What do you think of when you hear the word Hypnosis? People actually go in and out of natural Hypnotic states every day! Have you ever really gotten into a book and lost track of time? That is a natural state of Hypnosis. The trance one is in while reading a book is the same trance state one experiences during Clinical Hypnotherapy.
People become naturally hypnotized quite often while driving for long distances. Losing awareness of time, maybe thinking about the scenery, or becoming deep in thought is a Hypnotic Trance. Have you ever missed your exit on the highway? I have and the reason is the natural state of hypnosis that sometimes evolves while driving.
Two other times during the day where you are in a natural state of Hypnosis is just before fully waking up in the morning when you just don’t want to get out of bed and the time just before you fall asleep in the evening.
The belief that the Hypnotist will take control over your body is absolutely false! Just like when you are in a trance reading a book and the telephone rings or somebody comes into the room you come out of the trance. One is fully aware of one’s surroundings during Hypnosis. The experience is more like being totally relaxed caught up in a daydream. There is no danger and Hypnosis is very safe provided your hypnotherapist is properly licensed and properly trained.
The American Medical Association states that “the use of hypnosis has a recognized place in the medical armamentarium that is a useful technique in the treatment of certain illnesses when employed by qualified medical and dental personnel.”
Hypnosis is not becoming unconscious where people can get a person to do something against their value system. One becomes totally relaxed and is in full control of their surroundings and is fully aware of what is being said to them. If a person should fall asleep then they are no longer in a hypnotic state. Sleeping or becoming unconscious is not Hypnosis. Hypnosis is a trance-like state that is just like really getting into a movie, a book or being so focused on a topic that one loses awareness of time.
Hypnosis focuses on two parts of the mind: the conscious and the unconscious. The unconscious mind holds onto personal beliefs about oneself, automatic habits, memories both good and bad and how a person defines who he or she is, one’s body image, one’s capabilities, one’s successes and one’s failures. Self esteem, how one interacts with peers, and one’s defense mechanisms come from the unconscious mind.
A hypnotherapist can actually communicate with someone’s unconscious mind to help them change the way they think about themselves and change dysfunctional habits. Hypnosis has the highest efficacy in the treatment of anxiety based disorders such as PTSD and Irritable Bowel Syndrome. These are just a few of the many issues that can be effectively treated with hypnotherapy.
The conscious mind is what is being actually thought about or decisions made in tbhe present. For example, I am going to read this book is from the conscious mind. Waking up afraid at night or the thought what is the use I can’t do it anyway comes from the unconscious part of the mind.