what’s there you give a specific antibiotic to work for that. It’s a matter of informed choice.

So, similarly when we know which emotional disturbance we are dealing with we can tailor the hypnotherapy to that.

I need more experience as well. I need more time to formulate this project, and more experience as a hypnotherapist. I need to get more experience and then I can look forward. In the meantime we can find out what to do about funding.

There are different resources available but we can look into it in the meantime. If we can convince the funders that we can do it then we’ll get the support we need.

And of course from my class group they are all brilliant, very intelligent people and definitely they are convinced that this approach can help. They must have some experiences in their lives. So there is a big cross-section of people there who can all contribute to the project’s success.

They are from very good professional and educational backgrounds to come and do this course.

Impart one gem of wisdom – one piece of wisdom to someone to have a more balanced life.

Obviously there are a lot of emotions in everyone’s life but the basic emotion controlling all emotions is love – it’s a very strong emotion – love. Get that right and everything else revolves around it. Love can change the emotions around it, so if you can get that right and steady and stable all the other emotions will get in line.

Curious about funding question?

That’s a big question – and of course

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For more information about the research, contact The Clifton Practice, Bristol.

Sports Performance -

Hypnotherapy makes the Difference North Devon’s Heidi Hardy sets the pace...

Heidi Hardy is a solution focused hypnotherapist based in Devon & Somerset. www.heidihardyhypnotherapist.co.uk 077121 82787

Metamorphosis | 9

Hypnotherapy can be highly effective in creating positive change in sports performance. Taking part in any sport at a competitive level involves a great deal of physical control and mental concentration.

It is now accepted that hypnotherapy help can provide both of these .

to is.” Any contest between individuals or teams of equal ability will be decided by who has the greatest will to win. One quality that will set an athlete apart from his or her lesser peers is in the intensity of his motivation to improve.

Regulating Stress and Anxiety

Hypnotherapy has been used by world champions and amateurs alike, enabling them to fulfil their utmost potential.

Whether you wish to improve your running times, your aim, your motivation or concentration either for competition or simply relaxation and enjoyment through simple relaxation and various other techniques, you can become focused on what you really want to achieve.

You get what you focus on. Coaches and managers the world over are aware of the difference between a confident athlete and one that doubts themself.

“Sportsmen can do better than they think…when they think they can do better.”

Hypnotherapy can help in four key areas of sports performance by helping to maximising drive, determination, commitment and motivation.

“Winning isn’t everything…but wanting

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Obviously we need a certain level of stress to perform and when we increase stress, performance will initially improve but will then reach a point beyond which it will begin to deteriorate. Maximum performance must depend on maximum tolerable arousal.

Understandably athletes are not necessarily exempt from the anxieties and depression that affect many of us from time to time. The subconscious mind can store unhealthy beliefs, which only serve to limit our potential. These can manifest themselves in a variety of ways such as anxiety, loss of control and despondency, which can all have a negative effect on our performance. Hypnotherapy can make a positive difference to the way we react by diminishing negative states and developing new patterns of positive behaviour, as long as the individual is willing to make changes’

Skill Enhancement Our subconscious mind does not differentiate between imagination and actuality therefore positive mental preparation for achievement is invaluable.

We all have inherent skills that we develop and commit to memory by practising them. Often a sports person does not have the time or stamina to physically practice sufficiently to continue increasing their skill. It is now understood that mental rehearsal is as improving as physical practise, the muscles “remember” the action in exactly the same way.

The other obvious advantage of mental rehearsal is we can “get it right” every single time.

Hypnotherapy works for people of all ages and abilities. It is a comparatively fast means of having a profound effect on many people, often not only in their sport but in their everyday lives as well.

While no-one would suggest that mental rehearsal could ever replace physical practice, skills can be enhanced in a quite remarkable way by its studied use.

An illustration of the power of our imagination: The American solder, Colonel George Hall, was held prisoner in Vietnam for a number of years. He was kept in difficult physical conditions where it was hard to stay fit and certainly impossible to play his favourite game, golf. In order to occupy his mind and keep his sanity he played a round of golf over his favourite course back home, inside his head, at least once a day over the five-and-a-half-year period he was held captive. This was in spite of being kept in solitary confinement most of the time in a cell 8½ feet x 8½ feet.

