Hypnotherapy

Fortunately, there are few risks with hypnosis as the patient is only exposed to learning methods that will help them access their mind-body connection and discovering that all hypnosis is really self-hypnosis. However, I believe the two greatest risks of hypnosis and hypnotherapy are:

1. using hypnosis to remove pain that is still serving a vital purpose, and
2. hypnosis or hypnotherapy being offered by a person that is not trained or qualified to be treating a patient with it.

My rule of thumb is that one should not use hypnosis to treat a condition unless they are qualified and competent to treat the condition without hypnosis as well. This does not mean that only a surgeon can use hypnosis in helping a person prepare for surgery and recovery with hypnosis, but that the clinician should have the training and qualifications for the application being offered to the patient.

There is little legislation, laws or rules governing who can do hypnosis. And there are many programs offering ‘certification’ or a certificate to become a ‘certified hypnotherapist’. Sometimes only a fee is required, or it could be a weekend workshop open to anyone, or it may be a well-designed and supervised training. You just do not know unless the clinician is certified by the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis (http://www.ASCH.net), a member of a professional association representing their field of expertise, licensed by their state board for professional practice, and has had appropriate supervision and training. The only bona-fide professional association I am aware of that has developed standards of training, supervision, and certification is the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis and their affiliate organizations.

I like to use the example or comparison to becoming a ‘certified injectionist’. One can take a weekend workshop and become quite adapt at giving intramuscular, subcutaneous, and even intravenous injections. However, when one needs professional help, they should seek someone qualified to treat their condition, and not just know how to give an injection. And unfortunately, there is little to protect the consumer from anyone saying they are a hypnotherapist. A professional psychologist, Steve Eichel PhD, sent applications to many organizations that offered a certificate as a certified hypnotherapist. He put the applicant’s name as Zoe D. Katz (German for Zoe the cat, his cat). He even listed Zoe’s occupation as ‘feline’… and by submitting a fee; he collected many certificates showing Zoe D. Katz as a certified hypnotherapist. To me, the use of hypnosis for clinical applications by untrained individuals is a risk of hypnosis.
Fortunately, there are few risks with hypnosis as the patient is only exposed to learning methods that will help them access their mind-body connection and discovering that all hypnosis is really self-hypnosis. However, I believe the two greatest risks of hypnosis and hypnotherapy are:

1. using hypnosis to remove pain that is still serving a vital purpose, and
2. hypnosis or hypnotherapy being offered by a person that is not trained or qualified to be treating a patient with it.

My rule of thumb is that one should not use hypnosis to treat a condition unless they are qualified and competent to treat the condition without hypnosis as well. This does not mean that only a surgeon can use hypnosis in helping a person prepare for surgery and recovery with hypnosis, but that the clinician should have the training and qualifications for the application being offered to the patient.

There is little legislation, laws or rules governing who can do hypnosis. And there are many programs offering ‘certification’ or a certificate to become a ‘certified hypnotherapist’. Sometimes only a fee is required, or it could be a weekend workshop open to anyone, or it may be a well-designed and supervised training. You just do not know unless the clinician is certified by the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis (http://www.ASCH.net), a member of a professional association representing their field of expertise, licensed by their state board for professional practice, and has had appropriate supervision and training. The only bona-fide professional association I am aware of that has developed standards of training, supervision, and certification is the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis and their affiliate organizations.

I like to use the example or comparison to becoming a ‘certified injectionist’. One can take a weekend workshop and become quite adapt at giving intramuscular, subcutaneous, and even intravenous injections. However, when one needs professional help, they should seek someone qualified to treat their condition, and not just know how to give an injection. And unfortunately, there is little to protect the consumer from anyone saying they are a hypnotherapist. A professional psychologist, Steve Eichel PhD, sent applications to many organizations that offered a certificate as a certified hypnotherapist. He put the applicant’s name as Zoe D. Katz (German for Zoe the cat, his cat). He even listed Zoe’s occupation as ‘feline’… and by submitting a fee; he collected many certificates showing Zoe D. Katz as a certified hypnotherapist. To me, the use of hypnosis for clinical applications by untrained individuals is a risk of hypnosis.

