Clear Thinking Out Loud

What can a lack of meaningful creative challenge do to people? Part seven in this series explores the detrimental effects of this unfulfilled need.

Find out how addiction REALLY happens and why hypnosis is the tool to get rid of it.

Depression gets us using a strictly negative bias. Under its baleful influence, anything ‘good’ that happens is interpreted as simply the ‘exception that proves the negative rule’. Here’s how to reframe that toxic outlook.

Have you noticed that some clients feel under pressure to ‘perform’ or ‘do it right’ when it comes to the hypnosis part of therapy?

Dream analysis is often simplistic and one size fits all. Here’s a guide to why your clients dream, and ways to figure out what their unconscious mind is trying to express.

“But this feels insurmountable!” How I break down my clients’ therapy goals into easy steps.

Is ‘imposter syndrome’ preventing you from doing your best work?

Provocative language is important when you’re treating someone with trauma. Here are three specific techniques to use when treating post-traumatic stress disorder and phobias.

The connection between the body and mind mean mental and physical health cannot be disentangled, especially with it comes to meeting our Primal Human Needs.

Why understanding Stockholm syndrome can help you help smokers quit.

Some of our clients are essentially balanced, happy, productive people when circumstances are fine. But when they’re going through a terrible time, it’s only natural that their ability to meet their needs is compromised.

Why you need to grab your client’s attention if you’re going to be able to help them and how to do so quickly.

Have you heard of the ‘hidden observer’ deep within the human mind?

Artfully crafted therapeutic reframes are a wonderful way to rapidly help your clients discard limiting beliefs.

The way you ‘package’ your therapeutic task request can make all the difference. Here are four ways to improve client outcomes by being a kind taskmaster.

When we communicate hypnotically, we need to know which part – conscious or unconscious mind – we are communicating with and seeking to influence.

Here are 5 tips to help you help a client who may be stuck in the web of a sociopathic narcissist (or someone with ‘Narcissistic Personality Disorder’).

Part three of the series explores the need for control and how it can betray us when it is met in unhealthy ways.

It seems that to be effective, therapists need to focus on client resources and potential solutions at least as much as pathology and causes.

Whenever anyone asks me why I use hypnosis in psychotherapy, I feel like a swimmer being asked why he feels the need to get into water to swim. There’s a variety of positive reasons to introduce clinical hypnosis into your practice.

Here are six ways you can help terminally ill clients find comfort, relaxation, and resolution.

Long gone are the days when it was assumed the mind and body were separate and distinct, that the thoughts and feelings of the mind had no or little direct effect on the workings of the body.

If we are to help our bullied clients, the first thing we need to understand is what exactly is happening when someone is being bullied.

False memories can be created during regression. Here are four reasons why taking your client back to the past isn’t always the right approach.

Character is built through experience – here are 3 therapy strategies which help your client reflect on what they have learnt from their troubles

Questions have an amazing ability to disrupt toxic thought patterns and widen perspectives. Here are 17 really useful solution-focused questions you can use with clients.

How to use gossip (yes really) to help your therapy client.

Wanting to be recognized can easily morph from a need to a demanding, all-consuming greed. So why is the drive for status so strong?

It’s useful to ask when the out-of-control spending began and what, if anything, changed during that time. So often a problem pattern is a sloppy and unconscious way of trying to meet a primal emotional need.

Regular, deep sleep is a necessity for a healthy life, so here are three more tips for treating insomnia.

If client motivation is something you’ve struggled with from time to time, here are some quick tips…

Help your clients reach a stable, sustainable weight with these five techniques.

We asked our Uncommon Practitioners this question on our Facebook page and the response was fantastic with many wise words shared. Rather than one answer being the ‘right one’ or the only one, I see your informed replies as vital parts of a whole ‘mosaic’ of possible depression causes.

Why I encourage all therapists to learn about hypnosis, even if they aren’t planning on delivering hypnotherapy.

It sounds strange, but positive feedback and compliments can make people suffering from ‘imposter syndrome’ feel even worse about themselves.

You may know exactly what your client needs, but how do you deliver that advice so it gets acted upon?

When you’re not getting the results you want, stop what isn’t working and try something new and unexpected. Widen the way you see the problem.

When a client is at the mercy of their own feelings, they can feel out of control. Introduce the idea of self-mastery with these techniques.

Language and attitude is vital when helping clients transcend their self-sabotage during therapy.

Help clients move forward quickly with these three life coaching techniques.

When our lives feel meaningful we are energized and focused. Even suffering is made more bearable. So when the human need for meaning is met in an unhealthy way, it can wreak havoc.

It appeared that Kennedy had himself fundamentally flagged as having alcoholism rather than as having conquered alcoholism.

Many therapists and counsellors don’t feel confident treating depression. But we can make all the difference in the world and here are three ways to start.

Clients often don’t really believe they can get better. Here’s 3 cunning psychotherapy techniques that subtly show them they can.

If your client tends to leap to emotional conclusions, here’s 3 ways to subtly dispute irrational beliefs and help them see the world in a much clearer way.

Worrying is not harmless; it has consequences possibly leading to clinical depression. Helping your clients to stop worrying can have multiple benefits.

We can, and even must, use a person’s character and personality to help them thrive. Here are three ways to help you see your client clearly so you can work with them effectively.

A step-by-step guide to treating painful memories causing your clients problems in the present.

When a client is unresponsive to therapy, it can feel deflating. Here are five ways to think outside the box and regain your therapeutic motivation.

Part five in the series explores our innate human desire for a sense of community and how it can work against us.

The therapeutic alliance is a base from which therapy can happen. And in order for that base to develop, we need to be a certain way for our clients.