In this fourth‑in‑a‑series vlog, hypnotherapist Caroline Cavanagh reflects on a week of clinical work and the personal habit of weekly self‑reflection. She begins by noting her intention to post weekly videos, acknowledging the temptation to self‑criticise when she misses a week, and emphasizing the value of consistency (3 out of 4 weeks is better than 2). She then explains two core purposes of the series: to remind herself of her achievements and to educate viewers about what a hypnotherapist actually does. Caroline shares several client cases: (1) the striking distortion of time perception under hypnosis, where first‑time clients experience a 20‑minute session as only 3‑5 minutes, illustrating how slowing the mind alters subjective time; (2) a returning client whose stress‑induced skin flare‑up cleared within three days after a hypnosis session, now seeking help for a new autoimmune mouth condition (lichen planus), highlighting the mind‑body link; (3) another returning client who identified an emerging driving phobia early and sought pre‑emptive hypnotherapy to prevent escalation; (4) a young woman with severe contamination‑related OCD who, after a powerful session, adopted a new perspective that reframed her compulsions as optional rather than obligatory. Across these cases Caroline underscores the power of mindset, the therapeutic potential of reframing, and her gratitude for the privilege of this work. She closes by wishing viewers a good weekend and promising the next episode.
Chapters
Diary of a Hypnotherapist, and this is number 3 in 4 weeks. And it was my intention to do one of these every week, but last week I didn't. And I could beat myself up and go, oh, that's rubbish, I can't do this, and give up. But my decision is that's better to keep going because 3 out of 4 is better than 2 out of 4 or 2 out of 5. And the aim of these videos is firstly to remind myself to take a little bit of time to reflect. It's very easy for all of us to keep looking forward— what's next, what's next— and forget how much we have achieved, and that's important to do. But also to provide people who often ask me, what actually does a hypnotherapist do? So there's a couple of things that have really stuck with me this week when I took time to reflect. The first time a client sees me, they have their first experience of hypnosis, and a question I always ask them is how long they thought they had their eyes closed. The process that I use is normally somewhere between 16 and 20 minutes, depending on how much I embellish it for that particular client, but invariably they will say somewhere between sort of 3 to 5 minutes. And when I say, no, it's nearly 20, often there's disbelief. But the reason that their awareness of time becomes so skewed is what you do is you slow the mind down. So many of us have such busy minds all of the time, but time is fixed. And whether you're busy and time flies or bored and time feels like it's dragging, it's actually a constant. Our perception of time is what goes on in here. And the last client I had this week, who left here about an hour ago, she had her first therapeutic session and she was under hypnosis for an hour and 10. She thought it was about 5 minutes and was blown away when she realized just how much work she had done. And that's really the power of what I do and what I love doing. So this week I had a client who returned. She did some work with me about 4 years ago after having a really bad skin issue because of stress that she was experiencing. And under hypnosis she actually said, my blood is boiling! And funny old thing, if that's what you're thinking, it's not surprising that skin starts erupting too. So we did one session 4 years ago and her skin condition was Almost clear within just 3 days. It was phenomenal. And she'd come back because she'd now got another autoimmune disease, something called planus, which affects the mouth. And again, as we started talking, it was because something outside of her control was affecting her, and rather than dealing with that, she was turning on herself. Autoimmune disease is attacking yourself. So hopefully, we didn't actually do anything, but the next session we'll do, and she's really optimistic based on the success last time that she will have the same level of success this time. And it really demonstrates how powerful the mind is and what we think creates our own reality. I've also had another returning client who had a phobia And another phobia has started to pop up, and that's around driving. But she did a brilliant thing and came before the phobia has escalated really quickly, because that's what phobias tend to do. So she was starting to recognize that she was avoiding going on motorways, dual carriage. To go on a dual carriage, they would get off at the earliest opportunity. And so it popped up in her mind, go see Caroline and nip this in the bud. So we again crack on that and she'll be reporting back next week after actually going out and obviously practicing being able to do that drive. And it's the one session that really has stuck in my mind above all this week is a young lady with OCD. She has a fear of dirt to the extent that she has to Dettol wipe her whole body And anything that has left her home. And if things come into her home that have been outside them, she has to also dettle everything inside her body too. It's absolutely debilitating for her. But we did a really powerful session today, and she skipped out of here with a completely different attitude. And she said again, I hear a lot, and that is I'd never thought of it in that way. And when you do think of something in a new way, you can never not think of it in that way. The old way then becomes an option rather than the only way. The power of the mind is phenomenal, and having the opportunity to work with people in this way is an absolute privilege. I love what I do and can't wait to do more of it next week. For now, I wish you a wonderful weekend, and I will be back to do the 4th in 5 weeks video this time next week. Bye-bye for now. Bye-bye.
