Trauma Hypnotherapy in Adelaide, Alongside Your PTSD Therapy

When trauma and PTSD stay in your body

• You know it’s finished, but your body hasn’t caught up.
• Images or a rush of feeling from that time arrive out of nowhere.
• It may be one event, or complex trauma built up over years.
• Nightmares, or staying up late because you dread them.
• You go the long way round to dodge a place, a smell or a person.
• Your behaviour has changed: you’re wired, watchful and quick to snap.
• Pills or a drink have become the only way to get to sleep.

PTSD is common. The ABS found that 5.6% of Australians aged 16 to 85 had it in the past year.

If this began after a frightening event and hasn’t eased, please book in with your GP. Real help is out there, and you don’t need to cope alone first.

Effective trauma processing techniques: where PTSD care starts

The Phoenix Australia guidelines, approved by the NHMRC, name trauma-focused psychological therapy as the first choice for PTSD. It’s a kind of talk therapy. Those therapies include trauma-focused CBT, cognitive processing therapy, cognitive therapy, prolonged exposure and EMDR. Medicine is the second option. Hypnotherapy isn’t on the list.

What happens during trauma therapy? You work with a trained therapist, often a psychologist, over a set number of sessions. Step by step, you face the memory and the beliefs tied to it, at a pace you can manage. The goal is for the memory to feel like the past, not the present.

If you haven’t had one of these evidence-based therapies yet, please start there. I’ll say the same on our call.

How hypnotherapy works alongside trauma therapy

Hypnosis is a state of focused attention and deep relaxation. In this trance state you stay aware the whole time. You hear every word, you remember it, and you can open your eyes and stop whenever you choose. We use that calm state to:

• turn down hypervigilance, that constant scanning for danger
• settle day-to-day anxiety in your mind and body
• build a sense of safety you can return to before and after therapy
• support your sleep and give you simple coping strategies

When you feel ready, I may suggest Rewind, a gentle technique for distressing memories. You stay deeply relaxed and picture the memory from a safe distance, like a film on a far screen. Then you run it backwards. You don’t need to tell me the details. We only use it if you’re comfortable with it.

I never search for hidden memories. Hypnosis can sometimes create false memories, so I don’t use it to “recover” anything. We work with how you feel and live today.

How trauma hypnotherapy in Adelaide works: video or in person

Most of my sessions happen by video on Google Meet, and in-person sessions are by arrangement. Here’s how it unfolds.

1. 1A free 15-minute phone call

   Share only what feels comfortable, and tell me who already supports you. I’ll be straight about whether this fits. You can also ask me anything about hypnosis, like what it feels like or whether you stay in control.

2. 2First session: your plan

   We look at your triggers, sleep and support. You leave with a tailored plan and a suggested number of sessions.

3. 3Your follow-up sessions

   Typically 6 to 12. Each is a short chat, then hypnosis in a chair, eyes closed. We check how you’re going every time. You take a recording home and learn a short self-hypnosis routine for the days between.

For video, you need a quiet room, a steady connection and headphones. If the call drops, I ring you straight back.

Not sure yet? Talk it through with me first. It’s free and takes fifteen minutes.

Or call 0427 218 092

What the research says about hypnosis for PTSD

In 2026, Thellier-Francois and colleagues reviewed 12 studies of hypnosis for PTSD in L’Encéphale. Most found some benefit. Yet the studies differed too much to combine, and the authors called the place of hypnosis in trauma care uncertain. So I offer it alongside your care, not instead of it.

Is hypnotherapy for trauma and PTSD safe?

For most adults, yes. Some people feel tired or emotional afterwards, and this tends to pass within hours. We go slowly, and you can pause any time. Rarely, hypnosis can shape false memories, which is why I never dig for the past.

Please start somewhere else first, with your GP, a psychologist or a crisis line, if:

• you’re in danger now, or the trauma is still happening (call 000, or 1800RESPECT for family violence)
• you’re in crisis, or having thoughts of ending your life (call Lifeline on 13 11 14, or 000)
• you often lose time, feel unreal, or “switch off” without meaning to (dissociation)
• you have psychosis, or hear or see things others don’t

Keep seeing your GP, psychologist or psychiatrist, and tell them you’re doing this. Hypnotherapy works beside their care, never in place of it.

What trauma hypnotherapy costs in Adelaide: $1,500 to $3,000

Your first step is a 90-minute session for $300. In it we build your treatment plan together, and you hear the full cost before you commit to anything.

Who you’ll be working with

Ernest McLeod

Clinical hypnotherapist, Adelaide and online

I’m Ernest McLeod, a clinical hypnotherapist with fourteen years in practice. I’ve been The Hypno Coach in Adelaide since 2012. These days I see people by video across Australia, and in person by arrangement.

This work is personal for me. Years ago a car hit me, and I was left with PTSD, severe anxiety and nightmares. I came to rely on sleeping pills. I saw a hypnotherapist as a sceptic, and it helped me move on. My mind no longer felt like a prison. That’s why I take great care with this work, and why I’m honest about where it fits.

Fellow, Australian Society of Clinical Hypnotherapists (ASCH) · Certified NLP Practitioner · Time Line Therapy® Practitioner · Trainer: AHA-approved CPD courses

What I’m not: I’m not a psychologist or a counsellor, and I’m not registered with AHPRA. Hypnotherapy isn’t a registered profession in Australia. My memberships are voluntary. I also teach other hypnotherapists. The Australian Hypnotherapists’ Association has approved my smoking, vaping and gambling cessation courses for professional development (CPD). More about me