New NCH Book: The Complete Writings of James Braid

Insomnia is thought to affect one in 3 people in the UK, with sufferers finding it difficult to get to sleep, having interrupted sleep, waking early, and having difficulty concentrating…

Do you worry that you have a serious, undiagnosed medical condition?  The number of people in the UK suffering from health anxiety is rising.  Many of us are guilty of…

According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), 526,000 workers in the UK suffered from work-related stress, depression or anxiety in 2016/17, and 12.5m working days were lost as a…

A recent series of articles compared the influential “sociocognitive” and “response expectancy” theories of hypnosis with Alfred Barrios’ “conditioning and inhibition” theory, which reprises elements of Pavlov’s theory of hypnotic suggestion. This snippet outlines the opposing theories and research findings cited in favour of the sociocognitive position.

This is a short article published in the Autumn 2009 edition of the NCH’s publication The Hypnotherapy Journal. It outlines proposed improvements to the Hypnotherapy Practitioner Diploma (HPD) award. Comments are invited from any interested parties, especially NCH members and accredited training schools.

October’s snippet briefly summarises an important treatment outcome study by Schoenberger, Kirsch, et al., examining the additive value of hypnosis combined with CBT for public speaking anxiety. Prof. Kirsch will be a speaker at this year’s NCH Extravaganza event.

Reflections on the recent special issue of IJCEH dealing with hypnotherapy for clinical depression, and attempts to create hybrid hypnotherapy approaches combined with modern evidence-based psychotherapies for depression.

Today the world celebrates International Women’s Day (IWD) – a global day that commemorates the achievements of women in social, economic, cultural, and political spheres. The significance of this day…

This snippet discusses a recent experimental study which attempted to quantify (as a percentage) the extent to which expectation contributed to the pain-reducing effects of hypnosis, imagination, and a placebo medication. Strong evidence was derived from statistical analysis suggesting that the effect of hypnotism is “partially-mediated” by expectation, albeit to a lesser degree than the placebo effect.

It’s known as ‘The Most Wonderful Time of the Year’ but for many it’s filled with anxiety and depression. The festive period can intensify feelings of loneliness, increase financial worries…

Around 30% of the UK live with daily, chronic pain, that’s around 28 million people according to research carried out in 2016. For most of these sufferers, opiates are offered as…

If you’ve been on any form of social media in the last few weeks you will undoubtedly have seen a multitude of women coming forward as victims of sexual assault…

Gil Boyne died on 5th May 2010 at his home in London, after a brief illness. Having been admitted to hospital and been given a diagnosis a week previously, he…

What’s the relationship between indirect suggestion and traditional hypnotism? This article gives a plain English review of Hans Eysenck’s seminal research on the factors in hypnotic suggestibility.

The January Research Snippet, for a change, provides a complete outline of an evidence-based protocol for modern behaviour therapy for anxiety (Öst’s Applied Relaxation). It’s suggested that this method could be easily adapted for use as a cognitive-behavioural hypnotherapy treatment for anxiety, and that its standardised and simple nature (and the comparison with established methods) make it well-suited for use in treatment outcome studies on hypnotherapy for anxiety.