On departing for Vietnam he had played off a four handicap.

Five-and-a-half years later, on his return he was asked to play a round with some friends. To their amazement, and in spite of his weakened physical condition, he immediately played to his original handicap. When they (his friends) expressed their amazement, saying that he had not played for fiveand-a-half years he told them that, on the contrary, he had played mentally every day over that period and he knew every blade of grass, every bunker and every shot he had ever played.

Source: The Psychology of Winning , Denis Waitley

Metamorphosis | 11

Stress, disease, and the power of the mind Trevor Eddolls looks at its impact on the body & the control we possess We all know what stress is and we, at least, sometimes claim to suffer from it.

But what is stress really, and how does it impact on the body? Where does illness fit in? And how can hypnotherapy help?

WHAT IS STRESS? So what is stress? Wikipedia suggests that stress is the failure of an organism to respond appropriately to emotional or physical threats, whether actual or imagined.

It’s worth noting that according to transactional theory, anything has the potential to be a stressor and cause an individual to experience stress. It all depends on how that person interprets the stressor and the meaning they give to it. And, it can surprise some people to realise that not all events stress all people equally. Like me, you probably find that fits very nicely with what you’ve been telling clients: “Although we cannot necessarily control the events in our lives, we can control our response to those events.

The events themselves don’t cause us to become depressed, stressed, angry, etc.

It is for this very reason that learning to change our thinking habits can have such an incredible effect on our lives.”

We also know that using the right prefrontal cortex to negatively introspect on past events and to negatively predict

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future events can add to the amount of stress that we feel.

The most common physical symptom of stress is headache caused by people tensing their neck, forehead, and shoulder muscles. Longer-term stress can lead to digestive problems, insomnia, fatigue, high blood pressure, nervousness and excessive sweating, heart disease, strokes and even hair loss. Emotional responses to stress include anxiety, anger, depression, irritability, frustration, over-reaction to everyday problems, memory loss and a lack of concentration. Psychological responses include withdrawal from society, phobias, compulsive behaviours, eating disorders and night terrors .

It’s important to recognise that not all stress is necessarily bad. For example, Selye (1975) published an article entitled “Confusion and controversy in the stress field” in the Journal of Human Stress. He suggested a model that divided stress into ‘eustress’ and ‘distress’. He suggested that where stress enhances function (and this could be physical or mental resulting from strength training or challenging work) it can be thought of as eustress. Negative stress – distress – is what most people think of as stress, and this may lead to problems. But basically Selye’s conclusion was that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!

Selye’s research led him to a three-stage theory known as GAS (General Adaptation Syndrome): 1. Alarm - when a threat or stressor is first identified, the body’s fight or flight response kicks in with the production of adrenaline. At the same time some cortisol is produced from what’s called the HPA axis (see later).

2. Resistance If the stressor continues, the body tries to cope with it, but, even so, resources are gradually used up.

3.Exhaustion – the body’s resources are used up and this can lead to illness such as ulcers, depression, diabetes, digestive system issues, and cardiovascular problems.

Normally a stressor will come and then go. The body will activate its fight or flight response when it first identifies the stressor and then (slowly) return to normal once the stressor has gone.

Let’s take a more detailed look at what happens with that fight or flight response (often extended to freeze, fight, or flee) – see Figure 1 over.

Firstly, a stressor occurs and the (paraventricular nucleus of the) hypothalamus produces CorticotropinReleasing Hormone (CRH), which used to be known as Corticotropin-Releasing Factor (CRF). This (with vasopressin) stimulates

the (anterior lobe of the) pituitary gland to produce ACTH (AdrenoCorticoTropic Hormone). This triggers the production and release of corticosteroids and cortisol from the cortex of the adrenal glands.

These chemicals put the body into a high ‘readiness’ state. Heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration rise so that muscles and the brain are supplied with more blood and, consequently, more oxygen. Blood flow decreases to the stomach, kidneys, skin, and liver. Sexual and immune functions are suppressed. Endorphins - natural opiates are released to relieve potential pain. Fats and sugars are produced to supply extra energy. The sympathetic nervous system is stimulated. (The parasympathetic system has the opposite effect on the body – turning down the various systems.) Flight and fight burns up the glucocorticoids – and once the person is safe, the body’s chemistry returns to normal. The immune systems starts to work again as the body rests and repairs itself. Note that glucocorticoids act on the hypothalamus and pituitary to suppress CRH and ACTH production. This is a negative feedback cycle.

