Frequently Asked Questions
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What is the difference between hypnosis, hypnotherapy and clinical hypnosis?
Hypnosis is a process of focused absorption. There are many different types and contexts of hypnosis. Hypnotherapy is the use of hypnosis as a tool in therapeutic contexts. For practical purposes, hypnotherapy and clinical hypnosis are the same thing.
What is clinical hypnosis?
"Hypnosis, applied in clinical interaction, employs suggestions provided by the clinician to facilitate the client proactively and collaboratively developing a state of experiential absorption. When so engaged, the client typically experiences a dissociation, allowing him or her to respond to suggestions and interventions on multiple levels of awareness, thereby more fully utilizing personal resources in a goal-directed fashion." - Michael Yapko Phd. (The man who wrote the definition of hypnosis for the Encyclopaedia Britannica.)
Does hypnosis cure people?
Not exactly! Hypnosis is a tool. It is what happens during hypnosis that counts... the new and beneficial associations the client forms, often on a subconscious level, can have surprisingly powerful effects.
Is hypnosis empowering?
YES!! Empowering clients to recognise and use more of their abilities or personal resources skillfully is the foremost goal of clinical hypnosis.
Are there many myths about hypnosis?
YES! There are many false myths about hypnosis. Many of these myths have been promoted by the practice of theatrical stage hypnosis which often uses manipulative and deceptive techniques. Stage hypnosis and clinical hypnosis are very different practices and should not be confused. Common hypnosis myths identified by Dr Yapko are:
Can you be made to do things you don't want to do?
No! The hypnotherapist may open some doors... present some new opportunities for you... but you are the one who decides if you will walk through those doors. You co-create your experience with your hypnotherapist!
A noted, scholarly text for psychotherapists called "Inner Strengths - Contemporary Psychotherapy and Hypnosis for Ego-Strengthening" (C. Frederick, MD and S. McNeal, PhD) had this to say:
"Normal human trance abilities can be activated in psychotherapy and used for therapeutic goals. They are always experiences in which the patient herself is in control, just as we are really in control when we are deeply absorbed in a movie. Were the theater on fire, we would get out. Were someone to whisper into our ears, "Don't go. Fire is good!", we would not regard this as anything we would need to obey. There is no master-slave relationship in clinical hypnosis, and hypnotized subjects cannot be made to do things they do not want to do, stage hypnosis to the contrary."
What about stage hypnosis and what you see on TV sometimes?
The authors quoted above go on to say:
"What we see in stage hypnosis is the performance of willing extroverts who are highly hypnotizable and who are using trance states to enjoy their newfound places in the spotlight. Successful stage hypnotists are quite adept at selecting such subjects."
When I was twenty year old I went up on stage with a group of other potential hypnosis subjects. The "hypnotist" gave us some simple commands and quickly determined who was willing to play along. Those who didn't (including myself) were asked to return to our seats and told we were not "hypnotisable." I don't know if those left on stage did experience any type of altered state of mind, but I am sure they felt increasing social pressure to play along and maintain the charade having already followed directions.
This is social psychology NOT the hypnotism. Leading TV personalities doing stage hypnosis today may have refined their selection and influence techniques greatly since I was twenty, but their on-stage results have very little to do with therapeutic hypnotherapy.
What is hypnosis really? Why does it work?
Surprisingly, we don't fully know! Science still has a lot to learn about consciousness and reality. For example, why does observation alone affect the outcome of many experiments in quantum physics? In both the fields of physics and hypnosis, we have many theories, but the universe is yet to give up all its mysteries.
Some of the theories of hypnosis which are at least partial explanations are:
What is the difference between hypnosis, hypnotherapy and clinical hypnosis?
Hypnosis is a process of focused absorption. There are many different types and contexts of hypnosis. Hypnotherapy is the use of hypnosis as a tool in therapeutic contexts. For practical purposes, hypnotherapy and clinical hypnosis are the same thing.
