What is Hypnotherapy?

Hypnotherapy Pages

HYPNOTHERAPY is simply the application of hypnotic techniques in such a way as to bring about therapeutic changes.

An external influence – the Therapist – assists in activating the inner resources of a person – the Client – in order to achieve realistic goals.

Click the video opposite to watch a National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH) video of a typical person talking about her experience of Hypnotherapy.

As members of the National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH) and the National Council of Psychotherapists (NCP), you can be assured that your evive hypnotherapists are not only fully qualified and insured but also keep up-to-date with the latest training and research.

What is Hypnotherapy?

Hypnotherapy uses hypnosis as a tool to aid the therapy process.  Hypnosis is a naturally occurring trance-like state.  Have you ever been driving a car and realised you’ve gone past several junctions on the motorway but can’t remember going past them?  Have you ever been so engrossed in a book that you haven’t heard someone come into the room, so when they first speak it makes you sit up with a jolt?  If so, you have been in a light, hypnotic trance - but just haven’t realised it! 

So, hypnosis is actually a deeply-focused state that allows the sub-conscious mind to become more accessible.  By communicating with the sub-conscious mind the therapist can enable the client to make beneficial changes to their life, often astounding ones.  Please note – the therapist cannot get the client to do anything they don’t want to do.  This is not any form of ‘mind control’.  In fact, the therapist needs to talk with the client and so the client is aware of everything that is happening.  The therapist merely acts as a facilitator for the client – it is the client who makes the changes.

If you look at the diagram below, you will see how our brain waves change in accordance with our ‘state’ (from fully awake to a deep sleep).  You can see that a hypnotic state is a relaxed state, similar to when we are just drifting off to sleep (Level 2 and Level 3 on the diagram).

The diagram shows typical patterns of brainwave activity.  Broadly speaking there are five categories of brainwave resonance and these have been shown to relate to a person’s state of mind:

The Five Levels of Brain Activity are:

 

1. BETA: The fastest level of brain activity is utilised by adults more than any other.  At this level, the mind focuses on the five physical senses, i.e. - sight, sound, smell, touch and taste.  It is the rational, conscious state of what we call reality.

2. ALPHA: The next slowest range is where the mind is focused on the more subjective levels of consciousness where intuition, inspiration and creativity spring forth.  In this state of relaxation, light meditation and creativity, we have access to problem solving, fantasy, imagery and daydreams.  The average adult operates in this range in moments of strong emotion or deep thought. In this level a light hypnotic trance can be achieved.

3. UPPER THETA: This range of frequency is the level of light sleep, deeper meditation and medium depth of hypnotic trance.  At this level there is very little awareness of physical sensations, but unusual inspiration often occurs.  This is very much the level of the sub-conscious.

4. LOWER THETA: This is the range of deep sleep during which REM (Rapid Eye Movement) occurs, i.e. dreaming.  It is also the level of deep meditation and intense emotions.

5. DELTA: The slowest frequency yet identified is the level of deepest sleep, of coma and anaesthesia, where we are in a supposedly ‘unconscious’ state.

Our sub-conscious mind has often witnessed events in our lives that our conscious mind has ‘hidden’, possibly to protect us.  Sometimes, these events (often from childhood) can have an effect on us later in life but as we have no conscious memory of the original event we are unable to resolve the issue.  This is where hypnosis and therapy combine to be incredibly successful in treating many different issues.

What Hypnotherapy is NOT?

This seems like a strange concept, but an essential one to point out. Hypnotherapy is NOT Stage Hypnosis.  The latter is a form of “entertainment” in which people (after being specially selected) perform all manner of crazy tasks on stage, often to the delight of cheering crowds.  It is crucial to realise that the individuals who take part in these events will not do anything on stage which is outside of their belief structures.  Many people would not react in the same way which is why the hypnotist sends most of the candidates back to their seats and only keeps the one he/she knows from experience will be likely to ‘perform’.

On the one hand, these stage shows advertise the fact that hypnosis is possible for most people who want to be hypnotised.  However, with Hypnotherapy the state of trance is merely a backdrop for the more important work of helping the client to resolve their own issues by using various techniques whilst accessing the infinite resources of their own sub-conscious mind.

If you would like to discover more or book your Initial Consultation (which is free of charge and without any obligation) please call us on 0118 973 3094 or click here to email evive.

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