Addiction to online gambling: How you get hooked; Psychology Today December 2025

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The Emerging Problem Of AI Psychosis; Psychology Today December 2025

 AI reinforces what you already believe is true and continues in the same conversation. It does not introduce new perspectives, facts, or challenge you to think in new ways or consider new points of view.

Be careful with overuse of chat bots.

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Sleep Good

 A common myth is that people can learn to get by on little sleep (such as less than 6 hours a night) with no adverse effects. Research suggests, however, that adults need at least 7–8 hours of sleep each night to be well rested. Indeed, in 1910, most people slept 9 hours a night. But recent surveys show the average adult now sleeps fewer than 7 hours a night. More than one-third of adults report daytime sleepiness so severe that it interferes with work, driving, and social functioning at least a few days each month.

Evidence also shows that children’s and adolescents’ sleep is shorter than recommended. These trends have been linked to increased exposure to electronic media. Lack of sleep may have a direct effect on children’s health, behavior, and development.

PolyVagal Theory - Vagal Vasal Response

 Polyvagal Theory  - A theory to Self Calm

Flight or Freeze:

A potent mechanism that has the potential to down-regulate threat resides in the ventral portion of the brainstem, in an area known as the nucleus ambiguus, where the vagus nerve, the star player of the autonomic nervous system, originates. 

Vagus means wandering, and the vagus nerve begins at the base of the brain, branches down to the heart, the lungs, and the digestive tract, with stops along the way at the larynx, the pharynx, and the diaphragm, before descending into the abdomen.

The branches of the vagus nerve enable the organs to adjust instantly to the demands of a person’s surroundings. It is the duty of the vagus nerve to orchestrate bodily responses to keep you safe or prepare your body for danger before you are even aware of it or have a chance to think about it. Most of the vagus is composed of sensory fibers that function as our surveillance system, informing the brain of the status of our visceral organs.

In our evolutionary journey to becoming social mammals, the basic reptilian structures underwent modification. In order for animals to become social, there had to be a way to turn off threat reactions—animals had to be able to cue one another that they were safe enough to come close to. 

As distinct from reptiles, mammals have neuroception not only of threat but also of safety. The vegas nerve responds to cues of safety—detected by higher brain structures—which bring on enough calm to open you up to socially engage with others.

Because information flows both to and from the brain via vagal pathways, the vagus nerve can be thought of as a major mind-body highway. Through the vagus nerve, you react to signals in your environment in ways that calm, alarm, or dysregulate the body, and these states in turn create emotional experience and play out in behavior. 

Polyvagal Theory. defines how the vagal pathways operate and the control they exert

over our thoughts and bodies.

Worry is a personal narrative we create in a state of threat to justify why we feel bad.

Polyvagal theory not only explains anxiety as a physiologic state of threat, it also opens a portal of intervention. 

Applying specific maneuvers effecting vagal pathways, we can use the nervous system to reset the physiologic state. Independent of the threshold of reactivity that pitches a person into alarm mode. 

It is possible to re-educate the nervous system with cues of safety. 

Removal of the threat isn’t a bad tactic, but it is not what the nervous system demands: It needs cues of safety. Shift the mental and physical state and you change the character of experience.

The most direct way to access the neural pathway that turns off threat is through breathing - 

Diaphragmatic Breathing.  Our evolutionary journey endowed us with a gift—the ability to control our breathing utilizing the diaphragm muscle; this enables us to regulate our mental, emotional and physical state. 

Neurophysiologically powerful, it acts on fibers of the ventral vagus nerve ferrying signals between visceral organs and the brainstem, where autonomic control of body organs originates. 

Diaphragmatic Breathing—also humming and gum-chewing—stimulates the nerve fibers of the muscles of the face, head, and oral cavity and opens the social engagement system, enabling people to respond reciprocally to the invitations of others.

Gaining control of physiologic state through Diaphragmatic Breathing is why some people turn to Hypnosis, yoga and meditation. 

Singing uses the same neurophysiological structures of breathing and facial muscles as the social engagement system. Playing a wind instrument gives you no choice but to use Diaphragmatic Breathing. 

Many anxious people feed the physiologic state of threat, anxiety etc. by making slow inhalations and rapid exhalations, high in the chest cavity. (Not using the diaphragm.)

Diaphragmatic Breathing, Shifting physiologic state restores access to your whole self. Calming and relaxing you. Memory and higher capacities are available. You become cognitively present to solve problems. The social engagement system becomes a portal to gaining back our human heritage.

