What Is Hypnotherapy, and How It Works
The scientific study of hypnosis in therapy has been booming since the middle of the 20th century. Numerous studies have highlighted the interest of hypnosis in the treatment of psychological disorders, but also in the treatment of disorders that seemed purely physical. The body and the mind are intimately connected, and both influence the other, when the body goes bad, the mind goes bad too, and when the mind suffers the body also suffers.
The technique of hypnosis is not magic, and neuroscience is just starting to focus on the mechanisms that come into play when working under hypnosis. It is easy to understand, however, that in life everything is a suggestion, and every suggestion is a great way for the brain to learn from it. If it’s raining, there’s a good chance you’ll feel like taking an umbrella (while staying aware of what you’re doing and keeping the choice not to). If someone says hello to you with a smile, there is a good chance that you want to answer in the same tone.
So we all react, and constantly, according to the suggestions we perceive through our sensory channels (sight, hearing, touch, etc.). How we respond to it depends on our emotional state of the moment, our feelings, our needs, and what we think is good or bad for us. To resume the previous examples, under certain conditions, the rain could very well make you want to sing, dance or have fun. On the other hand, in a rather sad or edgy emotional state, with a strong need for understanding, the cheerful and smiling “hello” might very well appear to you to be very annoying, and you could almost take it as a mockery, right?
As part of a therapy in which the therapist uses hypnosis, the practitioner will first try to get to know the person who comes. He will do:
1 / an in-depth analysis of the subject’s modes of communication and set up the definition of objectives. These will evolve according to the sessions and the progress of the person. Some may be reached in one session, the therapist and everyone to judge, and others will require a longer work of progression. After this questioning phase will come
2 / hypnotic induction. During this entry into hypnosis, more or less long depending on the receptivity of the person, the practitioner will use anchoring and catalepsies to further induce the modified state of consciousness and allow the unconscious to benefit from what comes next.
3 / The hypnotic suggestions are then distilled by the therapist according to the needs of the person present. They are sentences defined further by the objectives set up and used to channel the healing forces that one wishes to sublimate. Come next
4 / the awakening phase characterizing the return to the ordinary state of consciousness in which the benefits of the session can work on your conscious.
The description of the session given above is only the outline of what is going on in the hypnotherapist’s office. Each therapist, depending on his sensitivity, has often favoured one technique over another, but will invariably achieve the same result: reactivation of known or unknown resources of people to help them in their struggles.
Anyone can experience hypnosis since once again they are natural modes of functioning. But some find the way more easily, and for others, it requires further learning to familiarize gradually with different states and hypnotic phenomena. Not everyone has the same ability to let go, to “empty” the head. Some people find it easier to feel the emotions, to express them. Others are better able to focus or focus on a task, however, all of this can be learned.
And if you go motivated and determined, then nothing can stop you from experiencing a moment of hypnosis beneficial to the achievement of your goals.
Therapists will not be able to fight for you. It’s up to you to decide to consult and then want to heal.