Part One

Just what is hypnosis?

Hypnosis is a word that means one person helping another to experience a trance. This trance experience “belongs” to the person or patient, so really all hypnosis is self-hypnosis.

What is a trance?

Trance is a very natural, everyday experience for all of us. You, the reader, have been in and out of a trance a number of times since you woke up this morning. For example, when you stare off into space and you daydream or fantasize. Or, when you have been riding down the highway and are lost in your own thoughts or entranced in a conversation with a passenger and are surprised that you have forgotten part of the ride or that you traveled so far. A person can be entranced reading a good book, listening to music or watching a TV show. Trance is a conscious experience but an altered or alternate state of consciousness.

How does hypnosis work?

All hypnosis involves a focus of consciousness on something (e.g., the hypnotist’s voice, staring at a spot on the wall or imagining something in one’s mind like consecutive numbers). Since the person’s conscious attention is concentrated or focused, the person “lets go” of control of the unconscious mind. 

The “unconscious” includes the automatic, unconscious behaviors and experiences, and the functioning of the involuntary nervous system. The unconscious usually is quite significant in terms of our emotional experience. Many emotional and behavioral problems are significantly influenced by unconscious processes.

What is clinical hypnosis
helpful or useful for?

Hypnosis is not a cure-all.  However, often the results of hypnosis can be quite dramatic and effective. The usefulness or limitations of hypnosis continue to be explored. Importantly, hypnosis is a tool to be used by a professional within that person’s professional orientation and training. 

Can anyone be hypnotized?

The two variables that are most important for being hypnotized are: (1) the person’s motivation and (2) the person feeling secure and comfortable within the hypnotist’s setting.
Some people may have a little harder time “letting go” into trance than others. Nonetheless, the fact is, everyone is capable of experiencing hypnosis.

Look for part two in next month’s issue of Your Health Magazine where questions such as: Will I cluck like a chicken? Is hypnosis like being asleep? Can someone not wake up from hypnosis or trance? Are hypnosis and biofeedback the same? How does hypnosis for cigarette smoking cessation and diet control work?, will be answered.