But what happens if the stressor continues? In this case, the glucocorticoids accumulate in the body and their action can be toxic. One way of burning them up is strenuous exercise (which it thinks is like fight or flight response).

This response system is known as the

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STRESSOR stimulates Hypothalamus

Pituitary Gland produces Adreno Cortico Tropic Hormone (ACTH)

Produces Corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH)

Glucocorticoids accumulate

PROBLEMS

Aerobic exercise

Immune system and body

NORMAL

Adrenal Glands

Burns up glucocorticoids

Fight or Flight HPA (Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal) [vi] axis (see Figure 1). It’s also associated with a number of illnesses such as anxiety, insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, fibromyalgia, and irritable bowel syndrome. Doctors will usually treat these symptoms with antidepressants. We know an alternative therapy!

The hypothalamus also produces Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone (TRH) which stimulate the thyroid gland to secrete thyroxine. Thyroxine controls the rate of metabolic processes in the body.

The adrenal gland is also stimulated by the sympathetic nervous system.

Adrenaline and noradrenaline are produced in the adrenal medulla, and they increase heart rate and respiration rate, and raise blood pressure. Adrenaline

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Adrenal cortex releases cortisol Adrenal medulla releases adrenaline

Figure 1: HPA axis

and noradrenaline positively feedback to the pituitary and increase the breakdown of pro-opiomelanocortins (POMCs) into ACTH and β-endorphins.

So what you end up with is:  Adrenaline, which tends to act more strongly on beta receptors (eg lipolysis, increasing insulin secretion, increasing heart rate, and increasing arteriolar dilation and so decreasing blood pressure).  Noradrenaline,which tends to act more strongly at alpha receptors (eg decreasing insulin secretion, causing arteriolar constriction and so increasing blood pressure, contracting

sphincters, sweating, and dilating pupils).  Cortisol and corticosteroids, which increase blood sugar through gluconeogenesis; suppress the immune system; and aid in fat, protein, and carbohydrate metabolism.

STRESS AND DISEASE So, that’s all very interesting but what has stress got to do with disease? Firstly, as we said above, stress can suppress the immune system. Now that means your body’s natural immune system isn’t doing its job – or not as effectively as it should be. Let’s just have a brief look at how the immune system works – and be prepared for more scientific naming!

White blood cells (technically called leucocytes) include a wide range of different types of cells whose job is to identify and eliminate invaders and internal cells that have become ‘alien’. Mast cells are associated with inflammation. Phagocytes engulf pathogens. There are macrophages, Fight or flight symptoms: [v]  Dilation of the pupils, for maximum visual perception.  Constriction of the arteries to maximize blood pressure to muscles.  Adrenal glands produce cortisol, adrenaline, and noradrenaline.

neutrophils, and dendritic phagocytes!

Your own cells can be programmed to die in a process called apoptosis. The phagocytes clear up the mess. There are basophils and eosinphils, which along with neutrophils are called granulocytes. There are the wonderfully named Natural Killer (NK) cells.

These attack tumour cells and cells infected with viruses. T-cells are produced in the thymus. They can ‘remember’ old infections. They’re part of the innate immune system. There’s also the adaptive immune system which comprises lymphocytes.

B-cells (from bone marrow) and T-cells make up most of the lymphocytes.

In a variety of ways, they identify what’s healthy for you and what isn’t, and deal with the non-you parts – and that includes cancer cells.

Reduced immune levels lead to an increase in the number of cancerous body cells that can be found. Researchers have also identified what they called biobehavioural risk factors in the development of cancer.

These were:  Social isolation / low social support  Depression  Chronic psychological stress.

In terms of stress, they found that

Metamorphosis | 15

it increases the risk of cancer due to the increase in the level of noradrenaline.

This raised noradrenaline level also increases the risk of metastasis (that is the cancer spreading round the body).

They also found that some cancer cells are stimulated to grow in the presence of cortisol. And cortisol reduces apoptosis (programmed cell death).

Unsurprisingly, their results indicate that interacting with others reduces cancers (both in terms of size and number). Social isolation results in acquired vigilance (stress), which results in bigger tumours.

