Articles

THE DEFINITION OF SELF HYPNOSIS: The state of hypnosis is a state of hyper-suggestibility where the conscious mind and the subconscious mind dissociate. It is a state of mind where the hypnotized person is more likely to acknowledge the Hypnotist's suggestions.

You have been hypnotized many times in your life without even realizing it. If you have ever watched a sad T.V. show and reacted with a tear in your eye, you have been hypnotized. You entered a state of augmented suggestibility where you uncritically accepted the idea of grief on the TV screen and reacted with a sad emotion, your tear. To put it into different words, your ability to reason, which is contained in your conscious mind, was bypassed. You did not reason that the show was just a play; you accepted the drama as being genuine. So you reacted with real emotion and shed a tear.

WHO CAN BE PLACED IN HYPNOSIS? Hypnotists have found that all normal people can be hypnotized to a greater or lesser extent. Subjects with less than a 70 I.Q. generally are not hypnotizable. People who are in an active state of psychosis generally are not hypnotizable. Senile people are generally impossible to hypnotize. I have found in my own professional practice dealing with many retired people up to 85 years of age, that hypnotherapy is a potent and beneficial system for the majority of people. An individual's motivation is the key to success.

DO I HAVE TO BE A "DEEP" SUBJECT FOR SUCCESS? For the beneficial applications of hypnotherapy that are often dealt with in therapy, depth of any kind isn't required. You can be the lightest possible subject and still receive all of the benefits from hypnotherapy that the deepest subjects will receive. I believe that over the years, far too much importance has been placed on how deep a subject is. If the client is deep, it can be beneficial. This however, is not necessarily the case. In fact, with the latest hypnotic techniques like Ericksonian hypnotherapy and state of the art "NLP" (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), depth is one of the least important aspects, which contribute to success.

ARE THERE ANY DANGERS IN SELF HYPNOSIS? There are on the whole no dangers to the practice of hypnotherapy. It is not possible to "get stuck" in hypnotherapy. The most terrible thing that can possibly happen while a subject is in self-hypnosis is that she might fall into a natural state of sleep for 20 or 30 minutes. She would awaken rested and out of a hypnotic state.

MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT SELF-HYPNOSIS: There are many misconceptions about hypnotherapy. Most of the misconceptions are due to stage and TV shows. Paradoxically, it's because of the fact that the TV can hypnotize you that these misconceptions are so strongly ingrained in people's minds.

IS SELF HYPNOSIS SLEEP? The largest misconception about hypnotherapy is that it's a state of sleep. Not anything could be further from the truth. If you are asleep, you are unconscious. If you are unconscious, you can't hear anything. If you can't hear anything, then the hypnotist can't help you. Hypnosis is a state of keen awareness. The subject is wide-awake and aware of everything around her. This misconception stems from the stage Hypnotist's use of the word "sleep" as akin to the hypnotic state. When the old time hypnotist swung a pocket watch in front of the subject's face, he told the subject that she was getting "sleepy." Then he told the subject to "go to sleep." What he meant was to go into a hypnotic sleep, not a natural sleep.

IS THERE A HYPNOTIZED FEELING? The second largest misconception about self hypnosis is that there is a hypnotized feeling. There is no hypnotized feeling. I repeat there is no hypnotized feeling. Most people feel very relaxed when in the hypnotic state, as relaxation seems to be the essence of self hypnosis. Some people feel heavy. Some people feel light. Some people have other sensations and feelings. Other people have absolutely no feeling that they are in a state of hypnosis, and believe they haven't been hypnotized when they most definitely have.

CAN THE HYPNOTIST TAKE CONTROL OF ME? NO! The hypnotist can't force you to do anything against your will. There is always an observing ego state. Should the therapist make a suggestion that is offensive to you; this observing ego state would reject that suggestion. Additionally, you will probably come out of hypnosis if the hypnotist makes an offensive suggestion to you.

CAN THE HYPNOTHERAPIST FORCE ME TO DIVULGE ANY OF MY SECRETS? You will not reveal any secrets while in the hypnotic state unless you want to do so. The hypnotist does not have any control over the subject. Quite the contrary, the subject has more control over herself since at this time she can directly communicate with her own subconscious mind. The subject can easily reject any suggestion the hypnotist makes, no matter how simple or complicated the suggestion might be. The subject can open her eyes, exit from the state of self-hypnosis, and walk out of the room at any time she chooses.