What is clinical hypnosis?
"Hypnosis, applied in clinical interaction, employs suggestions provided by the clinician to facilitate the client proactively and collaboratively developing a state of experiential absorption. When so engaged, the client typically experiences a dissociation, allowing him or her to respond to suggestions and interventions on multiple levels of awareness, thereby more fully utilizing personal resources in a goal-directed fashion." - Michael Yapko Phd. (The man who wrote the definition of hypnosis for the Encyclopaedia Britannica.)
Does hypnosis cure people?
Not exactly! Hypnosis is a tool. It is what happens during hypnosis that counts... the new and beneficial associations the client forms, often on a subconscious level, can have surprisingly powerful effects.
Is hypnosis empowering?
YES!! Empowering clients to recognise and use more of their abilities or personal resources skillfully is the foremost goal of clinical hypnosis.
Are there many myths about hypnosis?
YES! There are many false myths about hypnosis. Many of these myths have been promoted by the practice of theatrical stage hypnosis which often uses manipulative and deceptive techniques. Stage hypnosis and clinical hypnosis are very different practices and should not be confused. Common hypnosis myths identified by Dr Yapko are:
- Hypnosis is caused by the power of the hypnotist
- You’ll say or do things against your will (see below)
- Hypnosis fosters dependency
- You can get “stuck” in hypnosis
- You’re unconscious in hypnosis
- Hypnosis is simply relaxation
- Hypnosis bypasses critical thinking
Can you be made to do things you don't want to do?
No! The hypnotherapist may open some doors... present some new opportunities for you... but you are the one who decides if you will walk through those doors. You co-create your experience with your hypnotherapist!
A noted, scholarly text for psychotherapists called "Inner Strengths - Contemporary Psychotherapy and Hypnosis for Ego-Strengthening" (C. Frederick, MD and S. McNeal, PhD) had this to say:
"Normal human trance abilities can be activated in psychotherapy and used for therapeutic goals. They are always experiences in which the patient herself is in control, just as we are really in control when we are deeply absorbed in a movie. Were the theater on fire, we would get out. Were someone to whisper into our ears, "Don't go. Fire is good!", we would not regard this as anything we would need to obey. There is no master-slave relationship in clinical hypnosis, and hypnotized subjects cannot be made to do things they do not want to do, stage hypnosis to the contrary."
What about stage hypnosis and what you see on TV sometimes?
The authors quoted above go on to say:
"What we see in stage hypnosis is the performance of willing extroverts who are highly hypnotizable and who are using trance states to enjoy their newfound places in the spotlight. Successful stage hypnotists are quite adept at selecting such subjects."
When I was twenty year old I went up on stage with a group of other potential hypnosis subjects. The "hypnotist" gave us some simple commands and quickly determined who was willing to play along. Those who didn't (including myself) were asked to return to our seats and told we were not "hypnotisable." I don't know if those left on stage did experience any type of altered state of mind, but I am sure they felt increasing social pressure to play along and maintain the charade having already followed directions.
This is social psychology NOT the hypnotism. Leading TV personalities doing stage hypnosis today may have refined their selection and influence techniques greatly since I was twenty, but their on-stage results have very little to do with therapeutic hypnotherapy.
What is hypnosis really? Why does it work?
Surprisingly, we don't fully know! Science still has a lot to learn about consciousness and reality. For example, why does observation alone affect the outcome of many experiments in quantum physics? In both the fields of physics and hypnosis, we have many theories, but the universe is yet to give up all its mysteries.
Some of the theories of hypnosis which are at least partial explanations are:
- Hypnosis as dissociation (Hilgard)
- Hypnosis as a socio-cognitive phenomenon (Spanos)
- Hypnosis as psychological regression (Fromm)
- Hypnosis as relaxation (Edmonston)
- Hypnosis as an altered state of consciousness (Tart)
- Hypnosis as suspended reality-testing (Shor)
- Hypnosis as an interactional outcome (Erickson)
