hypnosis

Hypnosis is a legitimate therapeutic tool. Understanding what hypnosis truly is can help alleviate fears and misconceptions associated with it. If you're considering hypnosis, it's important to work with a certified professional with years of experience who can guide the process in a safe, professional, and effective manner.

  • A hypnotherapist is a professional who uses hypnosis as a therapeutic tool to help individuals address and overcome various issues. This can include such things as managing many types of pain, dealing with stress and anxiety, overcoming phobias, quitting bad habits, and even helping the body to focus and increase its natural ability to heal.

    They are trained to guide individuals into a state of focused attention and heightened suggestibility, where various techniques such as Gestalt dialog and age regression are combined with guided imagery which can be used to bring about long term beneficial changes.

  • Yes, hypnosis is considered a legitimate therapeutic technique by many in the medical and psychological communities. It has been recognized and used by the American Psychological Association and the American Medical Association. Hypnosis can help with conditions like anxiety, phobias, substance abuse, chronic pain, and many others. However, it's important to remember that it may not work for everyone and should be conducted by a trained and certified professional to ensure it's done safely and effectively.

COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT HYPNOSIS

  • One of the biggest misconceptions is that hypnosis is a form of mind control or “voodoo” and the hypnotist can make you do things against your will. This is not true. In hypnosis, you're not unconscious or under the hypnotist's control. You're fully aware and in control of your actions. Hypnosis is a cooperative interaction between you and the hypnotist where you are working together in order to create a collaboration designed to achieve the goals you discussed and set before the hypnotic session is underway.

  • Another fear is that under hypnosis, you might divulge deeply held secrets. During a hypnotic session, you retain complete control over what you do and say. A hypnotist guides the process, but they don't have access to your thoughts.

  • Some people believe that being capable of achieving a hypnotic state is a sign of a weak mind. In reality, the ability to be hypnotized is not linked to gullibility or weak-mindedness. It's more about the ability to deeply focus and visualize, traits often associated with creativity and intelligence. When combined with the willingness to play an active roll in the therapeutic experience a collaboration is made between the hypnotists, the client, and the clients subconscious which results in achieving a heightened state of awareness with a narrowed and directed focus - a hypnotic state.

  • Fears about not being able to come out of a hypnotic state are unfounded. Hypnosis is a natural state of focused attention. Even if the hypnotist were to leave or stop talking, you would naturally either fall asleep or return to your usual level of awareness.

  • While hypnosis can be a powerful tool, it's not a magic bullet. It's most effective when used in combination with other therapeutic techniques and a commitment to change from the individual client.