Hypnosis is a state of inner absorption, concentration and focused attention. When our minds are concentrated and focused, we are able to use our minds more powerfully and in this way hypnosis allows people to use more of their potential and to overcome any problems they may have. It is a way of harnessing inner strength.
You are not asleep in hypnosis, just in a trance. No-one is controlling your mind and no-one can make you do anything you do not want to.
Recent research supports the view that hypnotic communication and suggestions effectively changes aspects of the person’s physiological and neurological functions.
What Do Clinical Hypnotherapists Do?
A clinical hypnotherapist is a trained professional counsellor who uses hypnosis along with other tools of their counselling profession to assist clients achieve their aims.
Practitioners use clinical hypnosis in three main ways.
- They encourage the use of imagination. Mental imagery is very powerful, especially in a focused state of attention. The mind seems capable of using imagery to assist us in bringing about the things we are imagining including improvements in physical and emotional functioning.
- To present ideas or suggestions to clients whilst they are in a state of concentrated attention. These ideas and suggestions, which are compatible with the reason the client is seeking treatment, seem to have a more powerful impact on the mind.
- Hypnosis may be used to enable clients to better understand their underlying motivations or identify whether past events or experiences are associated with the cause of their current problem.
Hypnosis avoids the critical censor of the conscious mind, which often defeats what we know to be in our best interests. The effectiveness of hypnosis appears to lie in the way in which it bypasses the critical observation and interference of the conscious mind, allowing the client’s intentions for change to take effect.
The hypnotherapist induces a state of trance, which involves the client becoming deeply physically and mentally relaxed. Sometimes this is achieved by breathing and counting and at other times by a more conversational method. In this relaxed state positive suggestions are made to help the client to achieve their goal.
Concurrent with her role in the vocational training industry Judith has been working as a professional Clinical Hypnotherapist and Counsellor since 1999. In addition she has also been working as a clinical supervisor of hypnotherapists and Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) practitioners.