Hypnotism is defined as an extension of concentration, in a state of deep relaxation, by-passing the critical factor of the conscious mind. It is the extraordinary power that ideas possess when they claim our complete attention. Such vitalized ideas are the suggestive ideas which are known as the power of suggestion.
Hypnosis is a 100% voluntary state or consent state. It is not possible to force a person into hypnosis, and while hypnotised, it is just as impossible to force someone to do something against his/her will. Deep relaxation is required for hypnosis. Tension, fear, nervousness and distractions keep the conscious mind active, and prevents a person from entering a hypnotic state. The slightest resistance will snap you out of hypnosis. Once hypnotised, you do not suddenly lose the ability to hear, remember or respond vocally. Instead, you have become even more acutely aware with your 5 senses going up 200 to 300 % more aware than before!
Today, hypnotism, in a state of advancement and achievement, is openly acclaimed and is practiced by both medical doctors and university professors. Hypnotism is now thoroughly recognized as a science throughout the world. Millions of people worldwide are convinced of the efficacy of hypnosis. They love it!
Hypnosis has been in use for thousands of years. There is a great deal of evidence to support the belief that Hypnosis was being used by the Ancient Greeks and Romans - for therapeutic benefit - as far back as about the fourth Century BC. Hypnosis - coming from the Greek word 'Hypnos' (meaning sleep) was so-called because while in the state of Hypnosis, a person is very, very relaxed. While a person is in this more relaxed state, they find it easier to accept beneficial suggestions (e.g. you are now a non-smoker) and their memory is enhanced.
There is absolutely no question of being controlled or manipulated, or even induced into a deep trance state. A person in hypnosis (often referred to as conscious hypnosis) is not 'asleep'; they are often more aware of what is taking place than usual and their senses function more efficiently than normal. It is unfortunate that most people's perception of Hypnosis is tainted by their reaction to watching television and stage hypnotists at work. The 'showmanship' and the dramatic reactions from the 'volunteers' often leaves a lasting impression in the back of the mind that Hypnosis is somehow 'magical' or involves 'mind control' - however, this understanding of Hypnosis couldn't be further from the truth....
The state of hypnosis, a totally natural phenomenon, is most pleasant and particularly relaxing, and a person can converse quite easily whilst within the state. It is inconceivable that any harm could befall them. Indeed, the centuries-old technique of hypnosis is being used increasingly as an adjunct to orthodox medicine, where it is proving a valuable alternative to drugs for anesthesia, accelerating healing, relieving stress and controlling pain. A good definition of hypnosis is: A state of relaxation and concentration at one with a heightened awareness induced by suggestion. Hypnosis is commonly misunderstood by those who have not previously been aware of experiencing it. Hypnosis is a natural mind state that we all constantly experience, and mostly without realising it. A better description of hypnosis would be conscious relaxation. Self hypnosis can occur when we become engrossed in our reading, watching television, listening to music or driving our car for instances.
The hypnotherapist will use his/her voice to induce you into the state of hypnosis. Although you are unlikely to feel 'hypnotised' as such, you will probably experience a feeling of mental and physical relaxation and your memory may be enhanced. You will find that he/she is a caring professional person, with a reassuring manner to put you at ease and the expertise to help you with your problem.
The role of the hypnotherapist is to help the client to switch into this natural mind state rather than having it occurring by happenstance. Clients are often surprised or even disappointed at how natural they feel in hypnosis. Such reactions arise because hypnosis is a natural mind state. Some may expect to be 'zapped' or 'zonked' out, that somehow they will be unaware of what happens, or have no memory of the event following it.
During its presence they may expect to be told to pull themselves together, or for some 'magical' action to take place, whereas, in reality, only an experience of merely sitting with eyes closed, being fully conscious and feeling relaxed are experienced. Rather than the therapist in some commanding or dictatorial manner instructing his client on how to change, the therapist, only helps guide the client to his own resolution, based upon what that client seeks to achieve. In doing so the therapist will use his experience, understanding, encouragement, empathy and support to bring about change.
What is Hypnotherapy?
HYPNOTHERAPY is the application of hypnotic techniques in such a way as to bring about therapeutic changes. An external influence - the Therapist - assists in activating the inner resources of a person - the Client - in order to achieve realistic goals. The problems that HYPNOTHERAPY is best placed to help, fall into the following broad classes:- Thoughts and ideas
People can suffer from thoughts of low self-esteem, or obsessive thoughts about someone or something. They may not be able, for example, to get out of their minds the idea that they are suffering from an illness, despite medical reassurance, or that a partner is unfaithful. HYPNOTHERAPY can help the client to change such ideas. Phobias
People often experience an irrational fear of a variety of insects, animals, objects or situations and HYPNOTHERAPY is particularly renowned for its effectiveness in assisting sufferers to overcome these distressing and inhibiting conditions. Feelings
People can suffer from a wide variety of distressing feelings such as panic attacks, anxiety, jealousy, guilt, anger or inadequacy. Whatever the problem feeling, HYPNOTHERAPY can deal with it more specifically than can a drug - and without harmful side effects. Habits
People can find themselves in the grip of many habits that they seem unable to control, from something like nail-biting or smoking to more deep-seated compulsions. HYPNOTHERAPY, using hypnotic techniques, can help to remove habits with precision and again, a total freedom from side effects.
What Benefit Will You Gain?
There is, of course, a considerable variation in the difficulty of the various problems and there is no general rule which makes it possible to say how much improvement can be achieved and in how much time.
The simpler problems can sometimes be overcome completely in one session - Hypnosis can be extremely effective. Your therapist, as a member of the Society, is committed to helping you as swiftly and effectively as possible.
Your Therapist may well be able to give you a fair assessment of how much improvement you can expect and how many sessions may be needed by the end of the first session but if the problem is more complex then you will jointly review progress from time to time.
THE BENEFITS
A wonderful quality of hypnosis is that you can be taught to use it alone, at will, and without complicated procedures.
This fact makes many benefits readily available throughout your lifetime. Hypnosis can be used to further any human endeavor. With hypnosis you can:
• Develop and express awareness and intuition.
• Feel worthwhile, self-confident, zestful.
• Gain a happier home life; become a better husband, wife, parent, or friend.
• Acquire the ability to relax completely in any situation.
• Make better decisions.
Improve concentration.
Overcome procrastination.
• Increase the quality of your emotional expression.
Reduce conflict and stress.
• Promote health and well-being.
• Regain your natural ability to sleep easily.
• Sell yourself, your ideas, and your services with confidence & enthusiasm.
• Increase your income.
• Attract and maintain worthwhile friendships.
• Discover your negative mental patterns and how they affect you.
• Free yourself from hostility, resentment, fear of rejection.
• Select your goals in life; chart your course for their realization.
• Program your mind with positive mental concepts and success attitudes.
• Develop the ability to construct mental images easily.
* Note that only a general indication of the possibilities can be illustrated, and no guarantees are ever given but success rates are surprisingly high. It is essential that those attending should not only consult their medical practitioner but keep that medical practitioner informed at all times.
History Hypnosis?
Hypnosis has been in use for thousands of years. There is a great deal of evidence to support the belief that Hypnosis was being used by the Ancient Greeks and Romans - for therapeutic benefit - as far back as about the fourth Century BC. Hypnosis - coming from the Greek word 'Hypnos' (meaning sleep) was so-called because while in the state of Hypnosis, a person is very, very relaxed.
Ancient Egyptians used hypnosis in their dream temples. Some ancient Egyptian paintings depict an apparently sleeping person with others who seem to be making hypnotic passes over them. Perhaps the best source of reference to hypnosis in early Egypt comes from the famous 3rd century CE Demotic Magical Papyrus which was discovered in the 19th century in Thebes.
In the eighteen century an Austrian doctor named Franz Anton Mesmer found he could cure people of different diseases without medicine or surgery, and he believed he had a magnetic force which could regulate the flow of magnetic fluids in people to produce cure. In many cases his cures were successful and this method of healing came to be known as Mesmerism. Mesmer ‘magnetised’ a tree from which hung ribbons or cords for his followers to hold and receive his magnetic therapy. Another method he used was to fill a large tub with water, containing bottles of iron filings. Protruding out of the tub were iron rods which the common-folk held onto. Many of the patients had violent seizures or fell into deep sleeps which could cure many different kinds of ailments.
Mesmer became very famous in Paris at that time and the French government, at the suggestion of Marie Antoinette, offered him a life pension and enough money to set up a clinic. Because Mesmer refused to allow the government representatives to supervise the clinic a huge controversy raged and in 1784 the King of France appointed a Commission to investigate mesmerism. The report concluded that animal magnetism and the magnetic field were figments of the imagination and Mesmer’s practices and theories were regarded as worthless. The fact that many people had been cured of their ailments seemed of no consequence.
In the middle of the 19th century a Scottish doctor named James Braid published a book called Neurhypnology or the Study of Nervous Sleep. He invented the word neurhypnosis from which the word hypnosis originated.
In 1951, a young doctor named Albert Mason called upon to help a 16 year old boy who was suffering with an extremely bad case of ichthyosis. This is usually a hereditary condition in which the patient has fewer sweat and sebaceous glands than usual, which causes the skin to become dry and scaly. The boy's body was almost covered in a thick, smelly, black layer of hard, dried skin which often oozed with a bloody serum. He had suffered this condition since birth and conventional medicine had failed to help him. On two occasions he had been given skin graft operations but each time the new skin flared up like the rest of his body. It is thought that Dr Mason perhaps did not realize that hypnosis was not intended to be used to heal congenital diseases when he offered to help the boy. At a hospital in East Grinstead in Sussex, in front of a dozen skeptical doctors, he hypnotized the boy and gave him suggestions that his left arm would become clear.
Five days later the blackened skin became crumbly and fell off to reveal underneath, reddened but otherwise normal skin. Ten days later the boy's arm was clear. Dr Mason proceeded to use hypnosis on the other parts of the boy's body, achieving remarkable results and the case was reported in the British Medical Journal for 1952. Three years later Dr Mason wrote a follow up article reporting that the results appeared to be permanent.
The Rise of the Hypnotherapy Profession in the United Kingdom (1950-1997) by Shaun Brookhouse, PhD., DCH., FHRS., FNCH.
1998 has seen great developments in the profession of hypnotherapy, the most recent of these is the development of National Occupational Standards for hypnotherapy. Many ask “How has the profession developed to date?”. I have taken the past 5 decades and catalogued the major issues. The main headings are Growth of Associations, Training, Quality Assurance, and Politics and Culture. It is my hope that by analyzing these headings since the 1950’s it will give hypnotherapists a better understanding of our past, with the aim of securing a better future.
The Mind Hypnosis and Healing
Since the mind runs both itself and the entire bodily system the range of potential benefits are too numerous to calculate. Indeed although no universal panacea, holistic hypnotherapy is probably the biggest single medical breakthrough ever - and is often of great assistance in cases where conventional medicine can offer little prospect; such as in arthritis, period pains and P.M.T.
With medical advice holistic hypnotherapy can become an attractive alternative to drug remedies, Migraine, depression, irritable bowels syndrome and anxiety are common examples.
Among the many other conditions that can often benefit from holistic hypnotherapy are stress, sexual, obsessional, habit, grieving and behavioural problems, flying, driving, pre-test, dentistry and exam fears, temper, blushing, public speaking
and sport matters.
Holistic hypnotherapy can assist with weight, sleeping, drinking and eating disorders and to promote a more satisfying pregnancy and birth experience. Asthmatic and hay fever conditions can also respond. Holistic Hypnotherapy can often be used to promote rapid response to 'mind over matter' self healing of bodily discomfort.
The Art of Hypnosis in Healing
Hypnosis is a powerful way to strengthen the mind body connection, promoting health. This workshop demystifies the hypnosis process, explores the appropriate holistic use of self hypnosis and hypnosis for developing positive reinforcement, goal planning, and increasing self esteem. Examine how hypnosis promotes grief resolution, helps in healing minor phobias and states of anxiety, aids in weight loss, smoking cessation and in pain management. (10 hrs/ 4 sessions).
