Accredited by the National Regulatory Register for Hypnotherapy, Member of the European Institute of Forensic Hypnosis, Registered Healer & Hypnotherapist,
Thought Field Therapy Practitioner.
In private practice at:
"Serendipity" Provost Young's House, 28 Marischal Street, Aberdeen AB11 5AJ Scotland, U.K.
Member of the Advisory Council of the National Society of Professional Hypnotherapists.
As seen on "Kilroy", BBC1, BBC2, STV & Grampian TV.
Healing is offered for ALL
illness, stress or injury,
the severity of the condition is no limitation on what is offered.
Stress... We can, generally, cope with some stress; the ‘fight-or-flight’ syndrome etc. But ongoing continuous stress can affect a wide range of stress-related conditions.*1
Anxiety... is a feeling of unease, such as worry or fear, that can be mild or severe. Everyone experiences feelings of anxiety at some point in their life. For example, you may feel worried and anxious about sitting an exam or having a medical test or job interview.
Feeling anxious is sometimes perfectly normal. However, people with generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) find it hard to control their worries. Their feelings of anxiety are more constant and often affect their daily life.
There are several conditions for which anxiety is the main symptom. Panic disorder, phobias and post-traumatic stress disorder can all cause severe anxiety.*2
Depression... is a serious illness. It is very different from the common experience of feeling miserable or fed up for a short period of time.
When you’re depressed, you may have feelings of extreme sadness that can last for a long time. These feelings are severe enough to interfere with your daily life, and can last for weeks or months, rather than days.
Depression is quite common, and about 15% of people will have a bout of severe depression at some point in their lives. However, the exact number of people with depression is hard to estimate because many people do not get help, or are not formally diagnosed with the condition.
Women are twice as likely to suffer from depression as men, although men are far more likely to commit suicide. This may be because men are more reluctant to seek help for depression.
Depression can affect people of any age, including children. Studies have shown that 2% of teenagers in the UK are affected by depression.
People with a family history of depression are more likely to experience depression themselves. Depression affects people in many different ways and can cause a wide variety of physical, psychological (mental) and social symptoms.
A few people still think that depression is not a real illness and that it is a form of weakness or admission of failure. This is simply not true. Depression is a real illness with real effects.*3
However, The Scottish Parliament’s public audit committee’s review of mental health services states that:
“the level of prescribing anti-depressants had quadrupled in 15 years and the reasons were unclear” and “one in four people will experience a mental health problem at some point in their lives”.*4
Many of my patients, presenting for a wide range of differing conditions, are anxiety and/or depressive ‘cases’. Hypnotherapy (hypnosis for a therapeutic, helpful, purpose) can be used very effectively. Indeed, most of my patients making two or more visits have reported betterment in anxiety and depression with results that have been clinically relevant and statistically significant (P<0.05), where:
P<0.05 = probability of happening by chance being less than 1 in 20,
P<0.01 = probability of happening by chance being less than 1 in 100 and
P<0.001 = probability of happening by chance being less than 1 in 1000.
HYPNOTHERAPY... is not new. It has been known about since the start of recorded
history, in communities all around the world, although the word "hypnosis" comes from a Dr. James Braid, from Perth, Scotland in 1843.
DISPELLING MYTHS:
Hypnosis is NOT sleep.
Awareness is NOT lost.
You will NOT be out of control.
Hypnotherapy is an altered state of awareness.
FACT: you can expect to be conscious of feeling relaxed - deeply
relaxed - but remaining completely in control of all aspects of your being.
Hypnosis can be used to ... “greatly depress or prodigiously exalt” ... the arousal of selected parts of the
nervous system.*5
It can be defined as a naturalistic alteration of the level of activity of systems of the mind and body for a
therapeutic purpose.*6
It has been known about since Wong Tai, the father of Chinese medicine (2600B.C.), and the Hindu Vedas (1500B.C.) indicated hypnosis and hypnotic procedures.
Although it stems from the Greek word ‘hypnos’ meaning sleep - it is not sleep. If you were wired up to an EEG
machine measuring brain-waves, this could be proved (see: "Fear of Flying"). It is an altered state of awareness - where you remain deeply
relaxed but conscious of all that is being said and happening around you.
Importantly, you remain completely in control of ALL aspects of your being.
It is routinely used for a wide range of condition-specific therapeutic purposes: anxiety, asthma, depression, examnation nerves, fear of flying, IBS, insomnia, migraine, pain-management, panic-attacks, public speaking, dental, needle and about 400 other phobias, stress, weight control/ weight loss, etc., - allowing the individual to take control and manage their wellbeing for their own good.
You can see the benefits reported by 100 self-referring subjects completing 2 or more sesions of hypnotherapy on:
First appointment (1-11/2 hours): £50.00 with FREE relaxation and confidence-building CD (or recording of past life recall) included.
Second appointment (1-11/2 hours, including teaching of self-hypnosis): £50.00
Subsequent appointments: £50 per hour.
How many appointments? It would be unusual for there to be a need for more than 4 for current conditions, in my experience.
As my average over the past few years has been between 2 and 3 visits per patient you could consider that as the best "starting
indication" that I could suggest before we meet. We could discuss this - we can review things as you feel is right for you.
Appointments are at your invitation. I'm helping you to help yourself.
The information provided on www.hypnotherapy-aberdeen.com (and
subsequent/ linked pages) is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient and their physician. It
is therefore wise to tell your doctor of any complementary treatment you are contemplating. In fact, in some cases Stan Gerard
may be reluctant to start treatment until you have done so.
For an appointment, please phone 'Serendipity' on : 01224 213 808
*5 Dr James Braid (1795-1860), a Scottish eye-doctor (from Perth, trained in Edinburgh; based in Manchester) in his book: Neurypnology or the Rationale of Nervous Sleep considered in Relation with Animal Magnetism (1843).
*6 Dr Dylan Morgan. Systematic hypnotherapy - what is hypnosis? Journal of the Hypnotherapy Research Society. 1998:1;23-30.
