Frequently Asked Questions
For a long time it was thought that some people could not be hypnotised. We now know that anybody who will allow themselves to be can be hypnotised. In other words it is the client who decides whether or not they are going to be hypnotised.
Some people may go into a hypnotic trance quickly others take their time. It is usually found that the speed of going into a hypnotic trance increases with practice. The same applies to the depth of trance; some people go deep in their first session others may not do so until the second or third trance or never go deep at all.
In my experience about 2% of my clients have not been ‘hypnotisable’. (They keep hold of conscious control of the process). These clients have to use the Eyes Open Flourish Hypnotherapy techniques.
No! In terms of dangerous risks. The only ‘risk’ is that the therapeutic goal may not be achieved. This is usually due to ‘resistance’ on behalf of the client who may not actually be ready to change some aspect of their problem/s.
No! You cannot get stuck in a trance; it is like being in a deep daydream and you can come out at any time – even during therapy.
No! I cannot take control of your mind. I am not able to make you say think or do anything you do not wish to. I am working in cooperation with you to achieve a goal which has been agreed between us. Therefore, it is a matter of help/guidance towards your aims not controlling you.
The people who you see on stage making idiots of themselves are exhibitionists who want to be seen doing so.
You will be sitting in the big ‘hypno chair’ or lying on a couch before I take you into hypnosis. Then you will go into a light trance. You will feel exactly the same as in a daydream. You will be able to move, scratch your nose, etc. You can even open your eyes. You will remember everything. Every person is different, some feel like they are floating and some a mild sense of heaviness.
You will feel quite happy and euphoric emotions are very common.
Your mind will become quite focused on what I am saying, initially you may find that your attention slightly wanders. However; you will soon be completing mind-changing strategies and you will remain very focused during this work. Most this work is completed nonconsciously but your conscious will be involved a little as well.
Some hypnotherapists, usually those conducting old fashioned and slower techniques, teach their clients how to do self hypnosis. It is a simple process which allows a person to go into a light hypnotic trance on their own. This is useful for repeating suggestions which the client has been given in therapy in order to reinforce their effect, and also for motivating a person to achieve their goals. The individual can emerge from the trance instantly should there be a need to do so.
As my work it rapid you will not need to be self-treating at home. – Everything will be locked in your mind during the sessions and you will have a psychosomatic anchor to use at anytime.
Both use trance phenomena but in very different ways. A hypnotherapy session is private and intended to rid the client of a problem. A stage hypnosis show is public entertainment for the benefit of an audience.
The exhibitionists who go up on stage are willing make themselves look like fools. They know that their silly behaviour will cause laughter in the audience. They are specially selected for this trait by the stage hypnotist.
The British Medical Association confirmed 50 years ago that hypnosis was not only valid but the treatment of choice for certain conditions. Yet it rarely uses the process in treatment.
There are are some doctors, dentists and numerous psychiatrists who use hypnosis in their practice. So these people do their own trancework. Most doctors have received little or no training in the benefits of hypnosis; so have a rather negative attitude to its value based on common uneducated misconceptions. I must say that there are quite a few who do understand its full potential but they are a little thin on the ground.
There appears to be growing acceptance of complementary medicine including hypnotherapy and it is interesting to see that the NHS now has a Directory of Complementary and Alternative Practitioners. There is now also a Hypnotherapist register on the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC). This is recognised by the DOH and they are urging GPs to use members of the CNHC.
If a GP refers you to me for private or NHS work I will be more than happy to help you.
My intention is that any desired change should be permanent, e.g. smokers who wish to stop smoking will want to do so permanently. I want you to have a happy, independent life and not remain dependent on further sessions.
However; I cannot predict or control what happens in your life after you have completed your session/s with me. Let’s use smoking as an example – you were born a non-smoker and you chose to start smoking, you chose to quit using hypnosis and did stop smoking. Three years later you lose your job and feel a failure – so choose to start smoking again. The hypnotherapy was working fine until you chose to ignore it.
Until I have sat down with you and found out the details of your problem/s and the goals of therapy set, it is impossible to say how many sessions you will need. Often a client comes to talk about one issue and other problems surface which are related but require separate treatment. E.g. a client comes to talk about overeating; they may reveal that the overeating is related to excessive stress at work, abuse or other emotional issues. These need to be addressed before the task of changing eating habits can be tackled.
Using Flourish Hypnotherapy I say 2 sessions for a problem – but sometime I may be able to deal with two small ones. It may take longer to shift a really difficult one.
I will make a promise to relieve you of all your problems in as few sessions as possible.
Yes, all the main hypnotherapy bodies have Codes of Ethics. I follow the one from GHR & GHSc and ACCPH.
Click the link: http://www.general-hypnotherapy-register.com/Code%20of%20Ethics.htm
There is no single body at present with federal statutory control over the practice of hypnotherapy in the UK. There are a number of registers to which practising hypnotherapists may belong and each register sets standards for training, requires the maintenance of adequate public liability and professional indemnity insurance, and compliance with a code of ethics.
The registers and organisations I belong to are displayed on my bio page.
Past life regression involves taking a client back to a previous life while in a hypnotic trance. This can be for therapeutic purposes or just out of curiosity.
The life story which emerges comes from the client’s nonconscious mind and may provide therapeutic benefits by revealing issues which the client may have difficulty discussing consciously. Because the client needs to know how to access their inner world the process of regression improves with practice. I am very careful to not ask any leading questions.
