If you are considering hypnosis, then this is an exciting time for you. I have run a clinical practice with advanced hypnotherapy in Cardiff for several years. And clients usually have questions about hypnotherapy. They are curious to know why hypnosis is different, and how it can help.
Wherever you are, your concerns and questions are probably the same:
- What is hypnotherapy?
- Will I be in control?
- Will "it" work for me?
- Is it safe?
You could write a whole book on these. So for now, let's look at them in turn.
Hypnotherapy is the therapeutic use of hypnosis to create change. More specifically, "trance" is the fixation of attention. Have you ever been a million miles away? I remember watching the TV show "Lost" and being completely "lost" wondering what was going on. I was totally absorbed in the characters and plot. When I watched an episode, nothing could have awoken me from that "TV Trance".
In fact I am still in a trance, trying to figure out just what happened in the final season.
When our first baby was born, I was literally mesmerized: I would stare at him for hours without being distracted. Cute babies are very hypnotic. They absorb all your attention for long periods of time, no matter what problems you might otherwise be facing.
That's all trance is: the fixation of attention.
However, in hypnosis I use a specialised form of trance that gets you even more focused. In this state, you are able to literally affect the way you think and feel.
Hypnosis helps you enter this state where your focus is absorbed on the outcome you have. A hypnotist typically uses several techniques to help you change. These might include:
Positive suggestions
Visualisation or mental rehearsal
Bringing back to life happy, positive feelings or a feeling of increased motivation ("Revivification")
You are already doing all of these all the time anyway. Every time you have a thought or engage in self-talk, you are programming your mind. That is why you are entirely safe with hypnosis. A good hypnotist works with you to find out the problem, and how you want to be different. He then scripts new suggestions for you so you, in effect, say them to yourself.
That also means that a hypnotist can never make you think, do or be anything you don't want to. Sometimes people think that they can come to see me and I will push a switch to make them stop smoking. Not so!
What I can do is work with a person who is motivated to change. I help them "rescript" the way they talk and feel, so they can faster achieve their goal.
Any form of therapy is a relationship. And the degree of change that you experience is the degree to which you engage with that therapy. It is vital to understand this because a hypnotherapist wants to help you help yourself. And the only way to do that is to approach the therapy in a spirit of positive expectation and participation.
One of my Virtual Gastric Band weight loss hypnotherapy clients e-mailed me recently to tell me, "I am surprised. I found I was eating less and finding it easy to resist chocolate. But it seemed natural to me. I thought I was going to be a robot!"
You are not going to become a robot, but you can increase your belief and motivation to make change.
Hypnosis is about getting into a state of concentration, and a hypnotist can help you do that. In that state you can consistently access the latent resources you had all along to solve your problem. You tap into your inner strength. It means that you will learn to have much more control over your mind, over your breathing and over how calm and relaxed you feel.
Sometimes a person calls me and is anxious about hypnosis and they also are anxious to change. I say to them, "Look, I can teach you how to relax deeply if you are willing to learn. It means you will finally be in control of how you feel. You can even learn to improve the way you feel and take more positive actions. Would you like to have more control than you've ever had before?"
Hypnotherapy is about putting you back in control. If you have a fear, habit or addiction that is frustrating you or ruining your life, then consider hypnotherapy. Cardiff is where my practice is based, and there are other excellent qualified hypnotherapists all over the world.
Hypnosis was recognised and approved by both the British Medical Association (BMA) and the American Medical Association (AMA) way back in the 1950s. In 1957, Pope Pius XII even endorsed it for medical use. So it has a proven record, and unlike many drugs today, hypnosis has no known negative side-effects.
One last thing: hypnosis is very similar to day-dreaming and, as such, is very safe. The most important consideration is that you e-mail or call the hypnotherapist you want to work with and chat with them. All therapists specialise in certain areas, and you won't necessarily feel rapport with all of them. So you need to call up and find someone that you feel 100% comfortable with.
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