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What is Hypnosis?
Hypnotic Techniques
To experience most hypnosis techniques you will need to be guided by an expert therapist. There are, however, certain exceptions to this rule. Relaxation and visualisation are both aspects of hypnosis that you can teach yourself and use productively and safely in your own home. They can be taught by a therapist, or learned from books and tapes.
At their simplest, practising relaxation and visualisation can be regarded as a way of ensuring that you still engage in daydreaming. Children undergo creative daydreaming on a regular basis. It is the natural way the mind works to offset negative states. In the past, people took advantage of gazing into the fire or going to church to free their minds from the drudgery of everday living. Sadly, for many people the hustle and bustle of modern life has stifled this ability. All to often we forget to relax and allow our bodies to rest.
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Suggestion Hypnotherapy
This method is often used in the treatment of addiction. The practitioner implants positive suggestions, for example that a symptom will disappear or that a pattern of behaviour will change. Serious addiction also require more complex and sophisticated applications of hypnosis such as analytical hypnotherapy.
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Analytical Hypnotherapy
This approach - which is also known as hypnoanalysis - is a method of using hypnosis to analyse problems at a subconscious level. It can involve regression or working through unpleasant or disturbing events from the past that have a negative impression onthe subconscious. The therapist will regress you by asking you to recall any buried memories of emotions which might be at the root of your problem.
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The Therapy Session
A session of hypnosis last between 30 and 60 minutes. At your first session the therapist will take a detailed history of your case, of past and current treatments, and more general matters that may be relevant to your treatment. You should mention all past events that might have a bearing on you present problem. To find further stresses and anxieties, underlying or affecting your present problem, the therapist might use other investigative tools such as the Luescher Colour Test.
The therapist will also deal with any concerns you may have about hypnosis. Since most people's knowledge of hypnosis owes more to fiction and folklore than reality, the therapist may need to sort out a number of misconceptions.
For someone undergoing hypnosis for the first time it is only natural that they might experience some fear of the unknown, so the therapist will try to allay any anxieties. This is important, since both fear and lack of motivation can prevent the patient from fully entering the hypnotic state.
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Habit Disorders
Unhealthy repetitive behaviours are controlled by the subconscious rather than the conscious mind. We ned to motivate the subconscious in order to overcome its resistance and permanently change a habit. Many habitual behaviours originate as neurotically determined actions that once had significance for the individual, but have now outlived the processes that created them. For example, a young person may begin to smoke as a way of signalling that they are an adult, and continue to smoke even when they mature and the assertion is no longer necessary.
Hypnosis can be used to help control destructive behaviour that has become habitual to the point of compulsion, such as smoking, over-eating, and alcoholism. In addition, it can be used to rein in common, irritating habits like nail-biting.
Many hypnotherapists approach such problems with ego-strengthening suggestions associated with extinction of the targeted behaviour, such as “You feel proud and satisfied that you have broken the habit”. Another treatment method, the aversion approach, emphasising the unpleasant aspects of the behaviour.
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Psychological Problems
The range of psychological conditions that can be treated through hypnosis include everything from low self-esteem to post-traumatic stress disorders. Hypnotherapy can be particularly helpful with anxiety-related conditions. Fear is a response to an immediate threat, whereas anxiety refers to the anticipation of an event which is less clearly defined.
The symptoms people experience during panic attacks are a natural part of the body’s fight-or-flight reaction, which provides a surge of energy to fight an attacker or to run away. The body tenses, producing the classic symptoms of a fast heartbeat, shortness of breath, and butterflies in the stomach. As the body becomes sensitised one may begin to anticipate panic attacks, avoiding situations that might provoke them. Ultimately one avoids any situation, person, or object that might evoke feelings of arousal or anxiety.
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Medical Problems
Hypnosis is often used to complement conventional medical treatment for many conditions. It can help to overcome the pain of headaches, childbirth, and severe burns. In the operating theatre surgeons are allowing hypnosis to be introduced to lessen anxiety, reduce bleeding, and cut down on the amount of anaesthesia needed. In certain cases it has been used for drug-free surgery. For people with serious illnesses, such as cancer or AIDS, it may be used to stimulate the immune system.
One of the most common uses of hypnosis is to treat psychosomatic illnesses to which factors such as stress are believed to contribute. Examples include some cases of asthma, eczema, and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
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Performance Enhancement
Confidence and motivation have a key role to play in getting the best out of all performances. Whether you are an athlete running a race, an actor playing a role, a composer writing a symphony, or a student studying for an exam, hypnosis can be used to help you prioritise and achieve your goals.
Above all it makes people confident by preventing destructive feelings of self-doubt, allowing them to keep their anxiety at exactly the right level to achieve the best results. Anxiety is essential a learned and anticipatory response, in contrast to fear which is a more innate emotion. For people to exert themselves fully in pursuing various goals, whether sporting, academic or creative, it is necessary for them to experience some degree of arousal. However, each of us has an optimal level of arousal for a given situation, and if it rises too high it inhibits rather than aids performance.
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Hypnosis for Children
Children are often the best hypnotic subjects. Hypnosis is easier for them because they are accustomed to switching between reality and fantasy, and have more fertile imaginations. One of the earliest examples of hypnosis in life is the interaction between mother and child, as the child is very open to suggestions. If the child injures itself and the mother says “I’ll kiss it better”, the child will take the suggestion instantly and forget their pain. Parents also use a form of hypnosis with infants by gently rocking them to sleep.
Unlike adults, who usually remember everything about an hypnosis session, children often remember little. The body relaxation normally associated with adult sessions is also less evident in children, who may remain surprisingly active throughout.
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