Introduction..................................................................1
About This Book...............................................................................................1
Conventions Used in This Book .....................................................................2
Foolish Assumptions ......................................................................................2
Why You Need This Book................................................................................3
How This Book Is Organised...........................................................................4
Part I: Understanding Hypnotherapy...................................................4
Part II: Considering How Hypnotherapy Can Help.............................4
Part III: Expanding the Reach of Hypnotherapy .................................5
Part IV: The Practical Stuff ....................................................................5
Part V: The Part of Tens.........................................................................5
Appendix .................................................................................................5
Icons Used in This Book..................................................................................6
Where to Go from Here....................................................................................6
Part I: Understanding Hypnotherapy
Chapter 1: Examining Hypnotherapy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Getting to Grips with the Basics of Hypnotherapy....................................11
Discovering the differences between
hypnosis and hypnotherapy ...........................................................12
Sliding into trance ................................................................................13
Examining states of mind ....................................................................14
Getting Past that Old-Style Hypnosis...........................................................16
Finding Help with Hypnosis..........................................................................18
Understanding the Therapy Part of Hypnotherapy...................................18
Hypnosis plus counselling ..................................................................19
Hypnosis plus psychotherapy............................................................19
Chapter 2: Techniques: The Tools of a Hypnotherapist . . . . . . . . . . . .21
Choosing a Tool from the Hypnotherapist’s Toolbox ...............................22
Giving It to You Straight and Not So Straight:
Direct and Indirect Suggestions................................................................24
Getting direct suggestions...................................................................24
Going the indirect route ......................................................................25
Blending both........................................................................................25
Safely Splitting Your Mind with Dissociation..............................................26
Minding your associations ..................................................................27
Associating hypnosis and dissociation .............................................28
Adding the Sum of Your Parts: Parts Therapy ...........................................30
Communicating and negotiating with a part of you ........................30
Bringing it all back together again: The importance
of reintegration .................................................................................32
Travelling in Time ..........................................................................................32
Going back in time: Age regression techniques ...............................33
Going forward in time: Age progression techniques .......................36
Altering time: Time distortion techniques........................................37
Scanning a Variety of Other Common Techniques ....................................38
Visualising, imagining, or pretending change...................................39
Finding out how to forget ....................................................................40
Substituting a memory .......................................................................41
Telling stories........................................................................................42
Chapter 3: Preparing for Hypnotherapy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
Keeping Your Individuality in Mind .............................................................45
Identifying Your Problem ..............................................................................46
‘I’m not exactly sure what my problem is’ ........................................47
‘I know my problem but haven’t been able to solve it’ ...................48
‘I have more than one problem’..........................................................48
Communicating Your Problem .....................................................................48
Prioritising your problems..................................................................49
Providing as much information as you can ......................................50
Setting SMART Goals and Checking Your Motivation................................51
Using your SMARTs to set your goals................................................52
Examining your motivation.................................................................54
Negotiating Your Goals with Your Hypnotherapist ...................................55
Breaking down bigger goals ................................................................56
Winning the goal game.........................................................................56
Part II: Considering How Hypnotherapy Can Help
Chapter 4: Making the Mind-Body Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61
Understanding the Mind-Body Connection ................................................62
Fitting up the connectors: Your nervous system.............................62
Making the connection with hypnosis...............................................64
Considering How Your Emotions Affect You ..............................................65
Depressing the effects of low moods.................................................66
Stressing about fear and anxiety .......................................................66
Fighting or fleeing: Facing the fear response....................................67
Integrating Hypnosis into the Mind-Body Connection..............................69
Relaxing mentally and physically through hypnosis.......................70
Manifesting the mind through the body............................................70
Chapter 5: Breaking Away from Old Habits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77
Examining Habits and How to Change Them .............................................77
Quitting Smoking............................................................................................79
Preparing to quit: What to do before
visiting your hypnotherapist...........................................................80
Addressing your fears about quitting................................................81
Using hypnosis to become smoke-free..............................................83
Managing Your Weight...................................................................................85
Taking the safe route to the body you want .....................................86
Eating yourself thin ..............................................................................87