THE THERAPY
There are TWO entirely different treatments using hypnosis:
SUGGESTION THERAPY - ideally suited for treating the more simple problems such as smoking, nail biting, pre-test nerves, slimming, relaxation, confidence boosting etc. Suggestion therapy is usually effective immediately, and hence only one or sometimes two sessions would be required - with perhaps a booster at a later date.
ANALYTICAL THERAPY (Hypnoanalysis) - used to discover the CAUSE of psychological problems. (Both therapies can be combined during treatment, of course.)
Hypnoanalysis can be summarised briefly as the doctrine of 'cause and effect'; every effect (the symptom) must have a cause. Hypnoanalysis will find and release the cause of the problem - and hence the symptoms disappear. Emotional problems respond particularly well to hypnoanalysis. The object of analysis is to bring you to a 'moment of surprising and liberating enlightenment', and one can be fairly confident of a release within ten sessions of therapy. With analytical therapy, we are talking about a complete and lasting release, by finding and removing the originating causes - as opposed to mere control of symptoms by; dieting, anti-depressants, herbal remedies, smoking, drinking etc.
There is no reason why anyone should put up with something 'inside themselves but outside their control', provided they can devote time, money, effort and self-discipline to be free or their problem. The use of hypnosis dramatically 'speeds up' analytical therapy, and will achieve similar results in just a few weeks to those expected from a more conventional three or four year course of therapy.
Have you ever wondered why hypnosis is so effective as a tool of the mind? Have you ever wondered how hypnosis works.
Simply put, hypnosis works because it allows the person direct access to their subconscious mind. The subconscious is that area of the mind that processes emotions. It is not 'logic bound' like the conscious mind, instead, it receives, stores and emits, feelings. If you are in a bad mood or depressed, you will perceive even neutral and positive things as negative. With hypnosis you can restructure your perceptions, and experience rapid positive change.
Hypnosis is a voluntary state. It is not possible to force someone into hypnosis, and while hypnotised it is just as impossible to force someone to do something against his will.
Hypnosis is a state of altered consciousness that occurs normally in every person just before the sleep state. In self hypnosis we are able to prolong this normal brief interlude so that we can work within its bounds.
Deep relaxation is required for hypnosis. Tension, fear, nervousness and distractions keep the conscious mind active and prevent a person from entering a hypnotic state. Once hypnotised you do not suddenly lose the ability to hear, remember or respond vocally nevertheless the hypnotic state makes a person more sensitive to his feelings and better able to deal with them.
Hypnotherapy helps people balance their lives, physically, intellectually and spiritually; it helps people realize their full potential. Unquestionably, people who are working and living at their full potential are much happier than those who are not.
The ability to attain the deep relaxation necessary for hypnosis is within each person. Let your trainer be your guide to a fuller and more productive life.
The hypnotic state is no more dangerous than the sleep state. Unskilled operators may give subjects foolish suggestions, such as one often witnesses in stage hypnosis, where the trance is exploited for entertainment purposes.
A delicately balanced and sensitive person exposed to unwise and humiliating suggestions which so much as to imply anything against the subject's moral, religious and spiritual values, will induce anxiety, which then immediately snap him or her out of hypnosis. So, a hypnotized subject can resist suggestions which are repugnant to him or her.
One who is under hypnosis maintains his or he ego at all times and will not allow himself or herself to deviate from his or her normal code of ethics. Therefore, the claim that there had never been a single recorded casualty resulting from hypnosis is a logical truth. On the whole, there are no dangers in hypnosis when practiced by ethical and qualified practitioners.
Under normal circumstances, a person cannot be hypnotised against his will by the power of suggestion. However, we can hypnotize a person by using drugs, and by so changing normal sleep into a hypnotic sleep. Some hypnotic mechanical devices will eventually break down the resistance of the subject, thus allowing for quick access to the subconscious mind.
Yes, because it is a normal state that everybody passes through just before going to sleep.
Anyone who wishes to be hypnotised, can be. Various reports on hypnotizability, based on controlled research, indicate that, of those tested, 95% are influenced to some degree. Of these, 20% reached a medium trance, and 10% a deep or somnambulistic trance level. The rest responded with a lighter trance but were able to increase dept after one to three repetitions of hypnotic induction.
