As I was people watching in the dentist waiting room a few weeks ago, it struck me that there is something quietly unsettling about the dental chair. It isn’t just the position – reclined, exposed, unable to speak – or the bright light that can feel more like interrogation than healthcare. It’s the experience of…
Using Insights From Neuroscience To Enhance Hypnotic Techniques
Neuroscience and Hypnosis Using insights from neuroscience to enhance hypnotic techniques In recent years, the partnership between neuroscience and hypnosis has evolved into a powerful way to explore how attention, imagination, and suggestion shape perception and behaviour. New discoveries about brain networks, learning, and emotion are refining how clinicians and practitioners use hypnosis. Neuroscience has…
Why Stress Makes Pain Worse — and What Psychology Can Do About It
Stress and pain share a complicated relationship—each can quietly fuel the other until they become tangled, leaving people feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, and trapped in their own body. Many people living with chronic pain tell me, “I know stress makes my pain worse, but I don’t understand why.” Understanding why gives people back a sense of…
Neuroscience, Neuroplasticity and Hypnosis
Rhythm and Relief: How Music Helps with Pain — And How It Can Help You Too
On Sunday 12th April 2026, I will be running the London Landmarks Half Marathon. As I come to the end of my training, it has given me plenty of time to think about fatigue, discomfort, motivation — and the ways we can influence how our brains interpret all three. One thing has become unmistakably clear…
Neuroscience and Hypnosis
Why Your Brain Turns Up the Volume on Chronic or Persistent Pain (And How to Turn It Down)
Often in my pain psychology clinics both online and in-person in Milton Keynes, we discuss how chronic or persistent pain has a way of creeping into every corner of someone’s life. It affects sleep, thoughts, confidence, relationships, work, and identity. Yet one of the most misunderstood aspects of chronic pain is this: the pain someone…
What Really Happens When You Combine CBT with Hypnosis?
In the last of our series, Cognitive-Behavioural Principles in Hypnotherapy, we will look at integrating CBT with hypnotic interventions. As hypnotherapy has become more rigorous and grounded in evidence-based practice, it has integrated principles and practices from psychology. Among the most influential developments has been the integration of cognitive behavioural principles—and the rise of cognitive…
Thirteen Miles, One Nervous System: What Running 13 Miles Is Teaching Me About Pain
On 12th April 2026, I will be running the London Landmarks Half Marathon, raising money for Pain Concern. It might seem like an odd choice for someone who spends much of her professional life helping people reduce pain. Considering I haven’t run this far since 2013, why voluntarily induce sore calves, tight hips and the…
Why Behavioural Activation Works So Well In Hypnotherapy
In the second of our series, Cognitive-Behavioural Principles in Hypnotherapy, we will look at behavioural activation techniques in the context of CBT and hypnotherapy. Behavioural activation (BA) is one of the most pragmatic and evidence-based components of contemporary cognitive behavioural therapy. By systematically re-engaging clients in constructive behaviours, BA restores energy, motivation, and confidence. When…