What Is Hypnosis? What Hypnotherapy Really Is (and Isn’t)

To give you an idea of what hypnosis is, let me tell you two brief stories.

One involves a woman who went to a hypnotherapist to stop smoking. The session was a great success and she found that she could not smoke after it. Unfortunately, she later decided that she wanted to smoke again because she missed it too much. She returned to the hypnotherapist to have the suggestions removed. This was successful too, and several years later she was still smoking.

There are several things to be learned from this. First, hypnosis can be very powerful. Secondly, the individual ultimately remains in control and can make their own decisions about what they want to happen. For this reason, I do not refund the fee for smoking cessation hypnotherapy. When clients are properly informed, responsibility for change ultimately lies with them.

The second true story illustrates this point about control even more clearly.

A man was given the suggestion under hypnosis that if he ever held a cigarette without thinking, he would crumple it up. He left the session feeling it had not worked and reached for the emergency packet of cigarettes he had kept. As soon as he took one out, he crumpled it up. He tried another — the same thing happened. Every cigarette in the packet met the same fate. He bought another packet, assuming the suggestion would wear off. It did not.

When he returned to the hypnotherapist, he was told that his subconscious mind had accepted the suggestion, even though his conscious mind doubted it. Once he understood this, he allowed the process to continue and did not smoke again.

Although hypnotherapy is always under your control, it can still work even when you are not consciously aware of it. Suggestions can be modified at any time — they are only permanent if you want them to be.