Articles provided by RE-Sterling.com

THE DEFINITION OF HYPNOTISM: Hypnosis is a state of hyper-suggestibility where the conscious and the subconscious mind dissociate. It is an altered state of mind where the hypnotized patient is more likely to believe the operator's suggestions.

You have been in hypnosis many times without even realizing it. If you have ever watched a sad T.V. show and reacted with a tear in your eye, you have been hypnotized. You entered a state of increased suggestibility where you uncritically accepted the suggestion of misery on the TV screen and reacted with a sad emotion, your tear. In other words, your ability to impose logic, which is controlled by your conscious mind, was bypassed. You did not reason that the show was just a play; you accepted the drama as being genuine. So you reacted with real passion and shed a tear.

WHO CAN BE PLACED IN HYPNOSIS? Hypnotherapists have found that all normal people can be hypnotized to a greater or lesser extent. Subjects with the I.Q. of the moron level of intelligence or less generally are not hypnotizable. People who are actively psychotic usually are not hypnotizable. Most senile people are difficult or impossible to hypnotize. I have found in my own private professional practice dealing with many retired people as old as 85 years of age, that self-hypnosis is a powerful and beneficial system for many people. A person's motivation is the key to his or her success.

DO I HAVE TO BE A "DEEP" SUBJECT TO BE SUCCESSFUL? For the healing applications of self-hypnosis we most often deal with, hypnotic depth isn't required. One can be the lightest possible subject and still receive all of the benefits from self-hypnosis that the deepest subjects will obtain. I strongly believe that over the years, far too much importance has been placed on how deep a subject can go. If the client is deep, it can be beneficial. This however, is not necessarily the case. In reality, with the latest hypnotic techniques like Ericksonian self-hypnosis and state of the art "NLP" (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), hypnotic depth is one of the least imperative aspects, which create a successful outcome.

ARE THERE ANY DANGERS IN HYPNOTISM? There are essentially no dangers to the practice of self-hypnosis. It is impossible to "get stuck" in self-hypnosis. The most awful thing that can happen while a patient is in the hypnotic state is that she might fall into a natural state of sleep for 20 or 30 minutes. She would awaken rested and no longer in a state of self hypnosis.

MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT HYPNOSIS: There are many misnomers about self-hypnosis. Most of the misnomers are due to stage and TV acts. As luck would have it, it's on account of the fact that the TV can hypnotize you that these misnomers are so strongly entrenched in people's minds.

IS HYPNOTISM SLEEP? The largest misconception about self-hypnosis is that it's sleep. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you are asleep, you are unconscious. If you are unconscious, you can't hear anything. If you can't hear anything, then the hypnotherapist can't help you. Hypnosis is a state of keen awareness. The subject is wide-awake and aware of everything around her. This misconception comes from the stage Hypnotist's use of the word "sleep" as analogous to the hypnotic state. When the old time hypnotist swung a pocket watch in front of his subject's face, he told his subject that she was getting "sleepy." Then he told his subject to "go to sleep." What he meant was to go into a hypnotic sleep, not a natural sleep.

IS THERE A HYPNOTIZED FEELING? The second largest misconception about hypnosis is that there is a hypnotized feeling. There is no particular hypnotized feeling. I repeat there is no particular hypnotized feeling. Most people feel very relaxed when in a hypnotic state, as relaxation seems to be the essence of self hypnosis. Some people feel heavy. Some people feel light. Some people have other sensations and feelings. Other people have absolutely no feeling that they are in a state of hypnosis, and believe they have not been hypnotized when they most definitely have.

CAN THE HYPNOTHERAPIST CONTROL ME? NO! A hypnotherapist can't make you do anything against your will. There is always an observing ego state. Should the hypnotist make an offensive suggestion; this ego state would reject that suggestion. Additionally, you will probably come out of hypnosis if the hypnotist makes an offensive suggestion.

CAN THE THERAPIST FORCE ME TO DIVULGE MY SECRETS? You won't divulge any secrets while in a state of hypnosis unless you want to do so. The therapist doesn't have any control over the subject. Quite the contrary, the subject has more control over herself since at this time she can directly communicate with her own subconscious mind. The subject can easily decline any suggestion the therapist makes, no matter how simple or complicated the suggestion might be. The subject can open her eyes, emerge from the state of self-hypnosis, and exit the room at any time she chooses.

