Articles

THE DEFINITION OF SELF HYPNOSIS: Self Hypnosis is a state of hyper-suggestibility where the consciousness and the unconscious mind dissociate. It is an altered state of mind where the hypnotized person is more likely to agree to the operator's suggestions.

You have been in the hypnotic state many times without even realizing it. If you've ever seen a sad television show and reacted with a tear in your eye, you have been in a state of hypnosis. You entered a state of amplified suggestibility where you uncritically received the idea of sorrow on the TV screen and reacted with a sad emotion, your tear. To put it into different words, your ability to reason, which is contained in your conscious mind, was bypassed. You did not reason that the show was just a play; you accepted the action as being real. So you reacted with real passion and shed a tear.

WHO CAN BE PLACED IN HYPNOSIS? It has been discovered that all normal people are hypnotizable to a greater or lesser extent. People with the I.Q. of the moron level of intelligence or lower generally cannot be hypnotized. People who are actively psychotic by and large are not hypnotizable. Most senile people are difficult to hypnotize. I have found in my own hypnosis practice dealing with many retired people as old as 85 years of age, that hypnosis is a powerful and beneficial process for the majority of people. The person's personal motivation is the key to success.

DO I HAVE TO BE A "DEEP" HYPNOTIC SUBJECT TO BE SUCCESSFUL? For the curative applications of hypnosis that are often dealt with in therapy, depth is not required. You can be the lightest possible subject and still receive all of the benefits from hypnosis that the deepest subjects will receive. I believe that over the years, far too much importance has been placed on how deep a subject is. If the hypnotic subject is deep, it could be beneficial. This however, may not necessarily be the case. Actually, with the latest hypnotic techniques like Ericksonian hypnosis and state of the art "NLP" (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), depth is one of the least essential aspects, which contribute to a successful outcome.

ARE THERE ANY DANGERS IN SELF HYPNOSIS? There are essentially no dangers to the practice of hypnosis. It is impossible to "get stuck" in hypnosis. The most awful thing that could happen while a patient is in hypnosis is that she might fall into a natural state of sleep for twenty or thirty minutes. She would wake up rested and no longer in a state of self hypnosis.

MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT SELF HYPNOSIS: There are many misnomers about hypnosis. Most of them can be attributed to stage and television shows. Paradoxically, it's on account of the fact that the television can hypnotize you that these misnomers are so strongly entrenched in people's minds.

IS SELF HYPNOSIS SLEEP? The largest misconception about hypnosis is that it's a state of sleep. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you are asleep, you are unconscious. If you are unconscious, you can't hear anything. If you can't hear anything, then the hypnotherapist can't help you. Hypnosis is a state of keen awareness. The subject is wide-awake and aware of everything around her. This misconception stems from the stage Hypnotist's use of the word "sleep" as analogous to the hypnotic state. When the old time hypnotist swung a pocket watch in front of his subject's face, he told his subject that she was getting "sleepy." Then he told his subject to "go to sleep." What he meant was to go into a hypnotic sleep, not a natural sleep.

IS THERE A HYPNOTIZED FEELING? The second largest misconception about self hypnosis is that there is a hypnotized feeling. There is no hypnotized feeling. I repeat there is no hypnotized feeling. Most people feel very relaxed when in a state of hypnosis, as relaxation seems to be the essence of self hypnosis. Some people feel heavy. Some people feel light. Some people have other sensations and feelings. Other people have absolutely no feeling that they are in self-hypnosis, and believe they have not been hypnotized when they most definitely have.

CAN THE HYPNOTIST TAKE CONTROL OF ME? NO! A hypnotherapist can't make you do anything against your will. There is always an observing ego state. Should the hypnotist make a suggestion that is offensive to you; this ego state would reject the suggestion. Additionally, you will probably come out of the state of hypnosis if the therapist makes an offensive suggestion to you.

CAN THE HYPNOTIST FORCE ME TO DIVULGE MY SECRETS? You will not give away any secrets while in self-hypnosis unless you want to. The hypnotist does not have any control over the subject. Quite the contrary, the subject has more control over herself since at this time she can directly communicate with her own unconscious mind. The subject can easily refuse any suggestion the hypnotist makes, no matter how simple or complicated the suggestion might be. The subject can open her eyes, emerge from the state of hypnosis, and walk out of the room at any time she chooses.

