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What is the first thing that comes into your mind when you think about hypnosis? What images of hypnotherapy do you have - or your friends have?
A watch swings back and forth on a golden chain and a low, seductive voice speaks. "Look into my eyes... look deep into my eyes. You are getting sleepy... very, very sleepy. Now you are completely within my power and you will do everything I say."
Now, mein friend, if you vill lie down on zis leather couch and relax totally. Allow ze thoughts in your head freely to happen. I vill say a vord and you vill tell me the first thing that into your head comes. You are ready, ja? Ze first vord is...
These are two stereotypes that can pop into people's minds when they think about hypnosis, hypnotherapy and its use in treating problems of the mind and emotions. However, Svengali (the first stereotype, that of the hypnotherapist who was, shall we say, guilty of unprofessional conduct) is just a fictional character and nobody can hypnotise you against your will. And hardly anybody these days has a pocket watch on a golden chain, although they were high fashion when hypnosis was first investigated. The second stereotype is that of Sigmund Freud who did pioneer the use of hypnosis in therapy as part of his methods. While modern hypnotherapists do use methods that do ultimately trace their origins to Freud's groundbreaking work, they won't talk to you in a German accent (unless they are actually German or Austrian, as Freud was) and they are less likely to use free word association as a means of analysing the root cause of your anxiety or phobias.
A third stereotype that may pop into your mind is that of the stage hypnotist. You're likely to think of this if you've seen one in action on TV or have been to a show of this sort. The hypnotist snaps his (or her) fingers and people start doing all sorts of crazy things in public at the hypnotist's bidding. All clinical hypnotherapists will probably be quick to tell you that this isn't real hypnotherapy at all and the volunteers who get up on stage to have a trance put on them probably have a slight exhibitionist streak (thanks, Freud, for that term!) and the hypnotist gives them a good excuse to act the giddy goat in public without being disapproved of.
So what sorts of techniques do real hypnotherapists use as part of their therapy?
The first stage of any hypnotherapy session will involve inducing the trance state where the client's mind (and, some would argue, spirit) is open to outside influences. The client must be comfortable and relaxed, and this often does involve lying down on something comfortable. Not that all hypnotherapy rooms have a couch or chaise-lounge like the famous leather one of Sigmund Freud!
Step two in inducing a trance involves relaxing the muscles and dissipating tension. This can be done by simple stretching and relaxing of each major muscle group, but your hypnotherapist will probably have some suggestions - in the non-technical sense - that will help you relax.
Lastly in the stages of trance induction comes concentration or visual focus. The client needs to fix their eyes on some point and keep the attention there for some time. Then the eyes must be closed, and the client is in the appropriate state of mind.
Many people have noticed the similarity between these stages of trance induction during hypnotherapy and the techniques used by a number of ancient pagan spiritual practices. Mediation often uses visual focus, which is sometimes accompanied by muscular relaxation, unless you're doing yoga. Indeed, James Braid, one of the first proper hypnotherapists, researched ancient Hindu texts and drew heavily on their techniques. Shamanism also involved the practitioner inducing a trance state in him/herself, believing that this would help the shaman communicate with the spirit world to find answers to a problem. Often, a shaman would use techniques that are familiar to modern hypnotherapy, but it is well documented that other methods of inducing a trance state were also used, which we DO NOT RECOMMEND. These other techniques were sometimes highly dangerous and included, at best, whirling around fast until the shaman became giddy and fell over (this was practised by the Dervish cult) and, at worst, hallucinogenic drugs, fasting and physical ordeal.
Back to modern-day hypnotherapy. What happens after the client is successfully in a hypnotic trance? The next stage involves "suggestion", which is a technical term. In this stage, the hypnotherapist uses his or her words to guide and change the client's behaviour. For the purposes of therapy, post-hypnotic suggestions are used. These are commands, requests or mental images that last once the client has come out of the trance and are designed to affect long-term behaviour. To work effectively, several sessions are needed to ensure that the post-hypnotic suggestions are implanted properly.
Some people find it easy to go into a trance state; others find it harder. It has long been noticed that a hypnotic trance is very similar to a dissociative mental state. We can all go into dissociative mental states at times, such as when we're doing a long, boring job and let our minds wander off. By contrast, a hypnotherapy trance state is more focussed and guided than this everyday experience ("woolgathering" and "daydreaming" are commonly used to describe this state of mind). Sometimes, those who can do this are described as having good imaginations. Dissociation can also be used as a coping mechanism when undergoing trauma, and those who have suffered this sort of experience often find it easy to enter this state of mind. This does at least make it easier for the hypnotherapist who is trying to help the person later on. The link between physical trauma and the ability to enter a trance state/dissociative state was noticed by the ancients, which is why it was often considered essential that a shaman had to undergo an initiation rite: the trauma of the initiation helped create what today would be called a dissociative personality.
After the trance and the suggestion, the hypnotherapist will bring the client out of the trance state, and the session usually ends shortly after this.
Any more questions about hypnotherapy? See Positive Tranceformations Gold Coast for more. (Click now to get SEO for real readers, not robots, using Semantic Writing by Rick Rakauskas.)
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