Depression is also linked to patients having larger and greater number of cancers.

And depression speeds up how far and how fast a cancer progresses. The medical profession’s preferred treatment seems to be beta-blockers, which reduce cancer growth, but have other effects round the body.

Coffee raises your cortisol level, increases your feelings of stress and anxiety, and raises your blood pressure.

One study found that a large dose of caffeine can mimic the symptoms of anxiety disorders. Withdrawal from caffeine does too. Other studies found that people with panic disorder react more strongly to the identical amounts of caffeine than a ‘typical’ person. [vii]

Other studies have found that patients undergoing treatment who have a positive attitude and want to get well do so sooner than others. They usually avoid the biobehavioural risks listed above. Studies have found a positive attitude increases the antibodies in the body, whereas emotional stress reduces the level of antibodies.

Norman Cousins in 1989 identified four ingredients of what he called hardiness.

The components were:  Positive expectations (versus negative expectations)  Relaxation (versus stress)  Positive emotions (versus negative emotions)  Active role (versus passive role).

RELAXATION AND ATTITUDE The other important finding is that relaxation (particularly visualisations) has been shown to un-suppress the immune system. Clearly, this gives hypnotherapists an important role to play in helping people both before cancers become a problem and in reducing the scale of the problem.

Of course, other relaxation strategies are available, such as exercise, yoga, meditation, listening to music, etc.

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Clearly, hypnotherapists can help people with this.

Sandra Levy of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute found joy levels to be the second best predictor of survival time for patients with recurrent breast cancer. She found more than half of the fluctuation in white blood cell levels could be attributed to psychological factors, including patients’ perceived social

medical operations have taken place using just hypnosis). This amazing connection between the brain and body comes as a surprise to some people, but surely not to us. support and how they coped with stress.

David McCelland [xiv] of Boston University (1986, 1988) found immune system activity is high:  In people who are experiencing positive emotions  Among those with a strong sense of humour  In people experiencing love.

Immune system activity was found to be low in those people who are stressed or out of control.

Other studies have shown that it takes only 5 minutes of relaxation to produce dramatic brain wave changes.

In fact, numerous studies have shown amazing results in terms of the power of the mind to influence the body or parts of the body, including an ability to reduce bleeding and even to reduce tumour sizes.

You’re probably familiar with experiments where people have been able to reduce the amount of pain they feel, and others where people have anaesthetised areas of their body (indeed dentistry and

CONCLUSION Stress is a good thing provided that it stops quickly and allows the body to recover. However, excessive stress leads to a reduction in the performance of the immune system – and ultimately disease. A person’s attitude towards their recovery is affected by their support networks and the amount of stress they have experienced, and it, in turn, affects how long their recovery takes and how successful it is. Helping a person to relax and focus on the positives is one of the things a hypnotherapist can do to help an ill person on the road to recovery. Being in control and in your intellectual brain allows you to chose how stressful you perceive events to be.

Trevor Eddolls is an IT expert and solution focused hypnotherapist in Chippenham Wiltshire www.itech-ed.com

Metamorphosis | 17

Overeating and dopamine Claire Brigg expands on the connection between the two.

The prevailing approach to treat obesity follows precisely the laws of nature: exercise more and eat less (Bruemmer 2012) however with more than 1 billion adults worldwide classified as obese, this chronic problem seems resistant to treatment.

In an environment where energy dense and highly palatable foods are abundant together with a more sedentary lifestyle it’s easy to understand how a hedonic appetite system such as the dopamine reward system, plays a crucial role in eating behaviour (Finlayson & Dalton 2012).

Other than hormonal and intestinal appetite influences our motivation to eat seems to be regulated by mid brain dopamine activity (Wilcox et al 2010)

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A recent study (Stice et al 2010) offers insight into the dopamine and obesity connection with their fMRI study of dopamine release in overweight women.

This study tested whether overeating leads to reduced responsivity to palatable food and also hypothesised that a low sensitivity of reward circuitry increases risk of overeating and so on in a feedforward process. Put simply, the more we eat the less pleasure we gain from eating so the more we eat and so on‌ Their findings show that women who gained weight over a 6 month period showed a reduction in reward brain activity in response to palatable food consumption relative to weight stable women. The data suggests that although obese individuals show dopamine reduced

receptor availability than lean individuals it is weight gain as opposed to stable weight that creates the biggest reduction.