MUST PEOPLE TELL THE TRUTH WHEN IN SELF-HYPNOSIS? NO! People can lie when in hypnosis.

DO HYPNOTISTS HAVE SPECIAL POWERS? This is a common misnomer. The hypnotist does not have any special powers, nor does he have any special vibrations with which to hypnotize you into the state of hypnosis. Actually, all hypnosis is self-hypnosis. The hypnotist leads the subject into a state of self-hypnosis. In other words, the ability of self-hypnosis is within the subject.

WHY DO PEOPLE FAIL TO REACH THEIR GOALS WHEN USING SELF HYPNOSIS? Perhaps the main reason for the inability to reach one's goals through hypnosis is an inadequate amount of practice where self-hypnosis is concerned.

The most common reason for the return of a symptom or "relapse" is the premature discontinuance of hypnotherapy with the Hypno-therapist or recorded program. While self-hypnosis is important, it is generally the hetero-hypnosis with the hypnotist or hypnosis recording which has the greatest impact upon the subconscious mind.

This is because of the experience that the hypnotist has vs. the lack of experience of the client. Some people are penny wise and pound-foolish. They mentally set an amount of time or money that they are willing to spend for help. And then they prematurely discontinue their sessions because; "I didn't lose 50 Lbs. in two days, so it isn't working."

If a therapeutic method is really helping one to make their desired changes, then it is invaluable and it should be sustained. It is for this reason that it is wise to have follow up self-hypnosis sessions, even after a symptom seems to have disappeared completely. Self-hypnosis should be an ongoing affair on a daily basis. Ultimately, YOUR SUCCESS IS UP TO YOU!

WILL I BE BETTER OFF HIRING A HYPNOTIST, OR WILL PURCHASING A RECORDED PROGRAM WORK BETTER? That is an excellent question. Normally I would recommend that you utilize the services of a reputable hypnotist. The reason is that by meeting with you, a good hypnotist / NLP'er will be able to customize his approach to your personality and your favored representational system -- the way you favor taking in information through the senses to make sense out of it and react to it.

In my opinion, 99% of the pre-recorded self-hypnosis tapes available today are strictly Traditional Hypnosis, and are made up of only one or maybe two sessions of it at that. Traditional Hypnosis is nothing more than a set of direct post-hypnotic commands: "If you eat a brownie you will vomit." "You won't have urges," and so forth. This technology has a very poor track record of success because everyone of our generation has been trained to question everything they are told. That's why you, your friends, and your kids usually do the opposite of what they are told to do. This is called a polarity response.

That being said, having private sessions with any hypnotist / NLP'er who has enough experience to be able to actually help you can cost a great deal of money. There are some hypnotic programs on the market based on Ericksonian Hypnosis and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) that have overcome those shortcomings. They've done this by using a mix of Ericksonian Hypnosis, NLP, Traditional Hypnosis, and the highly regarded Video Hypnosis technology.

These are all methods that are designed to eliminate the resistance factor. In fact, Video Hypnosis and the NLP technology that it's based on do not utilize post-hypnotic suggestions at all. These technologies rely on using the thought processes that have created a problem, to eliminate it!

Look for companies that offer these technologies in multi-session products. These are programs that generally have six to eight different hypnosis sessions, so you are exposed to a broad variety of techniques. It takes a lot of work to script and record this type of program, but the high success rates achieved are well worth the work.

I recommend that you stay away from the "one size fits all" -- "do-or-die" hypnotherapy CDs and downloads. Many are lured in by these programs because they are cheap, usually under $10.00. But is it cheap if it just wastes your valuable time and doesn't work?

If you purchase something and it doesn't work, then you get guarded and start to expect the next approach to fail. And you get what you expect. Do you really think that the same exact post-hypnotic commands will work for everyone? Do you think that they will work for you? Do you as a rule do exactly as you are told? Or do you generally feel a desire to do the opposite of what you are told?

(c) 2007 By Alan B. Densky, CH. This document may be re-printed as long as it is not altered and the author's name and clickable links are retained.