In fact, just about anyone can be hypnotised, as everybody goes through a state akin to hypnosis before falling asleep. There is no reason why you should not be able to enter a hypnotic state. A hypnosis is a consent state, you hold the key to entry.
Factors such as motivation, personal rapport between therapist and subject, and physical surroundings all contribute to, or detract from, hypnotizability.
The subject must have the intelligence to understand what is asked of him or her and the ability to concentrate his or her thoughts upon what the hypnotist is saying. Those who can concentrate and visualize well make good hypnotic subjects. The probability of success is increased considerably when a subject can completely relax.
Anyone can learn to hypnotize. A person can get a basic understanding of hypnotism by merely witnessing the induction of hypnosis. It is erroneous to assume that only specially gifted people are able to use hypnosis. The hypnotist does not possess unusual, mysterious, or remarkable powers through which he is enabled to overcome the wills of his subjects. On the contrary, he has simply learned the techniques of inducing the hypnotic state.
Yes. All hypnotism is in reality a matter of self-hypnosis. The hypnotist guides the subject to sleep, but the unconscious or conscious auto-suggestions of the subject are really responsible for its attainment. The easiest way to acquire the art of self-hypnosis is to be hypnotized first, then to receive a post-hypnotic suggestion which makes it possible to go into a state of self-hypnosis at will. This establishes the basis for the conditioned reflex response. Self-hypnosis can accomplish the same therapeutic results as hetero-suggestion.
No. There is never any difficulty in wakening a subject. You can wake the subject by simply saying, “Wake up.” Other techniques include counting to five, clapping your hands, snapping your fingers, or using any other signal or cue, as long as a suggestion has been given previously to the subject that he will awaken when such a command is given. If the hypnotist should leave, after hypnotizing a person, the subject will awaken because the rapport has been broken. In certain cases, the subject may fall into a natural sleep and awaken later much refreshed. The problem is primarily that of putting the subject into the hypnotic state. We never encounter difficulty in waking the subject.
There is no magic in hypnosis. It is employed in medicine to reduce tension and pain which accompany various physical problems and to aid rehabilitative procedure. In psychiatric practice it is helpful in long term treatment where obstinate resistance's have been encountered. In sports and business training it is used to give you the ability to visualize the results you want to achieve.
Hypnosis is a much misunderstood phenomenon. For centuries it has been affiliated with spiritualism, witchcraft and various kinds of mumbo jumbo. The exaggerated claims made for it by undisciplined persons have turned some people against it.
All people go through a state akin to hypnosis before falling asleep. There is no reason why you should not be able to enter hypnotic state. As hypnosis is a consent state you hold the key to entry.
The answer to this is extremely important because it may determine whether or not you can benefit from hypnosis. Some people are disappointed in their first reactions, believing that they are not suitable subjects. The average person has the idea that they will go through something different, new and spectacular in the hypnotic state. Often they equate being hypnotised with being anaesthetised, or being asleep, or unconscious.
When in hypnosis you find that your mind is active, that you can hear every sound in the room, that you can resist suggenstions if you so desire, that your attention keeps wandering, your thoughts racing around, that you have not fallen asleep and that you remember everything that has happened when you open your eyes, you believe yourself to have failed. The experience of being hypnotised is no different from the experience of relaxing and of starting to go to sleep.
Because this experience is so familiar to you and because you may expect something startingly different in hypnosis, you may get discouraged when a trance is induced. Remember, you are not anaesthetized, you are not unconscious, you are not asleep. Your minds are active, your thoughts are under your control, you perceive all stimuli and you are in complete communication with the operator.
The unique thing you may experience is a feeling of heaviness in your arms, and tinglingness in your hands and fingers. If you are a habitually deep sleeper, you may doze momentarily; if you are a light sleeper you may have a feeling you are completely awake.
If you can conceive of hypnosis as a spectrum of awareness that stretches from waking to sleep, you will realise that some aspects are close to sleep and participate in the phenomena of light sleep. Over the entire spectrum, suggestibility is increased; and this is what makes hypnosis beneficial provided we put the suggestibility to a constructive use. The dept of hypnosis does not always correlate with the degree of suggestibility.
