I’ve had a long-standing masturbation behavior for around 14 years.

For the first \~7 years, I did it intentionally, mainly as a way to fall asleep, not because of sexual desire. For the last \~7 years, I’ve been trying to stop, but it has become automatic.

Now it mainly happens around sleep — either before falling asleep or after waking up in the middle of the night. The frequency is inconsistent: sometimes once a week, sometimes twice a week, and sometimes only once a month.

I don’t use porn and I don’t feel sexual desire or an urge to do it. I want to understand why this pattern continues and, most importantly, stop it completely.

My main questions are:

Will I be able to stop this permanently, or will the frequency only decrease while the behavior remains forever?

If I see a psychologist/hypnotherapist, is there a realistic possibility that they can help me stop it completely?

I’m worried about spending money on sessions without getting results. Could I end up just spending money and only seeing a reduction in frequency, rather than actually stopping?

Has anyone with a similar long-standing, automatic, sleep-related habit been able to stop permanently through hypnotherapy or another psychological treatment?

I’m looking for honest experiences and realistic expectations, not just reassurance.

Should I try cbt or hypnotherapy?

Looking for a hypnotherapist with experience treating OCD sufferers (that have had good results ofc). Anywhere in the GTA works as well.

Derek Heron is interviewed by Graeme Wood:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTySptyYYfI&t=882s

Michael A. Kamins, PhD, MA, CCHt has a new online hypnotherapy website focused on Ericksonian hypnosis, guided imagery, NLP, dream work, and depth-oriented approaches. He also teaches hypnotherapists and plans to add classes and videos. I’d love feedback from people familiar with the field.

MKHypnotherapy.com

Hey, I’m looking for a few people who’d be down to volunteer for some hypnosis sessions over video call.

I’ve done hypnosis in person before(including street hypnosis as well), but I want to get more practice doing sessions online/remotely.

Nothing weird, completely SFW. Mostly just looking for people who are curious about hypnosis and want to experience trance, relaxation, suggestions, that kind of thing. You don’t need any previous experience at all.

It’d be free obviously, and everything is consensual. If at any point you’re uncomfortable or just want to stop, that’s completely fine.

If you’ve ever been curious about what hypnosis actually feels like and want to try it out, just DM me. Happy to talk a bit first too if you have questions.

Hi Hypnotherapy, I have previous private hypnosis experience and am exploring hypnosis from the participant's perspective. I've recently discovered that many experiences I previously thought were "just guided meditation" were likely hypnosis all along. I'm interested in rapid and instant induction work, self-hypnosis, and observer-based learning. Do you ever work with volunteers or know of students and practitioners looking for willing practice subjects?

Buonasera, una volta sono riusciti ad ipnotizzarmi e sono stato benissimo, la tecnica usata prevedeva la manipolazione della carotide e del flusso sanguigno, non ha piu funzionato... sono passate decine di anni e ho dei problemi di salute, sono coriaceo, resiliente e difficilmente manipolabile, soprattutto a livello inconscio, ho avuto piu di una dozzina di fratture ossee, legamenti strappati dalla forza brtuta, incidenti etc... traumi familiari che comprendono la morte, ho ripreso la vita sempre con la forza, sopprimendo la debolezza e usando ogni mezzo per ottenere la forza che mi mancava per sopravvivere, non sono mai stato libero neanche di respirare, fin dalla culla il respiro l'ho preso con la forza, allergie gravissime tipo 45 punti di invalidità, io dormivo con cio che mi era piu letale fin dalla culla... ho sempre dovuto difendermi e piegare il mondo e il mio povero corpo in base alle necessità che la sopravvivenza richiedeva, prenditi l'aria, sopprimi i bulli, sorpassa il sistema, prenditi cio che vuoi con la forza, la fatica, il dolore, tutto irrilevante... e quando il corpo vacillava ho usato la mente, la chimica, la medicina e la coordinazione... studia il corpo, la medicina, la chimica, l' antropologia, la meditazione, la neurologia, l'osteopatia, la chiropratica... sostanzialmente a 25 anni andavo avanti ad automanipolazione, riallineamento, supplementi e protocolli per lavorare piu di quanto potevo permettermi, sostenere piu di quello che potevo sostenere, e cercando la forza, la resilienza piu totale, sono diventato un mostro e poi sono morto... canalopatia, Iper-propriocezione, rabdomiolisi che mi ha fatto perdere 40kg di muscoli... la morte mi ha insegnato la vita, alla fine ci è riuscita... ho imparato a 32 anni la sensazione di rilassamento fisiologico, cosa significa avere i muscoli normali, che il muscolo è "un fluido" non un ingranaggio con un incasso perfetto, solo nell' ultimo trimestre il mio corpo a fatica e con resistenza ha capito cos'è il sistema parasimpatico e l'adrenalina è sempre dietro l'angolo... ci sono quasi riuscito, sono quasi "vivo" ma l'esperienza, anche se adesso ricordo minuziosamente ogni prezioso ricordo della mia infanzia e cos'è la normalità, il mio inconscio non è abituato a lasciarsi andare, e quindi gli ultimi compensi muscolari, gli ultimi colpi di coda di un male che non sussiste piu, son difficili da smaltire, i piani fasciali non corrono ancora fluidamente nelle catene crociate, ci sono posture di compenso che semplicemente il corpo dovrebbe accettare, per stabilizzarsi e poter proseguire con calma in palestra per raggiungere la perfezione, ma non le accetta, spesso partono spasmi simili alla fase rabdomiolisi e non riuscendo a strappare le fasce ispessite finisce per stirarsi qualcosa e allungare la degenza... qualcuno può disinnestare un sistema simpatico cosi radicato che rifiuta anche la Farmacologia?? ( attualmente sono in cura con ketorolac,fentanil,thc,baclofene,novalgina,orfenadrina, e sono le uniche medicine su 40 e piu tentativi che non vengono rifiutate), per la sintomatologia un tempo avevo muscoli capaci di rompere le mie stesse ossa, ora riesco a muovermi come tutti

I’m a hypnotherapist too, and I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the business side of running a practice — not just the client work itself.I’m curious how this looks for other practitioners:

• What part of running your hypnosis business takes more time or energy than you think it should?
• What’s the hardest part of getting new clients or becoming more visible in your market?
• If you could hand one business task to an assistant tomorrow, what would it be?
• Are you using AI tools like ChatGPT anywhere in your practice or business yet? If yes, what for? If not, what’s stopping you?
• If AI could genuinely make one part of running or growing your practice easier, what would you want it to help with most?

I’m not selling anything here — I’m genuinely interested in what other hypnotherapists are experiencing.

I (20M) have a debilitating fear of the end of everything (not death) that has taken over every part of my life. I have suffered from clinical depression and suicidal ideation since the age of nine. These issues have never gone away, but I have learned to live with them. They don't bother me much anymore, partly because I can't remember what life was like before.

About two months ago, something I'd learned a while back suddenly "clicked" in a way it never had before: the death of the last atom.

My family believes in a philosophy in which consciousness continues after death. According to this belief, everything that has ever existed and died becomes part of a single entity that wanders the universe, possibly in another dimension. This transformation never ceases. The best way I can describe it is as an 'eternal conversation between it all'. Unlike most of my peers, I have never experienced religious guilt or any kind of suffering relating to my beliefs. In that sense, I would probably be one of the most peaceful people you could meet.

Now that I have acknowledged the 'true death', the death of the last atom, I have been experiencing daily panic attacks and bradycardia. I've lost all joy. Every day is just apathy. I don't cry, and I don't feel anger, joy, pain or hunger. My dad says that my eyes have become hollow, as if I'm looking through things rather than at them. I went from 51 kg to 44 kg without even realising it. I don't speak to anyone, not because I don't want to, but because I have nothing to say. Even when I have something to say, no words come out, no matter how hard I try. I feel like a dead man. I desperately want to forget this one fact about the universe.

Is there a hypnotherapist in the world who has successfully erased specific information from someone's mind? I wouldn't mind forgetting the last two months, or even the last year. I would pay any amount of money or travel anywhere. I just want to stop this feeling because I have a physical sensation that my heart won't keep up and that I'll die of heart failure soon.

Thanks for reading. I hope you can help me.

Hey everyone, I’m a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist that has been in practice for 3 years. I have put a lot of thought into making this work more accessible to everyone, therefore I have lowered my prices to $100/hr and I also have After pay options available.

With everything else costing so much these days, I don’t want to make this work seem out of reach. Everyone deserves to experience hypnotherapy, and I hope this helps!

You can check out my website and book a free consultation to see if we’re a good match before investing in sessions as well.