MUST PEOPLE TELL THE TRUTH WHEN IN SELF HYPNOSIS? NO! People can lie when in hypnosis.

DO HYPNOTISTS HAVE SUPER NATURAL POWERS? This is a common misconception. The hypnotist does not have any special powers, nor does he have any special vibrations with which to hypnotize you into a state of hypnosis. Actually, all hypnosis is self-hypnosis. The hypnotist leads the subject into a state of self hypnosis. In other words, the ability of hypnosis is within the subject.

WHY DO PEOPLE FAIL TO REACH THEIR GOALS WHEN USING SELF HYPNOSIS? Perhaps the largest reason for the failure to reach one's goals through self-hypnosis is an insufficient amount of practice where self-hypnosis is concerned.

The greatest reason for the return of a symptom or "relapse" is the early discontinuance of hypnosis with the Hypno-therapist or recorded program. While self-hypnosis is important, it is generally the hetero-hypnosis with the hypnotist or hypnosis recording which has the greatest impact upon the unconscious mind.

This is because of the experience that the hypnotist has vs. the lack of experience of the client. Some people are penny wise and pound-foolish. They mentally set an amount of time or money that they are willing to spend for help. And then they prematurely discontinue their sessions because; "I didn't lose 50 Lbs. in two days, so it isn't working."

If a therapeutic method is really helping one to make positive changes, then it is priceless and it should be continued. For this reason it is wise to have follow up hypnosis sessions, even after a symptom seems to have disappeared completely. Self-hypnosis should be an ongoing affair on a daily basis. Ultimately, YOUR SUCCESS IS UP TO YOU!

WILL I BE BETTER OFF HIRING A HYPNOTIST, OR WILL PURCHASING A RECORDED PROGRAM WORK BETTER? That is an excellent question. Normally I would recommend that you employ the services of a reputable hypnotist. The reason is that by meeting with you, a good hypnotist / NLP'er will be able to customize his approach to your personality and your favored representational system -- the way you favor taking in information through the senses to make sense out of it and react to it.

In my opinion, ninety-nine percent of the recorded hypnosis CDs available today are strictly Traditional Hypnosis, and are made up of only one or maybe two sessions of it at that. Traditional Hypnosis is nothing more than a set of direct suggestions: "If you eat a brownie you'll throw up." "You won't have cravings," etc.. This technology has a very poor track record of success because the people in our generation have been taught to question everything they are told. That's why you, your friends, and your kids usually do the opposite of what they are told to do. This is called a polarity response.

That being said, having sessions with any hypnotist / NLP'er who has enough experience to be able to actually help you can cost a great deal of money. There are some hypnotic programs on the market that are based on Ericksonian Hypnosis and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) that have overcome those shortcomings. They've managed this by utilizing a mix of NLP, Traditional Hypnosis, Ericksonian Hypnosis, And the highly regarded Video Hypnosis technology.

These are all modalities that are designed to overcome the resistance factor. In fact, Video Hypnosis and the NLP technology that it's based on do not utilize post-hypnotic suggestions at all. These methods rely on using the thought processes that have created a problem, to eliminate it!

Look for companies that offer these methodologies in multi-session products. These are programs that generally have six to eight different hypnosis or NLP sessions, so the subject is exposed to a broad variety of methodologies. It takes a lot of work to script and record this type of program, but the high success rates achieved are well worth the work.

I recommend that you stay away from the "one size fits all" -- "do-or-die" hypnosis CDs and downloads. Many people are lured in by these tapes because they are inexpensive, usually under ten dollars. But is it cheap if it just wastes your valuable time and doesn't work?

If you try something and it doesn't work, then you get mistrustful and start to expect the next approach to fail. And you get what you expect. Do you really think that the same exact suggestions will work for everyone? Do you think that they will work for you? Do you generally do exactly as you are told to do? Or do you feel a desire to do the opposite of what you are told to do?

(c) 2007 By Alan B. Densky, CH. This document may be re-printed as long as it is not altered and the author's name and clickable links are retained.