In other words, even if you go on deeper than the lightest stages of hypnosis and are merely mildly relaxed, you will still be able to benefit from its therapeutic and motivational effects. It so happens that with practice you will be able to go in deeper, but this really is not too important in the great majority of cases. (You are not under hypnosis - you are in hypnosis!)
Only a qualified professional person should decide whether one needs hypnosis or could benefit from it. The professional person requires special training in the techniques and uses of hypnosis before he or she can be considered qualified and certified by the Hypnotherapy Chapter of the Ministry of Health’s Complementary Therapies’ Department or any kind of legal/recognized authoritative body representing hypnotherapy in the country. In Malaysia, the Hypnosis Association, Malaysia is the vehicle, with Ms. Goh as the Hypnotherapy Chapter Leader for the Malaysian Society of Complementary Therapies.
The human mind is extremely suggestible and is being bombarded constantly with suggestive stimuli from the outside, and suggestive thoughts and ideas from the inside. A good deal of suffering is the consequence of "negative" thoughts and impulses invading ones mind from subconscious recesses. Unfortunately, past experience, guilt feelings and repudiated impulses and desires are incessantly pushing themselves into awareness, directly or in disguised forms, sabotaging ones happiness, health and efficiency.
By the time one has reached adulthood, they have built up "negative: modes of thinking, feeling and acting which persist like bad habits. Like any habits they are hard to break. In hypnosis, we replace these "negative" attitudes with "positive" ones, but it takes time to disintegrate old habit patterns, so do not be discouraged if there is no immediate effect. When gradually you continue to practice the principles taught you by your therapist, you will notice change. Even though there may be no apparent alterations in the surface, a restructuring is going on underneath.
An analogy may make this clear. If you were to hold a batch of white blotters above the level of your eyes so that you se only the bottom blotter and if you dribbled drops of ink onto the top blotter, you will observe nothing different for a while until sufficient ink has been poured to soak through the entire thickness. Eventually the ink will come down.
During this period while nothing seemingly was happening, penetrations were occurring. Had the process been stopped before enough ink had been poured we would be tempted to consider the process a failure. Suggestions in hypnosis are like ink poured on layers of resistance; one must keep repeating them before they come through to influence old, destructive patterns.
It is important to mention to your trainer your reactions to using Self Hypnosis, regardless of how unfounded, unfair of ridiculous these reactions may seem. Important clues may be derived from your reactions, dreams and resistance's that will provide an understanding of inner conflicts and help in your progress.
Perhaps the most important thing is that you can expect to feel comfortable and at ease with your Therapist. This is of particular importance in Hypnotherapy, in which the value of the treatment is greatly enhanced when you have confidence in the practitioner. For this reason we recommend that you book a single session at first and only afterwards decide if you want to proceed with more.
The next stage is that you will be asked about the problem and notes may be taken. The Therapist will need to find out certain necessary information both about the problem and about yourself.
The third stage is hypnosis itself. There is a certain personal variation among therapists and they will often use different approaches for different individuals, but most Hypnotherapy involves the following:-
You are led, by means of the Hypnotherapist's gently guiding voice, into a state where your body and mind are relaxed and nearly asleep. To an onlooker it might seem as if you were totally asleep but in fact, though you will normally feel very relaxed, you will remain awake enough to be aware. Also awake will be those parts of your mind which the Therapist is working with to induce beneficial changes. This may mean that you will be picturing, as in a daydream, the things which are being spoken of and that you may experience the associated pleasant feelings.
REMEMBER that if at any time you feel uncomfortable and want to terminate the session, then you will be perfectly capable of doing so.
The fourth stage, after the Hypnosis proper, is when you may discuss any experiences that you have had during the session. This is often an important part of the process.
There is, of course, a considerable variation in the difficulty of the various problems and there is no general rule which makes it possible to say how much improvement can be achieved and in how much time.
The simpler problems can sometimes be overcome completely in one session - Hypnosis can be extremely effective. Your therapist, as a member of the Society, is committed to helping you as swiftly and effectively as possible.
Your Therapist may well be able to give you a fair assessment of how much improvement you can expect and how many sessions may be needed by the end of the first session but if the problem is more complex then you will jointly review progress from time to time.