There are lots of misconceptions about hypnosis and hypnotherapy. LOTS. Sometimes, it can be quite hard to figure out what it really is, and how to separate myth from reality. However, understanding what hypnotherapy really is, is essential for anyone considering it as a treatment option.
What is Hypnotherapy?
Hypnotherapy uses hypnosis as a therapeutic technique to address various physical and psychological conditions. It involves a state of focused attention, heightened suggestibility and often, deep relaxation. It can be compared to the feeling of daydreaming, when you’re completely absorbed by your imagination, or even a book or a film.
Hypnosis can help you to become more open to respond to positive suggestions, and using your imagination, it acts like a time and a space where you can rehearse changes to how you think, feel and behave. It can also be a space to practice responding to anxiety-inducing, stressful situations, to rehearse new ways of behaving.
It can help with a huge range of issues. Research supports its use in anxiety management, pain management, to deal with sleep disorders, and to treat certain psychosomatic or stress-related illnesses. It can also be really effective for habit change and personal development.
In the case of gut directed hypnotherapy, in which we use hypnosis to improve IBS symptoms, a large body of evidence has consistently been showing that through hypnosis we can positively affect the physiology of the body, which helps the lining of the gut to become less sensitive to stimuli, reduces painful contractions and spasms, and positively affects how the brain processes pain.
What Hypnotherapy is Not
There are many misconceptions about hypnotherapy. It’s important to understand that hypnotherapy is not mind control; the person undergoing hypnosis always remains fully aware and in control. It also has nothing to do with stage hypnosis, which is performed for entertainment purposes and often involves exaggerated portrayals or tricks. Furthermore, hypnotherapy is not a quick fix for complex problems. It is a complementary therapy that works best when integrated with other treatments and a willingness to engage in the therapeutic process.
So here’s what hypnosis is NOT:
- A form of mind control
- A state of unconscious, or sleep
- Something scary or dangerous
- Something you’ll forget after it happens
- Something magical / supernatural
- Something that can help retrieve lost memories
- Something that can help forget certain memories
- A quick fix that will solve issues in a single session
- Going to leave you ‘stuck’ in (nobody has ever been ‘stuck’!)
Benefits of of Using Hypnosis in Therapy
You can think of your mind as having mental ‘routes’ which represent your thoughts, feelings and behaviours. Over time, some of these routes become really well-used, and as you repeat certain thoughts or actions, you create automatic habits. We all do this, all the time. Some automatic habits are useful (i.e. riding a bike), and others not so useful (i.e. anxiety). Hypnosis and suggestion are like tools that we can use to help us practise ‘rerouting’ some of these mental routes in more positive, constructive ways. With hypnosis, we can create an environment where you can feel focused and can become more receptive to suggestions of new ideas and perspectives. These suggestions are there to guide you along the new, less well-travelled routes, towards your specific goals and objectives. These suggestions are also there to help you gain more awareness of your thoughts and behaviours. Hypnosis can provide you the focussed space to practise these changes. The more you practice them, the more automatic they become.
Hypnotherapy is a really powerful tool that goes beyond myths and misconceptions, to enable significant positive changes in your life. From addressing deep-seated habits to managing conditions like IBS, hypnotherapy offers a pathway to improved mental and physical well-being.