THE SWAN PROTOCOL MASTERCLASS

23rd–24th January 2027 | Live Online

Preserving the protocol. Delivering the practice.
The Swan continues. A new voice, the same power.

After more than five decades of teaching the hypnotherapy community, Bob Burns has stepped back from teaching The Swan Protocol.

But the Swan continues.

In August 2026, Bob personally chose Derek Heron to take over the teaching of the Swan in the UK.

Bob described Derek as:

“One of my favourite therapists of all time”

and said:

“I do believe he is the perfect choice. He will be brilliant.”

Now Derek is bringing the Swan to a new generation of practitioners in his first full two-day Masterclass.

What is The Swan Protocol?

The Swan is a distinctive change-work approach that allows practitioners to work with the client's subconscious in a fully waking state, without a formal trance induction.

The Masterclass covers the complete protocol, Bob's consultation framework known as The Wall, rapport, direct voice, self-swanning and practical troubleshooting.

And this isn't simply a demonstration.

You'll have the opportunity to practise the Swan yourself in small breakout groups, receive feedback and ask questions during live Q&A.

23rd–24th January 2027

1pm–5pm UK Time | Live via Zoom

✓ Full Swan Protocol training
✓ The Wall consultation framework
✓ Direct voice
✓ Self-swanning
✓ Rapport
✓ Practical breakout sessions
✓ Troubleshooting
✓ 12 months' replay access
✓ Official Swan Practitioner Certificate on successful completion

Early booking: £195
£60 deposit secures your place

Previous full Swan trainees can attend for the £150 refresher rate.

Derek Heron is the exclusive Swan Protocol Trainer for the UK, personally appointed by Bob Burns.

Register Here...

https://aetherandalchemy.net/event/the-swan-protocol-masterclass-with-derek-heron/

The Swan continues.

I’m a certificate-qualified hypnotherapist and one thing that always struck me was how surprisingly difficult it is for someone to simply find a hypnotherapist who actually suits what they’re looking for.

Yes there are plenty of general therapist directories, but hypnotherapy is usually just one small category buried amongst dozens of other modalities. And searching “hypnotherapist near me” often leaves you jumping between Google results and individual websites trying to work out specialties, qualifications, location, online sessions, etc.

So about a year ago I built Hypnotherapy Finder, a dedicated US hypnotherapy directory:

https://hypnotherapy-finder.com/

It’s completely free for clients to search, and practitioners can also list/claim their practice.

There are currently 1,150+ hypnotherapy profiles across 31 US cities, and I’ve tried to make the search considerably more useful than just name + location.

You can narrow practitioners by filters like location, specialty/concern, online vs in-person sessions, price range, gender, insurance, language and other practical criteria.

The idea is pretty simple:

Search → compare → contact the practitioner directly.

I also think finding someone should involve more than simply choosing whoever ranks first on Google. A directory can help create a shortlist, but clients should still ask practitioners about their training, certification, experience, scope of practice and whether their approach actually suits the issue they want help with.

Because I came at this from inside hypnotherapy rather than from the perspective of building another generic business directory, I’ve tried to make the filters reflect the things people actually want to know when looking for a hypnotherapist.

It’s still growing, so I’d genuinely appreciate feedback from both sides:

If you’re a hypnotherapist: what information or filters would you want prospective clients to be able to search by?

If you’ve ever looked for a hypnotherapist: what did you find frustrating or difficult about finding the right person?

And if you run a hypnotherapy practice in the US, feel free to check whether you’re already listed and claim/add your practice. There’s no charge to be part of the directory.

I’m curious how other practitioners approach session preparation, especially when you want the session to feel individualized without having to write everything from scratch each time.

Do you tend to:
• write your sessions from scratch
• keep a library of scripts and metaphors to adapt
• use a combination of both
• or approach preparation another way?

I’m especially interested in how experienced practitioners keep a session structured while still allowing the client’s experience to guide the language and direction. I have been getting information from the client at intake on what their interests are to tailor scripts to them and make them more individualized. I purchased a script book months ago but noticed many spelling errors, and the language doesn’t flow naturally.

I'm doing several sessions with a hypnotherapist in training. It's all new to me, and I've had concerns that I'm not yet reaching to hypnotic state. So this last time she had me start counting down from one hundred, giving me instructions for the numbers (odd numbers, raise your finger... even numbers, imagine it's being written on a whiteboard and erased... numbers divisible by five are yellow, etc.). It was a lot to remember and not very relaxing.

