Hypnotherapy and its misconceptions
1) Will I be asleep? No, when you’re in hypnosis you aren’t asleep. You may look like you’re asleep, and sometimes you may even think you’re asleep, but you’re merely in a deeply relaxed and lethargic state, if you need to get up and leave you will do so.
2) You will not feel a hypnotised feeling because there is no such thing, there is just the experience.
- No, you don’t black out
- Yes, you do hear and see things better (your thoughts are focused on listening)
- Your memory is fine
- You retain free will - you canget up from the couch at any time!
- You are in control
Anyone can be hypnotised if they give consent, and in reverse no one can be hypnotised if they don’t. It doesn’t have to be a verbal acceptance merely the thought - I don’t want this person to hypnotise me therefore they wont! You can’t be made to do anything you don’t want to do; anything that is harmful to yourself or to others. Any suggestions against your morals, for example, telling secrets that you don’t want to tell or giving money or goods away. The hypnotist is the guide but you are in control.
Hypnosis ends when you want it to and this is why you can never be left under hypnosis. You merely follow the hypnotists simple suggestions and think, ‘I like that suggestion and it will work for me‘. This has to be for the relationship to work. So that’s hypnosis, nothing weird or supernatural, the suggestions are no more than you would accept from a friend recommending a good restaurant.
Following suggestions from the Hypnotist, volunteers perform to an audience, they do this because they feel comfortable with what has been asked of them. They consent because they know they will be asked to do something silly. It all comes down to expectations - they expect to be asked to do something daft because that is what they’ve seen on the TV. If they were asked to give away cash or secrets they wouldn‘t.
- There is nothing power seeking about the way IAH members practice.
- No looking into eyes, rapid induction ‘sleep’ and clicking fingers etc.
- No inappropriate or silly suggestions.
Historically hypnosis has been around for thousands of years, and derives its name from the Greek god of sleep, Hypnos. As an aid to good health it was first discovered in India where people used to take their sick friends and relatives to ‘sleep temples’.
Here they experienced a kind of hypnotic induction inducing a sleep like state ……. They were then cured by hypnotic suggestion. This practice was also discovered at around the same time in Greece and Egypt, so it had traversed the seas which endorses its acceptance and earned it a place within communities of that time.
Today, the uses for hypnotherapy are many and varied. Hypnosis is used in childbirth reducing the amount of pain and time spent in labour. Also pre and post operative surgery and dentistry. There is much research still being carried out in the field of Hypnotherapy and Hypnosis that seeks to establish efficacy of this therapeutic means. It has shown that when hypnosis is included in the treatment process, the benefits are generally increased (Kirsch, Montgomery and Sapirstein, 1995; Lynn et al., 2000: Schoenberger 2000 in Yapko 2003: p9).
People suffering from mild symptoms of body dysmorphic disorder are higher than 2% of the population. Low self esteem is characteristic of sufferers because it is so closely linked with a perception of personal appearance. It is equal in men and in women causing chronic social anxiety for those who suffer. (Psychological Medicine, vol 36, p 877).
Clinical depression affects between 7 and 18% of the population on at least one occasion in their lives, and usually before they are 40, and because people who have one episode of depression may have more in the future, the first time a young person becomes depressed it is important both as a personal, and public health concern.
Many people new to this experience will shop for the most inexpensive deal with the most promises. Although cost is an important factor, and if results are promised the lure of a therapist can prove strong medicine. However, a word of caution because not all therapists are the same, and neither do they all practice with the same high ethical standards.
