Hypnotherapy for Imposter Syndrome

 

Imposter Syndrome and hypnotherapy:

I’m a fraud.

I’m not worthy.

Is this really me?

I don’t belong here.

I’m not good enough.

Who do I think I am?

Who am I getting ideas above my station?

 

Sound familiar?

 

Welcome to Imposter Syndrome. You’re in good company. Nigella Lawson, Michelle Obama, Lady GaGa and Lily Allen have all shared their imposter syndrome experiences publicly. But what is this demon? It’s an umbrella term, under which lives one or more limiting beliefs such as those generalised ones above. They may be accompanied by more specific beliefs. These are typically formed rationally in childhood and, as children, may serve us well. typical examples include:

I need everyone to approve of me.

To be a valued I must succeed in everything I do.

I shouldn’t have to feel sadness, discomfort and pain.

It is not OK for me to make mistakes. If I do, I am bad.

Someone, somewhere, should take responsibility for me.

Everyone needs to rely on someone stronger than themselves.

In can feel happy in life without contributing back in some way.

 

What would your own list look like?

 

However, time moves on and things change. As we become adults, our childhood beliefs serve us less well. And the resultant behaviours may be incongruent with the situation we are in. This leads to the conclusion that one of the things it means to grow up, is to develop out of our childhood beliefs and adopt a new set of beliefs that will serve us better as adults. This progression follows a broad pattern of developing from dependence as children to independence as young adults to interdependence as mature adults.

I have launched regular group Solution Focused Hypnotherapy sessions. These are available via Eventbrite and can be found here: Group Session

We have completed a comprehensive case study of one person’s experience of working with PERMA Hypnotherapy. It can be downloaded for free Here

Beliefs.

Our overall set of beliefs are developing all the time. However, most of us will carry some of our childhood beliefs with us through adulthood. Most of these will be innocuous most of the time. But some of them will, sometimes, impede our performance as high functioning, inter-dependent, adults. As adults, we benefit from identifying our limiting beliefs, and developing more valuable beliefs.

By way of an example, a common limiting belief sitting under the Imposter Syndrome umbrella is ‘I must compare myself to others’. This can be re-framed to ‘I live my own life on my own terms’ or ‘I have a unique set of character strengths, as do others’. In turn the re-framed beliefs can underpin valuable affirmations such as ‘Because I live my own life, I enjoy the successes of others’. Or ‘I choose to celebrate my successes without reference to other’s accomplishments’. Or ‘The fact that I choose to live my life authentically means I only compare myself against my own standards’.

A standard element of working with Perma Hypnotherapy is developing a high degree of self-awareness via exploring your characters strengths, values, beliefs and limiting beliefs. This paves the way to defining your identity. In turn, this leaves you ideally placed to choose your own best future and use trance to support you in getting there. Working with Solution Focused Hypnotherapy is particularly well suited to personal development in this area. By its very nature, it opens up the pathways between the parts we know and recognise as ‘us’ and the deeper levels of our wisdom: ideal for when we’re ready to take those big steps forward.

So, for those who are ready to break free from imposter syndrome, I have developed a packed five session program which will give you the insight, tools and techniques to break free. Not only that, you will learn all you need to continue developing your beliefs about yourself and your fit with the world around you to thrive as a high functioning inter-dependent adult.

 

Hypnotherapy for Imposter Syndrome Program.

In session 1, I’ll introduce you to the brain model underpinning how I work as a hypnotherapist. You will come to understand where those persistent doubts and behaviours come from and – most importantly – what you can do about them. There’s a lot to take in so once we’re done, we’ll enjoy a relaxing, live, trance. We’ll finish the session with any questions and discuss the content for you to work on between our next session together.

Session 2 will consolidate your understanding of the brain model and recap the key points from your homework. This session’s trance will gently introduce you to using trance to achieve a specific purpose. This session will conclude with any questions, and I’ll introduce to you further homework. You will explore your values, your beliefs and – crucially – how to explore your beliefs beneficially. You will also prepare for the third session’s trance.

Session 3 takes the brain model to a new level to explore how modern, third generation, hypnotherapy really works. The trance session will build on the homework and show you how to use one of the most powerful and flexible hypnosis processes. This is ideal for self-hypnosis, so you can explore this process – and enjoy the benefits – for as long as you choose. As homework, you will learn how to use another key model to break down any remaining blocks.

 

 

Session 4 explores how you are using your new insight and understanding to best support your long-term personal development. The trance session introduces you to yet another powerful process – this time you’ll be letting go of all that baggage from the past that you’re ready to let go of. For your homework you’ll learn how to apply your new insight and understanding to your own self-hypnosis practice.

The final session acts as a master class on applying what you’ve learned and how you can make the most of your new skills. We’ll do some quick trances to consolidate your skills and get you well-placed to continue building the best version of you for as long as you choose to do so.

I’ve worked really hard to make this program as cost effective as I possibly can, to make best use of our sessions together. This does mean you will work your way through a series of exercises / reflections. These will take you around 8-10 hours between each live session. So, you will need to factor this in to your schedule. Clients often choose to schedule the live sessions every two weeks to give themselves plenty of time to maximise their benefit.

PERMA Hypnotherapy is available online throughout the English speaking world.