 Cadillac’s Sake Overcomes serious accident, will ski at NMU

With a little help from Hypnotherapy!

Cadillac News: “Getting Back UP”

https://www.cadillacnews.com/sports/getting-back-up-cadillacs-sake-overcomes-serious-injury-will-ski-at-nmu/article_e6fb152e-1160-11ee-8069-1f3269e65994.html

Hypnotherapy Works

 

Quit Smoking in the New Year

 Quit in 4 easy relaxing sessions with Hypnosis

Hypnosis Facts

Percentages of Successful Stop Smoking

6% Will Power Alone

10% Nicotine Replacement Therapy

24% Aversion (Negative) Therapy

29% Exercise and Breathing 

30% Recordings with Hypnotic Suggestions

60% Single Session Hypnosis

92% 4 Sessions Hypnotherapy with 

Grand Traverse Hypnotherapy and Counseling 

Smoking cost in Michigan:  Price: $8.00 plus. Tax: $2.00

$ 12.00 / average cost pack of cigarettes.     1 pack per day   X   7 days per week  =  $ 84.00 per week.

4 weeks per month  =  $ 336.00 per month     X   12 months    =    $ 4,032.00 per year.

Quit completely for Less. 

(According to the National Cancer Institute, the average cost of a pack of cigarettes is $6.28, which means a pack-a-day habit sets you back $188 per month or $2,292 per year.)

Hypnotherapy for Sleep can help increase deep restful sleep.

Melatonin, Magnesium, Theanine, and Tryptophan bring Sleep.

The natural human circadian rhythm cycle is 24.2 hours long.

Sleep is closely connected to Anxiety, Depression and Stress.

Theanine can be found in tea.

fMRI: 2 key regions of the brain : Amygdala which directs emotional responses, in the prefrontal cortex, is responsible for emotional regulation, decisions making, and critical thinking. 

Deep-sleep stage called slow-wave sleep, is linked to strong activity in the Prefrontal Cortex and lower anxiety.  

Slow-wave sleep resets the a balance between the sympathetic nervous system (guardian of the fight or flight response), and the Parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest).

Stress and anxiety during waking hours activate the sympathetic system. But the parasympathetic system dominates slow-wave sleep, when heart rate slows and blood pressures drops. Sleep disturbances rob our body of this soothing cycle.

Circadian rhythm is governed by the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus, a group of cells in the hypothalamus that receive input from light-sensitive neurons.

The right amount of sleep varies by a person’s age, adults from 18 to 64 need seven to nine hours per night, according to the National Sleep Foundation.

It typically takes an adult between 10 to 20 minutes to fall asleep.

A night of poor sleep lowers pain tolerance the following day by 15%.

10% of Americans experience chronic insomnia, according to the CDC.

Keeping the same sleep schedule every day, creating a relaxing bedtime routine, maintaining a cool bedroom, and avoiding screen time before bed all aid sleep.

Hypnotherapy for Sleep can help increase deep restful sleep.

Relaxation in Nature. So Important

Speaking For The Trees

Suzanne Simard is opening our eyes to what forests are capable of.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/202105/speaking-the-trees#_=_ 

 “When you are very, very relaxed, your conscious mind is more passive, allowing your goals and thoughts to go into your unconscious mind.  So when you are more relaxed and accepting we feed it positive statements.”  Slabtown resident Amelia Hasenohrl is the owner of Grand Traverse Hypnotherapy and Counseling.  “There is a myth that people think hypnosis is done to you.  You have to participate, to follow my guidance and to relax.  If you are willing to do that, you can reach a state of hypnosis.”

Hypnotherapy and Hypnosis are one and the same. They are interchangeable terms. However, Hasenohrl uses Hypnotherapy because she is Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and utilizes her counseling skills when she works with her clients to help solve their difficulties and reach their goals.  “I was using this to add to my counseling practice.  I drove to Detroit to get the training, it was very hands-on and intense,” Hasenohrl explains.

Hypnotherapy is an educational communication that flows from your conscious mind to your unconscious mind and allows them both to believe the same message.  Hypnosis is a very quick, easy and effective counseling tool.  It helps clients reach their goals faster, with less struggle. It reinforces their strengths and assists them to focus on Positive Thoughts.

Hasenohrl’s background is dealing with patients who have traumatic brain-injury and physical medical rehab. “A lot of them, after a bad car accident are afraid to drive.  Some of the techniques you use for helping them desensitize to driving are systematic desensitization, cognitive behavior therapy, this kind of thing.  What I noticed is clients improve faster with hypnosis.”  

