We all know how bad we feel mentally when our body is malfunctioning – just think of the last time you had an upset stomach or nasty physical injury. Often, when I first meet a patient experiencing chronic pain or stiffness, they are either anxious, irritable or depressed about their condition, and how it’s affecting their lives or making them feel. Once they start to improve, they noticeably brighten up, and by the end of a course of treatment, many people comment on how much their mood and general outlook on life has improved.

But how about the other way round? How many times have you noticed that mental stress or strain affects your body? In fact, many examples of this concept are peppered through our everyday language… you might notice “butterflies in the stomach” before an exam, a “gut feeling” that something’s wrong, the “heartbreak” of a divorce or perhaps noticed how the “weight of the world is on your shoulders”.

The body and mind are two sides of the same coin. Osteopathy is brilliant for balancing the body, and fixing the physical side of the coin, but some patients need a little extra help to tackle the contribution that the mind makes towards health – or illness. I recommend hypnotherapy for these patients. Clinical hypnotherapy (sometimes called solution-focussed hypnotherapy) uses special relaxation techniques that can help ‘reset’ harmful mental patterns that are hampering the body’s recovery. It is also very effective for decreasing anxiety and overall stress levels.

Our recommended hypnotherapist in Bath, James Greaves, says that “during a state of hypnosis – or ‘trance’ – the mind becomes calmer and more receptive to beneficial suggestions, helping to break problematic thought patterns or behaviours”. For more information on hypnotherapy, please consult the General Hypnotherapy Register, or to make a hypnotherapy appointment click here: James Greaves Hypnotherapy.

About the author:

Marianne is an award-winning registered osteopath at Applewood Osteopathy in Bath