Wilcox et al (2010) study of overeating behaviour and dopamine support this data and found that high BMI and difficulty controlling weight is associated with low dopamine activity. Furthermore they conclude that changes in dopamine are associated with changes in weight and appetite indicating that dopamine plays an important role in the motivational aspects of food seeking behaviour.

Perhaps one interesting adjunct to Stice et al’s (2010) findings is their recommendations for future research and treatment implications to what they term a chronic and treatment resistant

problem. They suggest that any future research should evaluate behavioural and pharmacological interventions that increase dopamine activity as a means of preventing and treating obesity.

In conclusion it seems logical to assume that in a therapeutic context our focus needs to be on ensuring that an individual has many other rewarding activities in their lives that help to produce and maintain dopamine brain activity so that the focus is not purely on food. 

Claire Brigg trained in psychology and practices as a solution focused hypnotherapist in Bristol www.clairebrigg.moonfruit.com

Dennis Bruemmer 2012 Targeting Angiogenesis as Treatment for Obesity Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology is published by the American Heart Association. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 2012, 32:161-16

References

Graham Finlayson & Michelle Dalton 2012 Hedonics of Food Consumption: Are Food ‘Liking’ and ‘Wanting’ Viable Targets for Appetite Control in the Obese? Current obesity reports 10.1007/s13679-011-0007-2 Eric Stice, Sonja Yokum, Kenneth Blum, and Cara Bohon 2010 Weight Gain Is Associated with Reduced Striatal Response to Palatable Food The Journal of Neuroscience, September 29, 2010 30(39):13105–13109 Claire E.Wilcox, Meredith N. Braskie, Jennifer T. Kluth, and William J. Jagust 2010 Overeating Behavior and Striatal Dopamine with 6-[18F]-Fluoro-L-m-Tyrosine PET Journal of Obesity Volume 2010, 10.1155/2010/909348

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Corporate therapy get the best from employees Trevor Bedford takes us back to the beginning As a retired chartered accountant I decided to study hypnotherapy and completely bought into the practise, so much so that I not only work from home helping individual clients, but I have also developed a training programme to help companies.

Hard headed business people are not as sceptical and closed to new and alternative ways to improve their businesses as you may think - sadly probably much less so than many medical and psychology professionals.

Just talking to business people about hypnotherapy has proved to me that there is an interest, but can it be converted into actual work? Many businesses want to increase profits and turnover, so how can we help? Even if we can help, how can we prove any results?

Hypnotherapy has the following benefits to a company:

of either or a combination of both, work and personal pressures, It can increase productivity by motivating staff, helping with team work, self control, discipline and most of all happiness at work, It can increase productivity by reducing conflict between staff at work It can reduce the staff turnover and thus lessen the costs of hiring temporary staff and paying recruitment fees.

Reduce potential legal liabilities.

Obligations are changing regarding mental health at work and subsequently a more serious financial consequence if an employer does not consider their staff’s welfare.

1. It can reduce the amount of sick leave taken annually by reducing anxiety, stress and depression arising as a result

All of these benefits are measurable and a decision maker can justify his/her decision making based on not only being a caring

Facing these issues from the perspective of a company director or manager making the decision, I combined my experience with some research and developed some key selling points.

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2.

3.

4.

5.

Trevor Bedford is a solution focused hypnotherapist from Curry Somerset www.naturalhealthnetwork.co.uk 07743 601 403

employer but also being a progressive employer and potentially having an edge on the competition.

Prior to any work started, sick leave records can be noted, staff questionnaires recorded noting their scaling of their feeling of happiness at work, work motivation levels and the like. Sales and profits speak for themselves. What cannot be measured is the wonderful feeling of walking into an office, which changes from having stressed, grumpy staff to happy smiling ones. But managers and their clients do notice (sometimes they need reminding of the improvements just to ensure you get the right level of credit!)

The research Why look after our mental health?

In the past five years, employers have cited stress as the number one reason given by employees who take time off work but they are probably not talking about it because mental health is still a taboo subject and many people feel scared and confused about confronting the issue at work.

A new study by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health and the University College London has concluded that employees who work more than 11 hours a day are twice as likely to suffer from major depression as those working regular 8 hour days.

