An Introduction to Hypnotherapy
Many people will claim that they have never been hypnotized, but they do admit to having drifted off while thinking about a loved one, or forgetting large portions of a long car journey, or 'going somewhere else' while reading a book? These are all examples of natural mental states that occur for all of us. One of the wonderful things about hypnosis is that in the hands of a reputable practitioner it is harmless and produces no damaging side effects, while providing rapid and substantial positive therapeutic benefits.
Contrary to popular belief, hypnosis is not a state of deep sleep. It does involve the induction of a trance-like condition, this is true. The common misconception is that while in this trance-like condition the person is oblivious to everything around them and is under the "control" of the therapist. This perception is quite the opposite of what truly happens. Under hypnosis the client is actually in an enhanced state of awareness, fully alert and aware and with total concentration and focus on the hypnotist's voice. In this state, the conscious mind is suppressed and the subconscious mind is directly accessed.
Hypnotherapy is a two-way process between the therapist and the client, a professional partnership. A person cannot be hypnotized unless he or she agrees and fully cooperates. Also, while in a hypnotic trance state, nobody can make you do anything which you do not want to do. Even those people you've seen in stage hypnosis performances who are eating raw onions or clucking like a chicken, they are only doing those things because they want to, and they have been cleverly convinced by the hypnotist that it is okay. They have chosen to participate of their own will, they have not been controlled.
Consider the process of memory for a second. When we are exposed to a new novel piece of information, our analytical mind kicks in and evaluates this information. Our thinking mind determines the importance and relevance of this information, determines if it requires immediate action, and if it will require long-term or short-term storage, compares it to past experience. Imagine you look up the phone number for an office you need to call, it's only seven digits, you repeat it over in your mind several times. Before you get to make the call, there is a knock on the door. You go see who's there, then you return to the phone. Chances are, in that small amount of time you forgot the number and need to look it up again. Now imagine this; you are walking alone in your house and you hear a noise behind you. You turn around and there is a sudden flash of light right in front of you. Then suddenly the image of a face appears, out of nowhere just hovering for an instant right before your eyes, as real as can be, and then slowly fades away. Now, this entire experience only lasted for a few seconds, but the odds are that you will remember it clearly down to every last small detail, probably for the rest of your life.
Those two examples above illustrate two very different modes of operation for our memory. In the second case, the surprise and shock of the event caused a momentary suspension of our normal analytical conscious processing. As a result, the sensations we perceived bypassed the normal analytical processes and were directly and immediately impressed into long-term memory. The process of hypnosis works in much the same way. The creation of a trance-like state alters our state of consciousness in such a way that the analytical left-hand side of the brain is turned off, while the non-analytical right-hand side is made more alert and receptive. The conscious processes of the mind are inhibited, and the subconscious mind is more directly accessible. The therapist is then able to suggest ideas, concepts and lifestyle adaptations to the client, the seeds of which become firmly planted in long-term memory.
Hypnotherapy is a powerful procedure which can be used by itself in a wide range treatment goals. For example, the treatment of phobias or eliminating the fear of public speaking. It is also a valuable adjunct in behavior change programs such as weight loss or stop smoking programs. Traditional therapy procedures spend numerous sessions investigating root causes, attached emotional content, and secondary gains. Traditional therapy procedures slowly and arduously work through insights and emotions with analysis and desensitization in a process that is slow and ineffective because it is attempting to work directly with the conscious analytical mind. Hypnotherapy produces results that are often immediate and dramatic by bypassing the conscious mind and directly implanting the desired goal concepts within the long-term memory of the sub-conscious mind.
When the goals of the client involve more complex life-changing outcomes, then hypnotherapy is used as an adjunct to NLP and Time Dimension therapy in a proprietary program offered by NLPSI called NHT Therapy. In NHT Therapy, hypnosis is used as a tool to facilitate the rapid and effective adoption by the client of the new strategies and patterns of behavior uncovered through NLP and Time Dimension techniques. The result is a modern state-of-the-science system that allows our clients to establish a clear vision of their goals, and to then effectively and efficiently implement life-changing ideas and behaviors to achieve success.