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Thread: Hypnotherapy: the Pros and Cons

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    Default Re: Hypnotherapy: the Pros and Cons

    In hypnotherapy the therapist must induce a modified state of consciousness, more or less deep according to need and practice. From my point of view there is no confusion between hypnosis and modified state of consciousness, the two are intimately linked. In therapeutic work the practitioner is there to help and not to manipulate or implant the spirit of the subject. Yet it seems that in the minds of many here the word "hypnosis" is associated with bad things. Hypnosis is neither good nor bad, it is what we do with who makes the difference.

    As a Chinese proverb says, "experience is a comb for bald people". So, I'm the guy who has been practicing hypnosis for 15 years and helping nearly a thousand people get better. But after all, what do I know about hypnosis?

    This is not to be irreverent, but there is no black hypnosis VS white self-awareness expansion.

    Finally please excuse me for saying without filter what I think, perhaps because this subject particularly affects me, because it is one of the few things that I studied a lot and continues to study every day.

    It is rare that I speak on the forum, but here I do not agree with the majority of things written here on the subject, which seemed to me to be hypnotherapy and not mental manipulation. Of course hypnosis allows both and much more.

    Once again, it is the words and their interpretations to each individual that lead us into useless comparisons. Most people do not know what hypnosis is, and I do not know anything about mechanics or football.

    Forgive my impertinence, my pride and my lack of humility on the subject.

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    Default Re: Hypnotherapy: the Pros and Cons

    Quote Posted by guyres (here)
    In hypnotherapy the therapist must induce a modified state of consciousness, more or less deep according to need and practice. From my point of view there is no confusion between hypnosis and modified state of consciousness, the two are intimately linked. In therapeutic work the practitioner is there to help and not to manipulate or implant the spirit of the subject. Yet it seems that in the minds of many here the word "hypnosis" is associated with bad things. Hypnosis is neither good nor bad, it is what we do with who makes the difference.

    As a Chinese proverb says, "experience is a comb for bald people". So, I'm the guy who has been practicing hypnosis for 15 years and helping nearly a thousand people get better. But after all, what do I know about hypnosis?

    This is not to be irreverent, but there is no black hypnosis VS white self-awareness expansion.

    Finally please excuse me for saying without filter what I think, perhaps because this subject particularly affects me, because it is one of the few things that I studied a lot and continues to study every day.

    It is rare that I speak on the forum, but here I do not agree with the majority of things written here on the subject, which seemed to me to be hypnotherapy and not mental manipulation. Of course hypnosis allows both and much more.

    Once again, it is the words and their interpretations to each individual that lead us into useless comparisons. Most people do not know what hypnosis is, and I do not know anything about mechanics or football.

    Forgive my impertinence, my pride and my lack of humility on the subject.
    I understand what you are feeling. I don't want to insult anybody in this thread but the ignorance about hypnosis and hypnotic states is overflowing. Everyone on this forum is under a mild state of hypnosis when your here. Understand brainwave states, there are only four and 3 of them are hypnotic states. Most people are in hypnotic states more in a day then they are in a complete aware state.

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    Default Re: Hypnotherapy: the Pros and Cons

    Your avatar wakes us up, neutronstar!!


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    Default Re: Hypnotherapy: the Pros and Cons

    Quote Posted by Foxie Loxie (here)
    Your avatar wakes us up, neutronstar!!

    Actually, my avatar is what you would look like if you never went into a hypnotic state during the day. lol

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    Default Re: Hypnotherapy: the Pros and Cons

    Don’t feel annoyed or anything in fact about what we say on hypnotism. We all have our experiences with it somehow and those i had in therapy context were always good and worthwhile. But those i had in front of the tv screen weren’t always good.

    Our thinking and brains are creators. Guess what we create when we soak ourselves in hypnotic trance inducing horror movies.

    If you have been using hypnosis for so long, you would surely be a wonderful contributor here on this thread.

    Quote Posted by guyres (here)
    In hypnotherapy the therapist must induce a modified state of consciousness, more or less deep according to need and practice. From my point of view there is no confusion between hypnosis and modified state of consciousness, the two are intimately linked. In therapeutic work the practitioner is there to help and not to manipulate or implant the spirit of the subject. Yet it seems that in the minds of many here the word "hypnosis" is associated with bad things. Hypnosis is neither good nor bad, it is what we do with who makes the difference.