I use the analogy here of how heavy is a glass of water if you hold out your arm for a minute (not very), then an hour (quite), then a day (need to go to hospital).

How many people suffer?

The charity Mind estimates that 1 in 6 workers are experiencing depression, stress and anxiety and puts the cost to the UK economy at ÂŁ26 billion each year. My personal experiences have shown much higher levels in the small

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sample of work I have done. Not only is it nearly 90%, but most staff never tell the senior staff, they just suffer in silence.

The consequences 1. £2.4 billion wasted on staff turnover due to poor mental wellbeing 2. £15.1 billion lost by unproductive staff at work who are unable to cope due to mental health issues 3. 70 million lost working days due to mental health problems In addition:  Employers receive sick notes from employees’ GPs, who can be perceived as being too ready to sign the employee off with stress or depression, rather than that they might actually be suffering from a serious medical condition.  Failing to recognise the seriousness of depression can create real problems for the employer, and expose them to some significant legal claims.  An employee who becomes severely depressed, is likely to go off sick.  The immediate consequence of that is likely to be decreased productivity, and the additional cost of finding temporary or permanent cover for those employees.  High levels of sickness absence and a culture of working long hours can also create a negative atmosphere

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which usually results in a higher staff turnover.

Legal obligations and responsibilities Severe depression can be a ‘disability’ for the purposes of disability discrimination under the Equality Act 2010. Workers with severe depression can therefore pursue claims for disability discrimination if they are treated unfavourably because of something arising from that disability or if an employer fails to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate an employee with severe depression.

There is also the risk of a personal injury claim if the illness was caused by the long working hours, particularly if the employee alerted the company to the fact that he/she was suffering from stress and the company failed to do anything about it.

Employees can also make a claim under the employer’s Permanent Health Insurance scheme, if they qualify under the rules of the scheme, which can increase the company’s premiums. It can take a long time for an employee to become well enough to return to work, and some may never be able to do so.

Programme I have written a course of five motivational staff training programmes,

which are held monthly. The taboo word of hypnotherapy is mostly avoided so as not to invoke any prejudice at the beginning of the course. Each course is approximately 2 hours. The organisation provides the room, white board, chairs etc.

The first hour and a half is a casual lecture. It incorporates business needs with the hypnotherapy explanations as to how the brain works, how we suffer and what we can do to change ourselves. This is the point where I introduce the concept of trance and the benefits. By this time, if I have done the explanation well, all the staff will be very receptive to the trance session.

calm) with the trance work that they will lie on the floor, this is quite a compliment.

The topics include: communication, motivation, happiness at work, coping with stress, self control, time management, phobias, goal setting, setting expectations, controlling anger, conflict at work and developing great teams.

After five months the change is extraordinary and the improvements keep happening, many benefits are not easy to measure and prove, but it certainly changes the corporate philosophy for the better.

The second part of the course is the trance work. The staff are asked if they wish to enjoy this half hour. Occasionally there may be someone who declines. Mostly this is viewed very positively and referred to as “sleepy time�. Each person simply sits in their chair and I use my Iphone to play the music whilst talking through the session. On subsequent courses staff will sometimes be so comfortable (relaxed and

There is a huge corporate market. There is also the need to promote mental welfare at work, not only in these pretty difficult economic times, legally or to improve profits, but also to improve working conditions in line with the 21st century.

Corporate therapy is a huge untapped market where we can help many individuals to improve their lives, so go for it ď Ž

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From indecision to a new life in 3 months Debbie Pearce shares a truely motivating story Harriet (not her real name) was in a bad way when she first came to see me.

At 71, she had been widowed 2½ years previously and had moved to the area to be closer to her 97 year old mother who was in a nursing home.

Harriet described herself as extremely stressed and totally unable to make a decision. Her only pleasure in life was throwing things away, to the alarm of her friends and family who felt she was being reckless.

As with so many clients I see in similar situations, she was renting a property as a stop-gap whilst searching for a suitable place to buy. She had looked at dozens of properties, none of which were suitable, but then she didn’t actually know what she wanted, which again is a story I often hear. In truth she wanted to live near her son 100 miles away, but felt duty bound to be near her mother. She was confused, indecisive and totally demotivated.

