Well, I guess the easier way to define hypnosis, is by describing it’s characteristic as a single, limited focus of attention……or a state of awareness dominated by the subconscious mind.

Hypnotherapy is really just 'guided day-dreaming', because every time a person focuses down their attention, in any ordinary and daily duty where different levels of awareness is experienced, they actually enter a state of Hypnosis….. An increased concentration of the mind, often comes about from the elimination of outside stimuli….

Think about the time when you really concentrated on reading a good book…you’ve befriended the main characters in your mind….you knew what they looked like….you could picture the environment they lived in…..felt the emotions they felt…..and while you were reading, you 'forgot' or 'zoned out' what was going on around you….so effectively…..you were narrowing down your attention, so you were less aware of the more insignificant aspects within your immediate surroundings.

How many of you have watched a powerful film, and cried real tears?…..Even though your conscious mind knew that the film was not real, and you were watching actors and actresses….So why was that?…….You were actually making the transition from your conscious awareness to your subconscious awareness……..and your subconscious mind accepted them as real characters, because you were in the state of hypnosis.

Were you asleep? Of course not…you were very aware of what was happening…..and even though you managed to 'tune out' everything else around you, by being so engrossed in the film itself…..the actual motion pictures or the characters involved, didn’t control you at all….they only guided you through the story. So in both these instances above, it could be said, that the book and the film were your hypnotists.

Well, the same can be said when a person is the hypnotist…….Though I like to refer to the more professional term of Hypnotherapist,  because initially, Hypnotherapy is a therapeutic treatment which conveys the importance of creating the health, happiness and well being of an individual. Continuous assessments are carried out, in relation to a client’s needs, motivations, skills and limitations……..and further assessments help to clarify a client’s goals…..their vision and values. 

 How Hypnotherapy works

Hypnotherapy is a condition of being relaxed…..so then relaxation is a state of being, where a person is aware, but resting quietly with their eyes closed….As the guide, it’s not really the Hypnotherapist who hypnotises the client, but it is actually the client who hypnotises himself, by merely following the beneficial suggestions administered during the therapy session

At no time during a session of hypnosis is a person’s awareness or consciousness ever lost……

In fact a person in hypnosis can come out of it whenever he wishes…. he can readily accept or reject any suggestion or instruction given at any time, regardless of the depth of hypnosis,  and he can also remember things he couldn’t remember consciously.

So, although the conscious analytical mind is dormant during hypnosis, it is always functioning.

We are all made aware at some point in our life, how the subconscious mind can recall deep-seated or buried information, from sometime in a persons lifetime, and then uses this information in the form of automatic responses, like those of anxiety or unwanted behavioural patterns.

Therefore the client must choose to change, then I can help them help themselves , by making them aware of the benefits of hypnotherapy, and determining whether or not the benefits of overcoming the problems, are important enough to themselves for that commitment to change.

So the power of change lies only within the mind of the person who enters hypnosis.

So then, Clinical Hypnotherapy can actually help a client become the architect of their own destiny….. and those who can both imagine and believe in their ability to maintain long-term success in breaking their unwanted habits, will expect that success to be permanent, therefore the greater the positive presence of these ingredients, the greater the possibility of success.

Cathy McCarney DCH DCBT MAEPH

Clinical Hypnotherapist, Cognitive Behavioural Therapist (CBT), and Personal Mentor