An Important Question
Often people ask me why clinical hypnosis changes anything. It’s a fair question. Why does clinical hypnotherapy provide better results than therapy alone? Check out this short audio where I explain it a little more in depth.
What is Clinical Hypnotherapy?
I think it’s important to describe the distinction and to explain what is meant when we say words like hypnosis and hypnotherapy. The first thing to understand is that hypnosis is a state of mind where the client is very relaxed and the mind is just focused on a single thing. We can go into this state of mind when we are driving a car on a long road and there isn’t much going on. The mind begins to wander and to get fixated on particular things. So this hypnotic phenomenon is not that useful in itself. What is useful is when we are in hypnosis we are very open to learning new things and taking in new ideas. So if someone is in a hypnotic state of mind and someone suggests that smoking is bad for you and cigarettes no longer taste good, it is very likely that person will have a decreased desire to smoke. This is the suggestion part of hypnosis. So in the field of Clinical Hypnotherapy we couple this power of suggestion with well researched therapy procedures. This combination results in a psychotherapy that is accelerated. When parts of therapy are done in a state of hypnosis, the ideas are learned much more quickly and the client can get excited about making progress and getting closer to their goal. The ASCH website has more info about the application of hypnosis in psychotherapy. Read more about my approach to psychotherapy here.
Clinical Hypnosis and Automaticity
In the use of hypnotherapy one of the hypnotic talents we try to leverage is that of automaticity. Automaticity refers to the observation that when a new response or behavior is suggested in hypnosis, often times people find themselves naturally and easily doing that thing that was suggested. The client doesn’t have to think about it or use their will power to utilize the suggestion. It just comes to mind as if it’s an old habit that we have been doing for years. This ability to change habits quickly is very powerful, especially when we use it to target the habits and thought patterns that lead to mental disorders like depression and anxiety. You can read more here about other examples of how hypnosis works.
Take Action
If you think clinical hypnosis might be for you, then let’s schedule a time for a consult to discuss how it might be a good fit for you.