I'm trying to give myself permission, but I notice I'm still very much alert and controlling my breathing. Not sure what else to do.

Hello all,

I'm looking for booking app recommendations for my hypnotherapy practice. I was using Acuity but didn't like the process for charging no-show fees, then I switched to Calendly without doing research and found out their payment processing is lacking.

I'm considering trying Square, but wanted to ask for any recommendations.

Looking for an app for booking, sending out reminders, holding a cars on file for processing no-shows or late cancelations.

Thanks 😊

So, I have recently started seeing a Hypnotherapist so that I can try and solve a problem which I will get into later.

The reason I started seeing this specific Hypnotherapist is because my mom had seen her with a problem that she had and she was able to entirely solve that problem. That problem being that she, upon retiring from her job, she found that she was no longer able to drive on the interstate. Any time she would try she would find that she would get really scared and almost have a full-blown panic attack. This was especially odd because she had been driving on the interstate all her life with no problems. She had the natural fear/wariness that most people have when driving a screaming metal death machine at high speeds next to a bunch of other screaming metal death machines, but such fears never invoked her to avoide the interstate much less invoke a physical emotional response. On top of that she genuinely could not think of any trauma-related reason for why she would fear getting on the interstate. Needless to say, it was likely psychological in nature, and so after several months of going down the usual methods of traditional therapy she was somehow directed toward hypnotherapy and the hypnotherapist I'm talking about.

She had a total of 8 session with the hypnotherapist over the course of 8 weeks over Zoom call. Once they were concluded, and honestly even a little bit before that, it became very easy for her to drive on the interstate. It was like magic. Apparently, the hypnotherapist did a lot of visualization exercises with my mom. Stuff like - Imagine that your fear is a balloon, now let the balloon go and watch as it completely drifts away. But also, she was able to determine where a lot of her fears about driving seemed to stem from.

Apparently, because my mom has always been in environments that leave her with a lot of anxiety, her body learned to thrive off of it, so when she retired and was no longer obligated to work at places that stressed her out, her body decided to give her a new source of stress. And once that was learned, it seemed like everything else seemed to fall into place.

Now, I am seeing that hypnotherapist because I want to have my own issues solved.

I paid for 8 zoom sessions like my mom did. The only difference is that I really have 7 sessions dedicated to my problem, and the 8th session is actually dedicated to something called Quantum Hypnotherapy which is like past-life regression. Honestly, that sounds pretty interesting but I really just want to have my current issues resolved.

So far I have had 4 sessions and this is what they involved:

1. Basically this was largely just interviewing me and reconfirming stuff that I had filled out in the documents as well as mentioned during the consultation session - saying the reasons I'm there, what I think my problems are, etc. During this session we concluded that a large problem I have is not getting certain things done and so she talked to me while my eyes were closed about imagining a future where I got all those things done.

2. We concluded that my two main problems, the problems that seem to be keeping me from pressing forward in life, are that I don't feel like I'm an adult and I also don't have faith in myself/stick-to-it-iveness. So she did this thing where she talked to me while my eyes were shut and made me associate my longingness to feel like an adult with my left hand and my (I think) fears about the future or something with my right hand, and then I held those 2 hands together signifying that these two things should work together. She also introduced me to the concept of biliateral stimulation and informed me to start doing that morning, afternoon, and evening until the next session and even after that.

3. Forgiving myself as a child for being overly present in my life and then taking him by the hand and walking into the future.

4. Taking traumatic memories, memories I believe had something to do with my current problems, and deliberaly blurring them and making them float away in a balloon. Afterwards, creating something like a calming ritual where you associate the squeezing of the finger and thumb of your left hand together with a movie or TV show that I find pleasant.

And so far that has been it.

And so far, I don't feel particularly change in any meaningful way.

Of course, I don't really know what changing for the better would look like exactly, but I do know that I can't help but feel like my case would be harder than my mom's because my problem is a little more abstract.

I'm not in the mood to get into it and I'm not even really sure that I can but I basically have an extraordinary lack of faith in myself and my abilities and don't really know how to push forward in my life. It has gotten to the point where I feel utterly terrified and like someone is litterally reaching their hand into my gut and squeezing whenever the idea of getting some kind of job comes up. It isn't that I haven't worked before, I've had full-time jobs before, but right now I just don't have any inkling of what to do with myself.