If you have seen it in the movies, TV, or a night club, you are probably watching “stage hypnosis” which is the non-professional use that employs many of the techniques of persuasion, influence and hypnotic methods for the purpose of entertainment. Many stage hypnotists, although quite skilled in the techniques of hypnosis, are performers or entertainers first and foremost. These individuals are not trained in medicine, psychology, nursing, social work or counseling. They are entertainers. Which means that “the act” or performance may include illusion, deception, trickery, social pressure, and at times even a hired confederate to be part of the act. Stage hypnotist prey upon the myths and misconceptions commonly held about hypnosis (and portrayed in their performance), such as: hypnosis is something done to someone (this is the greatest myth and misconception), or one goes under another’s control or loses consciousness, or might do something out of their character or values. These are all false. Hypnosis is not done to someone. No one ‘gets hypnotized’ or loses consciousness. I have treated well over 15,000 patients with clinical hypnosis, in sessions that number over 40,000; and I have never ‘hypnotized’ anyone anymore than I could have ‘meditated’ them. But I have taught a great number how to use hypnosis and that all hypnosis is really self-hypnosis.

Clinical or medical hypnosis is quite different from stage hypnosis. The purpose is to achieve a therapeutic outcome, the therapist is a licensed professional trained and qualified in a clinical specialty, and the therapist is using hypnosis as a tool to help the patient. It is used as one of the modalities of mind-body medicine to access the mind-body connection in order to elicit healthy and beneficial (therapeutic) responses in the patient. This can cover the range from medical conditions, psychological conditions, behaviors and habits, and sometimes to improve performance (like with a professional athlete, musician, dancer, etc).
If you have seen it in the movies, TV, or a night club, you are probably watching “stage hypnosis” which is the non-professional use that employs many of the techniques of persuasion, influence and hypnotic methods for the purpose of entertainment. Many stage hypnotists, although quite skilled in the techniques of hypnosis, are performers or entertainers first and foremost. These individuals are not trained in medicine, psychology, nursing, social work or counseling. They are entertainers. Which means that “the act” or performance may include illusion, deception, trickery, social pressure, and at times even a hired confederate to be part of the act. Stage hypnotist prey upon the myths and misconceptions commonly held about hypnosis (and portrayed in their performance), such as: hypnosis is something done to someone (this is the greatest myth and misconception), or one goes under another’s control or loses consciousness, or might do something out of their character or values. These are all false. Hypnosis is not done to someone. No one ‘gets hypnotized’ or loses consciousness. I have treated well over 15,000 patients with clinical hypnosis, in sessions that number over 40,000; and I have never ‘hypnotized’ anyone anymore than I could have ‘meditated’ them. But I have taught a great number how to use hypnosis and that all hypnosis is really self-hypnosis.

Clinical or medical hypnosis is quite different from stage hypnosis. The purpose is to achieve a therapeutic outcome, the therapist is a licensed professional trained and qualified in a clinical specialty, and the therapist is using hypnosis as a tool to help the patient. It is used as one of the modalities of mind-body medicine to access the mind-body connection in order to elicit healthy and beneficial (therapeutic) responses in the patient. This can cover the range from medical conditions, psychological conditions, behaviors and habits, and sometimes to improve performance (like with a professional athlete, musician, dancer, etc).

First, let me say that I believe all hypnosis is self-hypnosis. And I do not believe anyone has a precise definition of hypnosis, but I favor the definition provided by the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis: (source, http://www.asch.net)

“Hypnosis is a state of inner absorption, concentration, and focused attention. It’s like using a magnifying glass to focus the rays of the sun and make them more powerful. Similarly, when our minds are concentrated and focused, we are able to use our minds more powerfully. Because hypnosis allows people to uses more of their potential learning self-hypnosis is the ultimate act of self-control.”

While the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis definition refers to it as a “state” of inner absorption, some other definitions refer to it as “a process” or as “a procedure” that involves a therapist and a subject. I do not think anyone has an absolute definition of hypnosis and prefer to think of it as a combination of a procedure, a process, and a state of inner absorption, with the emphasis on ‘a state of inner absorption’. That is, hypnosis is a type of relaxed or passive concentration where we are so absorbed and focused on our own ideas, we are able to exclude or minimize the energy we give to the other things going on around us. I particularly like the example of using our mind as a magnifying glass to focus and concentrate our ideas and thoughts so that our subconscious mind receives them clearly and accepts them.

