The Truth About Hypnosis

Learn the facts and the fiction about clinical hypnosis

We are in the business of empowerment. That means that we teach people tools that they can use to accomplish their goals. Sometimes that tool is hypnosis, and sometimes it is NLP (neuro-linguistic programming), or cognitive reframing. Sometimes the tools are more common, like active listening to improve professional performance or memory. And sometimes they need something else. Once we figure out what tools will work best for the client, we can teach them to use those tools more effectively.

Hypnosis is sometimes one of the most misunderstood and controversial treatment options available today. The myths and misconceptions that surround hypnotherapy often stem from people’s ideas about stage hypnotism as well as what they see in movies and on television. In reality, stage hypnosis is basically an interactive bit of theater, and has about as much in common with clinical hypnosis as television and Hollywood movies have with real life.

The fact is, hypnosis is a genuine neurological phenomenon that has valid uses in managing the symptoms of many common conditions, from chronic pain to digestive issues, stress and anxiety to memory and cognition. Simply put, hypnosis is a state of highly focused attention or concentration that is often associated with relaxation and heightened suggestibility. While in hypnosis many people are much more open to helpful suggestions than they usually are.

You Are Most Certainly Not Under My Control!

Contrary to popular belief, people under hypnosis are in total control of themselves and will never do anything they would normally find highly objectionable. And in order to be successfully hypnotized, a person must want to undergo the process voluntarily.

The suggestions given to people during a hypnosis session are an important part of how hypnosis works. Many people, probably yourself included, won’t accept or respond to an up-front, direct suggestion. For example, you are most likely ignoring the direct suggestion of the voice in your mind telling you that you don’t need another cookie, while you are putting one in your mouth. In hypnosis, suggestions are able to get into the mind by bypassing the filter called the “critical factor” and going directly to the subconscious mind where they often take root as important behavioral or psychological changes.

The Hypnotic Process

Change is a process. Nothing is built, torn down, or rebuilt overnight, and a single session of hypnosis does not usually produce lasting results. Like everything else, there are some objections to this rule. When using hypnosis, most smokers are tobacco free after the very first session, and subsequent sessions are used to build up resources like stress management and appetite control if desired. Most often, a person will find the greatest benefit in a series of hypnosis session to create gradual and permanent change.

Contrary to what many believe, repetition is not needed to create permanent changes when using hypnosis. This is because of how hypnosis utilizes the brain to learn new things. Think of it as the difference between training and programming.

When you train someone to do something, you are using repetition to learn a pattern, habit, or behavior. We can use repetition to train the control center of the mind that a certain activity, feeling, or reaction is desirable and eventually, with enough repetition, the control center will accept the change and make it permanent.

This method is effective, and the results are usually permanent, like learning to ride a bike. But it takes a long time, and can be very difficult, especially when trying to change habits, reactions, fears, and behaviors.

When you program something, like a computer, you are writing the new behavior, habit, or pattern directly into the control center. When you download a new app on your phone you don’t have to train the phone to use the app and perform the functions. It just happens automatically from now on. Hypnosis allows you to program you mind in the same way

Using Hypnosis

Hypnosis is powerful, versatile, efficient, and effective. It can be used as a tool for physical healing, as well as emotional healing and growth. There are no side effects, and it is completely safe and natural. Imagination is the language of the subconscious mind. Hypnosis uses your own imagination to to motivate changes, build better options, better strategies, and take all these new behaviors and make them so automatic it becomes as if that's just how it's always been.

The most frequent uses of clinical hypnosis include weight management, smoking cessation, sleep issues, stress and anxiety relief, IBS, improving professional, academic, and athletic performance, and as a best first treatment for pain management. What’s interesting is that you don’t have to be sick or injured or have a bad habit you need to quit. Many people use hypnosis to improve an already great life as well as to relax and reenergize. Hypnosis can be used effectively as a way to keep you healthy, much like meditation and yoga.

Try It For Yourself

You can easily test the benefits of self-hypnosis for yourself. Simply sit down and get comfortable in a quiet setting. Think about something you want to change, some way that you want to be better. Now close your eyes and take a few deep, slow breaths. These deep breathes get you in a mild trance and a state of comfortable relaxation. In this state, imagine yourself exactly how you want to be, being able to do the thing you want to do, as if you have already reached your goal and are already living in your success. Repeat this phrase to yourself ten times either out loud or to yourself:

“Every day, in every way, I am better and better!”

By engaging the imagination and using the direct suggestion in the relaxed state of trance you created for yourself, you are using hypnosis to create real and positive changes in your life.

Using self-hypnosis is a skill that is most effective when it is practiced. Even though a five-minute session can prove very helpful to some people, we recommend using the exercise above for a full week. Try it just before going to sleep, and look for changes in yourself that reflect your goals, like feeling more relaxed, calmer, fewer cravings.∎