Hypnotherapy Misconceptions
Having been a practising hypnotherapist for more than two decades, it never ceases to amaze me that people still have great misconceptions about hypnosis in general and hypnotherapy specifically. Today, I would like to look at some of those misconceptions in more detail:
Misconception 1: Hypnotherapy is not real therapy. This misconception is more prevalent in the psychotherapeutic community. Somehow people believe that hypnotherapy can only be employed for simply to mild issues. This is totally false, if a psychotherapist employs hypnotherapy as a vehicle for change, then it is just as, and in some case even more effective that other forms of psychotherapy.
Misconception 2: A hypnotherapist has staring eyes and will use a pocket watch to put you into trance. Again a popular misconception. These come from the movies of the past where the hypnotist was a Svengali type who used his “power” to entrance an unsuspecting person. Most of the hypnotherapists I know and this includes myself, have normal eyes without special power. Whilst I tend to favour using a pocket watch it is to tell the time not to place someone in trance.
Misconception 3: The smarter I am the more difficult I am to hypnotise. This is a complete falsehood, indeed the more intelligent a person is the more likely they are to be a good hypnotic subject. The ignorant or dumb do not have the capacity to concentrate the way an intelligent person can, so the smarter you are the better subject you will be.
I will revisit misconceptions in a future article, but enjoy these for now.