Hypnosis is often viewed as a form of entertainment; however, it is no longer just a stage-show act. It is a great tool or technique to tap into the subconscious mind and can help you manage feelings, habits and behaviors that interfere with leading a fulfilling life. There is also evidence that hypnosis can help with pain management and with some health issues.
Before we begin exploring what hypnosis is and how it's used in therapy to achieve results, let's first explore what it is not. First of all, contrary to what you may have seen in the movies or on stage, no pocket watches are involved.
Misconceptions:
A person with a strong mind or will power is difficult to hypnotize.
This is not true. If you want to enter hypnosis, a strong mind or will power will help you to do so.
You are unconscious while you are under hypnosis.
This is not true. Most people describe it as feeling extremely relaxed, buzzed or intoxicated, half awake or half asleep and in the deepest levels, like lucid dreaming.
You are forced or tricked into going into hypnosis.
This is not true. You are guided into hypnosis. You have to want to be under hypnosis and you help the process by imagining the scenes and suggestions as well as you can or it will not work for you.
Hypnosis is a constant deep state of trance.
This is not true. There are times when you are more aware and times when you are less aware.
Hypnosis turns people into mindless zombies.
This is not true. Hypnosis can't make people do things they don't want to do.
Hypnosis makes individuals unusually receptive to suggestions. A hypnotic trance is really just a form of very deep relaxation, which allows people to block out distractions and focus their minds.
The Process Of Hypnosis
- Hypnosis involves focusing deeply on a thought or image and then letting that imagery become totally absorbing.
- The guide will talk to you, gently guiding you into a very relaxed state.
- While you are in this deeply relaxed, focused state, the guide presents a suggestion to help you solve your problem or reach your chosen goal.
When your mind is intensely focused, these suggestions have a powerful impact; this is the magic of hypnosis.
Patients who suffer from panic attacks, for instance, can be encouraged to think of frightening situations in new and less alarming ways. Pain sufferers, meanwhile, can move their perception of pain from the foreground of their minds to the background, therefore, lessening their need for drugs.
Hypnosis is about Mind Over Body. Results of some research suggest that hypnotherapy can influence the body to naturally heal itself. For example, in a study published at Harvard University, hypnosis was shown to help broken bones heal faster. No one understands yet how this process works. Some researchers speculate that hypnosis alters levels of brain chemicals that influence the nervous system.
Hypnotherapy Can Help You With:
- Emotional Problems -
Panic, anxiety, phobias of many kinds, nervousness, blushing, test anxieties, anger, depression
- Habits and Addictions -
Smoking, eating problems, nail-biting, drinking, gambling
- Mental Skills -
Improvement of concentration, studying, sport skills, selling skills
- Some Health Problems -
Problems largely triggered by internal factors such as emotional stress - irritable bowel, migraine, eczema, asthma, muscular pains and tensions, and sexual problems
- Relationship and Social Problems -
Coping with marital problems, jealousy, self-consciousness, shyness, sorrow and bereavement
- Sleep disorders
Making Hypnosis Work
- You must be patient and give it a chance to work for you.
- It might take only 1 or 2 sessions for basic relaxation, or as many as 10 according to your needs.
- Everyone is different and each situation is unique so hypnosis should be tailored to meet your individual needs.
Hypnotherapy, as shown above, can help with a wide range of impairments that effect daily life functioning to more severe health concerns. Hypnosis is also a great tool to help people enhance their lives by creating needed changes, building confidence, controlling habits and addictions, and even developing creativity and intuition.
