Does Hypnosis work?

One of the most common questions that people ask me is, "does hypnosis work?"

I guess that this comes from a perception, probably deserved, that stage hypnotism is hypnosis and that its use extends to making people "cluck like a chicken." This is because stage hypnotism and the shows that Paul McKenna used to do are often the only reference point that folk have for "hypnosis." Interestingly, he no longer does stage shows because (I am sure) he realises that it detracts - in some regards - from the positive clinical uses of hypnotherapy.

So what is "trance" and how would you know you were in one? And how do you know you aren't in a trance now???!

Well, the truth is that we are always in a certain state, feeling or level of consciousness. You might think of yourself as always being in a state of "trance." It might be a "happy" trance, a "forgetful" trance, an "absorbed in a TV program" trance, a "speaking to my best friend" trance of a thousand other different experiences. When these things happen, you tend to notice only what it immediately apparent and not notice other things. In fact trance can be defined as "a state of narrow and focused attention where a person focuses on one thing to the exclusion of all else."

I remember one of the first times I went into a formal hyponotic trance was when Paul McKenna defined hypnosis in a class as "the eradication of the multiplicity of the foci of attention." Whooa Paul...slow down...but of course that's what I did!

So anytime that you go inside and daydream, get absorbed in something, drive your car on autopilot, start to imagine things or become totally engrossed in a film to the point where that's all you are aware of, then you are using your body's natural ability to switch off from high end beta brainwave pattern functioning - and starting to relax into a a place where you have more access to latent abilities.

A competent and skilled hypnotherapist can help you get their quicker, deeper and also "re-script" your unconscious mind with new suggestions that you consciously want, but don't seem able to make into a habit - like stopping smoking.

So, yes hypnosis works, but only if you want to chill out and make changes more quickly and easily!