Hypnosis is a relaxed state of mind that enables the client to block out external stimulus and enter into a trancelike state. Hypnotherapy uses this trancelike state to enable the client to achieve a heightened awareness of themselves, to elicit change in their lives.
When the client is under hypnosis, he will be in a state of relaxation that you experience when you are lying in bed, right before you fall asleep. The client is awake, but focused on the internal thoughts and memories that the hypnotherapist guides him through.
Hypnotherapy is a two way process between the hypnotherapist and the client. A person must consent to being hypnotized and cooperate throughout the process. Unlike a stage act, where people act like chickens when a bell is rung, the hypnotherapist cannot make you do anything that you do not consent to do. What hypnotherapists do is therapeutic as opposed to stage hypnosis that is done for entertainment. Most of the population has experienced being in a hypnotic state at some time in their lives. For example, if you have been driving and suddenly realize that you were thinking about a something and cannot remember driving the last 50 miles.
There are two applications to hypnotherapy. Suggestion therapy utilizes the power of suggestion in a hypnotic state to change behaviors. It helps people to stop smoking and eating fattening foods. Suggestion therapy is instrumental in treating chronic pain as it helps people change their perceptions on the pain itself. Hypnotherapy also uses analysis in a hypnotic state to uncover the root cause of issues that a person is experiencing. The relaxed state enables the client to recall events from their unconscious memory, which may not be evident while in a non-hypnotic state. Using these two applications, the hypnotist is able to help the client resolve issues and overcome obstacles that they have been living with. Hypnotherapy is completely safe and very effective.