    As a Chinese proverb says, "experience is a comb for bald people". So, I'm the guy who has been practicing hypnosis for 15 years and helping nearly a thousand people get better. But after all, what do I know about hypnosis?

    This is not to be irreverent, but there is no black hypnosis VS white self-awareness expansion.

    Finally please excuse me for saying without filter what I think, perhaps because this subject particularly affects me, because it is one of the few things that I studied a lot and continues to study every day.

    It is rare that I speak on the forum, but here I do not agree with the majority of things written here on the subject, which seemed to me to be hypnotherapy and not mental manipulation. Of course hypnosis allows both and much more.

    Once again, it is the words and their interpretations to each individual that lead us into useless comparisons. Most people do not know what hypnosis is, and I do not know anything about mechanics or football.

    Forgive my impertinence, my pride and my lack of humility on the subject.
    Last edited by Flash; 24th November 2017 at 00:24.
    How to let the desire of your mind become the desire of your heart - Gurdjieff

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    Default Re: Hypnotherapy: the Pros and Cons

    I had a hypnosis session once. I can't even recall why I did it. I was young and depressed and just beginning my exploration into the unconventional. Curiosity was driving me most likely.

    The OP asks what are the potential dangers or drawbacks of hypnosis. For me the drawback was being $75 lighter in my wallet. I got nothing out of it. It was a joke. I don't know if I felt bad for the hypnotist or if I just wanted to avoid any awkwardness, but I just made stuff up for about 30 mins to get thru the session. I cut the thing short because i'd exhausted my imagination.

    I really don't like playing the cynic. But all I can do is go on my experience. And the experience of all the people I've known that have been hypnotized to quit smoking, which almost never works. I feel that there are very very few effective hypnotists, just like there are very very few effective psychics. The odds of a favorable experience are slim.
    Last edited by Mike; 23rd November 2017 at 23:39.

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    Default Re: Hypnotherapy: the Pros and Cons

    I would like to say I do not believe hypnosis is a negative thing, unless it gets used by someone with negative intentions. In my mother's case, someone figured out she was highly susceptible (which is really the key; all love and blessings to her) and used it against her.

    Some people are more easily hacked than others. Hypnosis has many good uses also. Just like drugs to perform a painful surgery so the patient can stand it. Some use drugs to gain power and control over another. That is pure manipulation and deception. It is really only negative when the conscious will of the person is overpowered by someone with ill intent.

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    Default Re: Hypnotherapy: the Pros and Cons

    Quote Posted by guyres (here)
    Quote Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
    Just to underscore the important point, neither Will nor I use hypnosis of any kind.
    So what hypnosis is about, how could a person be vaccinate from that ? from self-hypnosis to hetero-hypnosis, who can live outside ?

    Mod note from Bill: thanks, but please edit your post so that it's easier to understand in English! At the moment, I do NOT know what the questions are that you're asking. (Write it in French as well, if you like, and then others who are bilingual will be happy to assist.)

    Sorry Bill a make it to short, I'm fussy with words...

    To be under hypnosis is to be in a state of modified consciousness, everyone goes there every day, driving, listening to music, watching a movie, and so on.

    Unfortunately people have an epinal image of hypnosis ...

    So the question was: can anyone live without a modified state of consciousness, at least from time to time?

    Let me answer no. So I think Bill like everyone uses or is used by hypnosis of one kind or another.

