Begin Your Path to Self-Exploration with Lighthouse Therapy Group.
Solution Focused Hypnotherapy
Some patterns start as a way of coping and slowly become something that feels more in charge than you are. We help you understand why that happens in the brain, and help your mind find other ways to get what it has been looking for.
● Usually 8 to 12 sessions
● Alongside your GP if stopping a substance
● A little neuroscience every session
Is this for you?
It might be the drink that used to be a treat and is now every night. The bets on your phone that you don’t mention. The parcels you’d rather nobody saw arrive. Gaming, pornography, exercise, food, or something else entirely.
Often there’s a promise in the morning and a broken one by evening, followed by guilt, which only makes the pull stronger. Many people feel ashamed and keep it to themselves, and that makes it harder still.
We don’t see any of this as a moral failing. A habit that has taken hold is the brain doing exactly what it was designed to do, just in a way that’s no longer working for you.
Understanding it
Dopamine is a chemical in the brain linked to reward and wanting. When something gives us a quick lift, whether that’s a drink, a win, a purchase or a scroll, dopamine helps the brain remember it and come back for more.
When life is stressful, the oldest, most protective part of the brain goes looking for that relief. Repeat it often enough and the pattern becomes automatic. The lift gets smaller, the wanting gets bigger, and the habit starts to run itself. That’s the trap.
Understanding this takes a lot of the shame out of it. It also shows where change can happen: by easing the stress that drives the pattern, and helping the brain find better sources of reward.
How it works
Every plan is shaped around you, but this is how things usually go.
Step 1
You can book your first appointment through our website. This first consultation is paid, and there’s no pressure to commit to anything beyond it.
Step 2
We’ll talk through what’s brought you here and explain, in plain English, why habits like this form and why they’re so hard to shift. We’ll go through how the sessions work, and you’ll experience a light, gentle trance so you know what it feels like. If you’d like to carry on, we’ll invite you to book, and suggest a relaxation track to listen to at home to help prepare your mind.
Step 3
We start with what’s been good since we last met, because noticing what’s working matters. We’ll ask you to rate where you are on a simple scale, and explore what would be different if the change you want had already happened. Then you’ll settle into hypnotherapy, which helps your body settle and uses stories and images to help your mind see things differently. Each session also adds a little more understanding of what’s driving the pattern.
Step 4
There’s no fixed number. We carry on until you’re high on that scale, or until you feel the change is enough. The relaxation track is yours to keep using for as long as it helps.
What can change
Change is rarely a straight line, and a setback doesn’t mean starting from scratch. Over time, people often notice:
Choices that feel like yours again, rather than something that happens to you.
Less hiding and less shame, which often makes relationships easier too.
The hours and money that were going on the habit come back to you.
Waking up without the dread of working out what happened the night before.
Lower stress overall, so there’s less pressure pushing you back to old patterns.
Space for the people, interests and plans the habit had been crowding out.
Good to know
Yes, if you’re cutting down or stopping alcohol or any drug. Stopping some substances suddenly can be dangerous, so please talk to your GP before you change anything. Hypnotherapy can sit alongside medical support, never instead of it.
Please don’t attend a session under the influence of alcohol or drugs. You need a clear head for the work to take hold.
Alcohol, drugs, gambling, shopping, gaming, food, sex and pornography, exercise and more. If yours isn’t on that list, get in touch anyway.
If you’re in crisis or worried about your safety, please call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. You can also call Samaritans at any time, day or night, on 116 123.
If a habit has started to feel bigger than you, you’re welcome to get in touch. You don’t need to have it all figured out first.
