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What is Hypnotherapy?
According to the Collins English Dictionary the definition of Hypnosis is
an artificially induced state of relaxation in which the mind is more than usually receptive to suggestion.
Although having been practiced in one form or another for thousands of years - the ancient Egyptians are said to have used it, the story of Hypnosis has been littered throughout history with quirky individuals and flamboyant showmen. Because of this the subject is still surrounded today by myths and misconceptions.
Here are some of the most common
- You’re asleep when you’re hypnotised
- You’re unconscious when you’re hypnotised
- A Hypnotist can make someone do something illegal or immoral when under hypnosis
- People can only be ‘woken up’ by the person who hypnotised them
Whilst it is true that the word Hypnosis is derived from the Greek word Hypnos meaning sleep, it is purely because the closest analogy to Hypnosis in familiar experience is sleep. However the key difference is that when hypnotised you are aware of incoming sensory data, such as the hypnotherapists voice and are perfectly able to carry on a conversation. In fact because you are focused on the therapists voice to the exclusion of virtually everything else around you, you often feel more awake than at other times and may experience a heightened sense of vigilance.
Under Hypnosis you cannot be compelled to do something that falls outside of your social, moral or ethical boundaries, in fact if you were asked to do so you would simply come back to normal consciousness.
As for ‘waking up’ it is true that a very few individuals are hard to dehypnotise, but left alone they would either gently wake up of their own accord or fall asleep.
Milton Erickson (1901 - 1980) arguably the most respected and famous Hypnotherapist in the world, whose influence has been enormous defined hypnosis as follows
a special psychological state with certain physiological attributes, resembling sleep only superficially, and characterised by a functioning of the individual at a level of awareness other than the ordinary state, a level of awareness termed, for convenience in conceptualisation, unconscious or subconscious awareness.
Essentially this phenomena allows us direct access to the wisdom - as Erickson would have put it - of the unconscious mind.
If you are interested in knowing more about Hypnosis and it’s origins, I would recommend a book called Hidden Depths, The Story of Hypnosis by Robin Waterfield.
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