Hypnotherapy is one of the fields of psychotherapy that has wide diversity of psychological treatments. It makes use of some exercises that enable the patients to be under a trance and induce relaxation. Despite the common notion that people are more vulnerable during their hypnotized state, it is in fact that they are even more in control with their thoughts and feelings. Hypnotism shuts all the external senses of the patient and once he is in a trance he can have all the time to clear his mind and stay focused on his thoughts, realized the issues and analyze about his habits that affect his well being. In this case he can be able to condition his mind in eliminating negative actions or habits.

History of Hypnotherapy

Hypnosis has been popular even during the times when shamans are the psycho-therapists of the ancient civilizations. They perform their treatments during rituals and meditations. However, the use of hypnosis as supplementary treatment was first connected by Franz Anton Mesmer, an Austrian physician during the 1700s. He was able to put the patients in a trance by using hypnotic techniques and magnets to treat his patients. Unfortunately, in spite of the fact that Mesmer did discover some cures for headache, joint pains, blindness and even paralysis due to his mental conditioning treatment, the medical community was not convinced with the validity of his work. They considered his techniques and developments to be unscientific. It was during the mid-1900s when the popularity of hypnotherapy started to gain support due to the success of Milton H. Erickson in using hypnosis for his medical practice. In the year 1958, hypnosis finally reached its pinnacle and was finally considered as an accepted medical procedure by the American Psychological and American Medical Associations. Since 1995, the use of hypnosis has been recommended by the National Institutes of Health especially for the treatment of chronic pain.

The Process of Hypnotherapy

So how exactly does hypnosis can be able to help in relieving people of pain and addictions? When a person is under a trance, his body relaxes but his train of thoughts remained attentive and focused and listen to what the hypnotherapist say. Just like any other relaxation techniques, hypnosis can help in decreasing the heart rate during the bout of high blood pressure. It can also alter the brain waves and train the mind to listen and understand. The physically relaxed yet mentally alert mind is the stage when people are highly receptive and respond unquestionably. Suggestion hypnosis is used for those who want to overcome their addictions and habits like smoking, heavy drinking and the like by receiving suggestions and mild requests coming from the therapist. If the suggestion treatment is successful, the patient will start to develop a dislike to cigarettes after a couple of hypnotism sessions.

There are different stages involved in hypnotherapy. The first process involves the therapist asking for the exact problem of the patient and the solution or effect that is desired after the treatments. After the patient is already induced in a relaxed state, the therapist will start to suggest using words or images to communicate the effect that the patient wants to achieve. The patient is encouraged to dissociate or freely forget all his critical thoughts so that he can start responding to truth without any hesitations. After the session, the patient will return to his normal awareness and will be asked to reflect on the experience of hypnotherapy.