What is the difference between Hypnosis, Self Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy?

There are many misconceptions as what Hypnotherapy is and isn’t.

Having experienced hypnosis, self hypnosis and hypnotherapy these are differences from my perspective.

Hypnosis is that wonderful state of relaxation wether light or deep that we can all access. This may be relaxing in an aromatherapy bubble bath, being engrossed in a book or music, being absorbed in a creative or sporting pursuit or simply day dreaming. There is no therapeutic element and we have all at some time or another experienced this wether we are aware of it or not.

Self Hypnosis is a set of techniques that we can all learn and use to help aid relaxation, focus our mind, improve memory, reduce pain perception, improve physiological factors such as reduction in high blood pressure and can create a great sense of well being for ourselves.

Hypnotherapy uses the relaxation/trance states either lightly or more deeply to help people in situations where they can’t seem to access the resources consciously to make desired changes in their lives. This is the “Therapeutic” element of hypnosis where a qualified practitioner helps the client find these resources by using solution focussed questions and well formed outcomes to elicit the answers to help them move forward emotionally and physically.

Our brains are like computers and we create programming and run those programmes unconsciously, but can be aware consciously of the consequences e.g development of anxiety, a fear or phobia or creating a habit such as nail biting, smoking, over eating. When we perceive problems that we can’t seem to alter at a conscious level we need tools to access the unconscious to reprogramme or erase the unwanted old programming in favour of new more helpful information.

The unconscious mind has a wealth of resources that are not obvious to the conscious mind. A qualified Hypnotherapist will help to guide a client past the critical factor and into this wealth of knowledge that they possess. If there is a feedback loop going on within their subconscious, hypnosis can help locate the lynch pin and remove it. The Hypnotherapist uses language to help the unconscious mind locate such loops and programming and can help the client to install new programming. This can all be done quite conversationally in light relaxed states or in deeper states. We can then teach clients how to keep this programming for as long as it is useful to them, which might be a lifetime for example in the case of stopping smoking or removing certain fears and phobias.

What can Hypnotherapy be used for?

There are probably too many things to put on one page, however here is a list of some of the issues that clients have sought assistance with:

• Anxiety
• Ante-natal Preparation
• Confidence
• Emotional Blocks
• Exam Nerves
• Fears
• Fertility
• Habit Release
• High Blood Pressure
• Irritable Bowel/Bladder Syndrome
• Motivation
• Panic Attacks
• Pain Issues
• Phobias
• Post Natal Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Public Speaking
• Relationship Issues
• Relaxation
• Self Esteem
• Sleep issues
• Stress
• Stopping Smoking
• Weight Issues