Most of the disorders that responds well to hypnotherapy are related to
stress. Stressors are numerous and varied in our environment. Some are
current while others are related to experiences earlier in an
individual's life. These experiences vary from major life events such
as death of a spouse or family member, a divorce, relocation and
retirement to low-severity situations such as a holiday, change in
eating habits, or change in sleep pattern. Not all stressors come from
major life events. Many daily hassles can be stressful to the
individual, e.g. health of a family member, concerns about body weight
and shape, rising prices of everyday goods, misplacing objects, busy
work schedules etc.
Many individuals cope with stress by using
strategies such as overeating and smoking but these are not necessarily
effective measures. If the stress continues serious psychosomatic
problems evolve and are often accompanied by increased cardiovascular
morbidity.

Stress-related
illness can be a result of behavioural or physiological change. Often
health behaviours that are affected include smoking, alcoholism, changes
in diet, unsafe sexual practices and drug abuse. Illness may also be
caused by stress through physiological pathways. Examples are: (i)
increase in gastric acid secretion resulting in peptic ulcers (ii)
increased catecholamines production and clotting tendencies with
increased risk of heart attack, kidney disease and stroke (iii) increase
in corticosteroids leading to arthritis and a lowering of the immune
system.
When individuals experience stress, there is an initial
tendency to become stoic, because a stoical approach is often considered
a constructive approach to personal stress management. Hypnosis as a
clinical intervention may come in useful because it assists the patient
to realistically appraise his daily hassles and help him to deal with
the stress by techniques such as relaxation, ego-strengthening,
reframing or cognitive restructuring. Hypnosis can also help the patient
to identify the stressors deal with the longer-term effects of chronic
stress e.g. psychosomatic problems, alcoholism, obesity, smoking, etc.
In
general the hypnotherapist makes the assumption that the patient has
inner resources for change and transformation. These resources include
creativity and a potential for healing. Hypnosis is required for these
resources to be accessed. The most common hypnotherapeutic methods used
for stress management are those of relaxation, ego-strengthening,
suggestion and reframing. In particular relaxation is very easily
taught to patients and very useful for a variety of anxiety and stress
disorders.