A great advantage we have in Solution-Focused Hypnotherapy is that we explain to a client, how the brain works, and how this is reflected in the symptoms or difficulties they are experiencing.

The brain is an extraordinarily complex organ but for the purposed of our explanation, it can be considered as two parts:

There is the intellectual brain, which sets us apart from the other animals and is usually positive. But we also have a part of the brain that has not changed since caveman times – the primitive emotional mind. Many of our difficulties lie in the balance between these two parts of the brain.

The intellectual mind is logical and positive and when we are operating in this part of the brain, we are positive, confident, happy and we make good choices. But the primitive brain, because its job is to protect us, can have a strong negative influence on our thoughts and actions.

If the primitive part of the brain perceives that we are in some sort of danger, or crisis, it will step in to help us. Faced with real danger, the primitive mind will put us into ‘fight or flight’ and changes will happen to our physiology – the heart will race, stomach churn, we will go sweaty – and we will run away. And that would be appropriate, under the circumstances.

But this can sometimes happen in life when we are overworked, stressed and it can gradually build up until the primitive mind misreads this and provokes the ‘fight or flight’ when there is nothing to fight or to run away from !

This causes us to undergo the physiological changes in the body but it doesn’t help, and in fact makes us feel pretty uncomfortable. We know that long term stress can cause a threat to our physical health.

Explaining how the brain works gives the client an understanding of what is happening to them. They can see that what they are experiencing can be explained as a normal response to stress, or to other life event(s).

Further explanation demonstrates to clients of how Solution-Focused Hypnotherapy works, and it shows them that they can take control of their lives to provide hope, optimism, and confidence for a way forward.