Hypnotherapy for Chronic Pain | Online UK and West London
1 in 3 people live with chronic pain- defined as pain lasting three months or longer. The traditional way of treating it is outdated and just doesn't work. Persisting pain has little correlation to tissue damage, and is in fact to do with how the brain changes in response to pain- covering it up with painkillers isn't just ineffective, it's counterproductive.
Luckily, Cognitive Hypnotherapy has a lot to offer. By changing the way the nervous system and unconscious mind respond to pain perception, your experience of chronic pain can be greatly reduced or even eliminated. As well as Hypnotherapy, I have taken on extensive additional training to be able to specialise in treating chronic pain.
Why does chronic pain persist?
Pain is the body's alarm system, designed to alert us to danger and prompt protective action. In acute pain, this system works exactly as it should. But in chronic pain, the alarm can become stuck in the "on" position, continuing to fire long after any original injury has healed.
This happens because the nervous system becomes increasingly sensitive over time- a process sometimes called central sensitisation. The brain unconsciously learns to interpret ordinary signals from the body as threatening, amplifying pain even where there is little or no tissue damage to explain it.
This isn’t your fault, and it doesn’t mean your pain isn’t real. Its a measurable change in how your nervous system processes information, and it is also reversible.
Understanding this is often the first step toward change. When you understand why pain persists, it becomes possible to work with the nervous system directly- helping it recognise safety again, and reducing the alarm signals that maintain pain.
How I work with chronic pain
Alongside Cognitive Hypnotherapy for chronic pain, I incorporate Pain Neuroscience Education- helping you understand how and why pain develops and persists. This understanding is very empowering and can help you get out of pain.
I can also teach you TRE, to shake off any excessive underlying tension. This too can assist you to leave pain where it belongs- in the past. Alongside this, I offer Buteyko Breathing. Normalising dysfunctional breathing can be the missing link in restoring a felt sense of safety to the nervous system- and this too can help decrease pain signals.
Together, these approaches form the wider Breath Body Mind Method -addressing chronic pain from multiple angles, rather than relying on any single technique.
Chronic pain doesn't have to control your life. This is an area of my work that I'm particularly passionate about- partly because of my own experience of chronic pain, and partly because I have witnessed how much is possible when the nervous system is given the right support. If you are ready to try another way to treat chronic pain, perhaps it's time to give my approach a go.
For an in-depth exploration of why pain becomes chronic, you can read more here.
If you would like structured 1:1 support, you can explore that here
"I am glad to say I can actually go days with little or no pain, and can live life now- thanks to Breath Body Mind- something I had all but given up on."