Some Main Techniques Of Hypnotherapy
If you are new to hypnotherapy or you are a therapist, there are some things that you may not yet know or heard of. But the first thing to know is that there is some level of hypnosis in all forms of therapy.
Abstraction is one of the main characteristics of the hypnotic state. What this translates to is being physically present in one particular place (i.e. a hypnotherapist’s office) but being psychologically present in another. We experience this to a great degree when we dream at night – while you are physically on your bed, you are psychologically in a different place.
This sometimes happens during therapy, even though the counsellor may not admit it or consider hypnosis as a no go area of their practice, and in treating their client who may be depressed. But the moment the counsellor begins to ask their clients questions about their life and past experiences, and questions that are based on realities that are outside their physical space in the therapy room, they are introducing some level of hypnosis.
The abstraction aspect of hypnosis comes into full play the moment the client becomes psychologically in tune with, for instance, a bankruptcy problem through the previous year than the realities of being present in the therapy room. To the layperson, this is an all too familiar for it be regarded as hypnosis.
It is usually considered much better to instead of dwelling on the past such as by directing them to focus on past negative experiences and events, to instead have them visualize a more positive future. That being said there are therapists who believe in certain ‘therapy dogmas’ such as ‘no pain, no gain’. The world of hypnotherapy has for the most part moved beyond that.
Here are 3 core hypnotherapy techniques that harness the subtle power of the mind.
- Hypnotic visualization
The first step to using hypnosis naturally is to direct the individual’s attention to a time in their life when they felt good and happy about themselves. Once you have successfully gotten the individual to that space in their minds, you can proceed to use those good feelings as a bridge or conduit to therapeutic gain.
Hypnosis is not something that happens when we close our eyes. You can be tuned in to fantasies or memories than with your immediate surroundings even with eyes open. An experienced hypnotherapist is skilled in the area of helping you to direct your attention with or without your eyes closed. One can begin by asking the individual to talk about the last time they experienced a heightened state of happiness, joy, excitement, or when they last felt interested and relaxed.
Proceed by asking the individual to describe those feelings. The choice the client uses in describing these feelings can indicate that they are beginning to notice those feelings growing in their body. You can steer the client in a positive direction by suggesting that they focus on great memories, and if memories are connected to a traumatic experience, you could suggest that certain positive images from the future will come to mind as those negative feelings of e past develop.
You will find that this seems like a very simple process – just like asking someone to describe their feelings during a past event that may be positive or negative.
- Post hypnotic therapy
Post hypnotic suggestions happen all the time, we are just not aware of it. It’s just like a how a stage hypnotist uses the post hypnotic suggestion to wow a crowd, for example, you may hear something like “When I snap my fingers, you will howl like a wolf”. This is the post hypnotic suggestion in play.
Another practical example of post hypnotic suggestion is when a soldier is traumatised by an IED explosion in Iraq. When he returns home months later, and he suddenly hears when he returns home months later, and he suddenly hears a car backfire – this scenario acts as a natural cue for post hypnotic suggestion to feel terrified, recreating an experience similar to what he felt during the initial explosion. We can conclude that PTSD is a post hypnotic suggestion at work.
The placebo effect is another typical example of post hypnotic suggestion; where an individual believes that a pill made from sugar is an effective antidepressant and they go on to recover from depression after using it.
Hypnotic moments are moments when certain expectations are created within the mind. With this in mind, making statements of positive expectations to your client when they reach a certain level of focus where they can hear them and register them in their minds can be highly therapeutic.
- Using hypnotic phenomena to demonstrate that they can change
It is easy to produce certain phenomena such as time-distortion, hand levitation and numbness during hypnosis. Using this technique is a perfect way to demonstrate to your client that they can do things that they had no idea that they could do. For instance, you can help a person overcome public speaking anxiety by teaching them to switch off feeling in their feet by visualising them in a bucket of ice.
Linking this to their anxiety by suggesting to them if they could switch off physical sensation in their feet so easily, then they will be able to switch off the fear associated with public speaking. The hypnotic phenomena can be used to address any form of anxiety that your clients may be confronted with. The interesting thing is that we sometimes use this technique naturally when we are confronted by a certain fear. We may find ourselves mumbling the words “I can do this, it’s a piece of cake” multiple times and try to visualise ourselves overcoming a similar situation in our minds.
Melvin S. Marsh is a certified life coach and hypnotherapist serving Atlanta GA, Augusta GA, Statesboro GA, and Savannah GA. He performs hypnotherapy and life coaching appointments both in person and worldwide virtually. He can be reached at www.afterhourshypnotherapy.com .
