Hypnotherapy for creative blockages

I help you with Hypnotherapy for creative blockages to develop your creativity. You may even get healthfund rebates.

Because I was a dancer, singer, choreographer, costume maker and am a writer I understand the need for creativity. It’s been a large part of my own life ever since I was a child.

As a clinical psychotherapist and mental health professional (PACFA) I look for any psychological reasons you may be creatively stunted.

As a naturopath (ANPA) I’m also looking at how to maximise the potential of your brain’s capacity.

What is creativity?

It’s when your brain is developing new ways of looking at things. You’re generating random new perspectives on the world and your engagement with it.

It’s been believed that it happens mainly in your right brain, although your left brain has the capacity to analyse and find solutions to situations. It may be truer that both sides of the brain work together (1).

Other parts of the brain are involved according to whether you’re working in visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, olfactory or gustatory mediums.

You need to allow yourself and create the circumstances where your brain can create those random new thoughts.

Creativity isn’t just thoughts; it’s also following through and acting on them to create something different. You’re creating new random experiences for you.

Why do we need to be creative?

Originally it was an adaptive behaviour that saved us from danger or designed new ways for us to proper in the world as an individual and as a species.

As humans as our brains developed so we became very good at this and also carried the behaviour into our spare play time. It turned into a loop whereby the more creative we were, the better we survived and the better we survived, the more time we had to be creative.

We get dopamine hits for being creative, so it’s hormonally rewarding and makes us feel good (2). We can see this in children when they bring home rudimentary paintings they did at school for their parents.

So, as well as creativity being an adaptive behaviour, it also makes us feel good, both during the project and having completed it. We like that dopamine rush.

The mental health need for creativity

One of my favourite charities that I support is War Child. They go into war-torn zones and help engage children in education and play. It helps the children grow up to be more balanced human beings with hope and happiness.

Children who are starved of creativity can become anxious, stressed, depressed and live in fear (3). This is the same for adults.

If we’re not being creative in some way in our lives, it shuts us down, our immune system can be damaged, and we produce fewer happiness hormones.

We can see this in care homes where creative activities increase a patient’s sense of wellbeing. In education, teachers who are creative typically get higher exam marks from their students.

What kinds of creativity are there?

The answers are endless. Whether you’re a visual artist, musician, writer, scientist, mathematician, programmer, therapist, teacher, actor, dancer, marketing executive and the list goes on.

There’s no snobbery about who produces the greatest creativity. All creativity is valid, and it’s linked to wisdom (4).

Some creative skills come naturally and some you need to be trained to help you be more creative.

I’m a polymath and it allows me to be creative across several fields. I have a highly active brain, so it helps satisfy its multiple needs. Also, I find the variety stimulating and satisfying. I’m equally as happy dancing on the points of my feet as I am up to my ears in scientific research.

What blocks your creative flow?

The number one killer is stress (5). Chronic, ongoing stress to be precise when you move more to activating the defensive parts of your brain, which cuts down many creative functions.

If you weren’t exposed or encouraged to be creative as a child, then you have no formula to teach you how to incorporate creativity into your life.

Relationship problems can block creative flow, especially where one partner is too dominant and doesn’t want the other to engage in what they think are time-wasting pursuits.

And lack of access to creative outlets also hinders your flow. If you don’t have funds, you can’t afford to train to be a ballet dancer. If you don’t have paints and brushes, you can’t be a great painter.

Overcoming creative blockages

Einstein talked about the prisons we build for ourselves inside our minds. He wasn’t the first to suggest how we create our own limitations, and it’s resoundingly true when it comes to creativity.

If you tell yourself, you can’t – guess what will happen?

If yourself tell you’ll find a way and take action, then you’ll make progress.

My parents were poor and opposed to me dancing so I sold firewood door to door, served cups of tea in the hairdressers, and sold potatoes at the market to pay for ballet lessons. I dared to dream, and the rest is history.

You can choose to see open doors rather than ones that are closed shut to you. It’s a choice you can make at any time in your life.

Hypnotic dreaming to unblock creative blockages

Your creative blockages generally live in your conscious mind. They are the “I can’t”, “Not me”, “It’s not possible” dialogue that you keep running around inside your mind.

Your unconscious mind is much smarter and bigger than that.

Ever gone to bed with problems and the next day you wake up with the solution? Your unconscious mind created a dream to solve the problem while you were sleeping. It went to the big library for life you carry inside your head and looked up the solution.

I use hypnotic dreaming with you to kickstart, regenerate and revitalise your creative abilities. Your unconscious mind knows you better than I do so we enlist the help of the boss to get you to be creative.

Book your appointment with Dr Tracie O’Keefe DCH for hypnotic help to break through your creative blockages by calling 0403 398 808. In-clinic or by Zoom anywhere in the world.

References

(1) Novotney, Amy. (2013). No such thing as ‘right-brained’ or ‘left-brained,’ new research finds. American Psychological Association, 44(10). https://www.apa.org/monitor/2013/11/right-brained

(2) Agnoli, S., Mastria, S., Zanon, M., & Corazza, G. E. (2022). Dopamine supports idea originality: the role of spontaneous eye blink rate on divergent thinking. Springer Link, 87: 17-27. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00426-022-01658-y

(3) Fancourt, D., & Steptoe, A. (2019). Effects of creativity on social and behavioral adjustment in 7- to 11-year-old children. (2019). Effects of creativity on social and behavioral adjustment in 7- to 11-year-old children. Ann N Y Acad Sci, 1438(1):30-39. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30079606/

(4) Sternberg, R. J., Kaufman, J. C., & Roberts, A. M. (2019). The relation of creativity to intelligence and wisdom. The Cambridge handbook of creativity, 337–352. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316979839.018

(5) Novotney, Amy. (2009). The science of creativity. American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/gradpsych/2009/01/creativity