    To go forward, meditation is a kind of self-hypnosis, and with other people (music, therapist) it's hetero-hypnosis.

    just to clarify, not for simplicity, you know it or not I'm a hypnotherapist, it's my job. And words do not allow real communication, so it's complicated not to simplify.
    I speak French fluently, so I can translate if need be. Just PM me, I suppose, and I'll help whenever I'm online

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    Default Re: Hypnotherapy: the Pros and Cons

    Many people come to hypnosis out of curiosity to say I did it, I know... My last daughter at age 6 asked me why she had to go back to school, she knew she had been there for two days in a row.
    From my point of view you can not try hypnosis, once, it's like doing a bike once or driving once, how can you get an opinion with so little. By taking into account the changes in beliefs throughout a lifetime, one can not stop at a judgment of a past or past ego.
    Again, here we are talking about hypnotherapy and not hypnotism or mental programming.
    For a long time, this "technique(s)" has been misled in the eyes of the general public by cinema and show hypnotism, making it manipulative, simplistic or caricatural and whimsical.
    Mike feel that there are very very few effective hypnotists, I am ok whit that, hypnotist are who make the show, like illusionist. Let's talk about therapy not entertaiment.

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    Default Re: Hypnotherapy: the Pros and Cons

    The most negative point of hypnotherapy is the reputation and beliefs that people have about hypnosis. Many would just like to fall asleep and be saved, without really questioning themselves. Without taking into account their total responsibility. This is why the deep trance is very rarely indicated, the subjects must remember the session to understand and eventually change.

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    Default Re: Hypnotherapy: the Pros and Cons

    Quote Posted by guyres (here)
    The most negative point of hypnotherapy is the reputation and beliefs that people have about hypnosis. Many would just like to fall asleep and be saved, without really questioning themselves. Without taking into account their total responsibility. This is why the deep trance is very rarely indicated, the subjects must remember the session to understand and eventually change.
    C'est vrai, la Réunion, c'est francophone! j'avais oublié (je suis canadienne, pardonne-moi lol)

    I saw good hypnotherapists and bad ones, one that I remember, was a psychologist who was supposed to be trained in psychotherapy and truly did not have the hang ot it, it was almost funny because I knew I could be hypnotised but gosh...

    Another one that I remember, we were discussing and slowly I realised I am slipping in trance - remembered everything as you said, but the trance was quite deep. She also was a good analyst, so this gave some results, amongst other making me realise that my husband was constantly, I mean constantly, putting me down, in words, in gesture, in thinking. My daughter was an infant at the time and I did not want to divorce because of that, but it was surely a triggering time for later divorce.

    The drawbacks I saw are the possibility of implementing biaises and the therapist view of the world or his presumptions on the problems, therefore leading the client, instead of letting the client name whatever the client sees, without leading. There has been cases of false incest accusations based on leading therapists for example. Therefore, whenever I use some of these techniques, I am always very careful in judging the sanity and approaches of the therapist.

    To me, hypnotic trance versus meditation or other types of trance is quite different. The feeling of it is different, and I would not say at all that meditation has anything to do with hypnotism, on the contrary, meditation brings clarity while in all heightened awareness.
    Last edited by Flash; 24th November 2017 at 01:53.
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    Default Re: Hypnotherapy: the Pros and Cons

    I only ever had a one off experience with a hypnotherapist.
    I’m not sure what this means within a session of this nature,
    but it had to finish abruptly because of the consequences affecting the hypnotherapist.

    The reason I went to one is because I had a significant experience and wanted to know
    what happened to me. I’m not going through all the experiential details here such as
    the background and lead up to the event.

    It was the time when I went through a ‘portal’ which was witnessed.
    Then later I started 'teleporting' which was also witnessed.

    When the hypnotherapist was in the early stages of my experience,
    trying to extract information of what happened, then something dramatic
    happened to the hypnotherapist.

    The hypnotherapist started to profusely spurt blood from their nose.
    The hypnotherapist had to rush urgently to get tissues.
    This went on for about 2 minutes. The hypnotherapist then decided
    to not go on any further with the session because of the consequences
    to the well being of the hypnotherapist. I also felt there was no point
    going on further with hypnosis. I didn't know what all this meant.
    Was the hypnotherapist prevented from extracting information. I have no idea.

    Regarding the Pros and Cons, I don’t know how this leaves me with my
    relationship with future hypnotherapists. Since then I have decided to forget about
    having any hypnosis.

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    Default Re: Hypnotherapy: the Pros and Cons

    Quote Posted by Flash (here)
    I saw good hypnotherapists and bad ones, one that I remember, was a psychologist who was supposed to be trained in psychotherapy and truly did not have the hang ot it, it was almost funny because I knew I could be hypnotised but gosh...