We completed the initial consultation with an explanation of how the brain works and I gave her my relaxation CD. Harriet left saying she felt much better than when she arrived and was optimistic about the likelihood of success with the therapy.

Session 1: Harriett reported having some really

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good days. She had made the effort to go to a Golden Wedding celebration in the village. She didn’t know anyone well but made the effort to socialise.

Scale: 5/6 Miracle Question: I’d be making some phone calls. I’d make the effort to ring some friends, in fact I’d ring Sue. I’d go to the nearest town for an afternoon, so I can enjoy having people around me.

Session 2: True to her word, Harriett had made the effort to ring several friends and she had spent a nice day in town ‘in amongst the crowds’.

Scale: 6/7 Miracle Question: I’d be getting on top of the paperwork.

Session 3: Harriett had been busy – she’d started reorganising things at home, had begun shredding old paperwork and was working through boxes of photographs.

She’d booked a reflexology appointment (she adores being pampered) and also a health appointment with her GP. She had also started to sort her mother’s tax affairs – ‘It’s been on my mind for weeks’ she said.

Harriett reported feeling quite happy with all the things she was doing.

Scale: 7½/8 Miracle Question: I’d be starting to look at houses again

Session 4: Harriet had been even busier. She’d put some of the photos into albums, sent some Persian carpets to be cleaned and made another health appointment. She had cut out emotional eating in the evening (this is the first time weight or eating had been mentioned). She’d done more work on her mother’s tax return and was feeling a lot better.

Scale: 8½ Miracle Question: ‘I’ll complete the tax return. I’ll put more photos into albums’ Session 5: This was a very important week in Harriett’s progress. She reported having a really good week. She’d seen a couple of houses that she liked. Significantly she’d had a heart-to-heart with her mother, who said that she wished Harriett hadn’t moved to be near her. Harriett’s mother confided that she felt guilty because she hadn’t done the same for her own mother.

She encouraged Harriett to move away from the area to be near her son. Harriett and her mother had an enjoyable day out together (prior to that her mother had been reluctant to be taken out due to the guilt she felt).

Scale: 7½ (Harriett hadn’t slept well the night before and was tired) Miracle Question: I’d make a decision on which house to go for.

Session 6: Harriett was very animated. She had made a decision on which house to buy – a different house near her son. She had been doing lots of good things for her health. She said ‘I’m quite excited about myself’. She had handled a potentially difficult situation very well – her landlord announced he wanted to terminate the tenancy in 8 weeks so he could live in the house – Harriett took it in her stride and didn’t panic.

Scale: 9 Miracle Question: I could almost contemplate starting a relationship! I’d like to get a new car, because my current car reminds me of my husband. When I move near my son I will volunteer for a charity.

Session 7: Harriett reported ‘It’s all good, it’s all coming together’. She’d been writing letters, making phone calls and had been to the tip several times, which she actually enjoyed. She’d begun losing weight and had cut down on tea & coffee.

Scale: 9 Miracle Question: I want to be 9½ stone so I’d be eating less, not nibbling and cutting down on wine. I need to revise my will.

Session 8: Harriett breezed into the therapy room.

She’d bought a house near her son, ‘it’s an ideal property, and there are volunteering opportunities in the village’. Even her

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mother was pleased.

Scale: Beyond 10 – you’ll have to bring me back to earth!

Miracle Question: I’d be moved in and settling into life in the village.

Session 9: Harriett was highly excited, reporting being 100+ on the scale. She repeatedly asked me to tether her back to earth. The house purchase was progressing and she’d seen just the right car. She confided that a man had come into her life. She was just 4lbs away from her ideal weight.

Scale: 100+ Miracle Question: Can’t imagine things being any better.

I thoroughly enjoyed working with Harriett. She was clearly a resourceful person and reaped the benefits of taking action. There were a few surprises along the way – we hadn’t discussed having a heart-to-heart with her mother, weight hadn’t been mentioned at the initial consultation and certainly there was no talk of finding a new man in her life.

Harriett’s development from confusion, indecisiveness and lacking any spark to being totally motivated and looking forward to starting her new life near her son took just 3 months. It started with finding the motivation to ring a few friends and get out of the house, and resulted in resolving a major issue with her mother, taking better care of herself, sorting out tax returns and wills, buying a house, losing weight and finding a new man. Amazing! 