Hasenohrl believes it has a lot to do with remapping the experience and the way the brain fires the memory “You are refining and revisiting that memory when you are calm and relaxed.  Your body can’t be calm and relaxed and upset, fearful, scared, and anxious at the same time.  If you take the trauma experience and walk back through it in deep relaxation, it changes the way your mind remembers that experience and gives you more control.”

Hypnosis takes you to the same level of relaxation and focus as does deep Meditation. You are in the same brain wave length when in deep meditation as when you are in Hypnosis. Both are deeply relaxing and pleasant. Hypnotherapy utilizes this relaxation state to focus and commit your mind more deeply to your goals by means of positive suggestions. You are always in control when you are in hypnosis. Hypnosis does not change your morals, ethics, or religious beliefs, only the ideas you are wanting to change such as being a Nonsmoker, getting rid of a bad habit, finding and appreciating your strengths, letting go of unwanted pounds, feeling more confident in your abilities, etc.

It is a Healthy and relaxing experience that you are participating in for your own Self Improvement.  “You don’t ever use try when you are trying to do better.   You must start with a positive statement.  In biking I started with ‘all hills are doable,’ instead of ‘I’m going to try to make the hills.’  Now I’m at ‘I always make these hills.’  It’s a positive statement.”  Hasenohrl says your positive reinforcements of yourself are some of the strongest tools you have in your toolbox for self-improvement.  “Always move forward and always focus on what’s good.”

Her early work as a Direct Care Giver and then a Manager of a Residential Facility for people recovering from TBI began her professional experience. She worked as a Case Manager both in private companies and for a major hospital, assisting people to find appropriate resources and treatment. She has had many years of experience in cognitive and physical Rehabilitation programs as a Therapist Counselor with 2 major hospitals: McLaren Regional Medical Center and Munson Medical Center, specifically in the area of cognitive and brain injury rehabilitation. 

“I have the experience you need to help you understand and compensate, with strategy use, your deficit areas and function at a higher level in your life.”

What Does Hypnosis Feel Like?

When you are in Hypnosis, you feel very, very relaxed, as relaxed as when you are asleep, only you are still awake. You are always in control, and aware of your surroundings if you care to be.

Hypnosis can feel like deep meditation, daydreaming, and how you feel just before you fall asleep.

All of these states of mind are similar to what is experienced in hypnosis.We have all experienced daydreaming. When we are daydreaming, we are deeply involved in the scenery of our daydream and although we are aware of our surroundings, being in a classroom for instance, we are choosing not to attend to the classroom around us during our daydreaming experience.

What is Trance or “under” Hypnosis ? 

Trance is that daydream-like state that is induced in hypnosis. It feels very pleasant, carefree and deeply restful. Being in hypnosis trance is relaxing and refreshing, like a great afternoon nap. Being “under” hypnosis, or going “under” hypnosis is the same as being “in” hypnosis or hypnotic trance state. The term “under” is not readily used now because it gives the idea that you are “under” someone else’s control. As you recall, you cannot be hypnotized unless you want to be hypnotized, so you are never “under” someone else’s control, you are as in control as you choose to be when practicing hypnosis.

Slabtown Shores - April 2018

Seven crucial research findings that can help people deal with COVID-19

https://www.apa.org/news/apa/2020/03/covid-19-research-findings

AnxietyBlog #3 The Triggers

AnxietyBlog #3

The Anxiety Triggers

What triggers your Anxiety?  What are Anxiety Triggers? How do they develop? 

How do I get rid of them?

Your subconscious mind functions by firing your Flight Fight or Freeze reaction.

Flight Flight or Freeze is a Normal Natural Reaction. It’s our warning system of danger, it keeps us safe. When it works properly its great, when it works overtime it becomes a bad habit reaction. Triggered by sensory input.

Your Subconscious Mind is designed to Protect you, Keep you safe, and meet your needs, that’s its job.

The subconscious mind is best thought of as a an audio visual device or camera, Always on record. It is recording All of our experiences 24/7. Audio,Visual, Auditory, Sensory/Feeling. 

So you experience and event or trauma: your subconscious mind records Everything about that experience, related to it and UNrelated to that event.

So for example: You have a car accident. Your brain, your subconscious mind records everything around that accident that happens. And also records Everything surrounding the accident that is Not directly related to that accident. For example, lets say there’s a guy walking by the accident wearing a red coat, UNrelated to the accident, but present.