You probably do not realize it, but you often put yourself into hypnotic trances every day. You often become so inwardly absorbed and focused on your thoughts that you can ignore many of the things going on around you, even as you know they are happening. One common example is becoming so caught up in a good book or a powerful movie that you react as if it were real. But I think the best example of this kind of everyday trance is a day dream.

Think about the times when you were in a classroom as the teacher was lecturing at one end of the room and you were staring out a window. Your eyes were open and you were seeing, yet you weren’t looking at what you were seeing. Your ears were also open and recording the changes in air pressure we call sound waves, so you were hearing but you weren’t listening to what you were hearing. This daydream-like state is what a hypnotic trance feels like. And in this state of relaxed or passive concentration we are more accepting of suggestions that may be offered to us by a therapist, an audio program, or simply by our own self-talk, imagination or visualization of what we desire.

I think there that the major difference between hypnosis and meditation involves intention. That is, when we are in the meditative state of inner absorption and using it with a very deliberate purpose or intention of offering suggestions to our mind-body (aka subconscious) to elicit a therapeutic response, then I call that hypnosis. If we are enjoying the meditative state purely for the many benefits inherent in mediating alone, then I call that meditation. Bottom line is that I see the ‘trance state’ as a meditative state of inner absorption, and when that state of inner absorption is being intentionally used to effect a therapeutic outcome, then I call it hypnosis as opposed to just meditation.

PS: And I like Miraval too… in fact, our Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine plays a role at Miraval, and the current medical director, James Nikolai MD, is one of our Fellowship graduates.
First, let me say that I believe all hypnosis is self-hypnosis. And I do not believe anyone has a precise definition of hypnosis, but I favor the definition provided by the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis: (source, http://www.asch.net)

“Hypnosis is a state of inner absorption, concentration, and focused attention. It’s like using a magnifying glass to focus the rays of the sun and make them more powerful. Similarly, when our minds are concentrated and focused, we are able to use our minds more powerfully. Because hypnosis allows people to uses more of their potential learning self-hypnosis is the ultimate act of self-control.”

While the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis definition refers to it as a “state” of inner absorption, some other definitions refer to it as “a process” or as “a procedure” that involves a therapist and a subject. I do not think anyone has an absolute definition of hypnosis and prefer to think of it as a combination of a procedure, a process, and a state of inner absorption, with the emphasis on ‘a state of inner absorption’. That is, hypnosis is a type of relaxed or passive concentration where we are so absorbed and focused on our own ideas, we are able to exclude or minimize the energy we give to the other things going on around us. I particularly like the example of using our mind as a magnifying glass to focus and concentrate our ideas and thoughts so that our subconscious mind receives them clearly and accepts them.

You probably do not realize it, but you often put yourself into hypnotic trances every day. You often become so inwardly absorbed and focused on your thoughts that you can ignore many of the things going on around you, even as you know they are happening. One common example is becoming so caught up in a good book or a powerful movie that you react as if it were real. But I think the best example of this kind of everyday trance is a day dream.

Think about the times when you were in a classroom as the teacher was lecturing at one end of the room and you were staring out a window. Your eyes were open and you were seeing, yet you weren’t looking at what you were seeing. Your ears were also open and recording the changes in air pressure we call sound waves, so you were hearing but you weren’t listening to what you were hearing. This daydream-like state is what a hypnotic trance feels like. And in this state of relaxed or passive concentration we are more accepting of suggestions that may be offered to us by a therapist, an audio program, or simply by our own self-talk, imagination or visualization of what we desire.

I think there that the major difference between hypnosis and meditation involves intention. That is, when we are in the meditative state of inner absorption and using it with a very deliberate purpose or intention of offering suggestions to our mind-body (aka subconscious) to elicit a therapeutic response, then I call that hypnosis. If we are enjoying the meditative state purely for the many benefits inherent in mediating alone, then I call that meditation. Bottom line is that I see the ‘trance state’ as a meditative state of inner absorption, and when that state of inner absorption is being intentionally used to effect a therapeutic outcome, then I call it hypnosis as opposed to just meditation.

PS: And I like Miraval too… in fact, our Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine plays a role at Miraval, and the current medical director, James Nikolai MD, is one of our Fellowship graduates.