Hypnotherapy Facts

What is hypnotherapy?

Hypnosis is bringing a person into a deeply relaxed state of being. Without the constant stimulation and distration coming in from the eyes, a person can explore their inner world more freely. The deep state of relaxation can allow a person to overcome inhibitions and defenses that may be obstacles in conventional talk therapy.

Hypnotherapy is using the trance state to access the subconscious. From there, a hypnotherapist can give healing suggestions, or explore the roots of a troubling issue.

What are the advantages of hypnotherapy?

After surveying over 2000 journal articles, Dr. Alfred Barrios came up with the following recovery rates:

Type of therapy	Recovery rates	Number of sessions
Hypnotherapy	93%	6
Behavior therapy	72%	22
Psychoanalysis	38%	600

It is important to remember that these are aggregate numbers and should not be interpreted to imply that any condition can be helped in 6 hypnotherapy sessions. Hypnosis for smoking cessation, which has been found to be twice as effective as the "patch" (American College of Chest Physicians, 2007) might only take one session, while other long standing issues may take many sessions.

A video explaining the basics of hypnotherapy


Will I know what is happening?

Almost certainly. Only a rare few (called somnambulists) will go so deep into trance that they will not recall the hypnotherapy.

You will likely be in a deeply relaxed state but you will be aware of the room and what is being said to you. You can even wake yourself up if you want to. With the exception noted above, you will remember everything that happened during the hypnosis.

Will I remember events that I would rather not know?

You might. Troubling symptoms are frequently connected to an earlier trauma. You can choose to avoid hypnotherapy if you fear discovering troubling memories. If you are having troubling symptoms though, hypnotherapy can help you get to root of them.

There are therapies that seek to address only the symptom and they can be effective. But treating only the symptom has its limitiations. For example, when you repress the feelings associated with a trauma, you pay a price. A study revealed that emotional repression is associated with degraded memory and verbal ability (Richards, Gross, 1999). It makes sense that when you are repressing your feelings, the mind uses memory and logic to do so.

The type of hypnotherapy practiced at Adaptive Therapy seeks to address the root cause (or causes) of your symptoms and aims to release the emotions associated with them.

Is hypnotherapy helpful for physical problems?

Yes. Hypnotherapy has been shown to help with pain management. A review of the literature by the journal Pain Review found "There is sufficient evidence, of sufficient quality, for a number of high-quality review studies to have concluded that hypnosis has demonstrable efficacy in the treatment of pain" (2001)

IBS has also been shown to respond to hypnotherapy. According to the American Journal of Gastroenterology "hypnotherapy remains an extremely effective treatment for irritable bowel syndrome" (2002)

It is important to note that hypnotherapy is not a substitute for medical evaluation and treatment.

References

American College of Chest Physicians (2007, October 24). Hypnotherapy For Smoking Cessation Sees Strong Results. ScienceDaily. Retrieved September 22, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071022124741.htm

Barrios, A.A. (1970). Hypnotherapy: A reappraisal. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice. 7(1), pp. 2-7.

Gonsalkorale W., Houghton L., Whorwell P. (2002) Hypnotherapy in irritable bowel syndrome: a large-scale audit of a clinical service with examination of factors influencing responsiveness. American Journal of Gastroenterology 97(4), pp. 954-961.

Hawkins, R (2001) A systematic meta-review of hypnosis as an empirically supported treatment for pain. Pain Review, 8(4), pp. 47-73.

Richards, J. M., & Gross, J. J. (2000). Emotion regulation and memory: The cognitive costs of keeping one's cool. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, pp. 410-424.