SO WHAT IS HYPNOSIS?

Broadly speaking hypnosis is a naturally occurring phenomenon used widely throughout the world by many Doctors, Dentists, Psychologists and Psychotherapists.  Often referred to as "Trance" it is simply a mind skill, a way to communicate with the problem solving part of the human mind.  If you think of trance as a mystical control state, where the recipient is unconscious, asleep or has had their mind  "taken over", you would be absolutely wrong - there is no truth in this whatsoever.  When used with psychotherapeutic techniques and suggestion, hypnosis can be a very effective form of treatment in the management of many disorders both physical and psychological.

Although it is difficult to precisely define the nature of hypnosis, it can best be described as state of profound physical and mental relaxation, during which we become inwardly focused, aware of our immediate reality but with a comfortable sense of detachment from it.

Without realizing it you already experience everyday trance states, for example - daydreaming.  When we daydream we become inwardly focused, completely involved in some memory or imaginary experience, even to the point of not being aware of someone not talking to us - we become detached from the external world.  Another example is having driven a car on a journey which you have covered many times before to find, when you arrive at your destination, that you have no memory of a part or parts of the journey.  Actors and actresses are in a trance when they become totally immersed in the role they are playing, to the exclusion of all else.  Being in love is a most profound trance state - don't we do strange things in the name of love!   Reading a book, listening to music, watching television are all trance states where you become so involved with what you are doing that you don't notice how time has slipped by or how deeply you have relaxed.

There are of course many similarities between these familiar trances and formal trance.  In formal trance though, the therapist will assist you to, as it were, "tune in" to this unique ability and help you use it in a far more focussed and structured way.  With the correct therapeutic approach it is possible to directly influence the unconscious mind, gaining access to part of our vast learning experience, searching for resources that we seldom believe we have and discovering change sometimes in a dramatic way.

WHAT IS HYPNOTHERAPY

Hypnotherapy involves the use of psychotherapy and other therapeutic techniques in association with hypnosis, in order to create positive change, whether it be to control weight, improve self esteem, manage emotional problems, overcome anxiety, or many other conditions which you will find listed elsewhere.

People try to rely upon the limited capacities of their conscious mind for direction and support, even though the unconscious mind has more resources and a better sense of reality.  Consciously we tend to be very critical and will often over analyse when attempting to problem solve.  This will then  produce unproductive results such as anxiety, worry, confusion and in some cases a loss of belief.  We then become locked in a feedback loop of negative thinking, which in turn encourages us to believe we have no longer a sense of control.  Then that old habit negative self talk cuts in to remind us how "it won't work for me", or "what's the point it will probably go wrong", or "I'm a failure" and so on.  Many people, often through the experience they had while growing up, develop defensive negative attitudes, 


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