Hypnosis - what it really is, myths and truth

Hypnotic trance is significantly different from physical sleep. During exposure, partial or complete blocking of consciousness occurs. Part of the cerebral cortex functions in an inhibited mode, perceiving mainly signals coming from the hypnotist. He not only puts the client into a trance, but also gives certain instructions, conducting therapy through suggestion.

What is hypnosis

A hypnologist is a person who has special skills and knowledge, the use of which makes it possible to influence the subconscious of another individual. Suggestion is carried out in several ways. You can simply win over your interlocutor by arousing his sympathy. This allows the object to perceive the supplied information as deeply as possible. A similar scheme is practiced in NLP (neurolinguistic programming).

The main purpose of hypnosis is to directly address the subconscious of a person who is temporarily in a trance and completely uncontrollable over his actions. The purpose of suggestion is to open the necessary areas of the brain to obtain information about events in the client’s life that caused the disorder or phobia.

Having identified the source of fear, the hypnotist carefully adjusts some biological or physical indicators (pain threshold, pulse rate, muscle strength, passion for bad habits). Many experts are convinced of the safety and effectiveness of hypnotherapy in the treatment of psychosomatic diseases.

How does hypnosis work?

Immersion in trance is based on the ability of the brain to transform into an inhibited state. This happens with the help of monotonous, monotonous stimuli (calm speech, stroking, rhythmic music, fixation of gaze on a specific object). A hypnotist is a specialist who knows several or one technique of suggestion. He directs his impulses to reduce the flow of external information, concentrating the client’s attention on the problem and the given attitude. The client falls into a hypnotic sleep. Suggestibility works more effectively if the hypnologist has sufficient experience and confidence, and the client trusts him, is highly suggestible, and does not resist the manipulations being carried out.

After completing a hypnotic session, all clients remember absolutely exactly what happened to them. Like most other myths, many believe that they will not remember anything and their consciousness will be turned off. This is wrong. A person under hypnosis will remember and understand everything that happens to him.

Stages of hypnosis

Immersion in a trance does not occur simultaneously; hypnosis consists of several successive stages.

Preparatory stage

The first stage consists of a gradual shutdown of consciousness and habitual reactions to stimuli from the outside. The person is completely focused on the words and actions of the hypnotist. The specialist performs manipulations using various techniques, using monotonous sounds or movements. The stronger the hypnotist and the more suggestible the person, the faster the stage of entering a trance is completed.

Directly trans

There are different intensifications. At the deepest stage, a person ceases to critically perceive the world around him and is completely subordinate to the will of the hypnologist.

It is at this stage that psychological problems are identified and corrected. A hypnotherapist can understand the causes of internal fears and addictions (alcohol, drugs), and reveal existing abilities.

The necessary suggestion for a given person takes place - getting rid of things that interfere with normal life. In a state of hypnosis, the client can remember and voice those moments of life, even from the distant past, that influenced the emergence of psychopathologies.

Breaking out of trance

Staying in a state of altered consciousness cannot last long; you need to get out of it.

The exit can be carried out gradually. In this case, the hypnotist usually counts to a certain number: to three, to ten, and the person enters a normal state.

We should not be afraid that if a specialist forgets to take us out of trance, we will remain in it forever. Trance is a state between sleep and reality. In any case, the person will wake up on his own and regain consciousness.

With a superficial trance, which is used in NLP, the client will simply suddenly “wake up”, the loss of orientation will be quite short-lived. Such techniques are used in fraudulent schemes, when a person, for example, is forced to buy an unnecessary product or is lured out of money (gypsy hypnosis).

Who is a hypnologist

In short: this is a specialist who treats people by putting them into a trance. When choosing a professional, pay attention to his work techniques, user reviews and relevant experience. Nikita Valerievich Baturin has been practicing hypnotherapy for a long time, his courses are known to many, their effectiveness has been proven in practice. There are several methods of suggestion.

Erickson technique

This type of hypnosis is perceived by many experts as insufficiently effective. It is based on a conversational impact on the client. A person got rid of problems not so much as a result of suggestion, but by activating internal resources, activated after receiving the appropriate instructions. For successful treatment, it is necessary to initially win over the client.

The operating technique consists of a series of simple procedures:

1. The hypnotist is placed opposite the client.
2. The gaze is directed towards the bridge of the nose.
3. A conversation is conducted in a calm, measured voice, the essence of which depends on the problem being solved.
4. After finding the source of the disorder, instructions are given to overcome fear or addiction.

Some experts compare Erickson's technique to the placebo effect.

What is hypnology of the Soviet period

The techniques of the post-Soviet space contain the developments of Dovzhenko and Bekhterev, who specialize in coding (direct suggestion). Statistics show that this method is very effective; complete recovery of clients without additional sessions is recorded in 20–25% of cases.

Among the disadvantages of the approach, a narrow range of applications is noted. Coding is suitable for the treatment of alcoholism, gambling addiction, nicotine addiction, and obesity. This is where the areas of effective influence of this hypnotherapy end. Along with good performance, the technique is not stable. Some disorders and diseases returned after several months or years.

