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Paul Byrne PDCHyp DCHyp GHQ MPNLP MBSCH
Clinical Hypnotherapist

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Hypnosis Misconceptions

Before we go into the TOP TEN of Hypnosis Misconceptions, explore an analogy that illustrates how the mind operates.

Conscious and Unconscious Mind

In everyday life the conscious mind has a natural duty to protect us at all times. It is equipped with five fantastic tools that notice and observe everything that is going on around us. We call these our senses. The conscious mind flits around continually checking the environment, jumping from sight to sound to taste to feeling. It never stops. Because of this fearless demand for information and exploration we are safe and in constant touch with an ever changing outside world.

Our senses inform us and make us aware or conscious of what is going on inside and outside of ourselves. The unconscious mind makes sense of this collected material. You could say, this relationship between the conscious and the unconscious mind operates like an up to date ship, sailing through a thick heavy fog. The communications systems (conscious mind) use a sophisticated GPS, radar, sonar and an up to the moment satellite uplinks. It gives the bridge (unconscious mind) the most instantaneous perception of its current situation, position and environment. The bridge then compares these current reports against the vast library of information it has picked up on earlier voyages. Using the knowledge of previously travelled routes, established shipping lanes, and projected weather charts, shipping forecasts, instinct and natural intuition, the bridge confidently plots and develops a course, one aimed at calm and bright seas.

The unconscious mind places everything our senses have ever ‘picked up’ throughout our lives. Every sight and sound, every scent, feeling and taste are all stored safely. Every book, conversation and film that our conscious mind has ever monitored is stored and filed away to be referenced at a later time. Sometimes what happens is that we miss something while laying memories into the unconscious mind. For example, when watching a great film at the cinema and half way through you go to buy popcorn, you get back to your seat and have to work out what you missed and piece it back together. Our unconscious does that piecing together for us and fills in any of the gaps in the collected information with our imagination and logic.

The result is that the storage, retention and eventual recall of all this information is a lot smoother, fluid and natural. Sometimes we only have the smallest snippet or partial impression of something hot and of interest to us. Then like the town gossip armed with only half the story, we end up having to add some of our own spice into the mix. This is not to liven up the story but to somehow complete it. An old example of this is of the ten people seeing exactly the same incident and the journalist then taking ten statements and getting ten completely different stories.

This natural ability to fill in the missing gaps and make sense of what is going on around us also contributes to some of the misconceptions people have about hypnosis and hypnotherapy. Half understood stories from stage shows and Hollywood films fill in the gaps in our understanding of hypnosis. Scenes of an evil hypnotist with big heavy eyebrows and unyielding eyes, waving a gold watch in front of a person who is under his complete control, or someone running around the stage with a cheese sandwich in their hand shouting "take cover everyone its a bomb" is enough to make anyone feel vulnerable and concerned. This entertaining presentation of hypnosis prompts the unconscious mind into resolving the apparent mysteries and unexplained phenomenon with assumptions and guesswork.

Not surprisingly, away from the big screen, reality has a far less dramatic interpretation of what is a very natural skill that we all have within us. Below are the top ten misconceptions that people have regarding hypnosis and hypnotherapy.

Misconception #1: Hypnosis is sleep or loss of consciousness.

Truths & Realities: Hypnosis doesn’t quite reach what we know as sleep, but it does have a few things in common with sleep. Before you can sleep you have to feel ready, safe and secure. Windows and doors have to be checked and pets put in or out and lights turned off. You must feel secure otherwise your unconscious mind throws up feelings of uncomfortably and make relaxation and sleep impossible . Those nagging feelings eventually get you out of bed to let your pet into your house or turn off the lights. It is only when you feel calm and comfortable that you are able to drift into sleep.

During hypnotherapy, any doubts or unanswered questions that you may have about hypnosis act in exactly the same way as a front door left unlocked or a running tap. You simply will not relax unless you feel totally safe and comfortable. That is why hypnotheraputic sessions address all natural doubts, making all concerns fully understood and comfortable. Any misunderstood word or seemingly negative intention would sound like a loud tap on a sleepy midnight window, jarring your defences into full alertness.

Unlike sleep, your senses stay alert to everything that is going on around you. During hypnotherapy, your senses protect you while your attention is focused on whatever difficulties you want to resolve in the relaxed state. The goal of the therapist is to help you stay in that focused, beneficial and relaxed state while you listen to suggestions that help you heal yourself. Your mind will reject everything except positive suggestions and that is why hypnotherapy only uses positive suggestions with a beneficial nature.

