Hypnosis is the state of mind brought about by techniques used by a qualified hypnotherapist*. Hypnotherapy enhances an individual’s concentration and increases responsiveness to suggestion in order to make beneficial changes.
While hypnosis can be used for entertainment, this somewhat muddies the practice of hypnotherapy. Hypnotherapy uses the relaxed state of an individual to access the sub conscious and suggest alternatives based on the client’s desire for change.
Hypnotherapy is unlikely to be successful with a client who either doesn’t believe it will work or doesn’t want the change to happen, because the change comes from within, from your mind. A hypnotherapist cannot make changes for you, they will help your own mind to make the changes you want. That’s not to say it doesn’t work on the sceptical, I myself was very sceptical before trying it for the first time and now, I no longer have a phobia of spiders! I’m not joking, I can actually remove a spider from the house now.
How does hypnotherapy work?
The sub conscious is made up of every experience we’ve ever had. It’s our learning store of facts, not opinions or feelings, just facts. A lifetime of experience is stored in our sub conscious. We don’t have to concentrate on how to walk any more because our sub conscious stored the information for us allowing us to do it without thinking. We have learned not to touch fire as we know this is dangerous even though we may not have experienced it ourselves, it’s been learned. Our sub conscious protects us by telling our conscious mind what it needs to know to survive. That’s where hypnosis can help, to reprogram the sub conscious or allow it to re-learn. You may have experienced this, perhaps feeling you don’t have the will power to make a change. This is because your sub conscious is powerful and will override your conscious mind, so even though you know something needs changing, your subconscious keeps telling your conscious mind what it “knows” to be right.
A great example is with phobias. We can be programmed to fear many things, some from perhaps a bad experience as a child or maybe something our parents were scared of and we have learned the same behaviour. Hypnotherapy can help us to re-learn behaviours or beliefs and that’s what happened to me. My spider phobia started when I watched the movie Arachnophobia as a kid, probably too young! I didn’t even know this had been the trigger until experiencing hypnotherapy. It made me believe that all spiders can kill, and that they’d be hiding in my slippers or jumping at me from the garage to do so. Hypnotherapy didn’t do anything other than help my sub conscious to change my perception of spiders. It’s worked, I can remove a spider from the house no problem now. One day I think I might even be able to touch one!
Can I be made to do things I don’t want to under hypnosis?
Critically, under hypnosis, you will be safe, in control and you can bring yourself out of it any time you chose to. Most clients report feeling relaxed, aware and knowing they are still in control. A common word used is “trance state” which is really what I’ve just described. It’s your brain being able to slow down to the point your sub conscious is more dominant than your conscious.
So can I just get rid of all my bad habits then?
If you’ve had a life limiting phobia such as fear of flying or maybe the spider one, I thoroughly recommend hypnotherapy. Remember though it’s only as beneficial as the effort you and your mind are prepared to put into it. It’s not a magic pill and WILL NOT WORK if you are not prepared to work hard with the therapist to bring change. Hypnotherapy will help your mind to re-learn but your sub conscious is powerful, it needs convincing that the facts it has stored all your life are wrong and need changing, you are the one who can make that happen.
*make sure your therapist has sufficient qualification, is a registered member of a professional body and has professional indemnity insurance cover
