[img]560|left|Nicholas D. Pollak|remove link|no_popup[/img]A new client wanted to quit smoking. She had other issues to work on, but addressing them depended on how she went with quitting smoking.

Her comfort level with hypnosis would determine if she wanted to deal with the rest. She hypnotized well on her visit, and she left feeling great. It appeared she was more relaxed than ever before, her words, not mine.

The following week I sent her a reminder 24 hours ahead, but I was surprised when she cancelled. Was anything wrong? Had I done something that offended her?

Nothing wrong, she said. Hypnosis and the costs were not the way she wanted to go. I asked her what she meant by that. She was just a student and wanted to ensure that the money she would spend on therapy was the best value for her meager dollars. Although she felt great when she left my office after her first appointment, she also felt weird. She could not really explain what weird meant.

She said she had not felt hypnotized. She could hear everything said to her. She felt she was just going along. At this point I explained misconceptions people have about hypnosis.

No, They Are Not Sleeping

They believe that because a person in hypnosis is so relaxed and appears to be asleep, he or she is. This is totally wrong. People in hypnosis can hear better, smell better, see better in a hypnotic state than in their normal waking state. They only appear to be asleep. In the mid 1800s, after an experiment, it was proven conclusively that a person in a hypnotic state is awake and alert. In the two-person experiment, one was asked to go to bed and sleep while the other was put into a hypnotic trance. A paragraph from a book was read to both. In every case, the sleeping person was not aware of the content read to him. Nor did he realize anyone had entered the room.

The hypnotized person could not remember verbatim, but he comprehended the gist of what had been read. Repeated several times, the experiment consistently showed that a hypnotized person is not asleep, is aware of all events around him.

I explained to my client that it was perfectly normal for her to continue to think while hypnotized. The conscious mind will continue to work but because of the hypnosis, I was not working in the conscious mind but in her subconscious.

Becoming Overloaded

Hypnosis is created by what is known as overload, which every person has experienced. You may even be feeling it now as you read this information that is new to you.

When the conscious mind receives information, it tries to process it. When it receives too much information too fast, it shifts into overload. The overloaded person, tunes out. That is hypnosis.

Have you ever looked in your rearview mirror at an intersection or traffic light and seen that faraway look in the eyes of the driver behind you? That is the look of hypnosis.

Most of us are in hypnosis when we drive – aware of surroundings, alert enough to know when something is wrong allowing us time to react. If asked how many cars you remember while driving, the usual answer is one, two or none.

As for my client, she was quite analytical. Not until 1975 was it possible to hypnotize analytical persons. They tend not to go deep during their initial session. Only when they become more comfortable with the process and the conditioning will they relax enough go as deep as needed. Once my client began to understand the process, she changed her mind and decided to complete the quit- smoking program and her other issues.

It took three sessions for her to go sufficiently deep and to quit smoking. I have yet to talk with her about the other matters, but I am confident she will resolve them. She is now very into hypnosis and what it offers her.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me by telephone, 310.204.3321, or by email at nickpollak@hypnotherapy4you.net. See my website at www.hypnotherapy4you.net