Have you ever done any research into hypnotism or, have you always thought it was a scam? It does sound like a scam considering one of the stipulations for hypnotism to work is that you must believe it is going to work. It seems like a get out of jail free card for someone trying to take your money. That’s what I always thought, but today I was watching a podcast on YouTube and the topic of positive and negative attitudes came up. More specifically, how a negative attitude can spread into all aspects of your life and how positive attitude can lead to more confidence and success. What if that is the true power of hypnotism? Instead of hypnotism being some form of mind control, it is allowing yourself to believe you can make the changes you want to see in your life. A psychological placebo.
Full disclosure, I have never had a hypnotherapy session, nor do I know anyone who has. I’m also not sure if someone who performs hypnosis is still referred to as a hypnotist (but I’m going to keep calling them that). The whole idea of this article came when listening to this discussion on positive attitudes and connecting that idea with the measured effect of placebos. If we can see a measured effect from placebos in medical trials, then is it possible that hypnosis could produce similar results. Full of motivation, I started doing research.
Hypnotism in Medicine
First off, I was surprised that hypnosis, hypnotherapy, or hypnotic suggestion is considered a complementary and alternative medical treatment by the Mayo Clinic. Meaning that it may be recommended to use alongside primary treatment to help with pain, behavioral changes, mental health, and side effects from cancer treatments. It’s recommended to use a licensed therapist or health care professional who is certified to perform hypnosis. That already makes it sound more credible to me than a psychic or tarot card reader, with whom I initially categorized hypnotists with.
Misconceptions
Spoiler alert, hypnotism is nothing like what you may have seen on tv or in movies. You won’t have someone start swinging a watch in front of your face while saying repeatedly “You are getting sleepy. VERY SLEEPY”. Based on descriptions of the process, hypnosis sounds more like a guided meditation. Much like in meditation the therapist will speak in a calming tone to get you into a state of relaxation. The idea is when you clear your mind in this relaxed state you become more receptive to suggestions. Then, depending on what you are hoping to accomplish from the session the therapist will guide you through this meditative state by having you visualize yourself accomplishing your goals. For example, when hypnosis is used to help treat pain, they may guide you by describing how your pain is starting to fade away and not be as intense as before.
You remain in full control in a hypnotherapy session. These videos you see of people being hypnotized to act like dogs and wake up not remembering anything are fake. You’ll remember what happened during the session and you may be able to learn how to put yourself in a state of hypnosis. When people say you must believe it will work, for it to work, I think that refers to getting into the state of hypnosis. Like meditation which a lot of people have found benefits from, if you can’t allow yourself to relax than you most likely won’t notice any benefits.
Could This Work?
After learning more about what hypnosis really is, I can imagine situations where people can benefit from it. I think the Mayo Clinic describes it accurately as a complementary and alternative treatment. Similar to someone recovering from an injury and receiving physical therapy may be recommended to take a beginner’s yoga class or if you feel yourself getting a cold so you take a vitamin c supplement. It’s not a replacement to treatment, but it could help. How much it can help is hard to say. I think getting in a relaxed state can give you more clarity when dealing with stress, anxiety, and depression but it is difficult to measure the effect.
With hypnotherapy it is essentially the same thing as a guided meditation, but with a trained therapist who is qualified to help you with your mental health. Therapists are trained to guide people to good mental health and putting a patient into a more receptive state will allow them to be more effective. Also, I personally tend to feel noticeably better after a guided meditation when compared to meditating on my own.
I’m still skeptic on using hypnosis for the treatment of pain because if you are receiving other treatments for pain alongside hypnosis than you can’t attribute pain relief to hypnosis alone. Although, I see no harm in trying it alongside other treatments. In my opinion, it does seem helpful for someone who may be struggling with stress, anxiety, or depression. This research has made me curious to try this myself and write a follow up article on my experience, so that may be in my future.
What did you think about this topic? Are you interested in hypnotherapy? Let me know if you have a topic you want me to write about in the future. Read more of my blogs.