Frequently Asked Questions
If I saw someone getting hypnotherapy, what would I see?
Hypnotherapy lives within the family of psychotherapy (talking therapy). Because of this, in many ways it is similar to cognitive behavioural therapy, mediation or mindfulness. A typical session looks like this:
As in all most psychotherapies, the client sits in a chair, and has a discussion with the therapist about the goals of the therapy. Less anxiety or better sleep, for example.
Hypnosis takes place. Here, the client remains in the chair, closes their eyes, and relaxes. The therapist reads a specific script designed to induce calm, relaxation, and hypnosis, which is a particular brain and body state. With the help of the practitioner speaking and some relaxing music, the client listens to the sounds around them, and slowly drifts off into a relaxed state.
There is no magic here. Instead, the purpose of hypnosis is to bring about a particular brain and body state, relaxation, on purpose. This works in combination with the talk-therapy component to facilitate therapeutic goals.
Is hypnosis safe?
Hypnosis is safe for most people, just like cognitive behavioural therapy, mindfulness, and mediation are.
However, it is NOT suitable for everyone.
For example, hypnosis is not recommend for people who experience extreme forms of mental distress, like psychosis, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder.
Do I lose control?
No, it is similar to falling asleep. When you are falling asleep, you will usually wake up if you hear a loud noise. You are free to get up and attend to it. The same is true in hypnosis.
However if you do fall asleep (which only happens when people really relax into it) then it is true that you will have lost control.
Hypnosis can easily be resisted. Generally, if you don’t want to fall asleep, then you can make yourself stay awake. The same is true in hypnosis - if you resist relaxation, it won’t happen, and you can’t be hypnotised. So, hypnosis happens only when the person accepts the relaxation and actually wants to experience hypnosis.
What does hypnosis feel like?
Hypnosis feels like drifting off to sleep, but not quite there.
For example, when you go to sleep at night, there comes a point where you are not asleep, but you’re not fully awake. This in-betweeny stage is similar to hypnosis.
Many people report the experience as relaxing. Again, it feels similar to a deep sense of calm often found in meditation.
What’s so good about relaxation?
When in this relaxed state - what is called trance - our brains do things differently.
One is to become less critical, and therefore more open to positive solutions.
Another is to reduce the physiologic stress response. This is why hypnotherapy can help people with many conditions, like insomnia, pain, anxiety, IBS, and depression.
If I’m a client seeking therapy of some kind, such as hypnotherapy, what should I look for? What’s important? And what isn’t?
As a client, it is always advisable to work with clinicians and therapists who are trained, qualified, and who are paying members to professional bodies that uphold the relevant ethical standards.
It’s important, then, to look at the qualifications, training, and professional organisations the practitioner is a member of. In other words, it is not important to look at what people say (“I can solve all your problems”) but to look at what people do (“I am a member of organisation X and have qualification Y”).
It is also worth looking at the person themselves. Do they have a journey or experience of mental health? Are they themselves stable and in a place to offer their services? In my view, you want both answers to be yes.
Good therapists are forged in emotional difficulty and stress. They overcome this and get stable, mastering themselves and their internal worlds first. When they have done this to a reasonable degree, only then should they offer their services.
Assume I want to be hypnotised, I trust the practitioner, I feel relaxed, and then I fall asleep. What then?
It is true that some people get so relaxed in hypnosis sessions that they do actually fall asleep. And in cases where people do fall asleep, it is true that they have lost control. To get to that stage of sleep, however, the client will likely trust the hypnotherapist, accept the relaxation, and enjoy drifting off into a deep and relaxing sleep. My practice would be to gently wake the person up after some much needed rest. Because people only fall asleep if their brain and bodies are very tired or stressed, it’s reasonable to think they need some rest.
This is where professional ethics come into play. As a member of the British Psychological Society, National Council for Hypnotherapy, and Association for Solution-Focused Hypnotherapists, this means that if any seriously negative consequences were to occur in my therapy room - like an abuse of power when a client fell asleep during a session - then I would be shunned by these organisations, and this would ruin my credibility as a trusted and respected practitioner.
In summary:
In Solution-Focused Hypnotherapy, then, what we are interested in doing is first having a conversation with the client about their life and what aspects of it they might like to change. This might include things like: better sleep, weight loss, more confidence, less anxiety, stress, etc.
Then, the focus turns to a conversation about taking action towards solutions.
And finally, we conclude sessions by using hypnosis to induce trance, an experience that many find relaxing, and that encourages the brain to focus on what these solutions might be, and how to implement them.
Hypnotherapy is safe for most people, though not for everyone. It is highly collaborative process, so if the client doesn’t want to experience hypnosis, they won’t.
In hypnotherapy, people do not lose control. Moreover, people get hypnotised only if they trust the practitioner, accept the relaxation, and want the benefits. Just like wanting to stay awake at night, it is easy to resist relaxation and therefore hypnosis.
People can and sometimes do fall asleep, which is a loss of control. However, this occurs only if the person trusts the practitioner, accepts the relaxation, and likely needs the rest. In cases where they may happen, my approach is to first let the person a while - since they need it - but then to wake them gently.
The whole process is governed by professional bodies. If anything seriously negative were to happen, a client would complain to the relevant organisations, and I would be at risk of losing my ability to practice, and therefore my income, and professional credibility.