Hypnosis itself is not a therapeutic process. Hypnotherapy, is a therapeutic process built upon a foundation of helping, of empathy, and of sincerely desiring to help people make changes, feel positive, and accomplish their goals in life. Hypnosis is a state of natural phenomena, and a vehicle or tool for providing hypnotherapy. Hypnotherapy is the process of bringing about that hypnotic trance state, and the hypnotist is simply the person who is helping another person to experience an induced highlight of the natural trance-phenomena we all experience every day.I have many friends who are stage hypnotists in London, and I have actually done some stage performances myself. Stage hypnosis performance does not require a background in clinical psychology; people from all different career backgrounds can become a stage hypnotist. Stage hypnosis does require learning how to manage a crowd, the basic strategies of induction and putting together a couple of simple, silly scripts, but that’s about it. Whether or not they are a good stage performer and use their skills responsibly, ethically and effectively is an entirely different matter, but truly, performing hypnosis is not something that requires empathy, respect or even care of another individual. Now, I hope that they do have all of those things, because if not, I believe they would be using hypnosis irresponsibly, and it is these human qualities and personal elements that make for a good hypnotist and stage hypnosis show. I am often asked if a person, who is in trance state, can interact – can they talk? And the answer is yes, they most certainly can. If you have ever seen hypnotized subjects interacting and completing assigned tasks at a stage show, there should be no question that they can engage in conversation in the office. During the course of hypnotherapy we want to find out information about our clients in order to be a more effective helper. We will listen to their needs and ask questions during the hypnotherapy session. Clinical hypnosis practice involves interviewing and assessing clients, teaching specific skills, meeting them at their particular point of need, allowing them to verbalize what those needs are and establishing where they are making progress. By doing such it should become clear that clinical hypnosis is not necessarily a one sided endeavor; it is a highly interactive process. Hypnotherapy is a modality of treatment that can incorporate elements not usually categorized as hypnosis. Hypnosis, in and of itself, is not inherently therapeutic; it can be used for entertainment, incorporated into sales, used to enhance persuasion or self-development, and is often experienced accidentally, as mentioned earlier, while driving or going about mundane tasks. Hypnotherapy, on the other hand, is the structured use of hypnosis in a professional environment, with the intention of creating specific remedial or generative changes.
Why use hypnosis? Why use hypnotherapy?
Aren’t there other methods of helping people solve problems – addiction, anxiety, depression, sexual dysfunction, confidence and self-esteem, focus and concentration, headaches, insomnia, weight gain, etc – that are effective? Certainly there are, and I’m not going to knock any other methods.But every individual has different needs, so as a hypnotherapist in London, when someone comes to me with an alcohol or drug addiction problem, I assess which are the best interventions I can provide to help the individual experience relief from their problems, be it via hypnosis, CBT,MBL, or any other strategy designed to help resolve their specific issues.The important concept here is that as healers, we find out what works, what is effective, and we use it.
Let us consider a contrary example from a typical psychiatrist’s office: A client comes in and claims to be suffering from depression. The psychiatrist, being a medical doctor and therefore oriented towards medications, as a first line of intervention, would tell the depressed person that they should take an antidepressant pill. But research shows us that if a person engages in cardiovascular exercise for 40 minutes a day, 3 or 4 times a week, for six weeks or longer, they are exponentially more likely to experience a decrease in the symptoms associated with major depression than if they take antidepressant medications.I am not opposed to antidepressant medications, and I have met a lot of people who, particularly during times of catastrophic depression, have been stabilized on medications. However, when someone comes to me and says, “Hey, I’m depressed and I need a resolution for my depression,” one of the first interventions I will prescribe is that they engage in exercise on a regular basis for a period of six weeks or longer, because I know that they will feel better as a result. Then I will most likely include hypnosis in my repertoire of intervention strategies.
As a Hypnotherapist in London I can assure to help you with all listed problems on my website. My knowledge and experience as a Hypnotherapist, NLP, CBT, MBL practitioner are enough to eliminate unwanted disorders.
