Hypnosis
Alternative Health > Hypnosis
Hypnosis and hypnotherapy are effective alternative health methods that can bring about a wide range of benefits. By accessing an altered state, therapists can help patients achieve a state of focused concentration that is unattainable in regular consciousness. When receiving hypnotherapy, the therapist talks to the patient in a soothing voice and leads him through a series of monotonous and relaxing visualizations. Once the patient’s eyes are closed, the therapist sends the patient deeper into relaxation, to a state where he is still aware of his surroundings but is very open to suggestion. Positive suggestions are then introduced to the patient while the conscious mind is inactive, thus revising the patient’s subconscious reactions to certain feelings or actions that take place when awake.
Hypnosis is used as an alternative health treatment for stress and anxiety, as well as for breaking bad habits. Visualization can be used to help train the brain to overcome stress or phobias, or to help in pain management. This method of alternative health can be used to treat snoring, sleepwalking and nail-biting as well. A controversial form of hypnosis involves regression therapy, in which the patient is taken back to periods of trauma in his or her past as a means for coming to terms with experiences that may have been blocked out of the conscious memory. Hypnotherapy is also used to reap general health benefits, including helping digestion processes or improving posture.
Though all hypnotherapists have different approaches to treatment, it takes an average of six to eight sessions to treat most ailments. However, one session may be enough to treat habit-related problems such as smoking, nail-biting and weight loss issues.
It is true that some people cannot be hypnotized, so this alternative healing method is not suitable for everyone. Young children, people with mental disorders, people with very low intelligence and psychotic people are advised not undergo hypnosis. Though hypnosis can be used to treat depression, those with bipolar disorder are also advised to use caution when considering this healing method.
When choosing a hypnotherapist, one must make sure that he or she is a properly trained and credentialed health care professional. There are several professional hypnosis organizations that can be contacted when searching for an accredited hypnotist. Among these include the American Board of Professional Hypnosis, the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis and the American Psychological Association.