Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy
By Sarah Rhodes, Bare Health Hypnotherapist
I was at a party over the weekend and someone asked me what I
did for a living,
“I’m a Hypnotherapist,” I said,
“Ooh, don’t look at me,” came the reply, “you might make me
do something stupid and embarrass me!”
If this is what your reaction would have been, you are
clearly not alone. This is a typical
response from someone whose only experience of hypnosis is watching a stage
hypnotist. They think there is some
magic or mystery associated with hypnosis, and that a hypnotist merely has to
look at you, to put you ‘under his spell’, and get you to reveal your deepest
secrets or fall in love with a brush!
However there is a lot more to hypnosis and hypnotherapy than most
people realise.
Many people are frightened of hypnosis for a variety of
reasons, most of which come down to one thing - lack of information. In the past hypnosis has been associated with
magical, mysterious powers and even the occult.
It was used as a tool of power to dominate people. Practitioners kept their methods mystifying
so that they could fool people into thinking they had special powers.
Some practitioners still like to keep their methods secret
and this goes to perpetuate the myth that hypnosis requires special powers and
that the subject is at the mercy of the hypnotist who has ‘taken over their
mind’.
This is definitely
not the case. There are no special
powers involved. It is a completely
natural state, which the therapist helps you to achieve yourself. The subject always remains in full control.
So what is hypnosis and hypnotherapy all about?
Well, stage hypnosis is certainly only the tip of the
iceberg and, whilst being entertaining, it often gives people the wrong
impression of the hypnotic state. Many
people have the idea that the hypnotist is in control of the people on stage,
that he has ‘put them under’ and they will now do anything he says. In actual fact the six or so subjects,
actually on the stage doing the entertaining, have been selected from perhaps
thirty people that initially volunteered.
The Hypnotist will have carried out some simple suggestibility tests,
which give an indication of how susceptible a person is to hypnotic
suggestion. He will then have whittled
down the volunteers to the few who were highly suggestible. The hypnotist will also assess the
volunteer’s character a little, to select the most outgoing, increasing the
chance of having very entertaining volunteers.
Any suggestions given by the hypnotist are all things that these people
would probably also do, for example, under the influence of alcohol. They cannot be made to do anything they would
object to in normal circumstances and are free to act upon the suggestions, or
not, as they wish. Hypnosis, in this
situation, merely reduces inhibitions, much like alcohol would do.
Hypnosis, or trance, is actually a completely natural state
of very deep and total relaxation. In the state of hypnosis, you are not awake,
neither are you asleep; you are in between these states, like a halfway house.
There are many levels of hypnosis and everyone, at some time in their life, has
experienced some level of trance, most without even realising it. I’m sure almost everyone has experienced that
feeling when you wake from a dream and you’re not sure whether it was real or
not; when you have driven a long way, arrive at your destination and you can’t
remember a significant chunk of the journey; or when you have been so absorbed
in a book or film that you have been unaware of what is going on around you.
All of these examples are light forms of the hypnotic state,
daydreaming too is a form of trance.
However, to get the real benefits from hypnosis it is necessary to enter
a much deeper level of the hypnotic state; this is where a hypnotherapist can
help.
The success of all hypnosis is dependent on the willingness
of the subject to co-operate fully with the hypnotist, and the ability of the
subject to concentrate his or her mind.
It is also very important that the subject trusts, and has complete
confidence in, the therapist.
A hypnotist does not possess any
special powers
Contrary to popular belief, a hypnotist, or hypnotherapist,
does not possess any special powers and cannot hypnotise anybody against their
will. All hypnosis is, in fact,
self-hypnosis, and to reach the hypnotic state takes the total cooperation and
concentration of the subject. The
hypnotherapist will teach you how to achieve this trance state. He or she is able to guide you to much deeper
levels of relaxation and states of hypnosis, before giving gentle suggestions
to address your particular issue. You
are always totally aware of what is happening and in full control of the
session. You cannot be made to do
anything against your will.
We are all products of suggestion. A newborn baby’s mind is pure; there are no
phobias, anxieties, compulsions or opinions.
From the moment a baby is born these things are being formed in the
baby’s mind by external suggestion, whether it is verbal or, at this young age,
experienced. It is from these
suggestions that many issues originate. When we are very young we do not have
the ability to use reason and logic, this means the reaction to any suggestions
we receive is purely emotional and is therefore very powerful.
For example, if a 3-year-old girl is terrorised by an older
brother with a spider, she cannot apply reason and logic to convince herself he
is just being mean and the tiny spider he has will cause her no harm. Indeed if she wanted she could squash it
between her fingers to get rid of it.
Her brother has put the powerful suggestion in her mind that the spider
is something to be feared and from then on every time she sees a spider she is
terrified something awful will happen to her.
This feeling may get worse as she gets older, called a Syndrome Effect,
resulting in a woman who is terrified at the very thought of seeing a spider
and is continually looking around the room in case a spider should appear.
Quite often the original reason for the fear is so deeply hidden in the
subconscious that the person is not even aware of the fear’s origin.
All human minds respond to suggestion, there are suggestions
surrounding us everyday; advertisements, news stories, books, magazines, even
other people. For instance, you may wake
up one morning feeling fine and ready to face the day, but the first person you
meet says, “Are you okay, you look a bit pale?”
If then, throughout the day, several people comment on how
pale you look or ask if you are alright, gradually you will start to wonder if
indeed you are a bit off-colour. By the
end of the day you will probably feel quite below par, as if you are coming
down with something. This is the power
of suggestion.
In the hypnotic state, the conscious, logic mind is
bypassed, enabling suggestions to be given directly to the subconscious mind,
which greatly magnifies the power of the suggestion, and therefore increases its
effect.
What does
hypnotherapy actually do, how can it help me?
This is all well and good, you might say, but what does
hypnotherapy actually do, how can it help me?
Well, hypnotherapy can help many people in many ways. It may
be used to help with a wide range of issues, ranging from smoking cessation,
overeating, stress, insomnia, phobias, lack of confidence/self esteem,
improving performance at work or in sport to use by pregnant women enabling
them to experience a more relaxed, calm and comfortable pregnancy and
birth. Hypnotherapy can help with all of
these issues and more by giving appropriate suggestions over a period of
time.
If you would like more information about how Hypnotherapy can help you, please contact Bare Health on 01260 408413, call Sarah Rhodes on 07881 816 439, or visit www.appletonpractice.co.uk
