Usually 50 minutes, longer if necessary.
Unlike psychotherapy, you usually need only 1-3 sessions and periodic booster sessions.
Most effects are long-lasting, more than six months. It is advised to return then for review and support hypnosis.
Hypnotherapy speaks directly to your subconscious mind. Everything you think and do happens because of beliefs in the subconscious. Hypnotherapy re-programs that code to change how you think and act in waking daily life. Talk psychotherapy helps solve problems on an intellectual level only and may not change your subconscious programming.
Yes. Both induce a deeply relaxed, altered state of consciousness. However, hypnotherapy requires verbal input of suggestions, while classic mindfulness meditation is done in complete silence.
Yes. Based on the problems and habits you want to change, hypnosis will release negative thinking, feeling, and behavior. The hypnotic suggestions create the positive and motivated state of mind you want. You will understand what has been preventing you from success and move forward toward a complete reversal of any negative trends in your life.
Yes. You will not be asleep. You will feel very relaxed, but you will be aware of your surroundings during the whole session. You will probably notice that your breathing and heart rate slow down, and even your blood pressure may drop. However, you will still be fully conscious. You can even ask the hypnotist to stop the session if you feel anxious.
No. In fact, you can forget most of what you see in staged hypnosis shows. Those are not hypnotherapy. You will never be asked to do anything against your personal vaues. Your subconscious mind is in control and automatically rejects anything that conflicts with your morals and intellectual beliefs. Your hypnotist interviews you carefully before the hypnosis starts to get a clear understanding of your goals and values. Only positive suggestions are ever given in real hypnosis.
You will be so deeply relaxed that you may not remember exactly what the hypnotist says, but your subconscious mind will absorb everything. For example, if you tell the hypnotist you have trouble falling asleep, you might not remember what was said about the sleep process, but you will experience a feeling of ease and restfulness at bedtime. The effects are subconscious and behavioral rather than intellectual and memory-based.
Hypnosis takes no position on religious beliefs and makes no suggestions about one faith or another. The only time faith may be addressed is if you tell the hypnotist you are having trouble believing in a power greater than yourself. In that case the hypnotist will suggest the general benefits and enjoyments that come from a spiritual life. No mention will be made of any particular religion. Hypnosis can be a spiritual experience, but it is not religious.
The U.S. (Department of Labor) Directory of Occupational Titles (D.O.T. 079.157.010) supplies the following definition:
“Hypnotherapist“– Induces hypnotic state in client to increase motivation or alter behavior patterns through hypnosis. Consults with client to determine the nature of problem. Prepares client to enter hypnotic states by explaining how hypnosis works and what client will experience. Tests subject to determine degrees of physical and emotional suggestibility. Induces hypnotic state in client using individualized methods and techniques of hypnosis based on interpretation of test results and analysis of client’s problem. May train client in self-hypnosis conditioning.
Cognitive behavioral hypnotherapy (CBH) is an integrated psychological therapy employing clinical hypnosis and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). The use of CBT in conjunction with hypnotherapy may result in greater treatment effectiveness. A meta-analysis of eight different researches revealed “a 70% greater improvement” for patients undergoing an integrated treatment to those using CBT only.
In 1974, Theodore Barber and his colleagues published an influential review of the research which argued, following the earlier social psychology, that hypnotism was better understood not as a “special state” but as the result of normal psychological variables, such as active imagination, expectation, appropriate attitudes, and motivation.