Hello Lightwithin,

You ask about hypnosis - I am a retired fully qualified psychoanalyst/hypnotherapist/psychologist so I think that I may be able to help.

Hypnosis is a very relaxed state of altered consciousness and in the hands of a qualified hypnotherapist/psychoanalyst is a very good tool. The difference between a hypnotherapist and a psychoanalyst is that a hypnotherapist works mainly with symptomatic therapy for helping with traumas, physical symptoms of disease and helping to stop habits like smoking, drinking etc. by suggestion therapy.
A psychoanalyst helps traumas, phobias, emotional problems, nervous disorders etc. by rooting out the cause and helping the client to deal with the cause, in turn this deals with the symptoms. This is done through hypnosis.

Most people can be hypnotised, apart from someone under the influence of drink or drugs, or someone who is mentally impaired or retarded and very young children.

You have to be willing to be hypnotised because you cannot be hypnotised against your will, likewise you cannot carry out suggestions given to you under hypnosis unless you agree with them because if you are told to do something that goes against your grain you will just come out of hypnosis. There is absolutely NO WAY that it is BRAINWASHING!

A therapist has to abide by a very strict code of ethics and should display their qualifications in their office/therapy room together with their code of ethics. They should also have up to date insurance and the certificate should also be displayed. This is for their own protection as much as yours. Also this way you can see that you aren't being treated by a 'quack' and that they have been trained throughly. There are often good therapists listed in the Yellow Pages or you can find the phone number for the British Association of Hypnotherapists and they will suggest one of their qualified therapists (maybe even specialising in your aliment) that is local to you.

Many people say that they haven't been hypnotised when in actual fact they have. This is because they are aware of everything that is going on around them, in hypnosis, they just aren't bothered by them. In fact your senses are heightened whilst in hypnosis and if there were a fire for example, you would smell the smoke and come out of hypnosis long before the therapist was aware of it. There is a time displacement factor whilst in hypnosis. When the client comes up and is asked how long they were in hypnosis (providing there is no clock visible) they will probably say 'about ten minutes[', when in fact the session was an hour long.

Sometimes things cannot be treated by suggestion therapy alone, for two main reasons (there are in fact others) a) because the client doesn't really want to quit the habit and b) because the habit is an 'escape' and therefore has a psychological cause.

Phobias and some diseases are caused by repressed emotions and can only be cleared by rooting out and dealing with these repressions.

There are some diseases that respond very well to analytic hypnotherapy, like IBS, nervous disorders of all kinds. A lot of diseases, nervous disorders and emotional disorders have a psychological cause and no amount of counselling or suggestion therapy will clear these.

A hypnotherapist must have a working knowledge of psychology because there can be pitfalls. All negative elements MUST be counteracted with positive suggestions and the therapist must not ad lib (because there is a danger of slipping in negative words or suggestions unwittingly) - they must work with scripts. If negative words are used or negative suggestions give they will cause the client to take up the habit or whatever in an more intense way.

Hypnotherapy is a very good tool in the right hands and can be very effective in the treating of bipolar, schizophrenia and aspberges syndrome. If only psychiatrists were trained in hypnoanalysis people wouldn't be suffering they way they are, but psychiatrists treat the BRAIN with drugs, whereas a psychologist/psychoanalyst treats the MIND with therapy, which in turn heals the body. It is a holistic approach to disease.

I can highly recommend hypnotherapy and psychoanalysis.

Blessings

grazier