Hypnosis............

Image courtesy of Hypnosis in Media

In the 18th century Franz Anton Mesmer from who we get the term mesmerised, practiced hypnosis as we know it today. Although at the time he erroneously conferred the power of self guided trance onto magnetism and animal gravitation liberally mixed with astrology.
This did little to endear him to the medical profession at the time and in spite of the many success’s he achieved with hysterical illness he was branded a fraud. The term Hypnosis (derived from the Greek hypnos meaning sleep) was coined by James Braid (1796-1860) A prominent Scottish surgeon who looked scientifically at Mesmer’s work but  was cold shouldered by the establishment. As was another Scottish surgeon James Esdaile (1808-1859) Working in India and utilising the high belief system of that country, he performed major surgery including 19 amputations. Using hypnosis to remove post operative shock he cut the 50% mortality rate to less than 8%.

Then ether was discovered and unfortunately Hypnosis was left to the entertainment industry. They managed to persuade people that the entertainer had mystical powers and the Svengali image was created.


So I won't tell all my secrets, lose control of my mind or be made to do things against my will?…. No, no and no. If people volunteer to go up on a stage in front of an audience and do crazy things it’s because they want to. Not only do you not have to tell your secrets you don’t even have to identify your problem! Just refer to it as ‘x’ for example.
Will I feel a little disorientated ?…. There really is no such thing as a hypnotised feeling, most people just feel very peaceful and relaxed. And you don’t need to be in deep trance for therapy to be effective, in fact most therapeutic and motivational work utilises a light trance state associated with accelerated learning techniques.

Can I get stuck in trance?….No absolutely impossible, even if the hypnotist was abducted by aliens in mid-session, you would either return to full awareness or drift off into natural sleep awakening very refreshed after a short while.

Self hypnosis is an incredibily powerful process that most people use unwittingly. Have you ever driven somewhere and realised with a shock you can't remember the journey!

So can anyone be hypnotised?…. Yes, but only if they want to be. You hear every word and remain in control the whole time. The depth of trance varies from person to person and even from session to session..
So if clients remain in total control how do hypnotic suggestions work?….Because they are tailor made to appeal to your imagination and in a contest between your imagination and will-power your imagination will win every time.

A quick guide to some of the terms used: -

Suggestion: used for habit cessation ie smoking, nail biting, stress reduction and the more straight forward fears . Often success is achievable with a one-off session backed if necessary by an individualised reinforcement tape or a complimentary booster session at a later date.

Parts, time-line and guided imagery techniques can often produce very rapid change
If a hypnotic suggestion is of benefit to your wellbeing it will be accepted by the subconscious and will gradually become part of your natural behaviour, i.e. feeling at ease with other people, talking confidently and so on.


And then the crown jewels - Hypnoanalysis: where the client is helped to discover and work through the cause or initial sensitising event. Typically this would take six to twelve sessions and once the cause is resolved there is normally a total cessation of symptoms.

An example of this was a woman who presented with a fear of water that was seriously curtailing her social life. In trance she accessed an image of her mothers face contorted in fear and screaming at her and her sister to get out of the water (a shallow river near their home) or they would die.

She was only about 5 at the time so the memory had been covered over (because it involved humiliation) but once brought out into the light the fearful emotions were released and it became just another childhood memory. Allowing the client to enjoy taking her own children swimming.