Hypnosis techniques

The term “hypnosis” stems from the Greek word “hypnos,” meaning “sleep.” Hypnotherapy employs a number of techniques that create a feeling of deep relaxation in patients, which then leads to an altered state of consciousness known as a trance. Therapists use hypnosis techniques to open a gateway into the mind, where they can actually influence people on how to change their embedded behaviors. While it has not been proven beyond reasonable doubt, a number of patients have reported the use of hypnosis sessions to quit smoking, lose weight, overcome obstacles in their marriage and find a sense of empowerment.

In a hypnotherapy session, the patient’s body relaxes, blood pressure decreases, heart rate decreases, oxygenation of the blood increases and brain wave activity may be altered. By contrast, the mind becomes more attentive, more focused and more awake. While patients are in this deep concentration, they are more in touch with their emotional side, the left and right brain hemispheres are communicating better, mental gatekeepers open up and they are highly responsive to suggestion. A patient may be given a list of reasons to stop smoking or convinced to eat smaller portions. Perhaps a series of coping mechanisms can be directed into the subconscious realm to help a person calm down and overcome anxiety, anger disorders, stress or depression.

Hypnosis therapy is used to treat a wide host of ailments from mental to physical. Most recently, researchers discovered that the mind plays an important role in pain management, particularly with cancer patients or those undergoing surgery. Studies show that hypnosis meditation can lessen one’s need for medication and shorten recovery time. Thinking negative thoughts can lead to stress, which has powerful ramifications on the body.

It can disrupt a woman’s menstrual cycle, create a cold sore, make a person ill with a cold, disrupt sleep patterns, generate ulcers, facilitate hair loss, exacerbate psoriasis, lead to heart disease and contribute to obesity. Today, hypnosis sessions are used in treating obesity, asthma, anxiety, pain, sleep walking, thumb sucking, nail biting, smoking, inflammatory bowel disease, insomnia, addiction, warts, bedwetting, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, eczema, psoriasis, acne, migraines, stress, tinnitus, cancer pain, obesity, anorexia, bulimia, indigestion, phobias, depression and the pain of childbirth.

For hypnotherapy training, most people obtain a doctorate degree in medicine or psychology. Others receive a master’s in social work, psychology or therapy and have at least 20 hours of ASCH-approved hypnotherapy training. Six to eight week courses provide licenses to mental health professionals as well. To find a professional who practices hypnotherapy, one can look at a number of websites, including: The American Society of Clinical Hypnosis at www.asch.net, The Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis at www.sceh.us/index.htm or The American Association of Professional Hypnotherapists at www.aaph.org.

Hypnosis techniques

“You are getting sleepy… You are getting sleepy… You are getting sleepy.” The image of the man dangling the watch back and forth before the patient’s eyes is ingrained into our brains as the primary mode of hypnotizing someone. Once a person “goes under,” the hypnotist can get the unconscious to say or do just about anything on command. While hypnosis is accepted in the entertainment industry, the scientific community generally snubs such practices. Yet recent therapeutic trends suggest that the power of the mind cannot be discounted.

In 2000, Harvard researchers sought an answer to the question: Does being hypnotized change the brain? In their study, they asked a group of men to hold a brick out in front of them as long as they could, which was five minutes for most fully conscious subjects. However, under hypnotic suggestion, they held the brick out for fifteen to twenty minutes. Next, subjects were hypnotized and placed in an MRI scanner. A computer screen showed them patterns of yellow, red, blue and green rectangles and recorded their brain activity.

Then they were shown the same rectangles in shades of gray and were asked to imagine the colors. When they were not hypnotized, both activities showed brain activity on the right side only, but when they were hypnotized both the left and the right hemispheres responded. “What we have shown for the first time,” lead researcher Stephen Kosslyn concluded, “is that hypnosis changes conscious experience in a way not possible when we are not under hypnosis.”

In another study conducted in 2004, researchers at the University of Iowa, the Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine and Technical University of Aachen, Germany, measured blood flow in the brain under clinical hypnosis. They asked participants to touch a hot surface and report pain on a scale from 0-10. Next, under hypnotic suggestion, all subjects reported reduced pain (3/10) at previously 8/10 temperature levels. Additionally, assistant professor Sebastian Schulz-Stubner M.D. reported, “The major finding from our study, which used MRI for the first time to investigate brain activity under hypnosis for pain suppression, is that we see reduced activity in areas of the pain network and increased activity in other areas of the brain under hypnosis.”

Another use for clinical hypnosis is smoking cessation. In 2007, North Shore Medical Center and Massachusetts General Hospital ran a study regarding the effectiveness of stop smoking hypnotherapy, versus those who quit cold turkey, those who received nicotine replacement therapy or those who received nicotine replacement therapy and hypnotherapy combined. Just over six months later, researchers found that 50% of those treated with hypnotherapy alone were nonsmokers and 50% of those treated with NRT/hypnotherapy had quit fully, compared to 25% in the “cold turkey” control group and 15.78% in the nicotine replacement therapy only group.

Discover more about how to hypnotize someone here.

Hypnosis training

Hypnotherapists can treat clients for a wide range of medical disorders from asthma, depression and bedwetting to cancer pain, eating disorders and gastrointestinal problems. One would think that someone with so much power over the human body would need a full college degree and medical training. However, since hypnosis techniques are found to be completely safe, certification is not heavily regulated in the United States. While medical hypnotherapy training is possible and helps lend credence to the profession, it is not absolutely necessary, which is why so many people want to learn how to hypnotize someone else.

Hypnotherapists are, first and foremost, self-motivated entrepreneurs. They are also naturally positive people who have a strong desire to help others. Since the job itself is so flexible, many therapists start off part-time, seeing people on the weekends or evenings while building a client base. They may team up with healing centers, physical therapy offices, counselors, reiki yoga centers or acupuncture clinics to gain business. Marketing and networking are central to the success of a hypnotherapist. Some professionals run home offices to keep overhead costs down, while others gain employment at a hypnosis center. Later, experienced specialists usually branch off to hold weekend workshops and retreats, teach classes or offer group sessions. Some even take their talents to the stage.

It can take twelve to eighteen months for new hypnotherapists to gain recognition in their communities. Many hours will be spent handing out business cards, hanging up flyers, advertising online and networking with local affiliates. Initially, it can be tough to make money solely off hypnosis sessions, so it is important that newcomers try to keep costs as low as possible and spend the rest of their hours marketing. There are also weekend seminars and 50+ hour certification courses offered that can help a professional distinguish him or herself from the masses. In many cases, a person can gain “hypnotherapy certification” with just four hours of hypnosis training. The more experience aspiring hypnosis therapists have, the more confident they will be in opening their doors to clients.

In recent years, hypnosis techniques have been turning a lot of heads, as the medical value and the psychological value is being recognized. This is a great opening for people who are interested in the inner workings of the mind but may not have the money to attend medical school. There are many different approaches to the subject of hypnosis. Some focus on the medical effects like pain management, while others approach it from a life coach type perspective. Hypnotherapists should generally be caring, empathetic, engaged, confident and hardworking entrepreneurs to succeed.