So it’s 6-8 months later and let’s say you are walking downtown; it’s a sunny day, your with friends, near a cross walk, and you Consciously don’t notice but a guy walks by on the other side of the street wearing a red coat like the guy the day of the accident. Suddenly you are experiencing an Anxiety/Panic attack. 

So if you decide to flee downtown, you have kept the “red coat guy” trigger for anxiety, and added a few more triggers, such as downtown, crosswalks, perhaps crowds downtown etc. ... 

However if you stay, and perhaps sit down or just stand there, and use the diaphragmatic breathing technique** (Relaxation Breathing**), what you will notice is that your anxiety will go slightly up at first and then come steadily down until you are comfortable again.

What you have accomplished is HUGE. You have just eliminated the “guy in the red coat” trigger and prevented the addition of any additional triggers.

Each time you use Relaxation Breathing** in a stressful, anxiety provoking experience, you eliminate a trigger for stress and anxiety, and thus reduce your reaction to triggers. Experiences of anxiety become less and less. You become more and more in control of your level of relaxation. The more you use Relaxation Breathing the quicker it works, the better it works and the less likely you will react to that trigger in the future. it is always with you and available to you wherever you go.

You are more and more in control of your level of relaxation. Where’ve you are, whatever you are doing, whatever is going on around you.

** Relaxation Breathing MUST be diaphragmatic breathing! 

Any other breathing technique will NOT work.

Relaxation Breathing

Relaxation Breathing

Once you know how, this Relaxation Breathing exercise should be practiced at least once per day. Practice at bedtime to use to fall easily asleep. Use anytime, anywhere, whenever you feel the slightest feeling of stress.

Sit or lye down, make yourself comfortable. Place one or both hands on your belly, just above your naval, and below your rib cage. Take a Deep breath, allow your belly to initiate or start the breath. Allow your belly to fully expand with your intake of breath. You may notice your lower back arching slightly as you inhale.

Then on the exhale allow your belly to push the air out of your lungs. Allowing the belly to start and gently force the air back out of your lungs.

Notice that with your hands on your belly you can feel your belly expand on the inhale and contract on the exhale. As you breathe deeply and slowly, simply observe and feel your belly gently move in and out.

Repeat this exercise for 10 Breaths. Practice for 10 breaths every night at bedtime.

This will help you fall asleep. Also use daily several times a day.

You can use this breathing technique to reduce stress and anxiety wherever you are, whatever you are doing. Use it sitting, standing, walking, driving…

The more you use it, the better it works. The more you use it the faster it works.

The more you use it, the less likely you are to have an episode of anxiety, panic or stress.

The more you use it, the body and mind learns to quickly and immediately go into relaxation.

Remember: the body cannot be excited, anxious and fearful, at the same time it is relaxed, calm and peaceful.

AnxietyBlog #2 The Anxiety Experience

AnxietyBlog #2 The Anxiety Experience

I was in high school. I can’t recall the name of the class, when I was asked to read my paper in front of the class. Yup, just read my paper. My handwriting, paper right there in front of me.

I remember standing at the podium in front of the class, paper resting on the podiums light wood surface. I vaguely recall the students in the desks in front of me.

I do remember feeling suddenly very, very hot. I struggled to breathe. THe paper in my hand was shaking.  The words on the page began to blur and swim across the page. I began to sweat. Then I started to stutter my words...

I don’t remember what happened after that, but I’m sure it was a sudden experience of overwhelming anxiety. Perhaps the teacher asked me to sit down. Perhaps I passed out, i have no recall of the rest of that class.

For years afterward I would avoid any kind of public speaking or standing up addressing an audience. If a class required putting your paper on the overhead projector even, I would transfer out of that class so fast my head would spin. I would also not explain to my friends why I was not taking the AP English class with the rest of my friends.

Five or seven years ago now, I was asked to present on Hypnotherapy and treating anxiety and PTSD at an informational presentation for veterans with PTSD. The presentation was at the State Theater in Traverse City, MI. There were over a hundred people in the audience.

As I waited to take the stage, alone, to present, my stomach began to flip-flop with butterflies.

I uncrossed my legs, put a hand on my stomach just below my rib cage. I began some slow deep “belly” diaphragmatic breaths. I counted 3 or 4 Breathes while affirming positively my enjoyment of speaking in public. The butterflies went away. I heard my name introduced.

I took the stairs to the stage and I enjoyed my presentation, being on stage and answering questions about Hypnotherapy.

Hypnotherapy works. Proper Relaxation Breathing techniques work, if you know the correct way to do it.  I know from experience and you can too.