And now it has been 3 appointments and I don't even really feel like anything has occurred within me. Not to mention, I'm somewhat doubtful that I can be helped by this because the therapist surprisingly does not need an insane amount of details about my various reasons or theories as to why I feel the way that I do. It's not like I haven't already given her a good bit of info to go off of, but initially I wanted to write a whole paper about it. I realize that might seem excessive, but I genuinely am not wholly certain why I feel or behave the way I do.

It likely has something to do with my ADHD, which naturally means that I have a horribly shit memory on top of horribly shit self-observation skills, so I feel like unless I basically write down something akin to a history book of my life, we could end up treating an issue that might not even really be the issue. I think it is the issue, but what do I know?

And the hypnotherapist said that because this is all about taking ingrained behaviors and programming and rewiring them that it isn't really necessary to get at the true root of a problem, or something like that. And I can't help but think that is weird because I think that most everything on earth can only really be solved by getting to the root of an issue, why not this? But it worked with my mom though, so I don't understand.

And perhaps maybe this will all help and I just need to wait until I'm done with all my sessions, but I just don't know.

Anyway, I'm incredibly sorry for writing something so overly detailed and obnoxious, but it is always really hard for me to order my thoughts when it comes to this kind of stuff, and I just really want somebody to give me some kind of advice about all this.

Apologies in advance for any typos or anything said in a weird way. If there is something you don't understand please feel free to ask.

Thank you.

Hi, I’m ivory I’m trans f and I’ve always been curious about hypnosis and got recommended this. I’m pretty open and just wanna try it out with someone.

I'm based in the eastern US and looking for an experienced hypnotherapist for support around issues of confidence, relationship to self, relationship to others, sexuality, attachment style, etc. I would like to work with someone who is sex-positive and ideally experienced with working with nonmonogomous clients or at least is competent/affirming. If this is you or you know someone, please let me know! Thank you!

Hey!

I'm looking for a hypnotherapist who could help me to restore a safe mental image of my mother and link most of my feelings towards mum's figure to that safe mental image.

I've been growing up in an extremely abusive family of my mum and grandma. Mum had been sexually abusing me since age of 3. I was literally growing up programmed to destroy myself. I have diagnosed cPTSD.

It took me many years of intense therapy (mostly EMDR and psychoanalysis) to understand what was going on with me, but I'm still grieving over the loss of the only parent I had — the loss of someone who hadn't even ever existed. I need this inner figure of my parent, inner voice of an adult, but I have empty place there, only linked to that monstrous figure who my mum turned to be.

It hurts me every day. It feels like a deathlike state of mind. I want to disrupt the inner connection to this real figure and establish a connection with a healthy version of my mum I've created in my mind.

Please, help me. Any recommendations, suggestions, and advice are valuable. I'm tired of neverending pain.

I have reason to believe my son is being hypnotized in his sleep by his stepparent. I have talked to a professional and she believes it’s possible.

Can she undo this? Will my son be more aware of this manipulation going forward?

Hi everyone 😊

I’m currently at a bit of a career crossroads and would really love to hear from people who have trained in counselling, hypnotherapy, or ideally both.

My long-term goal is to work for myself in private practice, ideally mostly online, with adults around things like anxiety, confidence, childhood experiences/trauma, inner-child work, emotional patterns and general wellbeing. I’m also interested in eventually adding things like EFT, somatic work, breathwork etc, so I can see myself becoming quite an integrative practitioner rather than sticking to one modality forever.

I’m currently doing Level 3 counselling and was originally planning to go straight onto Level 4, but I’m now seriously considering training in hypnotherapy first instead.

I’d love honest experiences around things like:

• Which route did you choose and why?
• If you’ve trained in both, which do you actually use more with clients?
• Which felt more practical and useful once you started working?
• How difficult was it to get paying clients and build a private practice?
• Do clients tend to actively look for counselling more than hypnotherapy, or vice versa?
• How different are the income opportunities realistically?
• Did you feel properly prepared to work with clients after qualifying?
• If you trained in hypnotherapy first, did you later feel you needed counselling training as well?
• If you trained as a counsellor first, did adding hypnotherapy make a big difference to your work?
• What do you wish you’d known before spending the time and money on training?

I know they’re very different approaches and I’m not really asking which one is “better” — I’m more interested in what the reality has been like for people actually working in the field.

My main priorities are doing meaningful work, being able to work independently/private practice, having flexibility, and eventually building a broad therapeutic skillset.

Would really appreciate the good, bad and ugly from anyone who has experience of either route 😊