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How does hypnosis work?
The absolute truth is we're not really sure. In the same breath I can say we're not really sure how aspirin work's but we know it works. When we enter hypnoses, there are certain parts of the brain that are affected. We can wire a person up, put them into trance and test for that. We find that the critical area of the brain tends to go into what we call advance - it shuts off. Emotional centers are affected and the centers for memory are affected. So we enter this state and it is likened to a more primitive state of mind. Primitive man for instance lived in a hostile enviroment, and was constantly having to adapt to survive. When we enter hypnotic trance, it is generally accepted that we enter a very similar state, a more primitive state of mind in which we are very adaptalble. Our mind becomes very open to suggestions, suggestions that we want to hear, and is very open to learning. We often consider hypnotherapy a process of unlearning the unwanted issues and relearning new wanted behaviors, responses and that sort of thing. As to how it actually works, no-one knows.
How can hypnosis help me modify my thoughts or behavior?
When born, brand new babies have only two fear responses; the fear of falling and the fear of loud noise. They also have the ability to feel love. Everything else, all your emotions, your attitudes, your beliefs, your values, everything that makes you go, anger, sadness, fear, guilt, all the other emotions for instance, are learned. We learn through a process that we call association and identification. An experience happens, we perceive it through our senses, and the child associates and identifies the experience. With repetition, reinforcement, or if the experience is traumatic enough, it gets hard-wired into the brain. Literally, neural circuits form and it becomes an automatic pattern, very much like a computer. So, how can hypnosis help modify that? What we basically say is we unlearn the old patterns, the old responses, the old negative behaviors, and then we reteach the mind, in a very suggestible state, the new patterns. So it's a process of unlearning and relearning through hypnosis.
Am I hypnotizable?
Probably. I would say that 95% of the population is hypnotizable. In fact, I would speculate – and this, of course, is my opinion – that almost everyone experiences natural hypnosis. Now, whether or not, someone's hypnotizable in the clinic, in a setting which we would call hypno-therapeutic, is going to depend on, first of all, whether they allow it to happen. It is an allowed state. I cannot make you enter hypnosis, any more than I can make a dog stay if he doesn't want to. So, you have to allow it to occur. Anybody that wants to be hypnotized, and of course, clients who come into the clinic generally do because they want change, and can allow themselves to focus, and let their brain do what it knows how to do, can be hypnotized. So, if you ask me, I would say that chances are very, very high that you could – even people who “can't” be hypnotized, “could be” – they don't want to be.
What if I can't be hypnotized?
Well, the good news is that hypnosis is not a magic bullet, and there are many, many tools that can effect therapeutic change. The chances of not being able to be hypnotized are pretty slim. In all the years that I have played with hypnosis before I chose it as a career, I've been seeing people in a clinical setting and I have literally only had one client who refused to go into hypnosis. And what happened with this particular individual was that every time the transition began they would come out of it. So the inability to be hypnotized is, in my parlance, somewhat dubious. People who come to me want to experience hypnosis; they want change. Out of thousands of hypnosis clients, only one refused to actually enter the state. If you come to see me and you don't have good results, which I would hope wouldn't happen, certainly another hypnotherapist might have better. I have actually referred clients out to other people who I thought might be a better fit for them, because rapport is as important as anything in hypnosis. The tool is the tool, and what you do with it, how you use it, and who you're working with is very, very important in terms of success.
Can I hypnotize myself, or do I need someone else to hypnotize me?
Understand that you hypnotize yourself several times a day whether you know it or not. It's just a natural transition. Can you learn to do it on purpose? Absolutely. We call that auto-hypnosis or self-hypnosis. In fact, all hypnotherapy really is self-hypnosis. The difference between doing it yourself and allowing someone to lead you into the state is that it's a little easier to be lead into the state because you're not trying to do two things at once. When you're doing self-hypnosis or auto-hypnosis, you are both the operator (the hypnotist) and the subject, so your brain has to almost split in two and do two things at once. It is a very easy technique to learn. Most people who want to do hypnosis do better if they are taught by an experienced hypnotherapist or hypnotist first.
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