· A Hypnotist can take control of my mind
Fact: No one can control your mind, unless you allow him or her to do so. A hypnotherapist gives you suggestions that you want to be given, based on your therapeutic goals and objectives. At no point during hypnosis will you lose control of your mind. If you hear a suggestion that you do not agree with, or do not understand, your subconscious mind will automatically reject it.
The idea of the hypnotist "controlling" the hypnotized person makes for a good story and a good show, which is why you will hear about it from stage hypnotists (particularly the less ethical ones) and ill-informed Hollywood scriptwriters. There is no foundation for it in fact, though. An unethical hypnotist might manipulate or fool someone into doing something that they didn't realize was inappropriate or against their deeply held beliefs, but a clearly presented and clearly understood instruction to do something obviously dangerous or wrong will have one of two outcomes: the hypnotized person will come fully alert, or will simply ignore the suggestion.
· I will be made to perform embarrassing acts, such as bark like a dog, or walk like a duck
Fact: This notion is based on stage hypnosis and Hollywood fiction. The truth is that people, who volunteer to be on stage, allow themselves to participate in and respond to suggestions designed around entertainment. By contrast, hypnotherapy is a serious process of self-improvement. In a clinical setting you only agree to the therapeutic goals for the session, so that is all that will occur.
It is important to remember that Stage and Clinical hypnosis are two very different disciplines, though both processes work because the subject / client is willing to support the hypnotist.
The hypnosis practitioner is merely a guide or facilitator. He/she cannot "make" you do anything against your will. In fact, during a hypnotic session, you are completely aware of everything going on. In other words, if you do not like where the hypnotist is guiding you, you have the power to reject the suggestions.
“Mind Control”: This is a commonly held idea that has its source in stage shows and other venues that capitalize on the “power” of the hypnotist. It’s worth noting that occasionally a similar issue is raised - “Can someone be hypnotized to do things they wouldn’t normally do?” Of course, the answer to that question is “Yes” when you consider that the purpose of hypnosis is often to do things differently than we have done in the past. However it’s notable that these changes are not against the client’s will. Hilgard’s (1977) work at Stanford demonstrated a principle known as “The Hidden Observer” which indicates that there is part of the client which monitors the hypnotic process and which will protect them from responding in a manner that violates their ethical and moral standards.
· Hypnosis comes from “Black Magic” or is “Supernatural.”
Fact: Hypnosis is a natural state that has been studied and authenticated scientifically. Hypnotherapists are not psychics or palm readers with “special powers.” Hypnotherapy is based on many years of clinical research by famous academics such as Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Milton Eriksson, and John Kappas.
It’s funny how even quite intelligent people sometime believe this! A hypnotist is a normal person who eats, sleeps, feels happy and sad, and loses their car keys. There is nothing special or magical about them at all. We have simply been trained, and have honed this training with experience, to help guide people into a hypnotic state.
A stage hypnotist may play on having ‘hypnotic powers’ in order to add excitement and drama to their shows, but they too will readily admit that they are simply using techniques that have been learnt and developed with practice and experience.
· When I am hypnotized, I may not be able to come out of the state.
Fact: Hypnosis is very safe and natural state of hyper-awareness. Any time there is an emergency, a person in hypnosis will naturally be able to come out of hypnosis to respond accordingly.
Despite what the tabloid press occasionally claim. On rare occasions a subject may not come out of the trance straight away. This is usually because they are enjoying the relaxing state so much that they don’t want to come out. A few gentle prompts will wake them from their deeply relaxed state.
There you have it, No one has ever been stuck in a hypnotic trance. Hypnosis is a naturally occurring state that we enter and exit during the normal course of a day. There are no known or reported dangers with hypnosis when working with a trained practitioner. If the hypnotist fails to emerge someone from hypnosis, he/she will return to a fully alert state on their own. Depending on that person's need for sleep, he/she will either drift on into a natural sleep or simply emerge to full consciousness spontaneously within minutes.
When in the state of hypnosis, our brainwaves vacillate through the Alpha to Theta ranges. Any time you choose to emerge from hypnosis, for any reason, you are able to simply open your eyes and become fully alert. If you were practicing self-hypnosis before going to bed and ended in the Delta state, then it would mean you'd simply fall asleep.
· You will become stuck in hypnosis if something happens to the hypnotist.
Fact: This is not true. A person will eventually become bored and will just get up when they feel like it. The hypnotist holds no special power over the subject whatsoever. In fact a person can hypnotise themselves. This is called self-hypnosis, and they can wake themselves whenever they choose.
· Hypnosis is dangerous in the event of a fire or another disaster.
