The Six Misconceptions Surrounding Hypnosis

Many people think that hypnosis is some kind of mystical or magical technique. It is extremely common for people to think that the hypnotist may even control the person’s mind, or that you may even lose control of your own mind. There are many misconceptions surrounding hypnosis and this article is simply here to eliminate those misunderstandings and create new beliefs about hypnosis. The very fact that you might fall asleep and never wake up is completely absurd. And the idea that only the very weak willed can be hypnotised is also a misconception that surrounds hypnosis and hypnotherapy, couldn’t be further from the truth.

Hopefully this article will add some clarity on hypnosis it for you. As hypnosis is largely mis-understood, hopefully this article around the six popular misconceptions will allow you to make your own mind up, with the knowledge required to make an informed decision.

Hypnosis is a therapeutic intervention that is practised by many psychologists and even psychiatrists. There are thousands of professional well-certified qualified therapists who are able to assist you to make the changes that you require. Hypnosis works to different degrees with all people, it is also worth noting that hypnosis is an art form as well as a therapeutic intervention. Therefore, the hypnotist who is delivering the hypnosis sessions will also differ in their style, delivery and in a lot of cases success rates too.

These are the main six misconceptions surrounding hypnosis:

• Number 1: Hypnosis is a form of mind control. The actual truth is the therapist is simply a guide in the process. It’s a well-known fact that all hypnosis is self hypnosis. You will be completely aware of the whole process, and your subconscious mind will always check and verify any suggestions that are made to you. So there’s no need to fear that the hypnotherapist could possibly “program” you to do something you don’t want to. Hypnotherapy is a safe and effective intervention that is completely organic in nature and only suggestions that a person agrees with will be followed through with.

• Number 2: Hypnosis is just like sleep. It is easy to see why people assume that hypnosis is just like sleep. In fact the word “sleep” has become synonymous with hypnosis, this is largely due to the stage hypnotists use of this command. The truth is though, in most cases, during a therapy session, the client has an enhanced awareness of their surroundings and what is going on.

• Number 3: Hypnosis creates amnesia. It is also extremely common for people to assume that the hypnotist can make their subject do a crazy act, and forget all about. The real truth is, amnesia through hypnosis is extremely rare. It said that only the highly suggestible 5% of the population would experience some level of amnesia if suggested. However, during a therapeutic hypnotherapy session, amnesia would very rarely be used as it simply serves little or no purpose.

• Number 4: Hypnosis is a supernatural and magical practice. As a hypnotist, I really wish this part was true. Hypnosis certainly isn’t a product of the mysterious. It’s about technique and not mistake. For many decades now, hypnosis has been recognised by medical associations worldwide as an effective therapeutic tool for a massive range of mental health problems. I suppose is the fact that hypnosis can be so powerful which leads people to believe that there may be something not of this earth going on.

• Number 5: Sometimes people don’t awaken from hypnosis. How many times have you fallen asleep and then woken up several days later? How many people do you know that have fallen asleep and not woken up for days, weeks or even months? I bet you don’t! Even though the word sleep is synonymous with hypnosis, the hypnotic trance day is nothing more than a day-dream, therefore I’m sure you can understand that it is impossible to not wake up from. In some cases, clients do drift off very deeply, in just the same way that they could during a deep restful sleep. In all cases though, they will always wake up feeling fresh revived and invigorated.

• Number 6: Hypnosis only worked for the weak willed. I do think that this misconception is slowly beginning to disappear from the publics’ eye. More quickly now than it has done in the past, simply because so many celebrities and notable figures turned to hypnosis for so many reasons. The sheer amount of celebrities that have undertaken hypnotherapy treatment for something now gives the impression that hypnosis is for anyone. Not only that, from my experience, and from experience that is well documented, in most cases the people that find the deepest level of trance more quickly and more easily, are in fact the highly educated and creative.

I hope this article has shed more light on to the truth of hypnosis, and what it is and what isn’t. More and more people will begin to understand hypnosis in the future, simply because of the constant media coverage and interest by the public. Humans have evolved amazingly well over the past 2000 or so years, and technological advances that have been made are truly a standing. Unfortunately though, little has been done to understand the subconscious mind, the part that runs the vast majority of all of our processes. Hypnosis is a fantastic tool to understand and utilise the subconscious mind to its maximum. And thanks to hypnosis, people can now experience life in ways that they never believed possible. Removing phobias, anxiety, panic to transforming peoples lives by losing weight and breaking an addiction. These are just some of the things that are possible. If your mind could be more open using hypnosis, what could you achieve?

About the author: Michael Sweet is a clinical hypnotherapist based in London. He is also a master practitioner of NLP and hypnotherapy trainer.