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Hypnotherapy Session FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
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Hypnosis is a state of relaxed concentration, somewhere between sleeping and waking.
During hypnosis, your conscious mind takes the back seat and you become less concerned with the world around you - however, you are still very much aware of everything going on.
It's a natural state which you slip into everyday. It happens just before you fall asleep, and right after you wake up in the morning. For example, have you ever been lost in a daydream, been absorbed whilst scrolling on your phone, or gone into auto-pilot whilst driving? Some people might also call this the feeling of being in 'flow.' To others, you could describe it as 'zoning out.'
Hypnosis is not the same as sleep, nor is it a state of unawareness or immobility. You can still move freely and speak freely if you want to. It is simply a phase of reduced cyclical brainwave activity in the mind - specifically, the Theta state, which operates at about 4 to 7hz. It's often brought on by both a deep relaxation of the body and a sole focus upon just thing - be it a thought, a subject, or an activity.
For comparison, an active, waking mind (Beta and Gamma states) might operate from anywhere between 12 and 80hz, and a sleeping brain (Delta) operates at about 1 and 4hz.
Hypnotherapy works by guiding you into a hypnotic state where we can communicate with your unconscious mind. Your unconscious mind wants to protect you and believes your behavior is helping you, even if it's causing distress. During hypnosis, we reason with your unconscious mind to stop the harmful behavior and replace it with something beneficial. Think of it as updating outdated software. Your unconscious mind stores all your experiences and advises your conscious mind on behaviors. Sometimes, it needs re-education when behaviors become harmful. Hypnosis helps update these behaviors to more appropriate and beneficial ones.
Answer: Anyone can be helped with hypnotherapy.
The process is all about engagement. The more you engage with the process and your hypnotherapist, the more easily you can be helped. It is possible, though most unusual, that someone is not helped because they do not want help if they have been brought in by another person. In that situation, we find that usually they do want help and can be helped, it is just that they did not understand the process of hypnotherapy and would not have approached us by themselves.
Even if you struggle with visualisation or prolonged concentration, hypnotherapy can still help you. Every session is unique and the methods used will change depending on your particular circumstance.
If you have been hypnotised before and it didn't work, the practitioner may not have engaged with you correctly or, as written above, there may still have been some hesitation or resistance about the process. Regardless, we're right here and ready to help you if you want to give it another try. We're passionate about making things better, and the worse thing that'll happen is you'll feel way more relaxed.
Arrangements can be made to ensure your wellbeing if you wish to have hypnotherapy with us. We will require a few extra things to be in place, such as available or attendance of another adult, multiple points of contact for remote sessions and a question and answer session on your awareness of what to expect and how to safely attend to your needs. For example, we want you to be in a soft, comfortable environment where you are safely supported at all times, with someone on hand to attend to you if necessary. Our Hypnotists are experienced and skilled in such situations, being Advanced Clinical Practitioners with the General Hypnotherapy Standards Council and your wellbeing is continually our prime concern.
Answer: Your conscious mind is resistant to change.
There are two parts to the mind - the conscious, and the unconscious. The conscious mind is only there when you are awake, and it takes in seven pieces of information every second. It gets overloaded quite easily and we can get a bit confused. The unconscious mind is there all of the time and takes in over two million pieces of information every second, so it can handle a lot more. Hypnotherapy reasons directly with the unconscious mind to solve your particular problem.
Hypnosis and meditation differ in several ways:
1. Meditation is usually done alone, while hypnosis involves you and a professional guiding a conversation between your conscious and unconscious mind.
2. Meditation is passive, whereas hypnosis is active. For example, if you have a spider phobia, meditation won't change that, but hypnosis can help you overcome it.
3. Meditation is calm, while hypnosis is energetic. Your mind actively engages in recalling past behaviors and motivations to create a better future state.
4. Meditation focuses on yourself and one object or sound, while hypnosis expands your focus to include different perspectives and points of view.
5. Meditation is voluntary, while hypnosis can be involuntary, such as during shock or stage hypnosis.
6. Meditation is non-participatory, while hypnosis involves active participation from your unconscious mind during the session.
