Questions regarding Hypnosis and NLP

What is hypnotherapy?

Hypnotherapy attempts to address an individual’s subconscious mind, using the power of suggestion for beneficial change. A hypnotherapist uses hypnosis to give relevant, positive beneficial suggestions to help an individual bring about the change they desire. Although hypnotherapy is not the same as sleep (the individual will still have awareness and control), hypnotherapists often require the individual to be in a deeply relaxed state to enable them to use their imagination fully. For this reason, it’s imperative that the individual feels completely comfortable with their hypnotherapist. Hypnosis is a different state of consciousness from being awake or asleep, and many people compare the deep, relaxed state of hypnosis to daydreaming.

Altered states of awareness have been recognised for thousands of years and hypnosis is widely accepted as a beneficial psychological therapy to access our inner potential. Techniques can be used to reveal issues from an individuals past that may be causing them distress, or the approach can be focused more on their present problems. Hypnotherapy can generally help with most emotional problems an individual is finding hard to cope with, and some physical problems can also be effectively treated with hypnosis too, such as IBS and insomnia. However, it’s important for an individual to consult their GP before approaching a hypnotherapist if they suffer from clinical depression, epilepsy or schizophrenia.

Hypnotherapists will often combine hypnosis with other psychotherapy and counselling techniques to benefit individuals. The techniques used will depend on the issue the individual is seeking help for.

What is Neuro Linguistic Programming?

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) explores the relationship between language, behaviour and excellence. It is essentially a model used to identify and analyse the linguistic techniques used subconsciously by successful people, in order to produce a recipe for excellence.

The process of NLP explores neurology (which regulates how our bodies function and receive experiences), language (which determines how we communicate and think) and programming (our behavioural response) in a bid to find out how their interplay with one another effects our behaviour and the outcomes of our behaviour. NLP techniques use both the conscious and unconscious mind to replace pre-programmed negative behaviours with far more positive ones.

An NLP practitioner will look at your attitude, language and your use of it, your understanding of relationships and how you build a rapport and the physical and emotional states which are best for accomplishing a task. Effective communication and perception of ourselves and others will also be key focuses and all will be examined so that strategies for improving understanding, motivation, learning and remembering can be formed.

Does everyone respond to hypnosis?

According to the British Society of Clinical Hypnosis it is estimated that 85% of people will respond at some level to clinical hypnotherapy. Some individuals are more likely to respond to hypnotherapy than others and having confidence in the technique helps. Believing change from hypnotherapy is possible is important and if an individual is personally motivated to change, hypnosis is often more likely than if the individual relies completely on their hypnotherapist and doubts whether they have the ability to access their subconscious and make changes happen.

It is important to recognise that it is not possible to hypnotise an individual against their will, and even if an individual is hypnotised, they can reject any suggestion that is not beneficial to them. Hypnotherapy is therefore natural and safe, with no harmful side effects.

What Qualifications And Experience Should Hypnotherapists have?

There are currently no laws in the UK about the training and registration of hypnotherapists. However, when choosing a hypnotherapist it can be reassuring to know they work to certain levels of good practice. Hypnotherapists can register with a professional body with its own code of ethics and those who are members of a professional body will have met certain eligibility requirements.

I am a member of the GHR

General Hypnotherapy Register (GHR)

Hypnotherapists may become members of the General Hypnotherapy Register if they satisfy certain criteria with regard to both training and ongoing requirements as determined by the General Hypnotherapy Standards Council (GHSC).

Suitably qualified practitioners are awarded the General Qualification in Hypnotherapy Practice (GQHP).