Hypnotherapy is a clinical form of hypnosis that’s used to help people break free from addiction and stress. Hypnosis is often written off as a joke but for people who suffer from addiction or severe anxiety, it can be life changing.

For Brian Dolan, his addiction was smoking. A year ago, he was smoking a hundred cigarettes a day, and didn’t believe hypnosis could help him. “I was a doubter, definitely”. Now, his wife can smoke around him without a problem. When he gets a rare craving, he says it disappears almost instantly “it was the strangest thing, one day I was smoking and the next day I wasn’t”.

Clinical hypnotist Helena Cataford, treats people with addictions, phobias and anxiety. She says she treats her clients by relaxing their conscious minds so she can influence their subconscience “the conscious mind would think, yeah, that’s not going to work…that’s ridiculous. It would come up with all the excuses as it does in everyday life.” Under hypnosis, she says, the mind is more pliable. For addictions, she associates cigarettes or alcohol with something disgusting so the client avoids them. Anxiety and stress, requires calming breathing and self motivating speech. Despite common misconceptions, Helena Cataford says it’s all about teaching the mind what it already wants to know.