Answer: You can do this alone, however, the unconscious protects itself quite defiantly and will not let the conscious mind tell it what to do.
When you are trying to do something and not achieving it, we have a tendency to beat ourselves up and tell our unconscious mind off, so it kind of shuts down and stops listening to you. You need a skilled Practitioner to build a bridge between those two parts of your mind to bring a little negotiation and peace to a troubled mind. It is also quite difficult to consciously guide yourself into an unconscious state.
Trying to do this by yourself means the weight goes back on, the cigarette is lit, those panic attacks just keep on coming and to add to it, we now chastise ourselves or even hate ourselves for continuing to behave out of our control. Hypnotherapy resolves this.
Answer: Behaviours become habits over time, even the ‘bad’ ones. The conscious mind struggles to break habitual behaviour.
When we are learning to do something new, it takes a great deal of conscious effort. The unconscious mind will take over a behaviour as an automatic process to make life easier for you, which is great when you want to keep it, though when you want to stop something like smoking, it is uncomfortable and tricky.
Answer: Because your unconscious mind thinks it is protecting you.
One client got injured getting out of a moving vehicle because a wasp flew in the car. She consciously knew the wasp sting would not hurt as much as jumping out of the car, but her knee-jerk unconscious process just wanted to protect her from the wasp.
Answer: No, hypnosis happens all by itself.
Hypnosis is a state, not a belief system or anything scary. Brainwave patterns just slow down to a rate where your conscious mind goes into the background a little, but it is still there.
Have you ever dosed off on the sofa but still been aware of all the noises around you – thinking you hadn’t been asleep, but then shocked to find out that an hour has passed? If so, you have been in a state of hypnosis, a state of being neither awake nor asleep where your conscious mind has drifted off but subconsciously you are still awake.
Answer: No, it does not help the therapeutic process to make you do silly things.
Many people have misconceived ideas about hypnotherapy, as they confuse it with ‘stage hypnosis’ - ranging from thinking the hypnotist will make you do things you don’t want to do, to controlling your mind and making you cluck like a chicken! In fact, this could not be further from the truth. It is not useful to client or hypnotherapist to do anything silly for amusement purposes.
(I suppose we'd only do it if you actually wanted us to. Anything is worth it if it makes you smile.)
Answer: You are more aware during hypnotherapy than in a fully conscious state, just less bothered by whatever's going on.
Awareness expands during a hypnotherapy session as you are aware and connected to all the resources of the whole of your mind. However, this doesn't mean you'll get overwhelmed.
For example, if you were to hear cars passing by outside or hear someone talking in another room, you'd be very much aware of it, but you wouldn't be bothered by it, nor have your focus impeded or distracted by it.
Answer: It is your own ideas that are discussed and your improvements to behaviour that are addressed.
It is when you are in this relaxated state of concentration that you are at your most receptive to suggestions that will make changes to your unconscious unuseful beliefs. The hypnotist will achieve this level of consciousness to guide you towards your required goal. You will in fact be more resilient and guarded against any outside influence on your mind afterwards.
Besides, we're here to help you be more you, not less you!
Answer: You won't. You are still in control of your speech. You will tell us what is useful to your dilemma, and nothing more.
It is a misconception is that you will be telling the hypnotist all your deepest darkest secrets – you will not do or say anything you don’t want to do or say. In fact, the whole session can be run content free so that your therapist need never know the full details - you know, and that’s enough!
Your busy therapist wants to help you and does not have the interest or time to spare on information that is not relevant to your dilemma. But that doesn't mean we don't care. We just want you to be alright.
Answer: Though the hypnotic state can happen involuntarily or naturally, such as during shock or when waking up in the morning, therapeutic intervention can only occur with the client's consent. This is therapy, not stage entertainment.
This therapeutic process will only work if you want it to. In fact, conversely, it is your conscious willpower that is usually letting you down. We enhance your willpower so that you can stop what you want to stop, and start what you want to start.
Answer: Relaxed, happier and surprised.
There are many positive results of a hypnotherapy session: relaxation improves, enthusiasm and self determination increase and your overall outlook changes considerably for the better. You realise you have the tools within yourself to effect the required change.
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