Why Strategic Psychotherapy works really well with Hypnosis

Strategic psychotherapy is a powerful, solution-oriented approach that concentrates on breaking unhelpful patterns and promoting behavioural change by targeting the way a person thinks rather than what they think about. There is a clear distinction here between the content of your thoughts that is the history of what has happened and the how you think which is a deeper process and pattern. When used with hypnosis, this approach becomes even more effective—creating a dynamic partnership between conscious strategy and unconscious transformation. Together, they form a deeply respectful and empowering method for creating sustainable change.

Unlike traditional talk therapies that may spend considerable time delving into the past, strategic psychotherapy focuses on how a person is doing a problem in the present. It's less about the "why" and more about the "how." For instance, a person experiencing anxiety isn’t just having anxiety—they are often actively (and unconsciously) engaging in a series of thoughts, behaviours, and internal predictions that keep the cycle going. Strategic psychotherapy helps a client recognise those processes and reframe them, often quite quickly and with lasting effect.

Here’s where hypnosis becomes the perfect complement. Hypnosis allows access to the unconscious mind—the part of us that stores learned responses, habits, and patterns which is said to be up to 90% of your thought process. Many of the behaviours people want to change are not rational decisions, but unconscious habits of thinking in certain ways. Hypnosis bypasses the critical conscious mind and speaks directly to this deeper layer of experience, where the real change happens.

When strategic psychotherapy and hypnosis are combined, the results can be transformational. The therapy identifies the structure of a problem, teaches the unconscious part of the mind how to interrupt the habit, and then uses hypnosis to reinforce new, more helpful pattern. This dual-track approach fast-tracks insight and promotes integration. It's not just about understanding; it's about rewiring. Think about how many things consciously you know are unhealthy like consuming excess sugar but somehow the conscious knowing isn’t enough to deter bad habits especially under stress.

For example, someone with social anxiety might consciously know that people aren't judging them, but they still feel like they’re under threat. Strategic psychotherapy maps out the internal sequence of thinking (e.g., anticipating judgement → self-doubt → avoidance), while hypnosis delivers the change by gently retraining the unconscious process. The additional benefit of hypnosis is that it also relaxes the nervous system to respond with calm confidence in social situations. The change feels natural—because it is.

An additional benefit is that both strategic psychotherapy and hypnosis are designed to tap into the individual and therefore client-centred. Each person has their own way of running an unconscious process as well as the internal resources needed to change. By using both modalities, it our job as to help uncover the ineffective pattern and activate a better process. 

The approach is less about a label and more about discovering the clients unique process with the recognition that the we all do the best we can with the strategies we have unconsciously adopted. It's up to the individual to decide when a process or a behaviour no longer serves them and needs to be changed.

Both approaches honour the complexity and uniqueness of each person while taking a solution oriented approach that maximises internal resources. Strategic psychotherapy avoids one-size-fits-all techniques and instead tailors interventions to the individual’s specific thought and behaviour patterns. Hypnosis, too, is flexible—shaped by metaphor, suggestion, story, and sensation. This allows the therapy to feel deeply personal and relevant.



Both Strategic Psychotherapy provides the map, and hypnosis provides the vehicle. Together, they offer a respectful, insightful, and highly effective way to create meaningful and lasting change. The potency of our work flows from the combination of both Strategic Psychotherapy and Hypnoses which maps the change and guides the journey.