Performance & Physical Concerns
Hypnotherapy can help address…
Sleep Issues
Chronic insomnia creates a vicious cycle—anxiety about not sleeping makes sleep harder, exhaustion increases stress, and your bed becomes associated with frustration instead of rest. The harder you try to sleep, the more elusive it becomes.
Sleep medications don't address underlying issues, and even CBT-I (the gold standard for insomnia) sometimes plateaus when anxiety and mental hyperactivity persist. Hypnotherapy enhances CBT-I by addressing conditioned arousal patterns and teaching self-hypnosis techniques you can use at bedtime to facilitate natural relaxation.
As a physician, I screen for medical sleep disorders like sleep apnea and thyroid issues that need treatment first. This combined approach provides behavioral strategies and relaxation techniques for sustainable sleep without medication dependency.
IBS & Gut-Brain Connection
IBS causes chronic abdominal pain, bloating, and unpredictable bowel habits that traditional treatments often manage poorly. IBS is fundamentally a disorder of gut-brain communication—stress directly affects gut motility, inflammation, and pain sensitivity, while gut problems increase anxiety, creating a self-perpetuating cycle.
Gut-directed hypnotherapy uses hypnotic suggestions to normalize gut function, reduce hypersensitivity, and calm inflammatory responses. Research shows over 80% of patients experience significant, long-term improvement with the validated North Carolina Protocol.
As a board-certified gastroenterologist with three decades of experience, I assess whether symptoms need additional medical evaluation and integrate CBT techniques to address both gut dysfunction and the anxiety it creates.
Sports Performance Enhancement
Mental factors often separate athletes with solid skills from peak performers. Pre-competition anxiety, self-doubt, overthinking, and difficulty accessing flow states sabotage performance even when physical preparation is strong.
Hypnotherapy develops mental skills for competitive advantage—accessing flow states on demand, strengthening mental rehearsal at the neural level, building unshakeable confidence, and managing pre-competition anxiety. Research shows mental rehearsal under hypnosis activates the same neural pathways as physical execution, and even brief 10-minute interventions produce measurable, lasting improvements.
As a former Division I athlete who competed for UNC's top-10 nationally ranked tennis team, I understand elite-level performance pressure firsthand. Combined with physician training and CBT certification, this provides practical tools and fundamental mental shifts for athletes from weekend competitors to professionals.
Pain Management
Chronic pain exists at the intersection of physical sensation and nervous system interpretation. The brain doesn't just receive pain signals—it actively constructs pain experience based on context, emotion, attention, and learned patterns. Two people with identical tissue damage can experience vastly different pain levels.
Hypnotherapy doesn't deny real injury or dismiss suffering. It works with how your nervous system processes and amplifies pain signals. We address catastrophic thinking that intensifies pain, reduce hypervigilance keeping your nervous system on high alert, and teach your brain to modulate pain perception—a skill you already possess but may have lost access to.
As a physician, I understand when pain requires medical evaluation versus when it reflects nervous system dysregulation. I work alongside your medical team, never as a replacement. Hypnotherapy complements medical treatment—it doesn't substitute for it. The goal isn't eliminating pain awareness entirely but restoring your nervous system's ability to regulate pain signals appropriately.
Research Support
Barker JB, Jones MV. (2008). The effects of hypnosis on self-efficacy, affect, and soccer performance: A case study. Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology, 2(2):127-147.
Sports Performance:
Graci GM, Hardie JC. (2007). Evidenced-based hypnotherapy for the management of sleep disorders. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 55(3):288-302.
Sleep Issues:
Miller V, Carruthers HR, Morris J, Hasan SS, Archbold S, Whorwell PJ. (2015). Hypnotherapy for irritable bowel syndrome: an audit of one thousand adult patients. Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics, 41(9):844-855.
IBS & Gut-Brain Connection:
Jensen MP, Patterson DR. (2014). Hypnotic approaches for chronic pain management: Clinical implications of recent research findings. American Psychologist, 69(2):167-177.
Pain Management: