What is Hypnosis?
Many people will tell you that hypnosis is a relaxing mental state that is artificially induced and renders the mind open to suggestion. However the approach taken by Cognitive Hypnotherapy, which is based apon the latest research in areas such as neuro science,takes a radically different view.
We don't believe that hypnosis is a single specific mental state, we think there are probably many of them - so people don't 'go into hypnosis' like it's a place that everyone experiences in the same way. Your experience of trance is likely to be very different from mine, or your friends.
Nor is it necessarily a relaxing state. Watch someone running from a spider, or having a panic attack. In Cognitive Hypnotherapy we would say that they're in a trance state - they're certainly no longer who they were a few moments before.
So what is usually called 'hypnosis' is actually just a part of our everyday experience - research suggests we're in such 'hypnotic' states 90% of the waking day. Sounds like daydreaming, or when we feel small because of a put-down by the boss, or when we're rejected, or when we act out of character, doesn't it? Exactly. Generally people seek the help of hypnotherapy when their rational mind knows that they want to change some behaviour, belief or emotion, yet somehow they continue to "find" themselves complelled to smoke a cigarette, eat more food even when they feel full etc
In Cognitive Hypnotherapy a lot of the time we're engaged in helping our clients 'de-hypnotise' themselves so they stay in control in situations where they find they haven't been able to be.
