Most people have all sorts of ideas about hypnosis, usually gathered from the press and entertainment, including movies and stage hypnosis - totally understandable but mostly wrong.
What then is hypnotherapy, you ask?
Hypnotherapy is the use of hypnotic techniques (hypnosis) to utilize states of deep relaxation. Durring this state, the therapist assists clients to understand their issues and concerns in order to enhance self-growth and personal effectiveness. The Hypnotherapist facilitates physical, emotional and/or mental health in individuals who fail to respond to other therapeutic interventions. Hypnotherapy focuses on the causes and effects of symptoms, unravels the causal mysteries of physical, emotional and behavioural symptoms to reduce and/or eliminate them.
Hypnotherapy helps change attitudes, which is the key to changing behavior. With hypnotherapy, the client is empowered, and made independent enough to solve his/her own problems. With the help of hypnosis a person can change behaviors that would otherwise seem difficult, if not impossible, to change.
Contrary to popular belief, hypnosis is not a state of deep sleep. During hypnosis, clients experience enhanced state of awareness and remain fully aware and in total control of their surroundings and situation.
It is important to note, however, that hypnotherapy is not talk therapy, and does not include advising, diagnosing or prescribing. That would be the domain of other professionals. The primary aim of hypnosis itself is self-healing, and self change. The hypnotherapist’s job is to assist the client to achieve those natural states of mind where healing and change best happen. Hypnotherapy is especially useful for tapping into that awesome power of the human mind and one’s inner resources.
How does it work?
Hypnosis works by altering our state of consciousness in such a way that the analytical left-hand side of the brain (also known as the conscious), is turned off while the non-analytical right-hand side, (known as the subconscious), is made more alert. The conscious control of the mind is inhibited, and the subconscious mind awakened. Since the subconscious mind is a deeper-seated, more instinctive force than the conscious mind, this is the part which has to change for the client’s behaviour and physical state to alter.
Have you ever found yourself daydreaming or concentrating on something that the world around you just seemed to disappear? If you answered “yes”, then you were in a state of natural hypnosis. We experience it every day of our lives while driving, reading an interesting book, intensely watching a movie, etc.
How can hypnotherapy help me?
Hypnotherapy can be applied to many psychological, emotional and physical problems. It is used to relieve pain in surgery and dentistry and has proved to be of benefit in obstetrics. It can shorten the delivery stage of labour and reduce the need for painkillers. It can ease the suffering of the disabled and those facing terminal illness, and it has been shown to help people to overcome addictions such as smoking and alcoholism, eating disorders, weight management and stress, to name a few.
Children are generally easy to hypnotize and can be helped with nocturnal enuresis (bedwetting) and chronic asthma, whilst teenagers can conquer stammering or blushing problems which can otherwise make their lives miserable.
Phobias of all kinds lend themselves well to hypnotherapy as well, and anyone suffering from panic attacks or obsessive compulsive behaviour, and stress-related problems like insomnia, may benefit. Conditions exacerbated by tension, such as irritable bowel syndrome, psoriasis and eczema, can be addressed using these techniques.
It is very important that the client wants to change some behavioural habit or addiction and is highly motivated to do so. Client must want the treatment to work, and in order to do so, must establish a good clinical rapport with the therapist.
Whatever your goals are, hypnosis can help you achieve them more easily and more quickly. Many people don’t realize the awesome power that their subconscious mind has over their lives. The causes of so many “bad habits” are rooted in memories or perceptions that may be forgotten by the conscious mind but retained in the subconscious. Hypnosis helps to access the subconscious mind and effect the desired changes more easily and more quickly.
When choosing a Hypnotherapist, it is very important to be sure they are affiliated with the Association of Registered Clinical Hypnotherapists (ARCH) where memberships are not sold and all members must complete hours of further education each and every year. All are members are required to carry a liability insurance and are checked for criminal records.
“Our subconscious mind is an amazing mechanism and while being extremely complicated, it holds all the tools necessary for self-healing.
Joanna Banka is a Registered Clinical Counselling-Hypnotherapist. She has researched and practiced elements of psychology, spirituality and alternative healing modalities such as Reiki and Hypnotherapy for over 12 years. Her specialty is working with trauma and weight management Joanna assists her clients in overcoming their personal barriers by drawing upon compassion and a strong technical foundation. She believes each individual holds the tools to change their lives for the better and empowers her clients to find those tools from within. Her environment is free of judgment, creating an extremely effective therapist-client relationship thus accelerating the healing process.