Fact: A person in a hypnotic trance is just as aware, if not more so, of potential danger. If a fire broke out during a session, a person would easily come out of the trance and deal with the situation immediately, and in an appropriate way.
If you drive a car, then you might be able to understand what I am about to say. When driving we often slip into a trance, especially when we are driving routes that we often take, such as to and from work. We can slip into a trance and daydream, and barely remember the journey at all. Sometimes we may even wonder how we managed to get to our destination at all! Sound familiar? In the event of danger, we instantly snap out of this state and deal with the situation. In fact we probably deal with it quicker and more effectively as our minds do not have chance to ‘over think’ with the conscious mind that could slow down the response.
· I have never been in Hypnosis before.
Fact: Every person naturally enters a state of hypnosis several times each day. These times are just before falling asleep at night, several times during sleep, and upon awaking every morning. Most people easily enter environmental hypnosis while at the movies, watching TV, driving on the highway, or while reading a good book.
Many people think they’ve never been hypnotised since they’ve never been to a hypnotherapist. In reality, most of us have experienced a state of mild hypnosis, at least.
For example, when you drive a long distance and start to feel dissociated from your body and the car, that’s a mild state of hypnosis. Your unconscious is taking care of all the mechanical aspects of driving while you conscious mind is free to float around.
Or if you’ve every meditated then you’ve hypnotised yourself. Meditation is really a specific type of hypnosis.
· Hypnosis is a “Miracle Cure.”
Fact: While hypnosis is a relatively quick method of making permanent improvements, there is no such thing as a one-time hypnosis based miracle. Each individual makes progress at his or her own pace.
Some of the most outrageous claims are made about hypnotism (although usually not by hypnotherapists themselves). These have their origins in stage hypnotism as well as hucksters of all types.
Of course people regularly repeat claims that they were cured in only one session of hypnotherapy because it’s such a good story. Who wants to hear about how it took you a decade, three divorces and 19,423 nicotine patches to realize that you need to give up smoking, then seeing a therapist for at least 3 to 6 sessions to be a non-smoker?
The truth is that almost no one is “cured” in one session, the issue or problem is treated through hypnosis not cured. Hypnotherapists usually insist that patients commit to an average minimum of 3 to 6 sessions, or sometimes even more. This isn’t naked profiteering, change takes time.
· Hypnosis is a great tool to get someone to “confess” or reveal deepest secrets.
Fact: Hypnosis is not an alternative to lie detector tests. Hypnosis cannot force anyone to “tell the truth,” to confess or reveal deepest secrets if they choose not to do so.
Since your mind is fully aware and awake during a hypnotic session, this is not possible. If you really do not want to talk about something then you are under no compulsion to do so. A person can easily lie and are more likely to be creative with the truth when in a hypnotic trance, which is why courts will not accept the testimony of witnesses who are in hypnosis. Additionally, you are in complete control of what you chose to reveal or conceal.
· When Hypnotized, I will lose all sense of my surroundings, and will have no memory of being hypnotized.
Fact: Hypnosis is not an unconscious state of sleep. In fact, most people report having a heightened sense of awareness, concentration, focus, and hearing. There are a small number of individuals who do not have immediate recall of everything that happened while hypnotized.
Everyone experiences hypnosis differently ... for some it's a state in which you are focused on the hypnotists words and listening more carefully, for others it's a little more like day dreaming and your attention may drift and wander from one thought to another ... sometimes not paying any conscious attention to what the hypnotist is saying. Either way is okay, and neither will be more or less effective than the other. It's simply a matter of your own personal style.
· Self-Hypnosis is safer, better, or more effective than going to a trained professional.
Fact: Self-Hypnosis can be detrimental when not taught by a trained professional. This is because negative attitudes or beliefs about oneself can be reinforced in the face of improperly structured suggestions given outside the parameters of technically correct process. When taught properly, self-hypnosis is both safe and effective.
· I cannot be hypnotized because my mind is too strong and or disciplined.
Fact: Quite the contrary, studies suggest that people of above average intelligence who are capable of concentrating and who have a capacity for creativity and vivid imagination usually make the best subjects.
This is an archaic belief that has been proven untrue. People are in and out of a state of hypnosis every day, as in daydreaming, as well as during times of environmental, physical, or emotional “overload.”
The truth is that everyone can be hypnotized. As a matter of fact, each one of us is using hypnosis in some form every single day of our lives either consciously or unconsciously.
We are experiencing some form of a trance-like hypnotic state each time we engage our imagination, each time we engage our emotions, each time our attention is focused upon our subjective experience.
