TL;DR: Hypnosis in a therapy session involves helping you shift into a relaxed but focused headspace as you explore possible solutions to a problem you’re wanting to solve. Most people find hypnosis to be a relaxing and restful experience, and find that it helps them finally make real progress toward goals that have been hard to reach.
Hypnosis is a fantastic addition to therapy sessions. It’s a great way to experience and practice taking a mental break, which is something that so many of us struggle with in our increasingly chaotic day-to-day lives. But hypnosis can really have a special stigma attached to it since it’s so widely presented in pop culture as a mysterious or nonsensical gimmick. I hope to help clear up some misconceptions and paint as clear a picture as possible of what hypnosis in a therapy setting actually entails, so you know what to expect.
Everyone’s unique experience will vary, but most people say hypnosis feels surprisingly relaxing. They often mention feeling more rested afterward than when they got out of bed that morning.
Stage hypnosis exists mostly- if not entirely- for entertainment purposes. Can a person (who may be well beyond the club’s drink minimum) be hypnotized into clucking like a chicken or taking off their shirt??? Oh my god they can!!! Hilarious! The opposite is true with hypnosis in therapy. Within a therapy setting, hypnosis is much more calm, and the person who’s in a hypnotic state isn’t being essentially used as the subject of a fascinating, silly trick. The client chooses the intent or goal of the hypnosis, in collaboration with their therapist.
No. You are always in control when we use hypnosis together in therapy. Hypnosis in therapy with me cannot make you say something you don’t want to, or that isn’t aligned with what matters to you.
There are similarities and differences between hypnosis and meditation. In effect, both can result in feelings of calmness or relaxation. Both involve slightly different types of activity in certain brain networks. Ultimately, it’s way outside the scope of this post (or any one post, probably!) to give a detailed explanation here!
Our first session will likely consist of practicing a generic and brief dip into a trance state so you can get a small preview of what it can feel like. From there, we can deepen the experience a little more to really tap into a stronger feeling of relaxation and openness. I’m always open to feedback about what you’re experiencing so we can make any adjustments that would be helpful.
Nope! I might have questions for you about your favorite colors, symbols, sights and sounds, etc., so you could be thinking about supportive elements like that ahead of time. Those are aspects of your preferences that I could use to help customize your hypnosis experience and tap into existing resources associated with calm or pleasant feelings, which can help deepen and strengthen the experience of hypnosis for you.
Then we can just do talk therapy! While research shows there is a small subset of people who seem to be not very hypnotizable, most people have at least some degree of hypnotizability. If you’re the type of person known to get lost in a daydream, get home without remembering much about the drive, be SO into a book you don’t even hear someone speaking to you until they’re also waving a hand in front of the pages – you’re probably hypnotizable, and hypnosis can probably be of some use for you.
Hypnosis is so surrounded with intrigue. I wish people knew how much can be possible using hypnosis, which is a state our brains naturally use anyway. Movies make it seem complex and mysterious, Mulder is seeking out memory retrieval regression hypnosis almost every other episode of The X-Files, and comedians make a joke out of it with willing audience participants. How is anyone supposed to know what’s what?
While even Scully gets into memory-retrieval/regression hypnosis, that is not something I offer. Hypnosis does make our brains more open to suggestion, which is both exactly how it’s helpful and why I don’t use it to try to find possibly-forgotten memories. Because memories are highly susceptible to being altered when they’re are recalled, I don’t use a hypnotic state to go looking for memories. Hypnosis and other therapies such as EMDR can help change the meaning that was created by certain memories, like helping someone understand and truly believe “I’m okay now,” when a traumatic car accident created an “I’m not safe” belief.
Yes, and being in a suggestible headspace is helpful for problems that we’ve been wanting to solve but keep running into blocks. Maybe every solution you’ve thought of or heard from a friend is immediately met with a reason it won’t work. Hypnosis helps open your mind to other possibilities, or ways that xyz thing might actually be helpful after all.
Overall, no! Part hypnosis’s helpfulness might mean that you are starting to do things you wouldn’t normally do, but because not-doing them is what’s been the problem. It helps you start doing things you don’t normally do but want to start doing.
Normally a smoker wouldn’t finish a meal without a cigarette, but doing something they ‘wouldn’t normally do’ is the goal when they want to quit smoking. Finishing a meal and going for a walk instead is something they wouldn’t normally do, but now they do. The important difference is what you want to be doing differently that you don’t normally do, or vice versa. Being more open to suggestion is helpful when you’re wanting to make a change -but it can’t make you do something you don’t want to do.
I love this question. “I should be able to just (fill in the blank)” is something I hear alllll the time from people, especially neurodivergent folks and people with multiple traumatic experiences. “I should be able to just get over it,” “I should be able to just get started.”
This is maybe what I love most about hypnosis. It’s able to help you bypass your default self-judgments and open up to new possibilities for change, for alternative ways of thinking, being, acting.
Anxiety and overthinking are common issues we run into when facing a problem. Overthinking in particular can be enticing because it feels like we’re doing something productive about the problem, when we’re usually just spinning our wheels and getting nowhere. Hypnosis can help you more readily tap into other resources that help manage anxiety effectively without falling into overthinking spirals.
Let’s talk and see! Often times, hypnosis is helpful for people dealing with
Hypnosis is usually not a good fit for someone dealing with psychosis or active substance use or addiction.
I’m a simultaneously very unserious and also very serious and respectful person, and that tends to be evident in my work as a therapist. I work with folks in person in Little Rock, AR, and online throughout Arkansas. My most common session types:
Is hypnosis evidence-based?
Hypnosis has been studied for quite a long time, and research is still happening all the time especially as medicine makes advancements in neuro-imaging technology. Research supports hypnosis as helpful in managing chronic pain, IBS, anxiety and stress, and more.
How many sessions will I need?
How many sessions you need depends on your goals. For specific habit changes like smoking cessation or making changes to diet and exercise patterns, you may need only 1-5 sessions initially, and possibly have one-off follow up sessions weeks or months later. If you’re wanting to use hypnosis to address longstanding patterns of behavior that you want to change, I’d suggest starting out with weekly or every other week 90-minute sessions, or if your schedule is chaotic, scheduling a 3-hour session every month or so. As we meet, we will check in with your progress and how you’re reaching your goals, and modify frequency as needed.
Is hypnosis therapy different from EMDR?
While EMDR does have a hypnotic element to it, it’s still different from hypnosis. EMDR has a more structured approach with a protocol that’s typically used in any reprocessing session, with some minor adjustments depending on the issue. Hypnosis is a more broad process of using the hypnotic state to explore possibilities for change.
Does hypnosis work over telehealth?
Yes! It’s the same, you’re just in your own chosen space instead of at my office. For any telehealth session, you’d want to make sure you have safety and privacy, and will have few to no interruptions if possible.
Is hypnosis safe?
Generally speaking, yes, hypnosis is safe, especially in a therapeutic setting where you have a foundation of trust with your therapist.