Have you ever been driving on the freeway, listening to music, or so lost in thought that you don’t even notice your exit?
Or, while out to lunch or dinner with someone, been so engrossed in the conversation that all of the background noise seems to fade away and the hours seem like only minutes have passed?
Or perhaps you are surfing the internet, reading a great book, watching a riveting movie, and you are so focused that the time slips away and you almost feel as though you are part of that story? Maybe you are an athlete and you are playing a game and feel as though you are “in the zone” and all of your movements are automatic and it feels great?
Hypnosis can occur naturally and most of us enter into hypnotic states regularly. Because it is an altered state of consciousness, people often expect that it will feel very foreign or that they might do things under hypnosis that they would not normally do. Unfortunately, the stage hypnosis that people often see at parties or on college campuses supports this belief system, though that is one kind of hypnosis and is not one that is used by health care professionals and it is certainly not used by me.
The hypnosis that I do with, and teach clients, works toward specific goals for therapeutic benefit. Almost everyone can be hypnotized and can learn self-hypnosis, though I employ different techniques for those who enter more readily into trance than for those who are less susceptible by nature. I love to guide people in understanding how to use the power of self-hypnosis for self-help.
The trance state occurs easily and to different degrees. It has to do with the focus of attention and the openness of the client to the experience. In the past decade, researchers have used brain scans to demonstrate activity that occurs under hypnosis that does not occur in the same way under other types of therapy or discussion. With hypnosis, the brain, spinal and supraspinal (above the spine) areas have been shown to be activated or deactivated in ways that are physically and therapeutically beneficial. In plain terms, this means that something happens under hypnosis that facilitates healing in a way that does not occur in the same way using other types of treatment.
So, what’s the difference between Hypnosis and Self-Hypnosis?
Almost everyone can access hypnotic phenomena. It’s just a matter of how and where the experiences are achieved.
Professionals often refer to the process that occurs in our offices as hypnosis or, more technically, as hetero-hypnosis in contrast to self-hypnosis.
During hetero-hypnosis, the client is guided by the hypnotist through a shift in various perceptual experiences or intentions in order to reach certain therapeutic goals.
In contrast to this, the American Psychological Association, Division of Hypnosis (Div. 30) states that, “sometimes, people are trained in self-hypnosis, in which they learn to guide themselves through a hypnotic procedure.” The self-hypnosis therapy being described is generally a form of easy self-hypnosis that people can go on to use on their own.
In my private practice, I see clients, one-on-one, for the kind of advanced hypnotherapy that needs to be done with a licensed healthcare professional. I assess and evaluate them before, during, and after I construct an individualized hypnosis, and often a self-help hypnosis audio, just for them.
You can learn easy self-hypnosis strategies in your own time and in your daily life. I created a series of products that are self-hypnosis downloads to empower people in their own self-care. With these materials, you are not doing hypnosis but rather self-hypnosis.
For many decades, self-hypnosis has been studied and endorsed as an effective self-help technique that can easily be learned and used at home!