Month: January 2019

I want to share a story about something I was reading. I was reading a book Called “a critical history of hypnotism” by Rosenfeld. He goes through the long history of the different ways that hypnotism has been used and studied by different people.

Since the 1770’s we have been trying to understand hypnosis and “mesmerism”. That’s something to think about, when the United States was fighting the revolutionary war, at the same time, in Europe they were already trying to understand hypnosis.

…it is no wonder hypnosis has such a misunderstood reputation, given it’s long history.

What he describes in the book is that they used to believe that hypnosis was some kind of overload of the nervous system. They thought the hypnotist forced the person in to hypnosis by overwhelming their senses in some way. This led to several disturbing procedures where they would bang very loud gongs next to the client’s ears, and shine intense sunlight in their open eyes in the hopes of somehow overloading their system and taking them in to hypnosis. And even more, there was one account that when hypnosis was concluding, they needed to kick the patient in the genitals to bring them back out of hypnosis! They thought that somehow the pain of being kicked, slapped, and punched was needed to bring the hypnosis to an end.

Now one of the points of his book is that it is no wonder hypnosis has such a misunderstood reputation, given it’s long history.

And I think it’s also a good illustration of the contrast with the new thoughts on hypnosis. We now believe that hypnosis isn’t a thing that is done to you, it’s something you do for yourself. Everyone can do it, and the hypnotist is more like a coach, helping you get to that state of mind more quickly. I think that perception still exists, that hypnosis is a special power I have learned, and I’m going to cast a spell on my client or something. I view it more as I just coach my clients to get to that more relaxed and focused state of mind more quickly and more deeply. I’m the outside person encouraging them to allow themselves to focus on themselves.

Sometimes I answer questions on the social website Quora.com. In one of the discussions someone essentially asked “why is hypnosis different from therapy?” They essentially were challenging the idea that hypnosis doesn’t help anyone, and plain old talk therapy would be just as good. So I thought it was a great question, and I wanted to share my answer here on the bog because I think it could really clarify a question lots of people have.

It is true that hypnosis never cured anyone of anything. The fix comes from solid therapeutic strategies, the same as traditional talk therapy. The difference is that hypnosis allows the therapy to progress at a dramatically increased pace.

It is true that hypnosis never cured anyone of anything.

As an example from my practice; people with depression often have trouble with the skill of compartmentalizing their thoughts. They allow work thoughts to intrude when they are trying to sleep and they let past events come to mind when they are planning their future. So I could talk with them each week about the importance of compartmentalizing thoughts. But while I’m talking they are analyzing what I’m saying, and thinking of reasons why it won’t work and embarrassed that they have to see a therapist, and did they put the trash out this morning. But after a few weeks at one session, they will be focused and the stars will align and they will be focused and really hear and learn the principle of compartmentalization. And then progress is made.

In contrast, if a client agrees to hypnotherapy, I can jump right in to images of putting our problems in a glass case and telling stories that engage the imagination and creative thinking that are all designed to suggest and illustrate the concept of compartmentalization. The next week they come back, and they may not even know why but intrusive thoughts no longer bother them. There is an automaticity to this skill that lets us move on to the next step of treatment right away.

If you found this interesting, check out another post where I discuss some of the research that has been done on hypnosis