The voice is so telling. Obviously a person uses their voice to say something, but again, how that voice sounds says a lot about the person, regardless of the words that come out.
For a speech therapist, it will come as no surprise that many emotions affect a person's neck and tongue, affecting voice tone, voice volume and how easily a person gets out of words.
Those feelings all come from somewhere, and resolving that can be the key to neck relaxation and normalizing the voice.
Hypnosis can be a great way to reduce stress in clients, allowing the voice to return to normal use. In addition to the hypnotic state, hypnosis techniques can also be used.
In the 1990s, speech therapists were already using hypnosis to help people with their voice[1]. Hypnosis was used to help clients relax and improve the client's self-confidence. It did not matter to the speech therapists whether the problems were of an emotional nature or just came from neurological problems to use hypnosis.
Hypnosis and stuttering
For stuttering, hypnosis can also be used to solve problems. In a study in which 30 stutterers participated, it was found that if you have a mild form of stuttering, hypnosis alone can help solve this problem. Has someone been suffering from stuttering for some time and suffering from the stigma and other emotional problems that result? Then the combination of speech therapy and hypnotherapy can also be incredibly valuable[2].
For example, hypnosis techniques can help people relax, control fears, mentally practice what you want to say and self-hypnosis at times when things get tense[3].
Vocal cord dysfunction syndrome and hypnosis
People suffering from vocal cord dysfunction syndrome may benefit from hypnosis for diagnosis. In a case study of a 9-year-old boy, hypnosis was used to get an "attack" of the vocal cords at the time of the camera in the neck. With hypnosis, you can suggest that you are getting one. To this the vocal cords responded and the suggestion to relax them worked well again. Because vocal cord dysfunction syndrome is often confused with asthma, hypnosis can be a useful tool to quickly make the correct diagnosis[4].
Hypnosis and ADHD in children
ADHD can greatly affect children and the way they talk. That's why some children with ADHD end up seeing a speech therapist. Even if children's writing and reading skills are affected, speech therapy can help improve the development of language skills, both verbal and written.
In a study in which hypnosis was added to the treatment of an 11-year-old child with ADHD, it was found to help improve phonological skills, reading comprehension and self-confidence[5].
In this way, hypnosis can also help children with dyslexia.
Hypnosis for people with aphasia
Strokes can have major effects on people, such as aphasia. That's when the part in the brain that helps you with language is damaged, making it more difficult to speak.
Then, too, a speech therapist can help them master it all again.
Research shows that hypnosis helps improve emotions when aphasia causes you to become depressed or even anxious about doing anything with language. As a result, it can support treatment[6].
Hypnosis at the Globus Feeling
The Globus feeling is the feeling you get when you think there's something in your throat or when the lump just doesn't want to come out of your throat after experiencing a violent emotion.
It can feel like something is stuck in your throat, which also keeps you coughing.
If treatments do not work against these symptoms, hypnosis can be used to reduce the Globus feeling and even become completely symptom-free[7].
People with these symptoms can also come to the speech therapist.
Hypnosis techniques for speech therapy
As a speech therapist, there are several techniques you can use to help clients with their voice and language skills. Some examples.
Relaxation
One of the most important steps to help people with their voice in relaxation. A lot of emotions and stress can hit the voice by causing tension in the body, such as in the neck and shoulders.
With relaxation exercises, you can then get much further than if you just do voice exercises.
The hypnotic state in itself is more relaxing than if you were simply working on a daily basis. You can use hypnosis and self-hypnosis to enhance that relaxation and maintain it for a longer period of time.
This is often the first step in hypnosis. You often help clients with relaxation by having them imagine a nice space where they can relax.
Visualizations
While you're at it with imagination and visualizations. Then you can use them for voice as well. For example, you can give people a suggestion about voice functioning and about "cleaning" the neck area that will make people feel freer to speak.
As if there is something in the neck blocking normal speech, which can then be fantasized away with the mind.
Visualizations can also be used to deal with problems symbolically. Especially if someone finds it difficult to talk about his/her problems, visualizing the problem in some way and then doing something with it can help to still solve the problem.
Regression
Sometimes emotions are a little more difficult to get rid of than with a visualization, and then regression may be necessary. For example, if someone has a loud voice and finds it difficult to talk at a normal volume, there may be more to it.
For example, people may have experienced problems in their lives with being heard, which was then solved by the subconscious by simply speaking louder.
But of course, if this causes the vocal cords to be damaged, it won't help at all in the long run.
With regression, you can go back to the moment when the belief that created wrong voice use occurred. These are often moments from childhood, because that is the period in life when your unconscious comes up with "rules" about how the world works and how best to function then.
With a regression, you update that memory that created such a rule. This repairs the limiting belief[8]. This can already be very relaxing, allowing unconscious changes to already take place.
Suggestions
In addition, you can also provide suggestions in the form of affirmations that encourage your clients' self-confidence, these can include suggestions such as.
"I get to drop silences to think about what I'm saying."
"People hear me."
"My natural voice is my radio voice."
The suggestions you then give do depend on the symptoms your client has. These are just examples. You can customize the suggestions for each client.
Learning hypnosis for improving treatments
For professionals who use hypnosis as support for their continued treatment, basic knowledge of hypnosis is sufficient. After all, you are not entirely working as a therapist, but to resolve people's complaints.
The basic knowledge of hypnosis can then be enough to support your standard treatment with hypnosis techniques.
In Hypnosis Institute Netherlands' initial training courses , for example, you will learn to put people into hypnosis, help people relax with hypnosis, use symbols, regression, giving anchors and quick techniques to resolve fears.
These techniques alone will go a long way to support standard speech therapy treatments.
Want to learn more about hypnosis and how it can help people? Then come to a free online master class for an introduction.
Or register directly for one of our seminars or training courses, which are delivered live online with enough assistance for 1-on-1 attention.
In addition, they are ideal to attend alongside your job, as training days are mainly on Fridays and Saturdays. So it doesn't have to get in the way of your standard work.
Click here for more information.
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