Hypnotherapy and Self Harm
In a recent article on the BBC website, it has come to light that over 25% of 14 year old girls have admitted to self harm. I know from my experience with adults that self harm in a person’s youth can often lead to further self harm in adulthood. It becomes a way of being able to express their emotions in a way they feel safe in doing so. This may sound odd to those who have never self harmed, but for self harmers, it is their way of being able to acceptably releasing emotion through physical pain.
The implications of this kind of behaviour is obvious and certainly does not need to be overstated. Part of our development into adulthood is to be able to safely and appropriately express our emotions, positive as well as negative ones. Hypnotherapy, when in the hands of a competent psychotherapist can be a way to help with being able to help clients to express their emotions without the need of the self harm. Whilst in the trance state, a person can mentally rehearse how they will express their emotions in the future, and as the unconscious will treat this as a genuine experience, it gives the client a real sense of achievement. Self harm can be helped considerably by hypnotherapy.
