FAQ
WHAT IS HYPNOSIS?
Hypnosis is the word used to describe a natural unconscious process which is experienced daily by everyone. It is natural and can also be considered to be your super power ,as it is also the same mechanism by which we learn.
A precise definition of hypnosis has yet to be established, this is because hypnosis is a highly subjective experience that varies in quality from person to person. It is like trying to define “love” and “spirituality”.
Hypnosis is the experience of total absorption, a powerful focus on something such as a thought, a feeling, a memory, an expectation, a sensation, or any specific aspect of your personal experience.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Hypnosis reduces the activity of the critical, analytical and sometimes inhibiting part of the brain. As a result It allows you to be more creative and imaginative by utilising the deeper and less conscious part of the brain. It is through this process that you will be able to gain insights and new understandings, learnings and perspectives.
“The brain is the most advanced biological system in the known universe and each of our brains has more neural pathways than there are stars in the galaxy” (Richard Bandler)
CAN ANYONE BE HYPNOTISED?
The idea of how hypnotizable a person is a complex question and often very misunderstood.
Most things are on a continuum but we often focus on the extremes. The vast majority of the population can experience hypnosis with 3% of the population been highly influenced and 3% been of low influence with the vast majority falling in between these extremes.
Most people will recognise that when watching Tv or a movie, this can be described as an hypnotic experience and no one is really ever watching TV , and saying to themselves that they are not been influenced by what they are watching. It is just that people are influenced to varying degrees.
Occasionally someone may believe that they are too strong minded to be influenced by the hypnotic process, however strong minded people make fantastic clients and achieve great outcomes.
The only people that are not recommended for the use of hypnosis is someone who is suffering from dementia or schizophrenia and as such would be referred onto another specialist.
HOW SAFE IS HYPNOSIS?
There has never been a documented case of harm caused by the use of hypnosis. Below is the evidence provided by The Australia Society of Clinical Hypnotherapists:
Hypnosis is a normal, naturally occurring, healthy state of mind. It is totally drug-free. There has never been a single documented case of harm resulting from the use of hypnosis.
Leslie Le Crone, psychologist and authority on hypnosis, states: “As to self-induction, many thousands have learned it and I have yet to hear a report of any bad results of its use”.
In his book Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, Dr William S Kroger states: “An associate of Pavlov, who used hypnosis for over fifty years in over fifty-thousand cases, reports as follows: ‘We have never observed any harmful influences on the patient which could be ascribed to the method of hypno-suggestion therapy, or any tendency toward the development of unstable personality, weakening of the will, or pathological urge for hypnosis'”.
Dr David Cheek, MD, who has vast experience in the field, writes, “We can do more harm with ignorance of hypnotism than we can ever do by intelligently using hypnosis and suggestion constructively”.
Dr Julius Grinker states, “The so-called dangers from hypnosis are imagery. Although I have hypnotised many hundreds of patients, I have never seen any ill effects from its use”.
Psychologist, Rafael Rhodes, in his book Therapy Through Hypnosis, writes: “Hypnotism is absolutely safe. There is no known case on record of harmful results from its therapeutic use”.
Dr Louie P Thorpe, Professor Emeritus, University of Southern California, in his book The Psychology of Mental Health, writes: “Hypnotism is a natural phenomenon, and there are no known deleterious effects from its use”.
Clinical hypnotherapist, Gil Boyne, states: “In almost forty years of practice and more than 40,000 hours of hypnotherapy, I have never seen or heard of any harm resulting from hypnosis.
WILL I REMAIN AWAKE?
WHEN ELSE MIGHT WE HAVE EXPERIENCED HYPNOSIS?
You experience hypnosis everyday-anytime you chose to focus in a particular way on an event/emotion/experience or skill
For example:
- Have you ever had the experience of driving your car on a familiar route, a route that you have travelled many times, possibly your route to work or home. You suddenly realise, usually when you arrive at your destination, that you do not recall going through that set of traffic lights or turning at a particular junction?
- Or when you are such an expert at something maybe in your job, while on the computer or undertaking a sport at which you excel. You find yourself able to undertake this task with a high level of skill (without thinking) whilst also engaging in a complex conversation or thought?
- Most parents will be able to empathise with the need to sometimes ‘zone out’ background noise allowing you to focus on another task
- Or becoming so absorbed in a book, that when you next check the clock 2 hours have gone by, yet it feels like 15 minutes?
- Have you had the experience of watching a movie and having a physiological reaction i.e. crying because it feels so real?
- Young people can spend hours on a game console and before they know it, it is 2am!
All of these are examples of this natural super learning and absorbed experience. We just don’t usually think about them as been hypnosis.
ISNT HYPNOSIS THE SAME AS MEDITATION OR OTHER RELAXATION TECHNIQUES?
This is a commonly asked question. In order to answer this, let’s start with asking the question what is the aim of each approach.
There is some cross over between approaches, but with one fundamental difference. The similarities between all 3 are that they all involve the inwardly focused state, but the aims, outcomes and effectiveness as therapy are very different.
Mediation and relaxation could be considered therapeutic but not necessarily as therapy.
The aim of meditation is to calm oneself by calming or slowing thought and just been in the moment.
The aim of relaxation is to allow the body to fully relax and be without unnecessary tension According to the Oxford dictionary[2] relaxation is when the body and mind are free from tension and anxiety.
The aim of hypnosis is to enable you to achieve insights, learn new associations, increase levels of creativity and awareness all of which allow you to bring about personal change. The person experiencing hypnosis may be relaxed, but hypnosis can also occur when in a non relaxed state, however you will always be inwardly focused. Hypnosis allows you to uncover and access skills and develop new approaches. At its core, hypnosis allows you to tap into all your vast unconscious resources creating the best version of you.
Research involving the use of FMRI’s (functional magnetic resonance imaging) is also indicating the that hypnosis is not the same as other approaches. Consider the fact that Hypnosis can very effectively be used for people undergoing surgery to minimize the pain sensation for example, no relaxation or meditation technique could achieve the these results.
WHAT DOES HYPNOSIS FEEL LIKE?
WHAT MIGHT I EXPERIENCE DURING THE HYPNOTHERAPY SESSION?
We will never ask you to lie down, unless you requests this, our belief is that we want you to feel comfortable and most clients remain seated in a comfortable chair during the hypnotherapy process. People are pleasantly surprised about how it feels just like a normal conversation.
The hypnotherapist uses a gentle, respectful conversational approach to help your conscious logical and analytical part of your mind to become less active. This then allows the unconscious process, where all you habits and patterns are stored, to be gently reformed into habits and patterns of thought that are more useful for you.
The clinical hypnotherapist will only work within the parameters agreed with you and what you want to achieve.
WHAT IS THE POINT OF IT ALL?
In summary the point of hypnosis is to help you take back control of what is a natural process
It is a DRUG FREE option
Many people are seeking alternatives to improve emotional and psychological well being and over come emotional distress. Life happens, that is a given, and hypnotherapy and hypnosis is an effective and long lasting approach that most people, once tried, really understand its power for change. When hypnosis is used in conjunction with the strategic psychotherapy approach the effect is even more powerful. It is about putting yourself back in charge of you. You are not broken!!