What is Hypnosis?

What is Hypnotherapy? 

Whilst all hypnotherapy employs the use of hypnosis, not all hypnosis employs the use of hypnotherapy. Medical Hypnosis, allows the client to become relaxed and in a trace like state, so suggestion can be given allowing the client to relax further. As opposed to the application of Hypnosis by a stage Hypnotist whose aim is to provide maximum entertainment for the audience. In such instances, the hypnotist will carefully select the "best" participants, who will be willing and extroverted individuals, and often if the stage hypnotist is very well known, individuals may go into hypnosis with very little effort! This doesn't mean a hypnotherapist can make you do anything you do not want too. While under hypnosis you are as in control as you are in you daily life.

Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy helps to enable treatment of a wide range of symptoms and conditions. Before this is able to happen successfully a number of things need to happen. Firstly rapport and trust need to be built up between client and therapist. The treatment is highly dependent on the individuals Belief, Imagination, Conviction and Expectation. This is because if a client believes they can not be hypnotised or thinks the therapist is untrustworthy then they are unlikely to go into a relaxed state. Alternatively if a client expects their condition to improve, there is a good chance that he or she will be successful. Good results can be achieved when an individual's subconscious starts working for them rather than against them.

With the use of suggestions, the hypnotherapist can implant behavioural change into the client's subconscious. These suggestions can be effective for anything between three minutes to three weeks. For example, if an individual is suffering from anxiety, it is possible to remove this block using a powerful suggestion, although this solution may be relatively short-term if the anxiety has been caused by an event, or series of events, earlier in life, as the client's belief about self will not have been altered.

Suggestion therapy is also useful for habit control. Whilst it is necessary for the subconscious to maintain certain habits, such as getting washed and dressed in the morning, it also holds on to all the other habits we have learnt throughout our life, including the unwanted ones. Example of these include smoking, and nail biting, and it is hoped that by the time the suggestion has worn off, a new habit will have been formed, and replaced the old habit of say, smoking. Additionally, suggestion therapy can be useful in improving performance, including sports, exam nerves or driving test worries to name a few, by instilling confidence within the individual.

Hypnosis has also been used to eradicate physical pain, often with great success, as demonstrated by James Esdalle in India, where he was able to perform amputations without anaesthetic, due to the absolute faith his patients had in his ability to heal them. This deep state is now often referred to as the Esdalle or coma state, where the individual shows signs of anaesthesia and does not respond to suggestion.

Hypnosis can also be used in emergency situations where a person may have suffered terrible injury and is in a great deal of pain. Hypnotic suggestions can be applied whilst waiting for the emergency services to arrive, which can also serve as a distraction mechanism. Where there is significant pain, glove anaesthesia techniques may also be employed.

Hypnobirthing is a method of hypnosis which can be used during childbirth to minimise discomfort to the mother. Similarly, hypnosis is employed in dentistry, allowing some patients to undergo treatment without anaesthetic or to allow them to feel more comfortable about visiting the dentist.

At the other end of the spectrum, hypnotherapy is the use of hypnosis to apply various forms of psychotherapy to the client. Hypnotherapy can successfully treat those individuals suffering from neurosis, as opposed to psychosis or other forms of mental illness, such as Borderline Personality Disorder and schizophrenia. Often neuroses can be dealt with successfully. Hypnotherapy can be used to reduce the emotional baggage an individual has built up over months, or even years, and help to restore their confidence. Depression, which often involves feelings of low self-esteem, can be treated, although it would be necessary to discover if the client had received any medical attention for this condition or was on any medication.

Since our immune system is controlled by our subconscious, psychosomatic and psychogenic illness is also another area where hypnotherapy can be of great help, although it is essential that the client is referred to a GP to rule out any physical or organic cause. Whilst a cure can never be promised, often the client's illness can become more manageable, with less frequent symptoms, providing them with a better quality of life. Examples of such illnesses include migraines, arthritis, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and skin conditions.

Where certain hypnotherapy techniques don't appear to be gaining a response and alleviating the individual from their symptoms, hypnoanalysis can be applied. This works by using techniques to uncover the cause and effect of deep rooted issues within the client's subconscious that may have been repressed to protect the client from trauma. Often hypnoanalysis work has the benefit of often achieving faster results than psychotherapy and psychoanalysis.

The use of hypnosis isn't just restricted to those working as hypnotherapists, hypnoanalysis and stage hypnotists as their main profession. It is being adopted by people from a whole range of backgrounds, including counsellors, Reiki healers and even managers of corporations who want to use self-hypnosis within the workplace to reduce stress and encourage both themselves and employees to be more productive.

One of the huge benefits in using hypnosis is the fact that there are no unwanted side-effects. Whilst some individuals may feel worse after a few sessions of therapy, a sign of subconscious resistance, or experience abreactions during a session, even these are positive events, leading the way to healing. With increased awareness from the public more people will understand the various applications of hypnosis and hypnotherapy, and turn to them more frequently as complementary approaches to traditional medicine.

For more information email hypnotherapy@holistic-harmony.co.uk , stopsmokingnow@holistic-harmony.co.uk or call on 07939 410816.

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