What is clinical hypnotherapy?
- Hypnosis is a mind relaxing therapy in which the therapists use exercises that bring forth deep relaxation and an altered state of consciousness, also called a trance during which the subject is highly susceptible to suggestions or commands of the hypnotist.
- Hypnosis is a way to access an individual’s subconscious mind directly. The subconscious mind takes the upper hand during hypnosis which is the store of your memories and is also responsible for regulating your bodily sensations, such as taste, touch, and sight, as well as your emotional feelings
- Hypnosis subdues the conscious mind and allows the subconscious mind to deeply focus on the issue. By doing so, the brain is in a very stable condition and is in a resting phase. As a result, the brain stops sending nerve signals to the body and thus opens its doors to the subconscious mind to receive suggestions.
- When hypnosis is used to aid in the treatment of certain health conditions, it is called “clinical hypnotherapy”
What happens to the body during clinical hypnosis?
- Highly focused attention
- Increased susceptibility to carry out commands, behavior, experience feelings, and perceptions.
- Alteration of sensation and perception
- Sense of detachment or dissociation
- Increased responsiveness to suggestion
- Vivid imagery
- Willingness to accept distortions of logic
- People do not lose control of their behavior. They remain aware of where they are and who they are.
- Hypnosis helps to master our own states of awareness. By doing so we can have control of our bodily functions and psychological responses.
How is clinical hypnosis done?
- Consent– The subject must believe he or she can be hypnotized.
- Induction stage– Here the subject must eventually feel relaxed. The hypnotherapist does this by asking the subject to-
- Close their eyes
- Imagine that they can’t open their eyes
- Relax the eyes and the whole body
- Trance state– Subject is then put into a trance state, extreme suggestibility, relaxation, and heightened imagination state by any of the following ways:
- Fixed gaze induction or eye fixation- the subject focuses so intently on the object that everything else is tuned out. e.g., waving a watch in front of someone.
- Rapid- give the brain a large number of firm commands at once. The subject is likely to submit their conscious control if the commands are forceful enough.
- Progressive relaxation and imagery- Speak to the subject slowly until the subject experiences complete relaxation.
- Loss of balance- Use slow, rhythmic rocking to create a loss of equilibrium – e.g., rocking a baby to sleep.
Termination– The most common way of terminating hypnosis is by counting from 1 to 5 and asking the subject to slowly open his/her eyes
On whom clinical hypnotherapy can not be performed?
Hypnotherapy can be performed on anyone with average intelligence and willing to cooperate. It is best to avoid clinical hypnotherapy in people with the following conditions-
- Epilepsy
- Delusions, hallucinations
- Psychological disorders such as split personality, psychosis, and depression.
- Paranoid persons
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (as it may recall the horrific events of the past)
- Intoxicated states
- Severe depression
What are the uses and benefits of Hypnotherapy?
Clinical hypnosis can be helpful in many ways.
- Hypnosis can be used to make behavioral changes, such as quitting smoking, bed-wetting, weight reduction, etc.
- Form new habits, like exercising daily, develop study habits, etc.
- Relaxation techniques
- Build confidence
- Stress reduction
- Anger management
- Overcome anxiety
- Improve sleeping disorders such as insomnia
- Treatment of pain, including headache, chronic back pain, burn pain, cancer-related pain, childbirth pain, dental pain, surgery-related pain, and phantom limb pain
- Improvement of symptoms associated with irritable bowel disease (IBS)
- Treatment of generalized anxiety disorder
- Treatment of phobias
- Overcome nightmares
- Forensic hypnotism is used by the investigators to access the deep and repressed memories of the subject related to a past crime to help identify a suspect or find details of a case. This technique is very controversial in the forensics world as it may lead subjects to form false memories.
What are the Risks of clinical hypnosis?
- False memory
- Heaviness in the head
- Fatigue
- Dizziness
- Stomach upset
- Anxiety
- Posthypnotic amnesia
- Age Regression – Recall or re-experience an earlier event from the past
- Hypermnesia – Enhancement of memory for past events
Is hypnotherapy dangerous?
No, hypnotherapy is not dangerous. It cannot make a person do something that he/she does not want to do. It is not mind-control or brainwashing.
What are the expected results of clinical hypnotherapy?
Clinical hypnosis can be effective in helping people to cope up with stress, pain, addiction, and anxiety but it should not be the first line of treatment for these conditions. Hypnosis can be used as a comprehensive part of treatment for the management of complex mental disorders. Hypnosis cannot cure or solve all problems. It is just a mere tool to help improve our lives in many ways. After a few sessions of hypnosis, some subjects might notice dramatic changes in their behavior while others may not feel any changes at all. These changes include-
- Improved focus
- Improve performance
- Increase self-confidence
- Relaxation mood
- Stress-free
- Feeling of optimism
- Detachment from reality as if they were removed from what they were experiencing. This makes them see situations differently without being caught up in the usual emotions.
Who can perform clinical hypnotherapy sessions?
A certified mental health professional with a valid license who is specially trained to perform hypnosis can practice it on the patients.
In addition to qualifications, a subject should look for a hypnotherapist with whom he/she feels comfortable in a therapeutic relationship.
What are the common myths and facts about clinical hypnosis?
- Hypnosis does NOT use magical power
- Hypnosis is NOT dangerous
- Hypnosis is NOT mind-control
- Hypnosis is NOT sleep or coma, you need to be awake to be hypnotized
- Hypnosis is NOT surrender of will or revelation of secrets
- Hypnosis will NOT make you do things without you will
- You will NOT get stuck in hypnosis forever
- Psychotic or feeble/weak-minded people are NOT good subjects, any person with average intelligence and willingness to cooperate can be hypnotized.
- You can NOT be hypnotized against your will
- Hypnosis does NOT make you forget things, in fact, some people remember the whole session
When hypnosis is used for therapeutic purposes, it can help to make personal changes. It can also assist to learn ways to better govern our own lives because hypnosis therapy sessions allow people to gain more self-control and use more of their potential. Clinical hypnosis helps to understand underlying motivations for emotional or behavioral difficulties. It provides a safe and secure state of mind to examine the roots of problems and select from the alternatives to make healthier choices.
