She sat in my chair in Hamilton, crossed her arms, and said: “I need you to know that I’m sceptical. I’ve been seeing a psychologist for two years. We’ve done CBT. We’ve done mindfulness. I understand my anxiety better than most psychology textbooks could teach me. And I still can’t sleep through the night without waking up in a sweat.”
I hear some version of this nearly every week.
Not because counselling and CBT don’t work they do, for many people, and I have enormous respect for both. I hold diplomas in Psychotherapy and Counselling myself. I’m not one of those practitioners who dismisses everything that isn’t hypnotherapy.
But I’ve been doing this long enough to recognise a very specific person who walks through my door. Someone who’s done the work. Someone who’s gone to their sessions, completed the exercises, filled out the thought records, practised the breathing techniques. Someone who understands their anxiety or depression intellectually perhaps better than they’ve ever understood it before.
And who still feels the same way they did when they started.
If that’s you, this isn’t going to be a lecture about why you should have tried harder. This is going to be an explanation of why understanding a problem and resolving it are two very different neurological processes and why what you need now is probably not more talking.
Where counselling works and where it reaches its limit
Let me give counselling and CBT their full credit first, because I think that matters.
Counselling provides something invaluable: a safe space to be heard. For many people, the act of articulating their experience to someone who listens without judgement is profoundly healing. It validates what you’re going through. It helps you make sense of your story. It can reduce feelings of isolation and shame.
CBT adds a structured framework for identifying and challenging unhelpful thought patterns. “I’ll embarrass myself at that meeting” becomes “What’s the evidence for that? What’s the evidence against it? What’s the most likely outcome?” It’s a practical, evidence-based toolkit that gives people a sense of agency over their thinking.
Both approaches engage the conscious mind the thinking, reasoning, language-based part of your brain. And for a significant number of people, that’s exactly what’s needed.
But here’s the thing nobody advertises in the brochure: your conscious mind is responsible for roughly 5 to 10 per cent of your total mental processing. The remaining 90 to 95 per cent the part that governs your emotional reactions, habitual responses, automatic behaviours, and deep-seated beliefs operates below the level of conscious awareness. This is your subconscious mind.
And the subconscious doesn’t speak the language of logic. It speaks the language of emotion, imagery, sensation, and association.
When anxiety or depression is driven primarily by subconscious patterns, conscious-level interventions can understand the problem perfectly without being able to change it. That’s not a failure of therapy. It’s a limitation of the level at which therapy is operating.
What hypnotherapy does differently
Hypnotherapy works at the subconscious level. That’s not a marketing phrase it’s a literal description of how the process functions.
During a session, I guide you into a deeply relaxed state where your subconscious mind becomes more receptive to change. You’re not asleep. You’re not unconscious. You’re simply in a focused, calm state similar to the moments just before sleep, or being so absorbed in a book that you lose track of time.
From that place, we can access the patterns and beliefs that are driving your anxiety or depression at their root. Not just understand them. Not just label them. Actually change them.
Let me give you a real-world example. A client I’ll call Megan came to me after eighteen months of CBT for social anxiety. Her CBT had been excellent she could identify her cognitive distortions, challenge them, and construct balanced alternative thoughts. On paper, her anxiety should have been resolved.
In practice, she still couldn’t walk into a networking event without her heart pounding so hard she felt dizzy. The thought records said she was safe. Her body disagreed.
In our first hypnotherapy session, we discovered that Megan’s social anxiety wasn’t really about social situations at all. It was anchored to a specific moment in Year 5 when she’d been humiliated in front of her class by a teacher an event she barely remembered consciously but that her subconscious had never processed. Her subconscious had made a simple rule that day: being visible means being shamed.
CBT couldn’t reach that rule because it was stored below the level of conscious thought. In hypnotherapy, we accessed it, acknowledged it, and gently helped her subconscious understand that the rule was written by a frightened ten-year-old and no longer applied to a competent, capable adult.
Two sessions later, Megan attended a conference. She didn’t enjoy every second of it she’s naturally introverted and that’s fine but she walked in, spoke to people, and left feeling calm. Her psychologist, she told me, was genuinely impressed.
This isn’t an either/or choice
I want to be very clear about something, because I think the mental health landscape suffers when different modalities are set up as competitors rather than collaborators.
Hypnotherapy doesn’t replace counselling or CBT. It complements them.
Think of it this way: if your anxiety were a tree, counselling helps you understand the branches the visible patterns, the triggers, the coping strategies. CBT helps you prune the branches challenge the thoughts, change the behaviours. Hypnotherapy goes to the roots the subconscious beliefs and associations from which the branches grew in the first place.
The most powerful outcomes I see are with clients who are already in counselling or have completed a course of CBT. They arrive with self-awareness, vocabulary for their experience, and genuine motivation to change. Hypnotherapy then has a foundation to work from we’re not starting from scratch, we’re going deeper with someone who’s already done important conscious-level work.
I regularly work alongside psychologists, counsellors, and GPs. Some refer their clients to me specifically when they feel conscious-level work has plateaued. That’s not a failure of their practice it’s intelligent, collaborative care.
Sound familiar?