Modern hypnosis

Who is a hypnotist who has chosen modern hypnosis for himself? This direction in Russia began to be actively used several years ago. This is an in-depth study aimed at eliminating the root cause of a mental disorder or other disease. The effectiveness of the technique exceeds 90% with subsequent sustainable results.

When comparing modern hypnosis with traditional psychotherapeutic treatment, it turned out that hypnosis eliminated the problem in 5 sessions. It took a psychiatrist five times longer to level out a similar disease. Among modern techniques of suggestion, this direction is considered the fastest and most effective.

You can see how modern hypnosis works for stuttering in this video.

Types of hypnosis

In psychology, hypnosis is classified according to the following principles.

Directive or classic

Classical hypnosis is associated with the name of the French doctor J. M. Charcot, who first began to use trance induction for medical purposes.

There is a direct (directive) impact on the client. The hypnotist speaks clearly and loudly, the subject understands that he is under someone else's influence. The patient is positioned sitting or reclining, eyes closed.

A trusting relationship and emotional contact have been established between the parties.

If there are outside observers, they will not confuse the hypnosis session with anything else. This type of influence is used to treat phobias, neuroses, and other psychosomatic problems.

Non-directive (Eriksonian)

The name of the method is associated with the name of hypnotherapist Milton Erickson, who, while suffering from polio, began practicing self-hypnosis to relieve pain.

Unlike the directive type, the client enters a trance not on the direct instructions of the doctor, but almost independently. Both parties are in a relaxed state.

A hypnologist, using words, associations, hints and halftones, helps a person enter a state of altered consciousness. During the trance period, the consciousness is dominated by structures responsible for creativity, imaginative thinking and intuition.

The hypnologist decides what exactly to say and what associations to evoke individually for each client.

A person may not understand that trance manipulation is being carried out on him. This hypnosis is also called hidden. It is often used in advertising, highlighting individual words or phrases that sink deeply into a person’s subconscious and encourage him to take certain actions.

Pharmacological (psychotropogenic)

This method of hypnosis is used mainly for the treatment of severe forms of addiction in specialized clinics. To change the patient's consciousness, psychotropic or narcotic substances are used, which do most of the work for the hypnotist.

The therapist only carries out the suggestions necessary to cure the patient. In an artificial trance, the patient is susceptible to suggestion quickly and easily, and the perception of attitudes is greatly facilitated.

At the end of the session, the client is put into a state of amnesia, so that he cannot remember what manipulations were performed on him.

Pathological

Pathological hypnosis is the possibility of involuntary trance states in people suffering from mental disorders, for example, schizophrenia or epilepsy. It is absolutely impossible to consciously put such patients into an altered state of consciousness, since this poses a real threat to their life.

Hypnosis in the practice of a psychologist

To determine whether you and your loved ones need the help of a hypnologist or hypnotist, you need to take into account the symptoms that indicate certain disorders:

1. Situations that cause timidity or shyness. If there is a strong fear that does not allow you to overcome it on your own, there is a clear mental disorder. It is expressed in the fear of starting a conversation with an unfamiliar person or speaking in public.
2. An emerging feeling of resentment or guilt when discussing certain topics or subjects. All people are subject to stress, but some individuals experience it so much that a certain breakdown occurs in the head. Suggestion and a good hypnotherapist will help you cope with this problem.
3. Physical involuntary manifestations (sneezing, muscle spasms, nervous tics). Reflex reactions indicate the presence of mental disorders or phobias.

A person has unconditioned and conditioned reflexes. The first ones are needed to automatically perform certain actions. Phobias belong to the second group (they are activated regardless of the individual’s consciousness). In this regard, attacks often occur in harmless situations. The stimulus is not the main cause of fear, it simply serves to comprehend it. As a result, a psychosomatic disorder and inadequate reactions appear. Hypnotherapy makes it possible to put everything in its place, to find the necessary points of influence on problem areas of the subconscious.

What is the help of a hypnologist?

Intervention in a person’s subconscious represents a transformation of a chain of neural connections. A hypnologist helps neutralize the influence of atavism (irrational reaction) on the return of adequate behavior. The main goal is to adjust the brain so that there is a meaningful response to the stimulus. Typically hypnotherapy includes three stages:

1. Finding the root cause of the problem in the subconscious.
2. Putting the client into a trance in order to re-experience exciting events.
3. Returning the client to the present with reprogrammed behavior.

A simple test will help you check for phobias. It is necessary to simulate a situation in which a psychosomatic disorder may manifest itself. If there is a panic attack, feelings of fear, shame, guilt, or physical discomfort, a phobia is present. Depending on the stimulus, the excess of one or another sensation is determined.

