In this episode Caroline Cavanagh answers the common question of how many hypnotherapy sessions are needed, explaining that most clients require 4–8 sessions, though some issues like specific phobias can be resolved in a single extended session while complex, lifelong patterns may need more. She contrasts hypnotherapy with counseling, emphasizing that hypnotherapy works directly with the subconscious—the part of the brain that drives automatic behaviors and emotional responses—whereas counseling engages the conscious, rational mind. Caroline likens the process to learning a skill: it requires practice and repetition, but often yields faster results than talk‑therapy. She notes that many clients return for regular quarterly check‑ins to maintain progress and manage life’s inevitable stressors. The episode also showcases a range of recent client cases: a teenager fearful of a parent’s alcohol‑related outbursts, another teen coping with a blended family and anger toward her mother, and a woman preparing for a contentious divorce. Across these examples, she stresses the central therapeutic goal of increasing a client’s sense of control, because perceived control inversely correlates with anxiety. Finally, she invites viewers to contact her for an informal chat to explore whether hypnotherapy might be a suitable first step, positioning hypnotherapy as a proactive, growth‑oriented tool rather than a remedy for a ‘broken’ person.
Chapters
Hi, and welcome to the latest edition of Diary of a Hypnotherapist. And one of the most common questions I get from someone when they're inquiring about hypnotherapy is, how many sessions is it gonna take? Which is an obvious question. However, it's a bit like someone going to a fitness trainer, and as they're putting on their trainers for the first time, saying, how long is it gonna take until I'm fit? There are so many ifs and whats and depends. However, I've been doing this an awful long time now, so I have a large amount of data to look at, and the average for most people is between 4 and 8 sessions. There are some things, for example, like phobias, really acute anxieties, that we can actually resolve in one slightly extended session, whereas if someone's got a complex series of things that have built up over a longer lifetime, then it may take more sessions. But the reason that hypnotherapy tends to be much quicker than some of the other options, such as counseling, is that we're working with the part of the brain that in many cases is responsible for the behaviors or the feelings that, that person is wanting to change. The subconscious part of the brain is the part of the brain that runs all of the things that we don't think about, which is often eating. You're not aware that the hand's still going like this because your conscious mind is focused on something completely different, like your phone or a TV program. The subconscious mind is also the part of the brain that runs all of our emotions. It triggers the fight-or-flight response, which gives us the feelings of anxiety. When we're exposed to risk, whether that's perceived or real. So the difference between hypnotherapy and counseling is that hypnotherapy is typically us working with the subconscious part of the brain, the part that's creating the behaviors, whereas counseling is more working with the conscious part of the brain, the rational, logical, mature part of the brain, where you rationalize yourself to perhaps different options. But like anything that you learn— driving a car, riding a bike, times tables in school— it takes practice, repetition, and time. So that's where I love using hypnotherapy, because of the speed of the results. And as I say, most of my clients, it's normally between 4 and 8 sessions Give or take a few either way. And increasingly though, I am having a number of clients that may have worked with me a number of years ago that phone up and say, "Do you know Caroline? I think I'd really benefit from just a regular check-in." So I've now got several clients that we regularly see each other once every three months, and they're saying it really helps me that if something you know life trips you up as it does. That I've got a call with Caroline coming up, so I can just kind of put it on the back burner, and I'll talk about it with Caroline in a few weeks' time. And I really appreciate it because hypnotherapy, in fact any form of therapies, isn't just for the fact of something is damaged. People often say to me, "I'm broken." Very few people that I work with are broken. Most of them are just a bit bruised. But therapy has this negative connotation. You have to be at a very low ebb to go and see a therapist. But therapy in many ways is no different to coaching. And you can have a coach if you're a top sportsman, if you're at the top of the— in fact, most businessmen at the top of the game do have coaches because there is always another level that you can go to. And so this is now lovely that I'm working with a series of people where actually things are going quite well. They just need to see What else can I do? How else can I harness the power of my mind to step out of my comfort zone a bit more and grow a bit more? So that's just a little bit of an idea about how some of my work differs from other options that people have. And some of the people that have chosen to start working with me recently—I work a lot with teenagers—and I've had a couple of teenage clients this week. One of them who was really distressed. Because in the home there had been an issue that revolved around alcohol, and she'd become very scared of a parent that had lost control, and she felt very fearful should that happen again. And similarly, another child where she was looking at becoming part of a blended family— mum had met someone else That someone else also had children, but she was very used to having mum on her own, and suddenly having all these other people around was really taking her way outside of her comfort zone. And how that was manifesting was in significant anger outbursts that were typically directed back at mum. So helping her understand of what she can control, what sometimes you just have to suck up and get on with it. And even though that's not an expression I particularly like, for her it made sense that even as adults there's lots of things that I do that I don't really want to do, but I need to do because it's taking responsibility and life isn't all about having it your own way. And I've also worked on the other end of the scale with a lady who was preparing for going to court. to, um, to take another iteration in what's turning out to be a very messy divorce. So this week has been different in many ways from the more traditional clients that I see, whereas anxiety is leading them to be very fearful of social situations or causing them to eat things inappropriately, all sorts of different things, to a series of clients this week where there has been specific incidents that have just thrown them. or specific immediate challenges that are outside of the normal, that by using hypnotherapy, starting to get a sense of feeling of control— what can I control, what can't I control— but even those things that I can't control, I can always control my response to. And that's a really important element of working as an anxiety therapist. There is anxiety and there's loss of control. And when there's more control, there's very little anxiety, but when you lose control, that's when anxiety heightens. And that is one of the pinnacles of the things that we look at in all of the work that I do with people. How can you feel more in control? Because when you are in that position, anxiety is going to reduce. So I hope that's given you a little bit of a feel for some of the things that a hypnotherapist does, but also how hypnotherapy is different from some of the options that are available. And if you're just even a little bit curious as to whether hypnotherapy may be able to help you, just get in touch. We can have a really informal chat where between us we can decide if it is something that you can tip your— dip your toe into the water and find out a little bit more, or if not, I can suggest perhaps some other things that may be better for you. So for now, thank you very much for watching. I hope it's been useful, and I look forward to chatting to you again next week in the next edition of Diary of a Hypnotherapist, if I can even say that. I wish you a wonderful weekend, and bye-bye for now.
