Hypnosis has not been widely embraced in coaching psychology despite its widespread use in psychotherapy as an alternative therapeutic intervention. This situation can be attributed to the limitations of hypnosis especially within the area of sporting psychology, or to the lack of interest by researchers to conduct relevant studies on the topic. However, many researchers argue that hypnosis can as well be applied in this area to enhance individual performance. The need to apply hypnosis in sports coaching points to its potential to increase self-efficacy, and this might be the reason why many people are advocating for its use within this field. Self-efficacy is regarded as one of the crucial psychological variables. Although hypnosis is expected to enhance performance and self-efficacy of sports people, there is still need for extensive research to determine how it can be professionally and individually applied in sports coaching.
According to Palmer (2019), hypnosis can be applied in coaching and coaching psychology to enhance performance, to eliminate performance anxiety, as well as to enhance one’s self-efficacy. However, one of the critical factors that should be considered is the relationship between the coach and the people they train. Issues relating to practice, boundary and ethical issues must be properly addressed before hypnosis is incorporated in this field. This researcher calls for the development of effective guidelines for the application of hypnosis in practice psychology. Moreover, there is need for hypnosis training and regular supervision of coaching and monitoring depending on the level of professionalism. In some cases, it is mandatory to ensure that these requirements are met because some countries even put various restrictions that sometimes require licensing.
Armatas (2009) argues that hypnosis has been applied in various ways to enhance human abilities. It has specifically been used to promote leadership, team and personal development, as well as in managing anxiety, enhancing learning experience, and performance of students and athletes. It has been argued that hypnosis improves one’s access to information and helps one to feel the sense of safety when dealing with personal issues, which can be a beneficial factor for developmental coaching. Accordingly, this therapeutic technique has been used to enhance performance or to increase an individual’s therapeutic results. Since other psychotherapeutic techniques have since proved successful in sports coaching, it is believed that hypnotic techniques can also be incorporated in this filed by coaching professionals to attain the same results.
Armatas (2009) adds that although quite a god number of hypnotic techniques have been developed, only specific types may be applicable in sports coaching. Some of the hypnotic strategies that can be used in sports coaching include age, regression, self-hypnosis, and age-progression. Self-hypnosis is always preferred by most psychotherapists because it allows for active participation and reinforces what has already been covered during the normal sessions with the therapists. Age-progression is a technique used to focus in the future. Coaches can apply the technique to progress to the future by administering techniques that help individuals adapt to the future. In age-regression, individuals are helped to relive in the past memories and using the same to improve one’s imagination for positive outcomes.
Thus, hypnotic strategies can be used by sports professionals or coaches to attain their coaching objectives. The techniques can be incorporated into a coaching psychologist’s toolkit just as the other psychological techniques have been applied in coaching. Hypnotic suggestions can be used by coaching professionals to increase trainee’s response to training, which will lead to significant changes in their psychology and performance.
References
Armatas, A. (2009). Coaching Hypnosis: Integrating hypnotic strategies and principles in coaching. International Coaching Psychology Review, 4(2), 174-183.
Palmer, S. (2019). Using hypnosis in coaching psychology practice to enhance performance, reduce anxiety and increase self-efficacy. Coaching Psykologi-The Danish Journal of Coaching Psychology, 8(1), 57-70.
Melvin S. Marsh is a certified hypnotherapist and life coach serving Atlanta GA, Augusta GA, Statesboro GA, and Savannah GA. He performs hypnotherapy appointments both in person and worldwide virtually. He can be reached at www.afterhourshypnotherapy.com .