Identification of reflex reactions

To determine the basic feelings present in psychological fears, you can do the following:

1. Shame and embarrassment. Call the number of an agency offering intimate services, visit a sex shop, bargain in a lingerie store. Behavior will indicate the degree of shame.
2. Take part in a competition where the winner is determined by the audience, talk to a stranger about a personal meeting. This will let you know the level of resentment.
3. Definition of fear. Ask a noisy group for directions to some place, jump into the pool from a diving board upside down.
4. Guilt. When on public transport, place your luggage on the seat next to you, without removing it until another passenger asks to do so.

Differences between a hypnotist and a hypnologist

A specialist who uses the treatment technique of therapy and suggestion is called a hypnologist (hypnotherapist). He practices a different set of techniques to get rid of neuroses, fears, addictions, and other mental disorders. The hypnologist's task is to help the client fall into a trance and enter his own subconscious.

Hypnotic sleep is valuable because it allows you to gain access to the body's internal resources and their special abilities. Activation of these components is aimed at eliminating the identified problem and changing lifestyle for the better.

Hypnotist, who is it? In short, he is characterized as a person with certain abilities, specializing in mass performances with show elements. After such numbers, some people develop stereotyped ideas about the art of hypnotic suggestion. The main goal of a specialist is to impress the public.

Techniques for inducing hypnosis

There are several well-known trance induction techniques that are widely used in practice.

Fixing an item

The hypnologist invites the person to completely focus on the proposed object, which is in a suspended state. Such an object can be anything: a pen, a ruler, a coin.

The distance from the client’s eyes to the object must be at least 25 centimeters. While fixating a person on an object, the hypnotist begins to say certain phrases, and pronounces them in a monotonous voice, inspiring states of relaxation, heaviness, and then sleep. The therapist may use direct counting from 1 to 10 until the patient closes his eyes.

Emphasis on hands and verbal suggestions

Instead of an object, the hypnologist uses his own hands. He runs his palm along the client's face, repeating: “Look at my palm, like this, down, up, down, up.” At the same time, the desire to sleep is verbally suggested to the person.

Induction into a trance is also possible by repeating special phrases that are suggested to a person lying or half-sitting in a relaxed state. Usually these are words that instill a feeling of heaviness in the body, warmth spread throughout it, and the assurance that a person cannot move his arms and legs.

Shock methods

Hypnosis occurs due to a sharp and deep stimulus that a person does not expect. This may be an unexpected command “Sleep”, which is accompanied by a gong strike or a flash of light.

For a successful session, it is necessary that the person is sufficiently suggestible (hypnotizable) and, at a minimum, trusts the therapist.

The described technique was used by the famous psychiatrist Dovzhenko, who invented a method of getting rid of alcohol addiction that was widespread in the USSR.

Myths and realities about hypnosis

Below are several true and false statements related to hypnotic suggestion:

1. Hypnosis is sleep. The information is not entirely correct. Despite the similarities, the trance state has little in common with physiological sleep. The human brain is active, tuned in to solving a problem, and processes information received from the hypnologist.
2. The hypnologist is the one who makes the client lose control of himself. In fact, a person in a state of trance continues to control himself without crossing the line limited by moral principles. It is impossible to make a biorobot out of a person through hypnosis.
3. Not everyone comes out of trance safely. Hypnosis is more related to self-hypnosis. A specialist simply helps direct this process in the right direction. In fact, only the person himself puts himself into a trance and comes out of it.
4. Hypnosis is dangerous. This is fundamentally wrong; this method of exposure is completely harmless. It is not recommended only in cases where the client is mentally ill or his problem cannot be treated by adjusting the subconscious.

Indications and contraindications

You should contact a psychologist-hypnologist in the following cases:

• pathological fatigue that does not go away even after a long rest or sleep;
• communication problems;
• nervous breakdowns;
• severe headaches;
• communication problems, etc.

A psychotherapist will prescribe hypnosis as a treatment if:

• any mental abnormalities have been established;
• there are phobias;
• for obsessive-compulsive disorder;
• for neuroses;
• in the initial stages of addiction or after substitution therapy;
• a person has complexes and low self-esteem, which reduces the quality of life, etc.

The use of therapeutic hypnosis is prohibited for:

• those suffering from schizophrenia;
• epileptics;
• people with addictions taking medications during substitution therapy;
• individuals with obvious personality degradation;
• pregnant women;
• patients with a serious psychiatric diagnosis;
• individuals who are intoxicated.

Interesting Facts

The history of the practice of hypnosis is over three thousand years old. He was called by different names. We heard about its current manifestation relatively clearly in 1842. During this period, James Braid demonstrated a change in the state of mind when looking at a shiny object for a long time, giving this phenomenon the name “hypnosis.”

Until this point, similar techniques were called mesmerism (in honor of A. Mesmer, who lived in the 18th century and mastered the techniques of animal magnetism).

Successful induction into trance depends on the person himself. During the sessions, hidden talents and superpowers appear in him.

Who is a hypnologist? The answer to this question is given above. It is worth noting that the methods used by the specialist are aimed at adjusting the subconscious, regulating the connection between the body and mind in the right direction. Often this process is accompanied by idiodynamic manifestations.