Hypnosis & Hypnotherapy Information
Hypnosis and hypnotherapy can be used to help you with a wide range of conditions such as controlling anger, alcohol, smoking, your weight, sleeping and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). It can also be used to improve your confidence and help control your nerves in public speaking, and in overcoming anxiety, panic attacks, exam nerves, fear of flying, driving or the dentist.
See Also
Hypnosis & Hypnotherapy Products Hypnosis & Hypnotherapy InformationRelated Pages : Anxiety : Stress ::
What is Hypnosis?
Hypnosis is natural state of internal concentration and reflection. It seems to defy simple definition, being described as ‘a state of altered consciousness’; ‘a relaxed state of hyper-suggestibility’; ‘the sleep of the nervous system’ among others and yet it is a state we are all familiar with. If you have ever driven on a regular journey, maybe to work, and found yourself at your destination not remembering how you got there, or how you got there so quickly, or even found yourself missing your normal turning, then you have experienced a state of hypnosis. Driving, with experience, becomes an automatic action, leaving your conscious mind to step back and allowing your subconscious to become active. If, at any time, something unexpected occurs, your conscious mind will snap back into play again.
This same trance state happens when you are so absorbed in a book or film to the exclusion of everything going on around you and is often used in advertising – repetitious little ditties that get stuck in your head or beautiful scenes with emotive music that your subconscious will, emotionally, connect with the product that the advertiser is selling.
So although the hypnotist will talk of ‘sleep’ it is not in the normal sense of the word, although it has been shown that brainwave activity is touching on the range that is found with sleep. And, because it is an experience we are actually so used to, people sometimes question whether they have been hypnotised so a hypnotist will sometimes do various tests to prove hypnosis. This may include producing anaesthesia in part of the body or making one arm seem so light that it rises, outside of the conscious control of the client. These tests are often used to prove to a sceptical client that they have been hypnotised; an experienced hypnotist has many other physical characteristics to indicate hypnosis such as the pulse rate dropping, breathing becoming slower, muscles relaxing, skin becoming paler and smoother, perhaps closed eyelids fluttering slightly.
Although the term Hypnosis was first coined in the 19th century (named after Hypnos, the Greek god of sleep) there is some evidence that it was used by ancient Egyptians and Hindus as a form of healing in their Sleep Temples. Hypnosis was used to produce anaesthesia in surgical operations, including amputations, as early as the 1820’s (when it was still known as ‘Mesmerism’ or ‘Magnetic Sleep’).
Surprisingly, although it is generally considered an alternative or complementary therapy, hypnotherapy was accepted in 1892 as a form of orthodox medicine by the British Medical Association only declining in popularity with the rise of Freudian psychoanalysis and the advent of chemical anaesthetics.
Finding a Hypnotherapist
Hypnotherapy is the therapeutic use of this state of hypnosis – you can be taught to hypnotise someone in a matter of hours but it takes many hours of training and experience to use it therapeutically. This is why it is so important to choose a well qualified hypnotherapist. There are no legal requirements, as yet, to calling yourself a hypnotherapist however there are professional organisations who are working together with government bodies to provide accepted standards of training and experience and I would advise anyone looking for a hypnotherapist to find one accredited by one of these bodies eg: The General Hypnotherapy Standards Council , the National Council for Hypnotherapy or the British Institute of Hypnotherapy .
Hypnotherapists can be likened to GPs in that we can all deal with a wide range of issues that a client may present but some of us develop specialisms in particular areas, either because of personal experiences or because we see more clients with those problems or because that specialism brought us to hypnotherapy in the first place. However, unlike GPs we cannot diagnose illness (unless medically trained).
So what happens when I visit a Hypnotherapist?
Firstly, the therapist will spend some time finding out why you have come to them and how you are affected by your problem. They may ask about your family, childhood, your present life and what you want out of the therapy, as well as any medical, emotional or physical background.
Hypnosis can be induced by various methods and all hypnotherapists will have preferences, and will use a variety of them, depending on the client. The ‘swinging watch’ is rarely used now, relaxation techniques being more popular (something we all need a bit more of). These often include a gentle focused relaxation of all the muscles in the body and may be followed by an imaginative journey to relax your conscious thoughts (beaches; country walks; fluffy clouds). Your therapist may use metaphors and analogies to bring about the level of internal awareness required for change, or a rapid method that produces trance very quickly, the sort of thing you may see a stage hypnotist do, or even use an emotional or physical feeling or pain as a bridge to guide you there.
