[img]560|left|Nicholas D. Pollak||no_popup[/img]I received an unusual call today from a client who said he had been hypnotized some time ago and has been uncomfortable since.

He felt his previous hypnotist implanted suggestions, which were not what he wanted. Since then, he has been feeling schizophrenic, as if he had been mentally split in two.

Was it possible to undo what had been done? After assuring him it was, he said he suspected the previous hypnotist was unethical. He wanted to be certain that I was not the same way.

I told him about my many written articles and added what I say to every client:

It never is my goal to change a client to what I believe he should be but, rather, to what he wants to be. If a client seeks to improve his motivation, I am not going to send him away having quit smoking. He may enjoy smoking. If he wants motivation, that is what he will receive.

Behavior Unchanged

This reminds me of negative associations regarding hypnotherapy. Some people believe, incorrectly, hypnotism is mind control. No one will do anything when in a hypnotic trance he would not normally do in a waking state. You would not jump off a 20-story building in a waking state, and you will not do so under hypnosis.

Observers of a person being hypnotized will notice 1) the person appears to be asleep, 2) the eyes (when open) appear to have, in military jargon, the thousand-yard stare. In other words, the eyes are not focused.

Since the client appears to be asleep, people believe the same results can be gained when they are asleep. Not true, of course. According to studies conducted with clients at two separate times, under hypnosis and just sleeping, , they were given the same suggestions in both settings, but reacted differently. When hypnotized, they responded. When sleeping, they did not.

Under hypnosis, although a person appears to be asleep, he is even more alert than in a fully awake state. Hearing is enhanced. So are smell, feeling and vision.

Hypnotherapy allows for a relaxed state so that the subconscious mind may receive new instruction.

Depends on What You Feed the Computer

You may draw a comparison with a computer hard drive, which retains the information downloaded onto it. The hard drive does not determine whether this information is good or bad. It simply stores the information. The user types a keyboard (has a conscious thought), and the hard drive gives the information that the user has asked for.

Same with our minds. The subconscious has learned that when the conscious mind asks for something,, the subconscious, based on past learned behaviors, will give the user what has been asked for.

Hypnotherapy allows you to create a new response, and so the subconscious will give you the new behavior instead of the old.

This principle is what is used to help any client to create the changes he or she wants. Changes are not given randomly. The hypnotherapist speaks thoroughly and at length with the client to be certain he understands what the client wants.

It is my responsibility that the client receives what he or she asks for, to ensure a mental well- being and to assist in gaining the changes sought.

A clinical hypnotherapist, handwriting analyst and expert master hypnotist, Nicholas Pollak may be contacted at nickpollak@hypnotherapy4you.net