Hypnosis - Therapy and Consultation
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With many of my clients I find that hypnosis can serve as an important catalyst for the work they are doing. Let's take a look at what hypnosis is, and isn't. (Some of the information on this page is adapted from the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis.)
Hypnosis is a state of inner absorption, concentration and focused attention. It is like using a magnifying glass to focus the rays of the sun and make them more powerful. Similarly, when our minds are concentrated and focused, we are able to use our minds more powerfully. Because hypnosis allows people to use more of their potential, self-hypnosis can be thought of as the ultimate act of self-control. Everyone has experienced trance many times, but we don’t usually call it hypnosis. All of us have been so absorbed in thought – while reading a book, or riding a bus or train to work – that we fail to notice what is happening around us. While we were zoned out, another level of consciousness, which we refer to as our unconscious mind, took over. These are very focused states of attention similar to hypnosis.
Most likely. Research suggests that somewhere between 75% to 98% of adults can be hypnotized. In my own experience, I can't remember the last time I had someone who was unable to use hypnotic techniques successfully for the intended purpose in therapy. Here's one way to get an idea about your own ability to use hypnosis. You'll have to have someone watch you while you do this. Keeping your head level, roll your eyes up towards the ceiling as if you are attempting to look at a spot directly above your head. Have the other person notice how much of the white of your eyes is visible on the underside of your iris (the colored part of your eye.) If there is absolutely none, you might have trouble utilizing hypnosis. Generally speaking, the more of it that shows, the more hypnotizable the person is. If your iris disappears completely when you roll your eyes up, you're one of the very few for whom hypnosis will likely be very, very easy.
What if I don't want to be hypnotized? When I was getting my first training in hypnosis in the early 1980s, I discovered I had the same question. I volunteered to let the trainer demonstrate a particular hypnotic technique on me. Despite his best efforts, I didn't go into trance. After he demonstrated the technique on someone else, I let my seminar partner use the technique on me. Then I realized what had happened: I had demonstrated that if I didn't want to go into trance, it was unlikely that someone else was going to "make me." More importantly, if you don't want a therapist to use hypnosis with you, just say so. It's another thing entirely to get advertisers on TV to stop using the power of suggestion! Try this yourself and notice the many subtle visual cues which are incorporated into advertisements. Turn down the volume and notice what you see. Try videotaping the ad and replaying it several times. Notice the dominant colors chosen for an ad, the implications about competency, status, or intimacy, or the mood which the ad evokes. For example, Hallmark is famous for its "feel good" commercials. Therapists do three main things with hypnosis. They encourage the use of imagination. Mental imagery is very powerful, especially in a focused state of attention. The mind seems capable of using imagery, even if it is only symbolic, to assist us in bringing about the things we are imagining. For example, a client with ulcerative colitis may be asked to imagine what her distressed colon looks like. If she pictures it as being like a tunnel with very red, inflamed walls that are rough in texture, the client may be encouraged in hypnosis (and in self-hypnosis) to imagine this image changing to a healthy one. Another basic use of hypnosis is to present ideas or suggestions to the client. In a state of concentrated attention, ideas and suggestions that are compatible with what the client wants seem to have a more powerful impact on the mind. Finally, hypnosis may be used for exploration, to better understand underlying motivations or identify whether past events or experiences are associated with a current problem. Hypnosis avoids the critical censor of the conscious mind, which often defeats what we know to be in our best interests.
Myths About Hypnosis People often fear that being hypnotized will make them lose control, surrender their will, and result in their being dominated, but a hypnotic state is not the same thing as gullibility or weakness. Many people base their assumptions about hypnotism on stage acts but fail to take into account that stage hypnotists screen their volunteers to select those who are cooperative, with possible exhibitionist tendencies, as well as highly responsive to hypnosis. Stage acts help create a myth about hypnosis which discourages people from seeking legitimate hypnotherapy. Another myth about hypnosis is that people lose consciousness and have amnesia. A small percentage of subjects who go into very deep levels of trance will fit this stereotype and have spontaneous amnesia. The majority of people remember everything that occurs in hypnosis. This is beneficial, because most of what we want to accomplish in hypnosis may be done in a medium depth trance, where people tend to remember everything. In hypnosis, the client is not under the control of the hypnotist. Hypnosis is not something imposed on people, but something they do for themselves. The therapist simply serves as a facilitator to guide them.
Will I remember what happens when I come out of trance? Most people remember as much about what took place while they were in trance as they do from ordinary conversations. (If you've ever asked your children or your spouse to do something while they were watching TV, you know what I mean about memory lapses during trance!) A few people are able to go so deep in trance that they have no memory afterwards of what took place. The work I do with hypnosis doesn't require this depth of trance. Further, I offer to tape record (or videotape) all hypnosis work that I do with my clients in case they want a tape for later use.