    Another one that I remember, we were discussing and slowly I realised I am slipping in trance - remembered everything as you said, but the trance was quite deep. She also was a good analyst, so this gave some results, amongst other making me realise that my husband was constantly, I mean constantly, putting me down, in words, in gesture, in thinking. My daughter was an infant at the time and I did not want to divorce because of that, but it was surely a triggering time for later divorce.

    The drawbacks I saw are the possibility of implementing biaises and the therapist view of the world or his presumptions on the problems, therefore leading the client, instead of letting the client name whatever the client sees, without leading. There has been cases of false incest accusations based on leading therapists for example. Therefore, whenever I use some of these techniques, I am always very careful in judging the sanity and approaches of the therapist.

    To me, hypnotic trance versus meditation or other types of trance is quite different. The feeling of it is different, and I would not say at all that meditation has anything to do with hypnotism, on the contrary, meditation brings clarity while in all heightened awareness.
    So there is good and bad in all things, I am psychotherapist and my favorite tool is hypnosis, but I am not better than another, and sometimes I must have been bad for someone I did not understand.
    Usually, the subjects in deep trance do not remember anything, have closed their eyes, the session started and finished. They are surprised to have to leave, an hour has passed, frustrated to give money for a moment of amnesia.
    To me and it is what I wrote, meditation is a kind of self hypnosis, inducing a trance. Hypnotherapy or hetero hypnosis is quite different because : we can not make tickling alone.

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    Default Re: Hypnotherapy: the Pros and Cons

    Quote Posted by wnlight (here)
    Someone posted in this thread that hypnotism and meditation are the same.
    It is not what is written.

    Quote Posted by wnlight (here)
    Now, I have a question: When hypnotizing a subject, what state does the hypnotist enter?
    The therapist is in sync with the subject, he has several tips for that. Once the synchronization is established, there is indeed an unconscious communication related and therefore the subject sometimes knows what the therapist will say before he speaks.
    The therapist is also in a trance at a lower level.

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    Default Re: Hypnotherapy: the Pros and Cons

    Hi All,

    I am a qualified clinical hypnotherapist and resource therapist and have been practicing for 4 years. Hypnosis is a natural state that we all experience in our daily lives, it is said we are subconscious 90% of our waking day. Hypnosis can be referred to as a guided daydream where the hypnotised person is aware of what is going on but not at a conscious level more so at a subconscious level.

    Further to this, hypnosis is not a bad thing, there are however bad hypnotherapists. As with any form of therapy in the right hands it is powerful tool to enable change. In the wrong hands hypnosis can be dangerous. Dangers can be that the therapist actually re traumatised the patient or to the extreme, implanted false memories. False memories have often been attributed to "regression therapy" and there are a few law suits that will attain to this.

    So in closing, if you are going to a hypnotherapist or psychotherapist do your research. you wouldn't take your car to a mechanic without checking their credentials, would you! Please don't knock Hypnosis or Hypnotherapy as a bad thing, it has changed many peoples lives for the better (I can testify to that with all of my clients).

    I am happy to take any questions readers may have.

    Paul

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    Default Re: Hypnotherapy: the Pros and Cons

    Thank you for your replies. No one is suggesting you should not be posting what you did - that is why I put the question out there - to get feedback from others that know more about the subject than I do. You obviously know a lot about this subject and I am glad you posted your knowledge.

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    Default Re: Hypnotherapy: the Pros and Cons

    Thank you, guyres for answering my question. (I just discovered today that there was a second page of discussion on hypnotism back in November.) I have always felt that there was a synchronicity established between the hypnotist and the 'subject'. Lately, I have come to realize that any mental endeavor that requires concentration is a form of hypnosis - even reading a book. I wonder if a large number of readers in such a state could actually affect the author at a distance.

    I have been fortunate along with those whom I have hypnotized that my intentions have always been positive and my methods have always been correct. I always used the least level of trance to do the job. All of my (very limited) work was free of charge as I realized that a hypnotherapy career does not pay the bills. Yet, some years ago I dropped use of controlled hypnotism in favor of affirmations and self hypnosis and meditation.

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