Living with chronic/ persistent pain means you're constantly balancing energy, expectations, and your own limits. Some days, just getting out of bed is a victory. So when someone asks for a “quick favour” or suggests another task you could squeeze in, what happens? You smile. You nod. You say yes—even though every part of you is already running on empty. Sound familiar? You’re not alone. Many people with long-term pain conditions struggle to say “no,” even when they need to. But here's the thing I often tell my clients: saying no isn't selfish—it's survival. Why Saying No Feels So Hard Most of us were brought up to be helpful, agreeable, and reliable. We're told to put others first, to be kind, to say yes if...
For the next three blogs we are going to look at how behavioural psychology is used in hypnotherapy. This time we are going to look at conditioning. What is it and how does it work? The fact that the outside world has an effect on our behaviours seems so obvious to us as to be unremarkable. Yet once we start to think about it, there is much to be learned. Conditioning involves identifying a consequence with a thing in the world. Something happens, or I notice something, and then something else happens and I identify the first thing with the second thing.. If the second follows the first on a regular basis I will begin to identify a pattern. This patten can then be used...
If you’re new here – welcome. And if you’ve been with me a while, thank you for sticking around. I’ve noticed quite a few new people have joined recently, so I thought it was a good time to reintroduce myself, say hello and share a bit about who I am and why I do what I do. I’m Dr Sue Peacock, a Consultant Health Psychologist. I specialise in helping people who live with chronic pain and long-term health conditions. If that’s you – if you’re navigating pain, exhaustion, poor sleep, or the emotional weight of it all – please know you’re not alone here. Over the years, I’ve worked with many people who’ve told me they feel dismissed, frustrated, or just plain tired of trying...
The way we process information during hypnosis differs from our everyday state. In this blog, we will explore this in more detail. We’ll examine how the brain processes information in a hypnotic state, what this reveals about our cognitive functions and brainwaves, and how our neural pathways are affected. Information Processing During Hypnosis Under hypnosis, our brains behave differently. We become less concerned with external matters, and our brains react less to stimuli from the outside world. Instead of taking practical action based on our surroundings, we focus inward, often developing vivid imagery. We may experience an altered state of awareness — for example, colours and sounds might seem clearer or more intense. With the guidance of an experienced hypnotherapist, we can begin to use...
Let’s be honest: living with chronic pain is hard enough. But what often doesn’t get talked about (at least not nearly enough) is the loneliness that comes along for the ride. You know the kind — when your friends stop inviting you out because you’ve said “no” so many times, or when it feels like no one really gets what you’re going through. If that’s you, first of all — big, gentle hugs. You are absolutely not alone in feeling this way, even if it sometimes seems like it. This topic is often discussed in my pain clinic in Milton Keynes and online clinics. Why Does Chronic Pain Feel So Lonely? Because it is. Chronic pain changes your life — your routines, your energy, your plans. Maybe you can’t walk...
In the last blog, we talked about focus and suggestibility. This latest post builds on that by exploring the concept of expectancy. What a client expects from a session will influence how responsive they are. And it works the other way too: the more responsive a client is, the higher their expectations of the experience are likely to be. In a hypnotherapy session if the client is aware they are directing their focus, they are in a different mental state and they are responsive to the hypnotherapist’s suggestions they will have heightened expectations for the success of the process. How can we define expectancy Expectancy is present throughout the hypnotherapy process. A good starting point is whether the client believes they are hypnotisable. Studies show...
Recently, I had the unexpected and utterly unforgettable experience of participating in a health documentary as the expert psychologist, exploring the emotional and psychological challenges of living with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). The documentary, filmed in the strikingly beautiful city of Tallinn, Estonia, was as moving as it was eye-opening—and not just because of the story we told on camera. It all began with an email asking if I would be willing to appear as the psychological expert in a new international documentary series about chronic health conditions. This episode would focus on MS, highlighting one remarkable man’s journey through diagnosis, adaptation, and strength. I was honoured, of course—but I don’t think I truly appreciated what “being in a documentary” entailed until I found myself under...
If we are going to use hypnosis as part of a therapeutic intervention, we need to understand why it is effective. This means knowing how to work with a client to induce a certain state of mind and then use this to help them solve the problems they face. In the next few blogs, I am going to look at how the hypnotherapist can work with cognitive processes. Today, I will look at three things: attention, focus, and suggestibility. So, let’s start . . . Attention After preliminary introductions and gathering relevant information, the therapist will first try to get the client’s attention. They may use a variety of techniques to do this, including muscle relaxation, breathing exercises, or counting down. We are all familiar...
In my last blog, I touched on the relationship between practitioners in any psychological or talking therapy—this includes CBT, NLP, other talking therapies, and hypnotherapy—and their clients. Perhaps the most important task a therapist has is to handle this relationship with care and take into account the vulnerability of the client. A client will often disclose things to their therapist that they have never shared with anyone before. The process of therapy can take the client to places where they experience great emotional pain and require support. There is also the well-known phenomenon of transference, where a client may develop strong and inappropriate feelings towards their therapist. I do not intend to go through a checklist of dos and don’ts regarding ethics, as these can...
You’re having a stressful day—maybe work’s piling up, the kids are bickering, or life is just being life—and suddenly, your pain is screaming louder than ever. Sound familiar? That’s because stress and pain are best friends, and they love to wind each other up. But once you understand why this happens, you can take steps to turn the volume down on both. Pain and the Brain – What’s Going On? Think of your brain as a radio station. When you’re relaxed, pain is like background static—annoying but not overwhelming. But when you’re stressed? Your brain turns the volume way up. Here’s why: Your nervous system goes on high alert – Stress makes your brain more sensitive to pain signals, so everything feels worse. Muscles tense...