Are the things people experience in trance always real memories? No. Having said that, let me elaborate a bit. The more important question is, "When does it matter whether trance experiences are of real past events?" Just as dreams sometimes provide people with useful insights about a problem, hypnotic imagery often works the same way. For example, Olympic competitors and professional athletes sometimes use hypnosis to help them rehearse a particular movement or sequence. (For a more detailed look at one such use of hypnosis, you might want to read the article on Waking Dreams, or preview the book which evolved from the article, The Hypnotic Use of Waking Dreams: Exploring Near-Death Experiences Without the Flatlines.) When hypnosis is used in this manner, the question of whether the imagery is real is typically a moot point. However, hypnosis is sometimes also used to help people remember events from when they were younger. There are two situations where it may not be wise to do so. (1) Many courts around the country do not allow people to testify about an event if they have had hypnosis used to help them "refresh" their memories. In such cases the rule of thumb is not to use hypnosis without first obtaining careful consultation from an attorney if there is any chance that the client might be involved in legal action (now, or in the future) related to the events to be explored with hypnosis. (2) A second rule of thumb is not to use hypnosis to help retrieve childhood memories with clients who think they may have been abused. Why? The last decade saw an incredible uproar in the field as different camps erupted about (a) whether it is possible to "repress" memories; and (b) under what conditions, if any, it is possible to create "false memories". While the debate continues, some excellent research on memory has emerged. For purposes of this discussion, the research has begun to make important distinctions between normal memory and traumatic memory. Some excellent studies have demonstrated that it is indeed possible for someone to completely dissociate (which is not the same thing as "repress") a traumatic memory for years, only to have it re-emerge at a later time. Other studies have also demonstrated that it is possible to create false memories, though not as easily as some have feared. The message for therapists who work with trauma clients is to get good training to reduce the risks. There are five kinds of memory which I find helpful to describe (drawn from the work of Lenore Terr, MD):
Another more common example occurs when a parent misremembers an event
involving one child when it actually happened to another child in the
family. The event was a real event, but it happened to a different child. For a more detailed discussion of this, see the related web page on Trauma Treatment. The concept of "state dependent memory" is also a useful one to understand. Sometimes a person's memory of an event is stored in the brain in a way that it is indexed according to certain components of the original event. At a later time the memory may come into awareness because it is "triggered" by something which is linked to the original memory. For example, the smell of a certain after shave lotion can still trigger abuse memories for one of my clients. Another client used to be triggered if she sat at the desk in her bedroom with her back to the door. She stopped getting anxious after she moved the desk to another wall. The trigger was her position relative to the door of the bedroom. Because people tend to be more suggestible when in trance (hypnosis), and because people with a history of serious childhood trauma tend to be more suggestible than average, the rule of thumb is that therapists do not use hypnosis to help such a client attempt to remember childhood memories. Hypnosis has many excellent clinical applications, but retrieving memories of traumatic events is not one of them as a general rule. My experience has been that memories surface on their own in therapy when the client is ready to deal with them.
How can I choose a therapist who uses hypnosis? As in choosing any health care professional, care should be exercised in selecting a hypnotherapist. Hypnosis and the use of hypnotic therapies are not regulated in most states, and hypnotherapists are, in most cases, not state licensed in hypnosis. Lay hypnotists are people who are trained in hypnosis but lack medical, psychological, dental or other professional health care training. A lay hypnotist may be certified and claim to have received 200 or more hours of training, but licensed health care professionals typically have seven to nine years of university coursework, plus additional supervised training in internship and residency programs. Their hypnosis training is in addition to their medical, psychological, dental or social work training. Careful questioning can help you avoid a lay hypnotist who may engage in fraudulent or unethical practices. Ask if the person is licensed (not certified) in their field by the state. If they are not legitimately licensed, they probably lack the education required for licensure. Find out what their degree is in. If it is in hypnosis or hypnotherapy, rather than a state-recognized health care profession, the person is a lay hypnotist. Check for membership in the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis or the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis (which are the only nationally recognized organizations for licensed health care professionals using hypnosis) as well as membership in the American Medical Association, the American Dental Association, the American Psychological Association, etc. Contact a state or local component section of the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis to see if the person is a reputable member. If you have doubts about their qualifications, keep looking.
Uses of Hypnosis in Medicine and Psychotherapy
Other areas of application include: Allergies; anxiety and stress management; asthma; bed-wetting; depression; sports and athletic performance; smoking cessation; obesity and weight control; sleep disorders; Raynaud’s disease; high blood pressure; sexual dysfunctions; concentration, test anxiety and learning disorders.
American Society of Clinical Hypnosis American Psychological Association: Society of Psychological Hypnosis Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis International Society of Hypnosis The International Society for the Study of Dissociation The Milton H. Erickson Foundation, Inc.
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Updated 07/22/2007 |
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Paul W. Schenk, Psy.D. 3589 Habersham at Northlake, Bldg O, Tucker, GA 30084-4009c Phone: 770-939-4473 or Toll Free: 1-888-748-6823 Office Fax: 770-939-0033 Hours: Monday - Friday 8:00-5:30 |