If you’ve done the therapy, done the work, and still feel stuck you’re not failing. You might just need to go deeper. Give me a call on 0447 715 815 or email marie@hypnotherapyinbrisbane.com.au.
“But is hypnotherapy actually evidence-based?”
Fair question. And the answer is yes with the nuance that I think honest answers deserve.
Clinical hypnotherapy has a growing body of research supporting its use for anxiety, depression, pain management, smoking cessation, and other conditions. Studies published in peer-reviewed journals including the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis and the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis have demonstrated its effectiveness. The American Psychological Association recognises hypnosis as a legitimate adjunct treatment.
Here in Australia, the Australian Hypnotherapists’ Association upholds rigorous training standards for clinical practitioners. When you see a Government Accredited Clinical Hypnotherapist as I am you’re seeing someone who has met nationally recognised qualifications and operates under a professional code of ethics.
Is the evidence base as large as CBT’s? No. CBT has had decades more research funding and institutional support. But the evidence for hypnotherapy is real, growing, and consistent with what I observe clinically every week.
I tell you this because I think you deserve an honest practitioner, not one who over-claims or dismisses legitimate questions. My confidence in hypnotherapy comes from the evidence AND from thousands of hours of clinical practice watching real people experience real change.
What happens in a session with me
If you’ve been through therapy before, you’ll find some of this familiar and some of it quite different.
We always start by talking. I want to understand what you’ve already tried, what helped, what didn’t, and what specific patterns you’re hoping to change. Your therapy history is valuable information it tells me a lot about where the conscious work has reached and where the subconscious work needs to begin.
Then I guide you into hypnosis. The transition is gentle I use my voice to help you relax deeply, and most clients describe it as one of the most peaceful experiences they’ve had. You’ll be aware the entire time. You can speak, you can adjust your position, and you can open your eyes whenever you choose.
What happens next depends entirely on you. Your subconscious guides the process I’m the facilitator, not the director. Some clients access forgotten memories. Some feel emotions surface that they hadn’t connected to their symptoms. Some simply experience profound calm and a sense of things loosening that had been tight for years.
The session lasts approximately 90 minutes to two hours for a first visit. Follow-up sessions are typically shorter. Many clients begin to notice shifts within the first week sometimes immediately.
When to consider adding hypnotherapy to your toolkit
You don’t need to have exhausted every other option before coming to see me. But if any of these resonate, hypnotherapy might be exactly the missing piece:
You understand your anxiety or depression intellectually but the understanding hasn’t changed how you feel. Your therapist has said something like “we’ve done good work you might benefit from a different modality now.” You notice that your anxiety responses seem disproportionate to the trigger, as though your body is reacting to something your mind can’t identify. You have recurring emotional patterns that keep showing up despite conscious efforts to change them. You feel “stuck” at a level that talking can’t seem to reach.
Taking that step
I see clients at my Hamilton clinic (Hamilton Health Hub, 33 Remora Road, Hamilton QLD 4007) and online via Zoom for those who can’t attend in person. Many clients who come to me from counselling or CBT backgrounds appreciate the Hamilton location for its privacy and calm.
Call me on 0447 715 815 or email marie@hypnotherapyinbrisbane.com.au. We can have an honest conversation about whether hypnotherapy is the right next step for you. If I don’t think it is, I’ll tell you I’d rather you get the help you actually need than book a session that won’t serve you.
You haven’t failed at therapy. You’ve done the conscious work. Now let’s go a layer deeper.
Frequently asked questions
Is hypnotherapy better than CBT?
Neither is “better” they work at different levels. CBT engages the conscious mind through cognitive and behavioural strategies. Hypnotherapy works with the subconscious mind where emotional patterns are stored. For many people, the combination is more effective than either alone. I hold diplomas in Psychotherapy and Counselling and I value both modalities.
Can I do hypnotherapy and counselling at the same time?
Absolutely. Many of my clients see a psychologist or counsellor alongside their hypnotherapy sessions. The approaches complement each other. Some psychologists specifically refer clients to me when they feel the conscious-level work has reached a natural limit.
How do I know if my anxiety or depression needs hypnotherapy rather than more counselling?
A strong indicator is when you understand your condition well but the understanding hasn’t translated into emotional change. If you can explain your anxiety or depression clearly but still feel its full force, that suggests the pattern is running at a subconscious level that conscious-level therapy can’t easily access.
Will my psychologist be supportive of me trying hypnotherapy?
Most are. The mental health profession is increasingly recognising hypnotherapy as a legitimate complementary approach. If your psychologist is hesitant, I’m happy to have a professional conversation with them about how the modalities work together.
How is clinical hypnotherapy different from stage hypnosis?
Completely different. Stage hypnosis is entertainment based on social pressure and selection of willing participants. Clinical hypnotherapy is a therapeutic process focused on your wellbeing, conducted by a trained professional in a confidential setting. You remain in full control throughout.
How quickly will I see results compared to counselling?
Many clients notice shifts faster than they expected sometimes within the first session. This is because hypnotherapy works directly with the subconscious rather than building understanding over time. That said, deeper or more complex issues may benefit from multiple sessions. I’ll always give you a realistic expectation.