Misconception #2: You will not hear anything except the hypnotherapist’s voice because you will be either on a strange journey or in some weird altered state with swirling colours etc… .

Truths & Realities: You will be able to hear everything that is going on in the room and outside of the room. Your senses are alert to everything around you at all times, but you may allow some of those sounds to just drift into the background while you focus your attention on the outcome of the session. This process is exactly the same as every day life, you chose what you want to listen to and what you want to ignore.

Misconception #3: You will not remember what the hypnotherapist tells you.

Truths & Realities: We all remember things that are important in life and hypnotherapy is no exception to this rule. The conscious mind is developed to draw beneficial information into the unconscious mind where it is stored and used for every day problem solving. Anything that is not beneficial, does not have a positive outcome or has no relevance is simply ignored and discarded.

Misconception #4: During hypnotherapy, you are under the complete control of the hypnotherapist in the same way that the stage hypnotist can get his subjects to do anything he wants.

Truths & Realities: The people who you see having fun and letting their hair down in the stage hypnosis shows choose to volunteer to go up onto the stage. These lively extroverts can let their inhibitions down in public and blame the stage hypnotist for their outlandish behaviour. The choice to be on stage and to co-operate with the stage hypnotist never leaves them. This natural phenomenon is also evident in the therapeutic context, it is simply a matter of choice. You choose to focus on the swapping of ideas with the hypnotherapist in order to make the changes that you want in your life. Just like all advice in life, you can take it or leave it.

Misconception #5: Not everyone can be hypnotised.

Truths & Realities: The hypnotic state is natural place that we visit many times each day. An example of this is when we explore situations like a new car, phone or a new remote control for the TV. We recall stored information from our unconscious and use existing problem solving tools, we focus and relax while we immerse ourselves in thoughts. We investigate our memories and our imagination and all of our past and future understandings for a solution. Hypnosis is a planned and structured approach to achieve this same immersion. It gives us direct access to that natural and inherent problem solving tool.

Misconception #6: Hypnotherapy is about adding things into your mind in order to control it.

Truths & Realities: Hypnotherapy is about teamwork and a shared goal of changing existing situations or problems. The hypnotherapist helps create a place where life’s situations can be safely explored and new approaches developed. The saying ‘you only hear what you want to hear’ can easily be applied to hypnotherapy; at all times we choose the things we want to listen to and ignore. Beneficial change can only take place when we are willing to firstly accept the possibility of new insights and understandings, and feel safe enough to then explore those new ideas freely and fully.

Misconception #7: "What if I can’t be de-hypnotised or return from the hypnotic state?

Truths & Realities: Because the hypnotic state is no different than focused concentration, it is an easy and natural place for us to drift back out from it. Our focus can move easily to and from anything that seems important.

Misconception #8: Hypnotherapy causes people to reveal their deep, dark, hidden secrets.

Truths & Realities: The only secrets that are uncovered by hypnotherapy are the beneficial, insightful thoughts, ideas and understandings that are usually released when we feel calm, relaxed and open to new views and approaches. We all have secrets and darker truths to protect and our choice to keep or expose them remains just as much in our control in hypnotherapy as it is in every day life. What and when we do or say something is a matter of our own individual choice. And so in hypnotherapy, as in life, you are always fully aware and able to judge whatever you would or would not normally listen to and equally what you do or do not say.

Misconception #9: Will I have to see the hypnotherapist for an extended amount of time, as in some other types of therapy?

Truths & Realities: Hypnotherapy speeds up the natural healing process by creating a safe and secure environment in which we can take part in our own self-healing and life direction choices. Using the natural problem solving tools that are inherent in each one of us, we can uniquely see, hear and feel our natural skills working for us, discovering that we are strong and that we can always reach into our natural capacity to adapt and overcome any of life’s difficulties.

Misconception #10: Hypnotherapy can be harmful.

Truths & Realities: Hypnotherapy is simply the structured term we use for something we naturally do every day. When we have a question about life we go inside our thoughts and observe and turn around the problem. The question can be as simple as ‘What colour socks shall I wear today?’ or be as complicated as ‘How can I lose weight and stay fit and happy?’ and ‘How can I stop smoking and begin to enjoy my life again?’. Hypnosis gives us access to our natural strengths and knowledge, helping make changes that are easy and longstanding, while adding the confidence to that strength to be whomever we ultimately want to be.