Hypnotherapy is a form of psychotherapy and is used to access and create change at an unconscious level in individuals. This change can be in the form of new responses, thoughts, attitudes, behaviours, beliefs or feelings.
Hypnosis is a therapeutic technique in which clinicians make suggestions to individuals who have undergone a procedure designed to relax and focus their minds. It has had quite a controversial history, yet most clinicians now agree it can be a powerful and effective therapeutic technique for a wide range of conditions, including pain, anxiety and mood disorders. Hypnosis can also help people change their habits, such as quitting smoking.
There is still much debate in the modern scientific community as to how hypnosis works. Let’s not forget that many leaders that have shaped the field of psychology today, James Braid, Sigmund Freud, Milton Erickson, Ernest Hilgard, Ian Stevenson and J.B. Rhine all explored hypnotic phenomena to understand and utilize its potential.
Misconceptions about Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy
Some people still have many misconceptions about hypnosis and hypnotherapy. Throughout the process, you are always in control, the hypnotherapist will suggest something predetermined and agreed upon by both you and the hypnotherapist, and you can either accept or reject it. Some people are more suggestible than others making for better hypnotherapy candidates. So the first thing to remember is that you are always in control and no one can make you do anything. All hypnosis is self-hypnosis. The hypnotherapist is merely facilitating the process of transformation that you desire.
Most people these days have learned to accept that relaxation, breathing and meditation techniques help combat and manage high stress levels. Hypnosis is just another one of these techniques that a hypnotherapist uses to aid clients to deeply relax and explore the deeper layers of the unconscious that are usually inaccessible in the normal conscious state, to affect change.
The traditional method of hypnotherapy uses therapeutic relaxation and direct suggestion, this is very much like a guided relaxation process that has the addition of hypnotic suggestions by the therapist.
In the 1950’s Milton H. Erickson developed a different approach to hypnosis, known today as “Ericksonian hypnotherapy”. Erickson used informal conversation, complex language patterns and therapeutic strategies. This process was partially adopted by the founders of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) to effect quick changes in their clients.
All Change happens in the Unconscious
Thinking is the analytical and logical (supposedly most of the time) part of the brain. You are more than you think you are, and you are capable of more than you think. Neuroscience has proven that out of all the information the brain is processing at any moment, only 5% is on the data coming from the senses. Meaning that 95% of the processing is what’s happening internally. And that 5% is only so that we can adjust an internal representation of the world we have. That’s right, it’s in your unconscious.
This means if we don’t affect change at the unconscious level, there won’t be sustainable changes. That’s why I use hypnotherapy as part of my Integrative approach to coaching and building self-awareness because this enables changes to be made at the deepest levels of the unconscious. So you will be dealing with your issues at the root cause and making a real transformation; remember the power remains with and within you and therefore the responsibility of change also remains within you.
Examples of what hypnotherapy can help with:
- Emotional issues
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Smoking cessation
- Weight control
- Fears and phobias
- Stress management
- Compulsive behaviour
- Anxiety and panic attacks
- Tension headaches
- Asthma
- Insomnia
- Addictions
- Bedwetting
- Fibromyalgia
- Cancer-related pain
- Eating disorders
- And much more.
Are you ready to start living the life that you want? If you are…
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