So we've all heard about Hypnotherapy, but what we've actually seen on TV and what is the truth are entirely different in practice. Pretty much everyone has seen Paul McKenna, and the staged type settings where typically they have supposed unsuspecting and rather performative, eagerly awaiting member's of the public, who are apparently hypnotized into clucking like a chicken, to bark like a dog, or to look quite frankly utterly ridiculous, and let's face it, funny. After all it is about stage presence and attracting a crowd, and it certainly does that! But, as a qualified Clinical Hypnotherapist I can assure you that when we see clients, sessions are far from what you've seen on TV, and thank God! In fact it is so far from reality, stage hypnotism to therapy, it's really doing those of us working in a clinical setting a disservice.
Clinical Hypnotherapy is a form of psychotherapy (talking therapy) mixed with trance. The word trance is what makes people freak slightly, but trance is a perfectly ordinary state of mind that we all go into naturally, and don't often realise that we do it many times a day. You might have driven from A to B and realised you've briefly missed part of the journey for a few seconds or minutes and not remembered some of it, or you might have experienced trance performing your favourite hobby. You think your mind is switched off, zoned out, or daydreaming, it is all what we call trance. It's something that is totally natural and you are still fully in control. In fact, our minds are not switched off during these times, but switched on. We've honed out all the brain chatter for a few minutes and are simply enjoying that bliss for a few seconds.
Hypnotherapists cannot make you do anything you don't want to do, we don't have that level of control, and we don't want it either! Trance is where the conscious and subconscious minds meet, and in that relaxed state of mind we can be open to positive suggestion. Twenty minutes of trance is as restorative to the brain as four hours of sleep is. That's how therapeutic, and beneficial it is for you. So you can totally put all that showman hypnosis stuff to one side, in fact bin it, forget it altogether and understand just how relaxing and positive hypnotherapy can be - so very different to stage hypnosis. In Solution Focused Hypnotherapy, we look to the future, you're best hopes, and work together in small achievable steps to bring about amazing change. Clinical Hypnotherapy is science based, its works quite literally on neuroscience and the brain's ability to rewire itself called neuroplasticity, but that's another blog.
They'll be no clucking going on here thank you very much!
By Georgia McCormick
Clinical Hypnotherapist and Psychotherapist.
Owner of Grey Matters Hypnotherapy.
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