Clinical Hypnotherapy

Clinical Hypnotherapy (not to be confused with standard "hypnosis") has been shown in repeated studies all over the world to be one of, if not the, most effective and immediate working methods of mental health therapy.  Since 1958, both the American Medical Association and the American Psychological Association have recognized hypnotherapy, when provided by a licensed clinician, as a valid medical and mental health treatment procedure effective in treating, addictions, a wide array of mental health ailments and altering maladaptive behavioral patterns - including smoking cessation and weight loss. 

So, What is Hypnotherapy?

'Hypnosis' and 'Hypnotherapy' are not the same thing. You need to know the difference to understand why one works and the other does not!  It all begins with the work being done while you are in a state of consciousness called "trance". Trance is a natural state of mind. It happens to you all the time. Going into trance is so normal, happens so often, that you are unaware of being in that state of mind. People think that trance is something weird or special or hard to achieve, however, trance happens all the time. That is why hypnosis is easy. You are hitching a ride on a natural, normal process. 

For example, suppose you are standing in a line, feeling bored. You start thinking about dinner and other things you need to do and then you get nudged in the back coming  back to the line and feeling bored. You were in trance. You were there, but your mind was off in a different place. That is all there is to trance. Or another example, when you drove home and later couldn't remember anything about the journey? Or you have been so absorbed in a game, movie, book  - or your phone and you lost track of time? Or you realize you have no idea what someone just said to you?

When any of these situations happen, you have been in a trance. Going into a  trance state is normal and natural and happens to all of us. There is nothing special about creating trance. What is special is how using the right words can affect your mind while you are in trance.

So, what is Hypnosis?  Hypnosis is simply the process for creating trance. Hypnosis moves you into a trance state but, you can't actually do anything with 'hypnosis'. The fact you are in trance doesn't mean much. The feelings, thoughts and beliefs buried deep in your mind that are explored while in trance combined with the methods and words that the hypnotherapist uses while you are in trance is what matters.  That is what hypnotherapy is.

Hypnotherapy is what sets apart hypnosis practices. Hypnotherapy is clinical and should only be practiced by a licensed clinician who can manage mental health and behavioral issues. Hypnotherapy is the art of finding feelings, thoughts and ideas in your mind, while you are in trance, and guiding people to learn through the power of their own mind to find the causes of and solutions to these maladaptive feelings, thoughts and behaviors. Conducting hypnotherapy takes skill. A hypnotherapist needs to have empathy, to be able to sense other people's feelings. A effective hypnotherapist develops insight and uses clinical experience and knowledge to analyze the sources of people's problems.  It is clinically driven and empirically supported. 

How does hypnotherapy work?

This is actually a difficult question. People have investigated it for centuries. But still, no one can say exactly why hypnotherapy works. We know from empirical evidence that hypnotism can alter your heart rate, reduce your blood pressure, make you feel that one hand is warmer than the other, or even teach your mind how to ignore pain and perform many other functions that are normally not within conscious control. You can be hypnotized to recall long ago forgotten events and recall memories you don’t even know you have. As we also know, when we are in trance, your mind gets so focused on one thing that it disregards everything else. And while it is very focused, it is open to any positive suggestions. That is why hypnotherapy is effective. The right suggestions work to change many beliefs, thoughts, restructure feelings and even change addictive behaviors, as well as helps people to stop smoking, loose weight, develop better habits and behaviors, gain confidence, reduce depression and anxiety, stabilize moods and feelings. The list is endless.

So, if we consider that most psychological problems are caused or maintained by ideas put into your mind by other people and we don’t think bad things about ourselves until someone suggests something bad or unhelpful to our wellbeing, well then that would also suggest that there is a healthy, functional and capable mind within us all.  To further explain, for example, most of us are not naturally born with low self-esteem and emotional or mental problems; we are not born with addictions and bad habits that we use to cope with our emotions and feelings. No, in fact, those behaviors, ideas and problems form over time, over the course of our lifetime as we are exposed to external forces and (negative) influences. 

Ideas like 'you are no good', 'should never have have been born', 'don't deserve to succeed', 'I will never be good enough', 'people will reject me'. These bad ideas, and others like them, are what cause most of the misery people feel. 

But consider this, what if you learned instead to be controlled by your own positive and healthy internal forces, the ones you were born with? The deeply embedded, positive source of who you really are and what you are really made of? Hypnotherapy is a very direct and effective way of clearing out these negative ideas, thoughts and beliefs. Hypnotherapy makes it possible for you to be released from your past and help you find the innately driven way to for you to live your life the way it should have been all along. The theory is that hypnosis works because your mind processes hypnotic suggestions automatically. When you are in trance, the normal process of thinking and worrying is absent. It seems to your mind as if the suggestions come from inside yourself, rather than coming from outside. Your mind will therefore accept the suggestions and will act on them.