Strength of mind really has little to do with it. Either a weak-minded or strong minded person who resists will make a poor hypnotic subject. On the other hand, a weak or strong-minded person who cooperates will be a good subject. However, because Hypnosis helps a person gain greater control over both mind and body, it can help a person develop a stronger mind.
There are however two types of people that cannot be hypnotized, and those would be people who are deaf (as the hypnotherapist’s tool is their voice) and people who have a brain retardation (as the client will not be able to understand the suggestions).
· You are asleep when in a hypnotic trance.
Fact: Many years ago hypnotherapists did use suggestions of ‘sleep’ when guiding someone into a hypnotic trance. However this is rarely done now as most hypnotherapists agree that this can confuse the subject as to what state of mind they are aiming to achieve. Most now use suggestions of deep relaxation rather than sleep. However the media seem to still continue to portray a very out-dated image of a hypnotist.
Hypnosis is neither sleep nor unconsciousness, even though a common misconception is that you are asleep when hypnotized. The experience of a formally induced hypnotic state might resemble sleep from the physical point of view: slowed breathing, eyes closed, muscles relaxed, activity decreased. From the mental standpoint the client is generally relaxed and may be keenly alert, in a comfortable state where the person can think, talk and even move about if needed. But all clients are unique and can experience hypnosis in their own unique ways. Some are comfortable enough with the process that they find themselves drifting in and out of a more dream-like state. In some instances they might respond unconsciously, through ideomotor signals or other methods. Less often employed, there are certain few uses in which, under the direction of a specially trained hypnotherapist, the client can generate unconsciousness for the purposes of surgical anaesthesia or the management of acute pain, or in certain emergency situations that might warrant it.
Yes, people look like they’re asleep when they’re hypnotised because their eyes are closed and they’re peaceful. But they’re not asleep. The brain waves of a person who is hypnotised are nothing like those of a person who is asleep.
In fact the hypnotic trance is a heightened state of concentration. A high level of alpha waves on an EEG show that a hypnotised person is awake, alert and very responsive.
· Hypnotists swing a watch in order to hypnotise a subject.
Hypnotherapists rarely do this, although it is one technique that can be used out of thousands of others. I personally do not do this as I wish to distance myself from the stereotype of a stern and sinister hypnotist, with a thin black moustache, wearing a tall dark hat, and a manic stare in his eyes. However I am happy to swing a watch if a subject specifically asks for this.
· You are not hypnotised if you can hear the hypnotist.
Fact: Each person has a unique experience of hypnosis. Some people consciously hear the hypnotist, whereas others do not. This has no bearing on the success of the session whatsoever. It is usually down to choice. You can choose to allow your mind to drift away, or you can choose to listen carefully to what the hypnotherapist is saying. Some people simply cannot resist allowing their minds to drift away, as they gain so much relaxation pleasure from it.
· Hypnosis is contrary to religious beliefs
Fact: Hypnosis can be used to ease or remove pain, overcome fears, phobias, addiction and other problems. While a handful of religious sects have raised objections to hypnosis, today most religious groups accept the proper ethical use of hypnosis for helping people. Included are Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and most Protestant Christian Churches as well as Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and others. Hypnosis is not associated with any of the world religions. A professional and ethical hypnotist respects the faith of clients and will not use it inappropriately to influence a person's religious beliefs.
· Hypnosis isn’t an effective modality.
Fact: A Comparison Study Shows: “Psychoanalysis: 38% recovery after 600 sessions.
Behaviour Therapy: 72% recovery after 22 sessions. Hypnotherapy: 93% recovery after 6 sessions” Source: American Health Magazine
· Hypnotists must be flamboyant or weird
Fact: That’s just TV people who have to be flamboyant and weird.
In reality it would be distracting if the person trying to hypnotise you had swirling eyes, kept talking about black magic and wore very loud ties.
Your average hypnotist is much more likely to wear a grey suit. We are health care providers not exhibitionists.
So there you go, hypnosis and hypnotherapy is not magical or mysterious when you know the true facts. It is simply a group of techniques for focusing the mind so that the unconscious can absorb pre agreed suggestions, in order to facilitate change. However the reality has been bent and distorted by sensationalism. This is a pity because this can, and probably does, prevent many people, who would greatly benefit from hypnotherapy, from daring to try it for the first time.
I urge you to make a commitment and try hypnosis even once. It is perfectly safe so you have nothing to lose. If it is not for you, then simply disregard it. If hypnotherapy is for you, then you will have unlocked a whole world of possibilities for personal growth, change and improvement. Many people’s lives have been turned around with hypnosis. Don’t let this potential opportunity slip you by.
Contact Focused Thought Today to start your journey to a healthier and happier you.