Big Steps Forward with Hypnotherapy

Life Changing Power of words with Kristin Rivas at TEDxRainier 

Follow link below:

https://youtu.be/joj7_brYWt8

AnxietyBlog #1

AnxietyBlog #1

Welcome to the Anxiety Blog. So you have symptoms, sensations... like tingling in hands, feet, arms, legs; upset,”butterfly stomach”; tight chest, feels like you can’t catch your breath, we feel our heart race, breathing is high in the upper chest and shallow,  hands, we sweat, our neck and face become red, we can’t think, concentrate or focus, access to memory is limited.

Essentially we feel awful. 

What is really going on in our bodies? 

ALL of these symptoms are simply a result of not enough oxygen in our system.

The key to lowering stress and getting rid of anxiety reactions is simply getting more oxygen in the body.

The simple fact is: You cannot be excited, anxious and fearful, and at the same time that you are relaxed, calm and peaceful.  (Try it. Try to feel those two groups of emotions at the same time. It simply is impossible. The body cannot do this.)

How do we get more oxygen in the body when we need to, or choose to be, more calm and relaxed?

The following Relaxation Breathing exercise is the answer. You can choose to be as calm and relaxed as you wish, when you wish, anytime, anyplace. You can be in control of your level of relaxation.

You have a muscle that crosses your body, beneath your lungs, called the diaphragm. When you breathe in this muscle pulls down, drawing air into the lungs like a bellows or a plunger. This muscle helps you take air into your lungs. When you walk fast, or run, or do physical work, you can feel this muscle automatically kick in, and you feel your belly expanding so you can inhale more air. This happens normally and naturally. This is the natural breath you were born with.

Learning to use this muscle with each deep breath is the key to your relaxation.

Follow this exercise and learn how to be a more relaxed and calm

person, as relaxed and calm as YOU choose to be.

Once you know how, this Relaxation Breathing exercise should be practiced 6-8 times per day, until it once again becomes automatic, natural, the breath you are born with. Practice at bedtime to use it to fall easily asleep. Use anytime, anywhere, whenever you feel the slightest feeling of stress. Good times to practice: standing in line at the store, at a stop light in your car, in the waiting room of an office, on commercial breaks while watching a movie.

Relaxation Breathing Exercise:  Sit or lye down, make yourself comfortable. Place one or both hands on your belly, just above your naval, and below your rib cage, start your breath here. 

Take a Deep breath, allow your belly to initiate or start the breath. Allow your belly to fully expand with your intake of breath. You may notice your lower back expanding slightly as you inhale.

Then on the exhale allow your belly to gently push the air out of your lungs. Allowing the belly to start and gently force the air back out of your lungs.

Notice that with your hands on your belly you can feel your belly expand on the inhale and contract on the exhale. As you breathe deeply and slowly, simply observe and feel your belly gently move in and out.

Repeat this exercise for 10 Breaths. Practice for 10 breaths every night at bedtime.

This will help you fall asleep. Also use daily many times, 6-8 times a day.

You can use this breathing technique to reduce stress and anxiety wherever you are, whatever you are doing. Use it sitting, standing, walking, driving, sitting at a stop light, waiting in line…

The more you use it, the better it works. The more you use it the faster it works.

The more you use it, the less likely you are to have an episode of anxiety, panic or stress.

The more you use it, the body and mind learns to quickly and immediately go into relaxation.

Remember: the body cannot be excited, anxious and fearful, at the same time it is relaxed, calm and peaceful.

CBTi - Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia

Grand Traverse Hypnotherapy and Counseling 
Now offering: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia - CBTi

See new insights into Sleep, what’s normal sleep time, what you can do to improve sleep:
The New Science of Sleep 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/201905/the-new-science-sleep?eml 

Video On-Line Hypnotherapy & Counseling

Now Offering Live Video On-Line Hypnotherapy and Counseling. 

Meeting the needs of long distance patients.

Hypnotherapy for Weight Loss

Lose weight, enjoy eating healthy and focusing on greater health and wellness for You in this new year. Grand Traverse Hypnotherapy and Counseling offers weight loss with Hypnosis in 4 sessions. You will receive a hypnotherapy recording to keep and continue practicing your Hypnotherapy for Weight management. 

People lose more weight and keep it off longer with Hypnosis. You will change your daily eating habits and enjoy the healthy foods you choose to eat. It is a proactive and positive program that will Lower stress and Lift you Self Esteem.

It’s about taking Good care of yourself and feeling Good about yourself.