Introduction to Hypnosis
Amy is a happy elementary school student during the day, but falling asleep has been getting harder for her at night. She has been struggling for several months now, and has become easily worried and anxious. Recently she has started feeling nervous about going to school.
It may surprise you to learn that hypnosis may be a successful therapeutic intervention for Amy. In fact, hypnosis is a powerful tool that can be used in many settings: medical, dental, psychological, etc. Amy can learn how to relax herself through hypnosis.
Unfortunately there are many misconceptions about hypnosis that may interfere with trying this technique to address Amy’s anxiety symptoms.
Misconceptions:
- Hypnosis is just like sleeping. Often, people see hypnosis as putting people to sleep and participants just wait for the magic to happen. A common myth is that the desirable result will just happen after the trance.
Hypnosis is for people with weak minds.
- When people are under hypnosis, they lose their will. They are unable to reject suggestions.
- When participants are under hypnosis, the therapist controls their mind.
- Under hypnosis, people lose consciousness and memory.
Clarifications:
Hypnosis brings out an intense alert mental state. When participants are in the trance, they, in fact, are active with their mind. They listen to the suggestions and begin to create various experiences in their minds. An active mental journey would appropriately describe the experience.
Successful hypnosis depends on the willingness of the participants. Even with voluntary participation, not all can be led into a deep hypnotic state. During the experience of hypnosis, participants learn to narrow their focus on certain ideas on the main stage and to ignore the background. This is an exercise of learning how to attain such an intense focus.
Hypnosis is a heightened state of concentration and focused attention. When people are under hypnosis, they have their free will. In fact, they can let themselves become alert to even answer an incoming phone call.
People choose to participate voluntarily. The therapist is a professional guide with the goals set by the participants. With the proper training and ethics of the therapist, participants learn to travel mentally with the guiding voice of the therapist.
Most people remember everything that occurred under hypnosis. Therefore they can expand the learned experience to other settings.
What is Hypnosis?
Hypnosis is a trance state characterized by:
1. Suggestibility
2. Relaxation
3. Intense focused imagination, which is not really like sleep, because the participant is alert during the entire experience. (They may choose to fall asleep when they are deeply relaxed).
Trance state is most often described as daydreaming such as tuning out the interior decoration of the movie theatre when watching a movie. The participant is fully conscious, but he/she chooses to tune out irrelevant stimuli around them. They follow the story of the movie to the near exclusion of any other thoughts.
Hypnosis is commonly used to treat anxiety, panic attacks, mood disorders, sleeping difficulty, and pain and stress management. As there is no state licensing authority to regulate the application of this useful intervention, it is recommended to always find a state licensed mental health professional.
Hypnosis is an effective therapeutic intervention. Trance state is a natural state that we experience daily. It is a matter of how we use this human natural ability for a well meaning purpose. Perhaps, Amy may be willing to give it a try. The following are some solid resources that I recommend you check out.
Professional Resources
The Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis www.sceh.us
American Society of Clinical Hypnosis www.asch.net
Institute of Family Psychology www.mhehouston.com
American Psychological Association www.apa.org
Dr. So-Lloyd has been interested in hypnosis since the early 90's. She is a member of American Psychological Association, Division 30 on Clinical Hypnosis.
Why Hypnosis?
Clinical hypnosis is an effective approach in dealing with various issues such as anxiety, stress, sleep difficulty, phobia, speaking confidence, etc.
