Is Hypnosis and It
Does it work? It didn’t work for me. Wonder what the it is? Well it is hypnosis, one of the very few therapeutic processes which is commonly referred to as an it. The reason why the word it is so offensive to me and many others is that the word removes all responsibility from the client and indeed the therapist and put it all on the process.
In reality, hypnosis is very easy to refer to as an it because some will think that it is very mechanistic. Indeed one can make that argument when many hypno “therapists” are simply trained to know what script to use and when. Reading scripts is an act that anyone can do, and it takes all of the mastery and all of the dynamics out of the process and reduces hypnosis to merely an “it” rather than a process of engagement which involved a skilled practitioner as well as an openminded client to create an interactional outcome in which therapy can thrive and change becomes inevitable.
Hypnotic scripts are not a bad thing, they are a useful template. But if it begins and ends there, if a practitioner does not understand the linguistic nuance as to why certain approaches work and some do not. Finally, if a practitioner does not understand the need for the therapeutic relationship, then yes indeed hypnosis is an “it”. This would be a tragedy for both the approach and the hundreds of thousands of people who would benefit from it to help them make therapeutic changes.
