FAQs About Hypnotherapy & Hypnosis
Hypnotherapy uses hypnosis to gain direct access to the subconscious and then apply a theraputic solution. The strength of mind-body-spirit connnection means these conditions include the physical as well as emotional, mental and spritual.
Hypnotherapy has been recognised by both the British and American Medical Associations as a psychological and therapeutic discipline since the 1950’s, but its power and scope are only now being widely discovered.
A short course of sessions is generally all that’s required, with very high success rates and long lasting solutions by going to the source of the issue in the subconscious mind.
How does hypnosis work?
If your conscious goal is out of alignment with subconscious influences you can experience internal struggle, and ultimately frustration.
Hypnosis can first identify any blockages, then skillfully bring both aspects of your mind into harmony, removing the conflict and fulfilling your goal.
In our normal making state the conscious mind is awake and in control. When we sleep the subconscious mind takes over, regulating your breathing and dreaming. The twice daily transition between waking and sleeping is a natural, short form of the hypnotic state.
Waking State Hypnosis Sleeping
Conscious Mind Awake Awake Asleep
In Control
Subconscious Mind Awake Awake Awake
In Control In Control
Hypnosis is simply a method of extending and skilfully managing the in-between state. You’re handing over control from your conscious mind to your subconscious mind. Since your conscious mind remains awake and aware, and your subconscious mind also has a critical component, you won’t accept anything contrary to your own will.
Our own subconscious thoughts and the critical filter of our conscious mind are often not fully understood in our waking lives. We may make a resolution consciously but be unable to act on it because it is in conflict with the subconscious mind – and the subconscious mind is much more powerful.
The subconscious mind holds all memories of experience, and the conclusions that have arisen out of those experiences. This creates an automatic metal ‘programming’ that the subconscious runs in our lives as ‘thoughtlessly’ as the programming it runs to keep us breathing. The conscious mind acts out according to the individual ‘programming’ inherent in the subconscious mind, though it may not be aware of the reasons for its actions.
Through hypnotherapy when become aware of the inherent structures of the subconscious mind and change them directly, removing any blockage or conflict with the conscious mind, and allowing new behaviour patterns to become automatic and effortless.
Will I be conscious and aware of what’s happening?
Both your conscious and subconscious mind have a critical component. And your subconscious is always aware.
If you’re expecting to completely lose awareness and go into a totally foreign, exciting new state, you may be disappointed with the familiarity and comfortableness of the experience. You won’t lose awareness of what is going on around you – your conscious mind still participates in the experience, it just has a reduced role. The overall effect is a much greater state of awareness than usual, rather than any sense of diminished awareness.
Both your conscious mind and subconscious mind have a critical component. The critical portion of the conscious mind can actually act as a barrier to achieving goals that you know you want to achieve but can’t seem to carry out. Hypnosis can create a pathway to bypass this any barrier in the conscious mind, but the critical portion of the subconscious mind will always remain active. This ensures that you will never be able to do or accept anything in hypnosis that wouldn’t do or accept in any other circumstance.
Once you come out of hypnosis you may feel like you’ve had a deeply satisfying rest that’s calming and cleansing for the body and mind. Many people experience an ‘afterglow’, a peaceful serenity that is prominent for a day or more.
Will I lose control?
Hypnotherapy is about gaining control over your mind, not losing control.
We’ll spend time in the first session to look at the best ways we can use to take control over the issue that’s causing the problem. We’ll agree on the best way to do this, and with your consent and partnership, I will act according to your requests.
Hypnotherapy relies on your partnership to achieve your stated goals. If you decide to block the therapeutic and hypnotic process with your conscious mind, you will be able to do so. If you decide to work with the hypnotic process to achieve outstanding results, you will be able to do so. It’s your choice.
Will it work for me? Can I be hypnotised?
“I can’t be hypnotised”. You’re right.
“I can be hypnotised.” You’re right. It’s your choice.
Almost everyone can benefit from hypnotherapy and have their own experience of the hypnotic state. All that’s required is a genuine and earnest desire to work with the process, giving your subconscious mind full permission to achieve your own healing or personal growth.
To enter a hypnotic state you simply need the ability to relax and the ability to concentrate in the voice of the hypnotherapist and follow instructions. There are differences in the speed, ease and ‘depth’ with which people experience a hypnotic state, but it’s widely accepted that 90% or people can relatively easily achieve a state suitable for hypnotherapy. The remaining 10% tend to be people that are highly analytical or control orientated and are reluctant to hand over control from their conscious mind to their subconscious mind – but either way it is still their mind in control. If there’s a genuine and strong desire to enter hypnosis and heal, techniques can be applied to overcome this type of resistance.
Resistance may even be seen positively – the mind tends to feel more comfortable with the known, even if it’s creating a problem. The mind can sometimes resist an ‘unknown’ positive change, and the stronger the resistance, the greater the perception of the mind that the therapeutic solution will actually create the change. Understanding the process and visualising the positive outcomes helps build familiarity with the unknown, creating comfort with a change for the better.
Is it like TV or stage hypnosis?
Entertainment vs. Enlightenment
Preconceptions based on TV programs or stage hypnosis are not accurate for hypnotherapy – for therapeutic hypnosis we only need recline in a relaxed focused state. Stage hypnotists use selective screening to determine the people most likely to act out for an audience purely for entertainment.
Television is highly edited to suit a short attention span – hypnotherapy enlarges and strengthens your ability to concentrate on a single object in depth. And while the most basic principles of stage hypnosis are the same, the practises are very different.
How can it help me?
How creative can you be in helping your self?
Hypnotherapy is useful for regaining health and freedom from a wide variety of mental and physical diseases. It also excels in dealing with more subtle unwanted conditions or unease that impede one’s total wellness.
Hypnotherapy deals with the actual processes in the mind that creates these issues. Since so much of our experience as an individual in the world comes from our mind, there are many issues that can also be solved through the mind.
Hypnotherapy as proven to be effective in dealing with a number of chronic physical issues which do not respond to traditional medical treatment. More subtle psycological issues can also be dealt with in the hypnotic state more effectively than often lengthy psycological approaches which are applied in the cognitive state. By reinforcing the conscious mind which is actually creating the problem it becomes much more difficult to bring about a quick and decisive solution.
There’s likely to be one particular catalyst that brings you to seek treatment. Once the process and the widespread applications are understood it’s common for people to begin creatively evaluating other areas of their life in which a hypnotheraputic solution can also be a valuable investment.
This site contains introductory information on some of the more common applications of hypnotherapy. If you have any questions about the ability of hypnotherapy to help you, you’re welcome to call to enquire how a hypnotheraputic solution may be able to be created to suit your unique situation.
Links
Further information on Hypnotherapy and Hypnosis
Hypnotherapist Register.com - The largest register of Hypnotherapy Practitioners in the UK and Ireland, also has international listings.
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