Q&A

Hypnosis is a state of deep relaxation in which the subconscious mind is extraordinarily receptive to positive thoughts and suggestions. Through hypnosis, your behavior can be modified to benefit you by replacing the old beliefs or behaviors that you no longer need or want with the new ones you desire. Each of us naturally enters hypnosis several times every day while watching TV, when overwhelmed by the beauty of nature, or a new romance, or even while driving long distances. Most often hypnosis is used as an approach to reaching a self-improvement, or personal development goal. It does not address major medical disorders, or psychopathologies. However, it can be very beneficial when used as a complementary approach to dealing with certain health related challenges.

First Session Format:

• Explore Presenting Challenge(s)
• Determine Suggestibility -Conversion to Hypnosis
• Progressive Relaxation
• Positive Suggestions

First sessions take longer than a normal session. You should expect to spend an hour and a half. Extra time is needed to lay the foundation for all future sessions. Subsequent hypnotherapy sessions begin with a cognitive portion of time when the client communicates current areas of focus, and goals are discussed. It concludes with hypnosis. Hypnotherapy works as a motivating force for your self-improvement area of focus, or as a complement to medical interventions. It is an integrative therapeutic approach to supporting you in your journey towards a more optimal life.

Movies and television give people the impression that a person in hypnosis is under someone’s control, or that someone has power over them. In fact, it is a person’s desire to be hypnotized that allows the receptive state to take place. They are in control of their mind and body. In the clinical setting, a hypnotherapist helps facilitate the hypnotic state, and provides a safe, controlled, and confidential environment. A professionally trained hypnotherapist helps you reach your goals by using hypnosis to modify human behavior and perceptions.

People achieve changes in stress levels, and personal achievement goals like losing weight, enhanced sports performance, and motivation. They work with doctor referrals for some health issues. A hypnotherapist can help with medical or psychological problems, but only under the written referral of an appropriate licensed professional. In these cases, a hypnotherapist’s work is to support a client’s treatment as part of an integrated therapeutic approach.

Supplying positive suggestions to the subconscious, and using visualization and imagery complete the self-hypnosis protocol. The subconscious mind functions on expectation and imagination. Using your senses to create visuals, or perceived images of a specific sensory experience, are a part of any hypnotic work. Selfhypnosis allows you to be the director and receiver of the generated positive information and lead you toward achieving your desired behavior or goal.

When the conscious mind becomes overloaded, the primitive subconscious mind is triggered and responds through fight, flight, or freeze. Fight, flight or freeze is often experienced as anxiety or depression. When anxiety or stress is felt as a result of daily events and without any relief, a hyper- suggestible state may occur. The hyper-suggestible state is the same as hypnosis.

• Hypnoidal: Light stage of hypnosis. Eye movements tend to be more up and down at this stage, almost a fluttering movement.
• Cataleptic stage:
  Deeper state of hypnosis. Eye movements tend to move side to side.
• Somnambulistic stage:
  Deepest state of hypnosis. Eyes tend to roll up, and sometimes the whites of the eyes are visible just underneath the closed eyelid. There are three levels of the somnambulistic stage. The first two levels involve a kind of amnesia, where the client may not consciously remember the exact suggestions, yet the subconscious mind received the information. The third level of the somnambulistic stage is a level that is so deep, 80% amnesia takes place, and major surgery without anesthesia can take place. Everyone can reach the somnambulistic stage, but not everyone can reach the third level of depth of this stage.

A suggestion can be accepted immediately by the subconscious and be there for life. More often, the hypnotherapist works with the Law of Repetition to ensure that the suggestion is accepted, especially when dealing with a long-term habit. Post-hypnotic suggestions affect future behavior. They help create new behavior and replace old, destructive habits.

Suggestions are not always readily accepted by the subconscious mind and may need to be re-phrased or given multiple times. Sometimes, the effect of suggestions does not take place until days, weeks, even months later, or until the exact situation presents itself. For example, a client may not feel calm when thinking about taking a test, but the moment they are taking it, the calm is present, alleviating their test anxiety. Delayed responses are examples of the Law of Delayed Action.

For example, when we slam on the breaks to avoid hitting another car that stopped suddenly in front of us, our level of anxiety peaks. Coming close to being in an accident may cause you to pull off the road and take a break until the feeling passes. The close call experience creates an anxiety state that may send you into a trance to alleviate the flooding of emotions and anxiety. Hypnosis and anxiety spring from the same origin by flooding the mind and creating hyper-suggestible states.

You cannot and will not do or say anything under hypnosis that conflicts with your personal, ethical standards or desires. As your hypnotherapist, it is my foremost intention to assist you in achieving your therapeutic goals.