You are not asleep. You will be in a daydreamy altered state of consciousness. You will be aware of everything that is happening and being said the whole time.
Remember, your conscious mind is active throughout your sessions.
I like to use something from the client’s real life that makes them relaxed. This could be getting drowsy watching TV, laying by a pool or on a beach in the sun, etc.
Depth of the hypnotic state is an idea that is ‘old school’. The client has their own optimum depth and the way I work allows your nonconscious mind to find it. My clients go as deep as they need to and get the best results.
If you have any questions about whether or not hypnosis will help or conflict with a present medical condition, ask your GP. I will never advise you to change any medication – this must only be undertaken with the full consent of your GP or Consultant.
The interesting reaction of hypnosis on medication is that, over long periods of time, it tends to “potentiate” medication, which means if you’re currently taking medication, after a series of hypnosis sessions you may find that you need a lesser strength of the drug.
Hypnosis can often complement traditional medical care and better or more informed doctors favour it. It can act as an adjunct to medical treatment.
The way I work – usually the first session!
The main Trance phenomena are outlined below.
- Analgesia and anaesthesia for pain relief and child birth can be created by using specific suggestions in trance. I can enable the client to have analgesia (a reduction or elimination of pain, but without loss of other sensation) or anaesthesia (a complete loss of feeling) in either a part of, or the whole, body. (This was used by Dr James Esdaile in India in the 19th century to carry out surgical operations).
- Amnesia can occur naturally in a trance. I use it all the time to enable a client to ‘forget’ how to smoke or their fear of spiders, etc. This means it is used to protect post-hypnotic suggestions from interference by the conscious mind.
- Catalepsy occurs when the eyes and the limbs develop a feeling of heaviness due to mild automatic muscle contraction. The client does not wish to move their limbs or open their eyes, although they could do so if really needed to.
- Automatic writing and drawing are ideomotor responses where the hand holding the pencil is under the direction of the unconscious mind. The writing is likely to be slow and jerky at first. (I never use this in my therapy sessions).
- Dissociation occurs when part of the mind or body is out of conscious awareness, for example when the conscious and unconscious minds appear to be functioning independently of each other. Much of the work I do uses this natural and normal phenomena. People may also dissociate from their emotional/physical pain and dispose of it in hypnosis.
- Hallucinations may be positive or negative. A positive hallucination is; perceiving with any of the senses, something which does not exist. Negative hallucination is denying the existence of something which does exist. An example of the former is an anorexic which imagines that they have rolls of fat on their body.
Many people claim that much of hypnosis uses powerful therapeutic hallucinations to achieve the changes needed by the client – who am I to argue. - Hypermnesia is; an increased memory ability in hypnosis, when something, previously forgotten, can be remembered in great detail – including images, sounds, smells etc.
- Ideomotor response is when an idea takes possession of a motor response in the body, causing movement without any conscious intent. Such as a finger signaling to give yes or no answers to questions when in trance. (I do not use these in hypnosis).
- Post-hypnotic suggestions are used in virtually every hypnotherapy session. These are suggestions given in trance to the unconscious mind with the intention of being acted on after you emerge from the trance. Because the conscious mind has been stilled or diverted there is no critical factor preventing the unconscious mind from accepting the suggestion given.
- Pseudo-orientation in time is projecting you into your future, to experience realities of success right now. This enables you to see how much better life will be when you have overcome anything seen as a present problem or obstacle between you and your desired future.
- Age regression is taking you back in time in your own memory, in order to recall events at a particular date or age. This is great for re-contacting the former happy or confident self, etc.
- Time distortion occurs naturally in trance, with the trance appearing much shorter than in reality. Time distortion may also be used as a post-hypnotic suggestion, for example in pain control or to expand the apparent elapsed time for a meal, so that the client thinks they have been eating for 15-20 minutes and so feels very satisfied with the small meal they have ‘eaten’ in hypnosis.
Yes. I am bound by my professional Code of Conduct and Data Protection laws. I am the only person who ever sees your file.
There are many hypnotherapists around and it’s important to find one that is right for you. Take some time to make contact with a few, and find one that you feel you can get on well with. Unlike most hypnotherapists I offer a free initial consultation. This gives you great opportunity to meet me and see if I am the right hypnotherapist for you.
Look for a therapist that is qualified with a UK nationally recognised body such as the General Hypnotherapy Register, (GHR), run by the General Hypnotherapy Standards Council or registered with CNHC. Everyone on these registers is trained to a specific level. A Highly qualified/experienced hypnotherapist will be classed as Senior Practitioner on the GHR.
Some registers abroad allow people to to join with just a days training on an NLP Course.
There are many other registers you may look at too. Make sure the hypnotherapist has full professional liability insurance.
I am a Fellow of ACCPH and Senior Practitioner on the GHR. On my bio page there are links to my professional bodies.
The cost of hypnotherapy varies considerably from practitioner to practitioner. This depends on the type of hypnotherapy and the experience of the therapist. Compared to many sessions of Hypno-analysis I am very inexpensive! You can expect to see them 10-20 sessions at £50. You will see me for 2-4 at £75. You can do the arithmatic yourself!
In fact my fees are fairly average for a Senior Clinical Hypnotherapist. I am a full time hypnotist – not part-time. Many cheaper therapists have a normal job and do hypnotherapy on the side to earn some extra money. I wonder why they only work part-time? Some work from home. Why do they not want to rent a professional office ?
I have almost 30 years of clinical experience behind me and run a fully accredited Clinical Hypnotherapy training school. As in all professions you get what you pay for.