Frequently Asked Questions About Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy
-
What is Hypnosis?
-
Is Hypnosis Safe?
-
Will I Lose Control When I Am Under Hypnosis?
-
Are subliminal messages and affirmations just as good as hypnosis?
If you have additional questions regarding hypnosis or hypnotherapy, please send me an email and I will answer them as quickly as possible. Here also is a link to a free hypnosis course which I recommend.
What is Hypnosis?
This is one of the most common questions about hypnosis… what is it?
Hypnosis is quite simply a relaxed state of increased concentration and receptiveness to suggestions. Let’s take a look at these three components:
1. Relaxed State
2. Increased Concentration
3. Receptiveness to Suggestions
Relaxed State
We actually enter a hypnotic “trance” very naturally several times each day, such as when we fall asleep or wake up, or when we “zone out” while daydreaming, driving the car, watching TV or listening to music.
Increased Concentration
This is where hypnosis becomes different from simply being relaxed. Through focused attention the person in a state of hypnosis is able to turn down the volume on distractions, while more keenly “tuning into” the topic at hand. Once again you have experienced this phenomenon if you have ever not heard someone speaking to you while you are watching TV.
Receptiveness to Suggestions
If hypnosis were simply relaxed concentration it would be interesting, but of limited value. What makes hypnosis truly useful is its characteristic of receptiveness to suggestions. There is a great quote by Jonathan Swift which goes:
“It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into.”
For many of us our beliefs are just that… things we were never reasoned into. Many of our beliefs were formed when we were very young, and are emotional not logical in nature. This is where hypnosis can assist by replacing harmful beliefs with more empowering ones.
Is Hypnosis Safe?
If hypnosis were not safe, we’d all be in a lot of trouble. This is because the state of mind conducive to hypnosis is one which we enter in and out of many times a day. This is the state we pass through when we fall asleep, wake up and daydream. Scientifically the brainwave patterns entered into during hypnosis are known as Alpha (light) and Theta (deeper) and are easily observable using an electroencephalograph (EEG).
Will I Lose Control When I Am Under Hypnosis?
Can you be made to rob a bank or tell all your secrets under hypnosis? We’ve all seen it in the movies, but is it true?
In a word, no. There is an old adage in the field of hypnotism that “all hypnosis is self-hypnosis.” A hypnotist or hypnotherapist simply guides the session. And just as you can not be hypnotized (made to relax, concentrate, etc.) against your will, so you can not be made to do things which violate your core values. Even a stage hypnotist’s audience volunteers willingly agree to participate in the show.
If you think about it, the idea you can be hypnotized to do things against your will is obviously false. If hypnotists could “control” your mind, there would have no doubt been by now unscrupulous practitioners who would have become some of the most powerful people on the planet by having armies of mind drones do their bidding. This makes for good science fiction, but is simply just that, fiction.
Are subliminal messages and affirmations just as good as hypnosis?
To answer this let’s first start by taking a look at what we mean by subliminal messages, affirmations and hypnosis.
Subliminal Messages
The word subliminal is a combination of two Latin words, sub + limen, which together mean “below threshold.” Over the years there have been many studies proving and disproving subliminal messaging. What seems to be going on is that if a message is below our conscious awareness it can have an affect, but if it is below our sensory awareness it does not. So if we can not hear or see something, it has no affect, but if we can hear or see something, even if we are not consciously aware of it, then it can affect our thinking and behavior.
Affirmations
As the term is used here, affirmations have to do with positive statements we make to ourselves to retrain our thinking. Perhaps the most famous of these is Emile Coue’s “Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better.” Affirmations have long been shown to have a beneficial affect in shaping behaviour.
Hypnosis
As I cover in more detail higher up on this page, hypnosis is simply a relaxed state of increased concentration and receptiveness to suggestions. We go in and out of the state of mind useful for hypnosis many times every day (daydreaming for example), but this is not truly hypnosis unless concentration and suggestions are also present.
Comparison and Contrast
So are subliminal messages and affirmations just as good (if not better) than hypnosis? Well, they all share some things in common. Subliminal messages, for instance, attempt to bypass the critical editor of the conscious mind, as does hypnosis. And affirmations are very similar to hypnotic suggestions.
Where subliminal messages, affirmation and hypnosis differ is more important. With subliminal messages there is an expectation that, while you may or may not be in a relaxed state, you are not concentrating on the subliminal suggestions. And with affirmations you are supposed to be concentrating on the suggestions, but there is no requirement that you be in a relaxed, consciously receptive state (if you are this is in fact self-hypnosis).
Conclusion
Subliminal messages and affirmations both experience success to the degree they incorporate the three hypnotic elements of relaxation, concentration and suggestion, but only hypnosis attempts to combine these three ingredients every time.
I hope this has been helpful. Please comment on this post, or others, and let me know if you have any additional questions about hypnosis or hypnotherapy.