MUST PEOPLE TELL THE TRUTH WHEN IN SELF HYPNOSIS? NO! People can lie when in hypnosis.

DO HYPNOTISTS HAVE SUPERNATURAL VIBRATIONS? This is a common misconception. The therapist doesn't have any special powers, nor does he have any special vibrations with which to hypnotize you into the state of hypnosis. Actually, all hypnosis is self-hypnosis. The therapist leads the subject into a state of self hypnosis. In other words, the ability of self-hypnosis is within the subject.

WHY DO PEOPLE FAIL TO REACH THEIR GOALS USING HYPNOTISM? Perhaps the main reason for the inability to reach one's goals through self-hypnosis is an insufficient amount of practice where self-hypnosis is concerned.

The most common reason for the return of a symptom or "relapse" is the premature discontinuance of self-hypnosis with the Hypno-therapist or recorded program. While self-hypnosis is important, it is generally the hetero-hypnosis with the therapist or hypnosis recording which has the greatest impact upon the subconscious mind.

This is because of the experience that the therapist has vs. the lack of experience of the client. Some people are penny wise and pound-foolish. They mentally set an amount of time that they are willing to spend for help. And then they prematurely stop their sessions because; "I didn't lose 50 Lbs. in two days, so it isn't working."

If a therapeutic method is really helping one to make their desired changes, then it is invaluable and it should be continued. It is for this reason that it is wise to have follow up self hypnosis sessions, even after a symptom seems to have disappeared completely. Self-hypnosis should be an ongoing affair on a daily basis. Ultimately, YOUR SUCCESS IS UP TO YOU!

WILL I BE BETTER OFF HIRING A HYPNOTIST, OR WILL PURCHASING A RECORDED PROGRAM WORK BETTER? That is a great question. Normally I would recommend that you use the services of a reputable therapist. The reason is that by meeting with you, a good therapist / NLP'er will be able to customize his approach to your personality and your favored representational system -- the way you favor taking in information through your senses to make sense out of it and react to it.

In my opinion, 99% of the recorded self hypnosis programs available at this time are strictly Traditional Hypnosis, and are made up of only one or maybe two sessions of it at that. Traditional Hypnosis is nothing more than a set of direct suggestions: "If you eat a brownie you will throw up." "You will not have urges," and so forth. This technology has an unbelievably poor track record of success because everyone of our generation has been taught to question everything. That's why you, your friends, and your kids usually do the opposite of what they are told to do. This is called a polarity response.

That being said, having personalized sessions with any therapist / NLP'er who has enough experience to be able to actually help you can cost a great deal of money. There are some hypnotic programs that are based on Ericksonian Hypnosis and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) that have overcome those shortcomings. They've managed this by utilizing a mix of Traditional Hypnosis, Ericksonian Hypnosis, NLP, and the highly regarded Video Hypnosis technology.

These are all modalities that are designed to overcome the resistance factor. In fact, Video Hypnosis and the NLP technology that it's based on do not utilize post-hypnotic suggestions at all. These technologies rely on using the thought processes that have created a problem, to eliminate it!

Look for vendors who offer these methodologies in multi-session products. These are programs that generally have six to eight different hypnosis sessions, so you are exposed to a broad variety of technologies. It takes a lot of work to make this type of program, but the high success rates achieved are well worth the trouble.

Stay away from the "one size fits all" -- "do-or-die" self-hypnosis CDs and downloads. Many people are attracted to these CDs because they are very inexpensive, usually under ten dollars. But is it cheap if it just wastes your valuable time and does not work?

If you order something and it does not work, then you get suspicious and start to expect the next approach to fail. And you get what you expect. Do you really think that the same exact suggestions will work for everyone? Do you think that they will work for you? Do you usually do exactly as you are told? Or do you usually feel the desire to do the opposite of what you are told?

(c) 2007 By Alan B. Densky, CH. This document may be re-printed as long as it is not altered and the author's name and clickable links are retained.