BA (Hons) Psych. , D. Hyp. , PDCHyp.

Robert Cowley clinical pyschologist. Get hypnosis in Coventry and hypnotherapy today!

Robert Cowley
Coventry Hypnosis
t: 024 7666 5909
m: 07801 969442
enquiries@hypnosis-coventry.co.uk

What Is Hypnosis And The Hypnotic State?

Hypnosis employs a naturally occurring state of mind and it may surprise many to learn that we experience trance states often during our lives, even several times during each day. Just drifting into ordinary sleep involves a kind of trance state, typically one where our mind is becoming free of verbal thinking (left brain) and entering a more visual state (right brain) similar to that of dream sleep.
The experience is in many ways similar to the sleepy hypnogogic state: being neither asleep nor awake and prone to imagery and association, with a pleasant feeling of calmness and relaxation behind it all. The hypnotic state occurs normally in everyone when certain physiological and psychological are met and with the assistance of a properly skilled hypnotherapist it is possible to use this state to make deep and long lasting changes to thoughts, feelings and behaviour.
If your problem has an emotional, habitual or perhaps psychological origin then hypnotherapy is an excellent way to communicate with these parts of your mind. Hypnosis is a different state of consciousness to the normal 'alert' state and you can easily enter it so that, for therapeutic purposes, beneficial instructions may be given to your receptive unconscious mind. In hypnosis the tendency is for these suggestions to be accepted far less critically than in the normal state and a skilled hypnotist may Ôseed' constructive ideas which then change behaviour and attitudes at their source.
Thus, hypnosis is an effective way of making contact with our inner (unconscious) self, which is both a reservoir of unrecognised potential and knowledge as well as being the unwitting source of many of our habits and problems.

Misconceptions About Hypnosis
Some people worry that once hypnotised they may be taken advantage of by a person who is less than scrupulous. However, it's a fact that no one can be hypnotised against their will and even when hypnotised a person can still reject any suggestions offered to them or return to normal alert consciousness at will. Hypnotherapy is actually a state of purposeful cooperation between the therapist and subject, to obtain a specific result, agreed upon beforehand.
Similarly, a common fear is that under hypnosis a person could be made to reveal personal details that they would rather keep secret but again this is not possible. If it were the police would be the keenest students of hypnosis. I suspect the image of trance created by the media is at fault here as people expect that Ôunder' hypnosis they will become quite unconscious and robotic, not aware of or realising what they are doing or saying. The truth is that you may remain quite conscious aware, perhaps even more so than usual. However, a skilful hypnotist will keep you at the balancing point where your critical faculty is suspended and beneficial directions can be given to your unconscious mind.
Many people have had the experience of driving along a familiar road and suddenly realising that several miles have gone by of which they have been completely unaware. This is very similar to the hypnotic state; you are awake and aware-but somehow not quite there.

Clinical Hypnotherapy

Clinical hypnotherapy means using hypnosis to treat a variety of medical and psychological problems. It does not usually deal with problems that have an organic origin but those that are due to emotional or psychological causality. It is estimated that 85% of people will readily respond to clinical hypnotherapy which may succeed where other, more conventional methods of treatment have been slow to produce the desired results.
When carried out by a professionally trained and skilled hypnotherapist, the benefits are usually long lasting and often permanent. It is completely natural and safe with no harmful side effects. The main criterion is that the cause of the presenting problem lies within the unconscious mind, often due to a traumatic Ôseeding' event or to unintentional behavioural conditioning in early years. It is interesting to note that the unconscious mind always acts in such a way that it attempts to protect and preserve the individual and many fears and phobias have at their root a form of exaggerated self-expression. Unfortunately, these can become over-exaggerated and generalised over time, even to the point where they begin to restrict a normal successful life.
Habits are intended to be useful because many of the routine activities of our daily lives would become unwieldy if we had consciously to think them through each time we wanted to do them. Alas, this habit making force can work against us, particularly when it comes to things like smoking or overeating, but by utilising hypnosis we can intervene and reprogram our unconscious minds with healthier and more appropriate requirements.