What do you do when the psyche blocks the path to success? In recent years, an increasing number of professional athletes have turned their attention to hypnotherapy—and it is anything but "hocus pocus". The method is firmly rooted in cognitive behavioral psychology and neuroscience.
Numerous research findings indicate improvements across several parameters through the use of hypnotherapy. These range from pain management during injuries and concentration training to the rebuilding of shattered self-confidence.
For Fremad Amager’s top women's team, it became the recipe for breaking a stagnant period and securing further success on the pitch. After two consecutive promotions, head coach Christina Balleby knew that the next step required something extraordinary. She reached out to Copenhagen-based hypnotherapist Jeanette Briem.
Working together, they developed a plan that included a collective meeting where Briem gathered vital information from the players and staff. Based on this, a tailored audio file was produced for the players to listen to before bedtime over the following weeks.
The hard work paid off. "I can simply say: It works! It is a truly great tool for injecting more motivation into the players," reports Balleby. The team remained undefeated for 13 months and secured yet another promotion—this time to the 2nd Division. A true hattrick.
– It's a really good tool for getting more motivation into all the players, says the coach, when she was asked to relate to hypnotherapy as a tool for her then football team. A method Balleby will also continue to use with her new team, HIK.
The impact was equally significant for the young Brøndby Masterclass U14 talent, Willads Agerlin Nørløv.
After a change of club and school, the formerly fearless attacker lost his winning attitude. Self-confidence diminished, and doubt began to cloud his footballing abilities.
After just two hypnotherapy sessions and three weeks of using a personalized audio file, Willads returned from a major international tournament as the top scorer. "He returned transformed," explains his mother, Malou Agerlin Nørløv. Footballogy.net.
These results fit into a larger trend supported by rigorous research. According to experts Dr. Jamie Barker and Dr. Marc Jones, hypnotherapy is one of the most effective tools for strengthening an athlete's self-efficacy—the fundamental belief in one's ability to execute under pressure.
A 2008 study by the same researchers, focusing on a professional footballer suffering from low self-esteem, showed a drastic increase in the player's "Soccer Self-Efficacy Questionnaire" (SSEQ) scores following hypnotherapy.
The untapped potential of this method lies waiting for those with the courage to think outside the box. It requires "mental homework" and an understanding of neuroplasticity and the art of repetition, but as the results from Amager and Brøndby show, the scoreboard speaks for itself.
Sources: Jeanettebriem.dk, Sports Hypnosis Evidence – Research Summary, Using hypnosis to increase self-efficacy: A case study in elite judo, The Effects of Hypnosis on Flow States and Performance, Starting in your mental pole position: Hypnosis helps elite downhill athletes
DA 
EN 
