Hypnosis – Can it Help You?

Hypnotherapy is useful for treating a variety of conditions, both physical and mental.  Used in conjunction with other therapies, such as Psychoanalysis and Rapid Eye Therapy, hypnotherapy can help patients to overcome certain psychological complaints, including Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Depression, Fear & Phobias, and Neuroses.
It is particularly useful for overcoming phobias, and ceasing problematic habitual behaviour, like stammering, snoring, smoking, teeth grinding, sleepwalking, bed wetting or nail biting.
It can also help alleviate some of the symptoms of physical complaints like allergies, travel sickness, insomnia and irritable bowel syndrome. Used in conjunction with conventional medical treatment, hypnotherapy has demonstrated positive benefits in the treatment of cancer.

Most of us have mixed feelings about hypnosis we are fascinated by hypnosis, aren’t we? and at the same time we are nervous.   After all, what if I reveal my deepest, darkest secret while you have me “under” hypnosis? What if I do something ridiculously embarrassing while you’re controlling me?   What if I cant wake up?   Then what??

As a professional hypnotherapist I’ve heard all these concerns and many more over the years.   Let me share the truth about hypnosis with you.

Clinical Hypnosis has very little in common with the type of hypnosis carried out at the familiar stage shows.   In clinical hypnosis the client is always in control and totally free to come out of the hypnotic state, and will never do or say anything against their morals or beliefs.

Hypnosis is not a therapy in itself.  Rather, a therapy is conducted in hypnosis, which is known as hypnotherapy.  Hypnosis is a state of relaxation and concentration at one with the state of heightened awareness induced by suggestion.  It is a natural trance state, like daydreaming, when the mind is relaxed and focused, where time passes very quickly, accompanied by good feelings of deep relaxation of mind and body.

Hypnotherapy is a treatment that is based on the premise that the mind and body do not work in isolation. By leading a client into a hypnotic state, the therapist aims to trigger the body’s mental and physical self-healing processes that lie in the subconscious.
Anybody can be guided into a hypnotic state; it is not a sign of gullibility or suggestibility on the part of the patient.  When undergoing hypnotherapy, patients are conscious and aware, but are open to the power of suggestion. They cannot be induced to do anything against their will.

The word ‘hypnosis’ derives from Hypnos, the Greek god of sleep, but most people experiencing hypnosis are far from actually sleeping. The predominant feeling of most people is that it cannot have worked and they did not ‘go under’.

People experiencing hypnosis may appear to others to be asleep, but they can think, talk, open their eyes and respond to suggestion freely. When under hypnosis, people are usually aware of their surroundings and can hear everything going on around them, including the Hypnotherapist’ voice.

 

How does hypnotherapy work?

All hypnotic states are characterised by a tremendously pleasant state of relaxation, which individuals allow themselves to enter so that desired, beneficial suggestions may be given directly to the part of the mind known as the subconscious. Distracting the conscious mind causes a dissociation of the conscious and unconscious mind and is the first step in inducing hypnosis.

 

There are many differing techniques a Hypnotherapist can use to help you achieve a hypnotic state.  By talking to their clients in a soothing voice and getting them to visualise relaxing and monotonous situations, practitioners are able to induce their clients into a state of very deep relaxation where they will still be aware of their surroundings but are very much more sensitive to suggestion.

In a trance state, the conscious, rational part of the brain is temporarily bypassed, making the subconscious part, which influences mental and physical functions, receptive to therapy.   During this trance state there is heightened concentration for the specific purpose of maximising potential, changing limiting beliefs and behaviours.  In addition the trance state is very effective in gaining insight and wisdom from past events that are either unresolved or hidden from conscious memory.

When in this state, the clients subconscious can be ‘reprogrammed’ to deal with certain feelings in a different way and as such, hypnotherapy is not only very effective in the treatment of phobias, and addictions, but it can also reduce stress and anxiety.