While some of the therapeutic work is being done during this induction process, and even during that first conversation, the unique part of hypnotherapy happens once in the trance state, and, again, we have a toolbox of different methods to achieve change. Positive suggestions and guided imagery, reviewing past experiences or disassociating from emotional states are some of tools a hypnotherapist may use. Or you may find that you are guided into looking at your limiting beliefs and understanding of yourself.
Your subconscious mind tends to think in metaphor (which is why dreams can be interpreted) and can easily accept such experiences as stepping out of your body to observe yourself in a certain situation (often used for phobias); travelling back and forward in time to experience the ‘old you’ and the ‘new you’; experiencing being someone else – this could be someone who has the traits that you lack or it could be someone who strongly affected your life; or perhaps carrying out a particular action successfully (winning the race, passing the exam) – techniques used in Sports hypnosis or for examinations (it has been shown that this can have similar physical results as actually practicing the activity, which is great for injured athletes to keep up their training regimes).
These are just some of the techniques which may be used; the important things to remember are that:
- hypnosis is a pleasant, relaxing and natural experience
- you cannot get ‘stuck in hypnosis’ and can bring yourself out any time you want
- the therapist does not ‘take control’ of you
- you cannot be made to do anything that is against your will or your ethics
In hypnosis we work directly with the subconscious mind. This is the part which runs the autonomic responses: breathing, heart rate, nervous system etc. and also the emotional and physical reactions to outside stimuli. We work to retrain these responses to positive and constructive reactions, thoughts and behaviours and unlock inner potential. These new patterns can affect the physical body as well as the emotions and the spirit, to provide a truly holistic and individual approach to healing the person.
Who can Benefit from Hypnotherapy?
As with most alternative therapies, there have not been many clinical trials using hypnotherapy, probably, for the most part, because clinical trials are usually funded by pharmacy companies. However those that have been carried out have shown it to be successful. The NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) 2008 report on IBS recommended that ‘hypnotherapy……should be considered for people with IBS who do not respond to pharmacological treatments after 12 months’. Other trials have shown it’s efficacy in Weight Loss, Tinnitus, Eczema, Pain Control, Anxiety, Asthma, Incontinence and Insomnia amongst others.
Clinical trials aside there are plenty of documented case studies showing hypnotherapy’s efficacy in Depression, Confidence Issues and Public Speaking, Sports Improvement and Examinations, Migraines, Smoking Cessation, Relationship problems and Sexual Issues. It can also be helpful for sufferers of chronic diseases such as Cancer; Dystonia; Multiple Sclerosis and ME, helping to raise positivity and visualise healing – shown to improve outcomes and quality of life in chronic conditions, also to reduce stress and tension, pain, fear and anxiety and unlock the body’s natural inner healing resources.
There are few people who are living life to their full potential, who have not been affected by something in their past, who are not playing limiting mantras in their heads, so the answer to this question is; almost everyone can benefit from Hypnotherapy.
Self–Hypnosis Recordings
One of the questions that I'm often asked is 'Could I just use self-hypnosis recordings to solve my problems?'. The answer is simple, if we look at it in comparison to your GP again; sometimes an over the counter medicine will make you well and sometimes the problem is a bit more complicated and you need something more.
There are two types of self-hypnosis recordings and they both have their place.
The generic type that you can buy ready made are generalised and may 'hit the spot' if your problems are not too out of control. When buying a pre-recorded self-hypnosis CD or download consider who the therapist is, and if you are able to hear their voice before buying it will help, what is a beautiful relaxing voice to one person can grate terribly to someone else. There are those that are just a voice, some have music, some extra sound effects, some have more complex brainwave signals such as Theta or Delta waves or brain synchronisation.
The other type of self-hypnosis recording is one given by your Hypnotherapist to work alongside your therapy, these will improve your ability to go into trance and go deeper, boost your therapy or give you a 'comfort blanket' in between sessions, or in cases such as Smoking Cessation, after therapy has finished – as you know no-one needs a comfort blanket but sometimes it's nice to have one! The advantage of these is they have the voice of your therapist and they are written specifically for you – this could be compared in many ways to a prescription medicine.
About The Author
This article was written by our guest author Barbara Burgess Dip.Hyp., DipRth., Dip.RSA..
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Resources
| Here To Listen Self Hypnosis CDs Self hypnosis CDs to help you with a wide range of conditions such as controling anger, alcohol, smoking, your weight, sleeping and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Improve your confidence and public speaking. Overcome anxiety, panic attacks, exam nerves, fear of flying, driving or the dentist. |
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See Also Hypnosis & Hypnotherapy Products Hypnosis & Hypnotherapy InformationRelated Pages : Anxiety : Stress :: |
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