Hypnosis FAQs
What is hypnosis?
I'll tell you what hypnosis is not. It is not some mysterious, arcane procedure the knowledge of which is only available to a few.
Hypnotists throughout time have been guilty of "bigging up" the process of hypnosis. To me, hypnosis is nothing more than a series of techniques that have evolved over many centuries that enable to us to enter specific states of consciousness that can be characterised by the term "trance".
OK, so what is trance?
There is nothing unusual about trance. As a state of mind, we move in and out of trance states all the time. The defining characteristic of trance is that attention is directed internally, involving a greater or lesser degree of withdrawal from the outside world.
Have you ever read a book and had someone call your name, yet you've been so absorbed (entranced) that you did not hear them? Driven several miles yet realised that you have driven entirely unconsciously and have no recollection of how you reached your destination? These are manifestations of the utterly normal trance state.
So what is hypnotherapy?
Nothing more than the application of these deliberately engineered trance states to therapy
In trance we can employ a number of different techniques such as suggestion, mental rehearsal, creative visualisation etc in order to effect changes in belief, behaviour, skill, and much more.
I've heard of some called NLP. What is it?
Therein lies a site in it's own right, but in a nutshell NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) is a method developed by John Grinder and Richard Bandler in the 70's for "modeling" human excellence. Sometimes referred to as "the study of subjective experience" and sometime as "the study of excellence", NLP is a way of looking at how people who do something well (exemplars) do what they do in a way that we can then teach the ability to someone else. From a point of view of therapy, we might be interested in teaching someone how someone else is relaxed about the presence of spiders, for example. In other fields, we may be interested in how someone manages to be an excellent sales person
Do you use it?
Yes.
How should I use your hypnosis sessions?
First, I recommend that you use headphones. These sessions are designed to be listened through headphones, in a comfortable chair. Sit up, rather than lie down, as we do not want to encourage a sleep response (except in the case of my insomnia programme). Do not, under any circumstance, listen to these or any other hypnosis programme while driving or operating machinery, or carrying out any task that requires concentration..
So what problems can NLP and hypnosis help with?
For a start, a problem is only a frame (a perspective). All frames can be changed, so NLP and hypnosis can be used to develop a more resourceful perspective on ANY problem.
But that may not be what you are asking. Ask yourself if you know people with the sorts of problems you have in mind. If so, does one person deal with these issues better than another? Does one person heal more effectively than another? From an NLP perspective, one of the things we are interested in is what are the differences in belief, attitude, resources between those individuals and how can we assist the one to develop the positive resources of the other.
But that may not be what you are asking. Here is a list of problems that hypnosis is commonly sought for help with (though it is by no means exhaustive)
- agoraphobia
- alcohol addiction
- anorexia nervosa
- anxiety/anxiety state
- asthma
- bed wetting
- blushing
- bulimia
- confidence boosting
- depression
- drug addiction
- eczema
- embarrassment
- emotional pain/guilt/anger
- exam nerves
- fear of flying
- high blood pressure
- impotence
- insomnia
- interview nerves
- irritable bowel syndrome
- M.E. (chronic fatigue syndrome)
- medical hypnosis
- migraine
- motivation
- memory and learning
- multiple sclerosis symptoms
- nail and finger biting
- nervous problems.(see anxiety)
- nightmares
- obsessive compulsive disorders
- panic state, panic attacks
- pain control
- paruresis
- performance anxiety
- phobias (all kinds)
- post traumatic stress disorder
- psoriasis
- psychogenic infertility
- public speaking
- relationship problems
- self harm
- sexual problems
- shyness
- smoking
- snoring
- social anxiety
- sports performance
- stage frightstammering, speech problems
- stress and related problems
- ticks and involuntary twitches
- ulcers
- urine retention
- weight loss
