Some people don’t get hypnosis. They think their problems will be resolved right after being hypnotized, without any further effort on their part.

It is just not possible for a hypnotist to help such a person. After setting an appointment and showing up, the key for the client is to accept that he/she must take an active part in recovery.

A popularly negative view of hypnosis often derives from stage shows. The stage hypnotist chooses an audience member and, for sheer amusement, orders the person to perform various acts. Onlookers suspect the hypnotist is making the person do things he likes, clucking like a chicken, singing like Elvis Presley, watching imaginary sad or funny movies, dancing with imaginary partners.

In reality, unless a person is willing to accept the suggestions offered, hypnosis cannot take place. Only people who agree to the plan of changes will be successful.

The Way It Works

Hypnosis works with the subconscious. Suggestibility tests are given to ensure that the subconscious is listening and acting upon the suggestions offered. Suggestibility is used to create a hypnotic trance, to help a person achieve his desired change. Commonly, suggestibility is a combination of literal and inferential communication.

A hypnotist would want to ensure he is using the right suggestions to help the client. If someone is 100 percent literal and the suggestions were offered as inference, the hypnosis is wasted. If the person is 100 percent literal and the suggestions are offered in a literal way, the client will succeed.

The conscious side is only 10 percent of our mind, the subconscious the remaining 90. Our subconscious is our computer hard drive, storing everything we have ever done, seen, smelled, touched or experienced. We have trained our subconscious to give us what we want. Only later in life do we realize that sometimes the way we programmed ourselves was not really what we wanted. That is when people turn to hypnosis to deprogram the unwanted behavior and replace it with wanted behavior.

Hypnosis helps a person reject the behaviors he wants to reject and to obtain the behaviors he desires. It is as clear as that.

A few months ago a woman came to see me for a problem that had been plaguing her since she was 5 years old. After the third session, she cancelled the next one, concluding the problem still was there and hypnosis had not worked.

However, six short weeks later, she called back apologizing, asking for a new appointment.

She mistakenly thought hypnosis and my suggestions had not worked. The passage of time, though, created the opportunity for my suggestions to work within her subconscious. She had come to see that hypnosis had worked. She was amazed. From that moment, she never doubted hypnosis. She went on to create the changes she wanted.

As a hypnotist, I pride myself on helping a client to gain the changes he or she desires. This should be the goal of any hypnotist. Unfortunately, too many of them are drawn to additional issues that a client brings in. The misguided hypontists concentrate on them, presuming that the original problem will be resolved. Not so.

If a client sees a hypnotist to quit smoking, he should not leave the session seeking to lose weight – regardless of what the hypnotist may think.

We are there to provide a service. Our service is not to determine what a client wants but to help him or her gain the identified changes without making any kind of judgment.

Don’t be influenced by what you see a hypnotist do on stage. That is all meant in good fun. This skill has been used for thousands of years. It should be embraced because hypnosis has done so much good for so many.

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