The Simple Facts About Hypnotherapy Uncovered

THE DEFINITION OF SELF-HYPNOSIS: The state of hypnosis is a state of hyper-suggestibility where the conscious and the subconscious dissociate. It is a state of mind where the hypnotized person is more likely to accept the operator’s suggestions.

You have been in the hypnotic state many times in the past without even recognizing the state. If you have ever watched a sad television show and reacted with a tear in your eye, you have been in a state of hypnosis. You entered a state of increased suggestibility where you uncritically accepted the idea of sorrow on the TV screen and reacted with a sad emotion, your tear. In other words, your ability to reason, which is controlled by your conscious mind, was bypassed. You did not reason that the show was just a play; you accepted the action as being authentic. So you reacted with real emotion and shed a tear.

WHO CAN BE HYPNOTIZED? Hypnotists have found that all normal people can be hypnotized to a greater or lesser extent. Subjects with the I.Q. of the moron level of intelligence or less generally can’t be hypnotized. People who are in an active state of psychosis generally are not hypnotizable. Most senile people are difficult or impossible to hypnotize. I have found in my own private practice dealing with a large number of retired people up to 85 years of age, that hypnosis is a potent and beneficial system for most people. The person’s motivation is the key to success.

DO I HAVE TO BE A “DEEP” HYPNOTIC SUBJECT FOR SUCCESS? For the therapeutic applications of hypnosis that are usually dealt with in therapy, depth of any kind isn’t required. A subject can be the lightest possible subject and still obtain all of the benefits from hypnosis that the deepest subjects will receive. I strongly feel that over the years, far too much importance has been placed on how deep a subject is. If the hypnotic subject is deep, it can be beneficial. This however, may not necessarily be the case. Actually, with the latest hypnotic methods like Ericksonian hypnosis and state of the art “NLP” (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), the depth of the hypnotic state is one of the least imperative aspects, which create success.

ARE THERE ANY DANGERS IN SELF-HYPNOSIS? There are essentially no dangers to the practice of hypnosis. It is not possible to “get stuck” in hypnosis. The most horrible thing that can possibly happen while a person is in hypnosis is that she might fall into a natural state of sleep for twenty or thirty minutes. She would wake up rested and no longer in the state of self hypnosis.

MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT A HYPNOTIC STATE: There are many misconceptions about hypnosis. Most of them are due to stage and television acts. Paradoxically, it is on account of the fact that the television can hypnotize you that these misconceptions are so strongly ingrained in people’s minds.

IS SELF-HYPNOSIS A STATE OF SLEEP? The largest misconception about hypnosis is that it is sleep. Not anything could be further from the truth. If you are asleep, you are unconscious. If you are unconscious, you cannot hear anything. If you cannot hear anything, then the hypnotist cannot help you. Hypnosis is a state of keen awareness. The subject is wide-awake and aware of everything around her. This misconception comes from the stage Hypnotist’s use of the word “sleep” as analogous to a state of hypnosis. When the old time hypnotist swung the watch in front of his subject’s face, he told his subject that she was getting “sleepy.” He then told his subject to “go to sleep.” What he meant was to go into a hypnotic sleep, not a natural sleep.

IS THERE A HYPNOTIZED FEELING? The second largest misconception about self-hypnosis is that there is a hypnotized feeling. There is no particular hypnotized feeling. I repeat there is no particular hypnotized feeling. Most people feel very relaxed when in hypnosis, as relaxation seems to be the essence of hypnotism. Some people feel heavy. Some people feel light. Some people have other sensations and feelings. Other people have absolutely no feeling that they are in hypnosis, and believe they haven’t been hypnotized when they most definitely have.

CAN THE HYPNOTHERAPIST CONTROL ME? NO! A hypnotist cannot make you do anything against your will. There is always an observing ego state. Should the hypnotist make an offensive suggestion; this observing ego state would reject the suggestion. Additionally, you will probably come out of hypnosis if the hypnotherapist makes an offensive suggestion to you.

CAN THE HYPNOTHERAPIST FORCE ME TO DIVULGE MY SECRETS? You won’t give away any secrets while in hypnosis unless you want to do so. The hypnotist doesn’t have any control over the subject. Quite the contrary, the subject has more control over herself since at this time she can directly communicate with her own subconscious. The subject can easily decline any suggestion the hypnotist makes, no matter how simple or complicated the suggestion might be. The subject can open her eyes, exit from the state of self-hypnosis, and exit the room at any time she chooses.