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Deborah Pearce is a Solution Focused Hypnotherapist and Practices in Axminster, Ottery St Mary & Sidmouth 07939 840788 | http://www.deborahpearce.co.uk/ Metamorphosis

What the Dickens!

Last year we saw the bicentenary of Charles Dickens’ birth. Coming from humble beginnings, he’s still heralded as one of the best authors this country has ever produced.

The reason I and many others recognise his genius, was his ability to capture the zeitgeist. He wrote about ordinary people; people that his readers recognised around them. My grandfather handed down my own love of the author, but what really captures my appreciation is that he lived, worked and recorded the streets where my own ancestors lived and worked. I often wonder if the cherry pips he spat out at passers by from the window of the blacking factory where he worked as a 12 year old, ever hit my great, great, great grandmother!

What many people don’t realise though is that Dickens practised mesmerism.

We can consider this a very early form of hypnotherapy, as he – like those who broke with the “out there” cosmic ideas of Mesmer – was fascinated by the science of the mind but not all the “fluffy” context of animal magnetism. He was originally taught trance inducing methods by John Elliotson, a leading professor of medicine at London’s University College.

Elliotson was very much the sort of person Dickens was often drawn to; confident, theatrical and highly ambitious.

Dickens’ use of mesmerism wasn’t limited to family and friends. Indeed his wife Catherine was far from happy for Charles

Penny Ling stumbled upon his links with hypnotherapy whilst researching her own family history to practise on women, as he had a habit of becoming obsessed with them, to the detriment of their marriage.

His best known “client” was Madame Augusta De La Rue, who suffered with tics, headaches, insomnia and occasional convulsions – very similar to the clients who later turned up in Vienna to see Freud.

Dickens began treatment by placing Augusta in a trance and questioning her.

Some trances brought back images of her brother and others included a shady figure who she was very afraid of. One psychotic experience in a church in Rome haunted her for quite some time. As Dickens worked with Augusta, he developed deep anxiety himself and Catherine probably made it considerably worse, as she was fully aware of his infatuation, and Dickens was deeply paranoid about bad reputation – after all he was the epitome of a Victorian Family Man! Gradually Augusta started to make a recovery; was this the trance work , or the amount of attention Dickens was paying to her? One thing is known, when she was in trance he made up tales of battling the demons together, thus encouraging her to turn it into a story – a dramatic narrative.

And isn’t that what we do by using the resources of our clients - to weave a story they recognise which can help them attain a more positive future? I wouldn’t be at all surprised that his writings changed a lot of people, as shown by his work, Oliver Twist.

This highlighted the plight of abandoned children, who littered London’s streets

and subsequently legislation was set up to help them.

Dickens’ characters are full of insights and sudden flashes of realisation that suddenly put the characters on a new path, just as we might find our clients suddenly make a snap decision to do something positive and more fulfilling. In a Christmas Carol, Dickens is allowing Scrooge to see his future if nothing changes, or if he changes, what the consequences will be – Powerful solution focused ideas here, imagining the perfect future. Scrooge changed his ways and everything changed for the better.

We can use such well known stories as metaphors within our lives, as the characters are so familiar to us. Whenever someone lists reading as one of their hobbies, I always find out what they read as this can help build rapport and be useful in our choices of metaphor.

Dickens was unhappy at times in his own life, but created the changes he wanted; he took chances to ensure he wouldn’t end up in debtors prison like his father. He was a modern man, perhaps frustrated by the restraints of Victorian morals. If divorce had existed, I’m sure he would have taken it. If he was around now I daresay he’d be writing for film and TV, acting, being an A list celebrity and perhaps be a stage hypnotist!  Penny Ling is a Solution Focused Hypnotherapist and can be found at: www.pennyling.co.uk or telephone 07508 658934

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Are you looking for a fully qualified Hypnotherapist?

Then look no further than the Association for Solution Focused Hypnotherapy All hypnotherapists:  Are qualified to HPD level or equivalent which is a level IV qualification.  Have trained in Solution Focused techniques from an accredited school  Are registered with a recognised professional body, eg NCH, GHR, APHP, The Hypnotherapy Society, CNHC etc  Are fully insured, have regular supervision and undertake regular continued professional development.

To find a fully qualified hypnotherapist close to you go to:

http:// www.afsfh.com

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