Hypnotherapy is therapy that is undertaken with a subject in hynosis. The word "hypnosis" is an abbreviation of the term "neuro-hypnotism", meaning "sleep of the nervous system".

Hypnosis is a natural state of heightened awareness, where you are able to open your mind to beneficial suggestions and where you can make use of your imagination to help make positive changes in your life.

What does it feel like to be hypnotised?

Everybody experiences trance differently - it is a unique experience, but the client is always in control. In general a hypnotic trance is a pleasant, relaxing and tranquil experience. While hypnotised you will be aware of all physical sensations around you, perhaps even noticing sounds you wouldn't otherwise be aware of. After a traumatic incident such as a car accident or violent robbery, a subject under hypnosis may be able to recall with extreme accuracy, car numbers, details etc that their subconscious mind has remembered but their conscious mind has overlooked. When you are fully aware again you may be able to recall everything that happened while you were in your trance, depending how deep your trance was.

Remember way back to this morning when you were half awake and half asleep? You couldn't be bothered to wake yourself up properly but because you weren't really all the way deep down asleep you could appreciate all the comfortable feelings that go with being snuggled down in your bed. Well that's pretty much how it feels to be hypnotised. You're not asleep but you're not awake either. Hypnotherapy is rather like being in a daydream, it is a state called "trance". It might be a deep trance or it might only be a light trance. Whatever level you achieve it's absolutely the right level for you at that moment. With hypnosis there's no right or wrong way to experience it, there's just different ways and they're all good. Many people experience a trance like state while driving a car - the journey is often made on "automatic pilot" mode, the mind being totally occupied by other matters. How many times do you "switch off" in the middle of a boring conversation or lecture, and daydream?

How is Hypnotherapy different to other therapies?

Hypnotherapy is a brief strategic therapy - one that is aimed specifically at finding a resolution to your problem as quickly, safely and efficiently as possible. It is not a long drawn out method of solving a problem. A skilled hypnotherapist will have the ability during a case study to ascertain whether you need to regress back to find the root of the problem, or whether it is more applicable to use future progression techniques to change tomorrow.

Hypnotherapy utilises hypnosis, a state of altered consciousness in which the therapist can help you to access the deeper levels of awareness, to which you are usually oblivious in your normal day-to-day functioning. More often than not, what you are experiencing as a problem, whether emotional, psychological or psychosomatic (i.e. actually producing physical symptoms) is only a surface EFFECT of a deeper underlying mental/emotional CAUSE. It is at these deeper levels of consciousness that we as hypnotherapists work with you, to bring about change in the way you feel, think and behave. A skilled hypnotherapist will always work with your co-operation and in the most caring and nurturing manner.

If left untreated, problems can sometimes create a ripple effect into other areas of your life, and what many people find is, on completion of effective hypnotherapy, other problems seem to melt away.

Life is what you make it, so why not make it better? Hypnotherapy can improve your life for the better on a daily basis including the way you feel about both yourself and the world around you. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. To look for one of our professional and qualified hypnotherapists in your locality, simply click here.

"Our thinking creates problems that the same type of thinking will not solve" Albert Einstein

One of the fundamental aims of the Hypnotherapy Association is to make information about hypnotherapy more available to the general public. If you have a question that we have not answered here, or that you cannot see below, then please email us directly.

Hypnosis: Fact or Fiction

There are many myths and misconceptions about hypnosis...

'In hypnosis you are asleep'

FICTION - you are wide awake at all times.

‘If I don’t “GO Out” I’m not hypnotised’

FICTION – It is just a gradual deepening and relaxation and you remain aware of what is being said.

'You can be made to do something against your will'

FICTION - Nobody can make you do anything that you do not want to do. If somebody tried to do this you would simply open your eyes and ask what is going on.

'Hypnosis is a natural state of mind'

FACT - It is completely natural state of concentration and relaxation. It has been used for hundreds of years.

‘People go into trance all the time’

FACT – Some examples of when people go into trance:- When you drive to a place and can’t remember driving for the last 5 minutes or when you are watching TV or reading a book and someone with you tells you they have been speaking to you for the past few minutes and you have been ignoring them

'There are some people that can't be hypnotised'

FICTION - Everybody can be, if they want to, and when they follow simple instructions on how to relax. Some people are more suggestible than others and some people can relax easier than others.

'You can't remember what happened'

FICTION - There isn't any amnesia after hypnosis, you will remember everything that took place.

'There is no official hypnotherapy regulatory body'

FACT - At the moment, no one hypnotherapy organisation has any precedence over any other. The General Hypnotherapy Register is working towards Hypnotherapy regulation and is overseen by The General Hypnotherapy Standards Council