MUST PEOPLE TELL THE TRUTH WHEN IN SELF-HYPNOSIS? NO! People can lie when in hypnosis.

DO HYPNOTHERAPISTS HAVE SPECIAL VIBRATIONS? This is a common misconception. The hypnotist doesn’t have any special powers, nor does he have any special vibrations with which to hypnotize you into the hypnotic state. In reality, all hypnosis is self-hypnosis. The hypnotist leads the subject into a state of hypnotism. In other words, the ability of self-hypnosis is within the subject.

WHY DO PEOPLE FAIL TO REACH THEIR GOALS WHEN USING SELF-HYPNOSIS? Perhaps the biggest reason for the failure to reach one’s goals through hypnotherapy is an insufficient amount of practice where self-hypnosis is concerned.

The biggest reason for the return of a symptom or “relapse” is the early discontinuance of hypnosis with the Hypno-therapist or recorded program. While self-hypnosis is important, it is generally the hetero-hypnosis with the hypnotist or hypnosis recording which has the greatest impact upon the subconscious.

This is because of the experience that the hypnotist has vs. the lack of experience of the client. Some people are penny wise and pound-foolish. They mentally set an amount of time that they are willing to spend for help. And then they prematurely stop their sessions because; “I didn’t lose 50 Lbs. in two days, so it isn’t working.”

If a therapeutic method is really helping one to make positive changes, then it is priceless and it should be sustained. For this reason it is wise to have follow up self hypnosis sessions, even after a symptom seems to have disappeared completely. Self-hypnosis should be an ongoing affair on a daily basis. Ultimately, YOUR SUCCESS IS UP TO YOU!

WILL I BE BETTER OFF HIRING A HYPNOTIST, OR WILL PURCHASING A RECORDED PROGRAM WORK BETTER? That is an excellent question. Normally I would recommend that you employ the services of a reputable hypnotist. The reason is that by meeting with you, a good hypnotist / NLP’er will be able to customize his approach to your personality and your favored representational system — the way you favor taking in information through the senses to make sense out of it and react to it.

In my opinion, ninety-nine percent of the recorded self hypnosis programs available at this time are based on Traditional Hypnosis, and consist of only one or maybe two sessions of it at that. Traditional Hypnosis is nothing more than a set of direct commands: “If you eat a brownie you’ll barf.” “You will not have cravings and urges,” etc.. This technology has an exceptionally poor track record of success because everyone of our generation has been educated to question everything they are told. That’s why you, your friends, and your kids usually do the opposite of what they are told to do. This is called a polarity response.

That being said, having personalized sessions with any hypnotist / NLP’er who has enough experience to be able to actually help you can be very expensive. There are some hypnotic programs available on the Internet based on Ericksonian Hypnosis and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) that have overcome those shortcomings. They’ve managed this by utilizing a mix of Traditional Hypnosis, Ericksonian Hypnosis, NLP, and the highly regarded Video Hypnosis technology.

These are all methods that are designed to overcome the resistance factor. In fact, Video Hypnosis and the NLP technology that it’s based on do not utilize suggestion at all. These technologies rely on using the thought processes that have created a problem, to eliminate it!

Look for vendors who offer these technologies in multi-session products. These are programs that generally have six to eight different hypnosis sessions, so the subject is exposed to a broad range of methodologies. It takes a lot of work to script and record this type of program, but the high success rates achieved are well worth the effort.

Stay away from the “one size fits all” — “do-or-die” hypnosis CDs and downloads. Many people are attracted to these tapes because they are very inexpensive, usually under $10.00. But is it cheap if it just wastes your valuable time and does not work?

If you order a program and it does not work, then you get suspicious and start to expect the next approach to fail. And you get what you expect. Do you really think that the same exact commands will work for everyone? Do you think that they will work for you? Do you as a rule do exactly as you are told to do? Or do you usually feel a desire to do the opposite of what you are told to do?

(c) 2007 By Alan B. Densky, CH. This document may be re-printed as long as it is not altered and the author’s name and clickable links are retained.

Alan B. Densky, CH has practiced since 1978 He’s authored four books on hypnosis and NLP. He is the developer of the Video Self Hypnosis Technology, which is perfected for weight loss and smoke cessation. Visit his Neuro-VISION Video Hypnosis website for FREE Hypnosis articles, newsletters, & MP3s.

- Alan B. Densky, CH

Originally posted 2007-08-31 00:00:00.

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