The Science of Hypnosis

Hypnosis is one of the most fascinating yet least understood forms of therapy available. Thanks to television plots and shows, hypnosis is often only seen as entertainment. Hypnosis is valuable form of therapy for physical and mental health.

Trained therapists who studied cognitive and clinical neuroscience can perform clinical and experimental hypnosis on patients with incredible results.

This form of treatment works in many ways to help people of all ages with various mental and physical conditions and ailments. A hypnotic session can assist with issues such as pain control, losing weight, and quitting smoking.

Here are a few facts about the science of hypnosis that will dispel some of the myths, and totally blow your mind.

Medical Treatment

Hypnosis, also known as hypnotherapy has many doubters even though it’s been accepted form of medical treatment since the 1950s. The number of people seeking appointments with hypnotherapists increases year after year.

Hypnotherapy is a healthy alternative treatment to control fears, negative behaviours, and mental health without using medication. Hypnotherapists access a patient’s subconscious mind but it is something many of us do daily without realizing it.

Completely Awake

No matter what your beliefs are, hypnotism is a natural state of mind, it is not a form of sleep. Its scientifically proven that patients remain wide awake and in complete control of their actions while under hypnosis.

Self-Hypnosis

Believe it or not, you can enter a hypnotic state at least twice a day. Have you ever arrived at your destination without a memory of driving there?

Zoned out while reading, became engrossed in a tv show that you missed half the day, experienced involuntary sleep hypnosis.

You don’t need a hypnotist to hypnotise you, you can do it all by yourself. A French psychologist named Emile Coue, developed a technique where a person can suppress all mental resistance and enter a hypnotic state.

Stage and Clinical Hypnosis

The first thing people tend to think when you mention “hypnosis”, is a stage performance. Stage hypnosis is where a hypnotist chooses random people and put them to sleep. From here he will make them do hilarious tricks for laughs.

Stage hypnosis is there for entertainment nothing more and has little to do with clinical hypnosis.

Clinical hypnosis is an accepted form of therapy to help people overcome various ailments through strategic suggestions and a relaxed mind.

Complete Control

Occasionally hypnosis will appear on tv, usually as part of a storyline where the hypnotized person is portrait as a puppet. But those that are in a relaxed state of hypnosis will remain in complete control.

Being in a hypnotic state you will be able to hear, comprehend, and remember what the hypnotist suggested. Don’t be concerned you will not be made to cluck like a chicken or go off on a murder spree while hypnotized.

Conditions and Ailments

There are various reasons why people would seek out hypnotherapists. Hypnotherapy can help you overcome your fears and phobias, assist with weight loss and to stop smoking.

It can also help with negative and traumatizing memories and insomnia. Parents of children with ADHD found that hypnotherapy has a positive and drug-free effect on their children.

Memory Loss

At stage shows or on tv you always see hypnotized people who never seem to remember what happened during their hypnosis. However, as above mentioned, hypnotized people always remain awake and aware throughout a session.

Hypnosis is about suggestion and if the purpose is to forget negative memories or rid themselves of false memories, then that will be achieved. If the goal is to forget memories, then that will be achieved but even those memories can be brought back through further suggestion.

Your Brain

It is a common misconception that one can become stuck in a hypnotized trance. People never lose control of their minds or body and can come out of a hypnotized state just by opening their eyes.

Hypnosis allows the brain to bypass the conscious part of the mind by turning off the desire to ask questions or take note of its surroundings. The brain gains hyperawareness, a state of being in control of one’s body and surroundings without consciously thinking about it.

Just remember hypnosis can have a different effect from person to person and not everyone will have the same experience in the end.