Changing Times Hypnotherapy

FAQ

People considering hypnotherapy often ask these questions:

Can hypnosis make me do something I don’t want to do?

No, never. You remain in total control of your mind during hypnosis, you will choose the suggestions that you want to take on board and nothing, no hypnotherapist, can ever make you do something against your will or your moral code.

People who have never been formally hypnotised often wonder if hypnosis is a totally new experience that they have never felt before, but I don’t think it is. The feeling I experience when I’m hypnosis is very similar to being completely absorbed in my imagination, while feeling very relaxed, a bit like a heightened feeling of day-dreaming. I always know exactly where I am and what I’m doing and I remember what happens. Often my body feels very heavy and as if it’s sinking into the seat, but other people report that their body feels very light and floaty! You won’t feel like you are unconscious but you may feel sleepy!

Yes, if you want to change. If you are coming to hypnotherapy because someone else had told you to, and you have no motivation to make any changes or you feel resentful about being asked to change, then it is unlikely to help. But if you have decided it is time to change and need help with motivation and tools to help you cope, then hypnotherapy is a very good option.

This is an interesting question. I would answer that it is real, in the same way that everyone’s imagination is real, but it can’t be easily measured or observed by other people. But the results of hypnosis can be observed and there is plenty of research available that demonstrates how effective hypnosis is in helping people to make changes in their life.

I won’t even try to ‘put you in a trance’. What I can do, though, is to guide you to experience a feeling of deep relaxation, to focus your imagination on suggestions for change that you really want to happen, and to really believe in yourself. If you practise hypnosis, you will find that you become better and better at it, a bit like learning to ride a bicycle! Hypnosis is never about what the hypnotherapist ‘does’ but about what the person themselves wants to do. In fact it is the strong-willed people who can often become excellent at putting themselves in hypnosis!

No, it is actually a very safe form of talking therapy, similar to meditation, relaxation or imagery. There are some people with serious psychiatric disorders who shouldn’t practise hypnosis, because it could enhance their disconnection from reality, but for everyone else, it is as safe as getting very absorbed in a wonderful book.