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What Is Hypnotherapy?

Health Articles | Health Products | Therapies | Hypnotherapy

Hypnotherapy An Interview with Alan Crisp by Jane Thurnell-Read

Alan Crisp is a clinical hypnotherapist with a busy practice in Bromley, U.K. I asked him to explain more about hypnotherapy to me.

What is hypnotherapy?

"Hypnotherapy uses an altered state of mind where the conscious and the subconscious all of the mind work in harmony to solve challenges. It's a state of deep relaxation far surpassing anything normally experienced, but it also involves a heightened sense of awareness too.

"Normally we only use the conscious mind to solve problems, but the conscious mind has its limits, but the subconscious mind has all your memories, everything you've ever done, your rules for living etc. The conscious mind is like a fine-tuned laser that picks things out. Hypnotherapy bypasses the conscious mind to work with the subconscious mind - this is the really powerful bit of the mind."

Who can benefit from it?

"Anyone who wants to can benefit, except for people who are seriously mentally ill, very young children and those with serious heart conditions. It also may not be appropriate to use hypnotherapy with people with severe asthma, uncontrolled epilepsy or people with severe learning difficulties.

"Unless it's something straight forward (such as giving up smoking, fear of flying and other phobias, confidence boosting, business/sports performance, etc), I always advise people to consult their doctor first so that organic physical problems can be ruled out.

"People often come for help to give up smoking or lose weight, but the most common problems I help are panic attacks, stress, frequent blushing, anxiety, and phobias. People can have phobias about all sorts of things I treated someone the other day with a button phobia. I also help people with physical problems such as headaches and upset stomachs. Many people have been to see doctors and counsellors before they come to see me."

What happens in a typical hypnotherapy session?

"There isn't really a typical session- if someone comes with phobias or panic attacks, I'd treat them differently to if they came because they wanted to give up smoking. I give a free initial consultation - most hypnotherapists do - to see if the problem is something I feel I can take on. Also the person needs to feel they can trust and work with me.

"The first real session usually lasts about an hour and a half. I ask lots of questions; then I normally hypnotise them, so they can see it's nothing to be afraid of. They see that they will be able to remember everything that happens in the session - no one can make them do something against their will. I do something simple, say, boosting their self confidence. Then I give them a hypnotic CD to take home and listen to each day till their next appointment, usually a week later.

So that's pretty standard, but then in the next session I can take several different approaches depending on the problem. Whatever I do it will involve some form of analysis to find out what caused the problem in the first place.

Under hypnosis I take them back in time to find the event or events that set it all off. For example, a simple case might be where I took an overweight client back to the time when her mother wouldn't let her go out to play unless she finished all the food on her plate. I do this very gently, not leading them, but in their altered state they usually drift back to the right age.

Usually the person will experience a lot of emotions, but then they will feel better. We also use positive suggestions under hypnosis to repair what has happened to help the person to be stronger and more positive, less affected by the event. We often use metaphors because the subconscious mind is more likely to accept things expressed in this way.

Later we look at the events they've experienced with the conscious mind, and they can see that it wasn't their fault or they didn't need to come to that conclusion or whatever. Sometimes we also teach people neuro-linguistic programming techniques that can help them to change how they see things they use those between sessions, as they can help to alter the persons belief system.

I suppose the simplest way of doing hypnotherapy is just to relax the person, put them into a hypnotic state and suggest to them that they will feel better. This works, but it doesn't last, as you need to do more and find out the original trigger to the problem.

How many sessions will be required?

This varies - mostly 3 to 6 sessions - we keep reviewing it as we go along. It starts off as weekly sessions, then goes to two weekly. If they need to come for longer, it usually goes to monthly appointments or even further apart.

How can a good hypnotherapist be found?

I'd recommend people to look for a clinical hypnotherapist as this indicates they are able to use a lot of different techniques. It's best to find a practitioner accredited by a professional hypnotherapy organisation. You could research the organisation on the internet, and then phone them up and ask for a local practitioner. Of course, arecommendation is really good, but often people don't want to tell people they've been to see a hypnotherapist for sexual problems or panic attacks, even when it worked really well.

You can contact Alan by clicking here, or visit his web site by clicking here.

Find a hypnotherapist wherever you are.