Getting a Good Night’s Sleep ........................................................................89
Solving your insomnia .........................................................................89
Trance strategies to help you to sleep .............................................91
Sweet dreams are made of this – turning
your nightmares into nothing .........................................................92
Sorting out snoring – for both you and your partner......................93
Controlling Your Words: Stammering ..........................................................94
Stumbling over anxiety........................................................................95
Relaxing your speech through hypnotherapy..................................95
Reaching a Nail-Biting Conclusion ...............................................................96
Chapter 6: Touching on Body Matters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99
Letting Go of Pain.........................................................................................100
Experiencing pain...............................................................................100
Perceiving pain ...................................................................................101
Relieving pain......................................................................................101
Helping Your Skin Look Good .....................................................................104
Scratching away at psoriasis and eczema ......................................105
Stop kissing frogs: Treating your warts...........................................105
Easing skin problems with hypnotherapy ......................................106
Relieving the Pressure of Hypertension....................................................108
Taking a Pregnant Pause for Childbirth ....................................................110
Conceiving options ............................................................................110
Delivering the goods ..........................................................................111
Improving Irritable Bowel Syndrome ........................................................113
Dealing with your IBS anxiety ...........................................................114
Coping with constipation and diarrhoea ........................................114
Loving the Dentist! ......................................................................................115
Drilling away at your problem ..........................................................116
Grinding down your bruxism: Teeth-grinding
and hypnotherapy ..........................................................................117
Dealing with Problems with a Psychological Basis .................................117
Obsessing about change: Obsessive
compulsive-disorder (OCD) ..........................................................118
Beating bulimia ...................................................................................119
Chapter 7: Feeling Good . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123
Conquering Performance Anxiety..............................................................124
Playing the starring role ....................................................................124
Feeling your star fade ........................................................................125
Acting your way to a better performance .......................................125
Regaining your lustre.........................................................................126
Summing up your parts .....................................................................127
Taking the Confidence Trick .......................................................................127
Feeling ten feet tall (when you’re used to feeling like a midget).....127
Changing your self-talk ......................................................................128
Putting your confidence into practice.............................................128
Sorting Out Your Anxieties .........................................................................129
Beating the Blues .........................................................................................130
Understanding the different types of depression ..........................131
Working your way out of that black hole ........................................131
Stress Busting! ..............................................................................................132
Cooling yourself off and hypnotherapy...........................................132
Responding with stress .....................................................................132
Reframing your stressed-out world .................................................133
Making a molehill out of that mountain ..........................................134
Accessing Your Creativity ...........................................................................134
Tapping into your endless well of creativity...................................135
Unblocking your creative flow..........................................................136
Touching on Sexual Problems ....................................................................137
Chapter 8: Considering the Limits of Hypnotherapy . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141
Realising That Hypnotherapy Helps, It Doesn’t Cure..............................141
Accepting Hypnotherapy’s Limitations.....................................................142
Setting yourself up for success.........................................................142
Highlighting the importance of your motivation ...........................144
Letting Go May Be Harder Than You Think .............................................145
Facing the fact that you may want to keep your problem ............145
Overcoming your secondary gains ..................................................147
Sabotaging your own therapy...........................................................147
Examining Your Hypnotherapist’s Ethical Responsibilities ...................149
Looking at Your Hypnotherapist’s Legal Responsibilities ......................150
Part III: Expanding the Reach of Hypnotherapy
Chapter 9: Your Kids and Hypnotherapy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .155
Considering Ethical Issues .........................................................................156
Noting the Differences in Hypnotising Children.......................................157
With eyes wide open ..........................................................................158
Trance through imagination ..............................................................160
Making the decision to seek therapy...............................................160
Listening to your child’s hypnotherapist........................................161
Understanding Some Common Childhood Issues....................................162
Hiding behind sofas: Dealing with your anxious child ..................162
Solving bed-wetting............................................................................162
Chapter 10: Visiting Your Former Selves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .165
Examining Past-Life Regression..................................................................165
Beliefs about PLR ...............................................................................166
Reasons to revisit past lives ............................................................167
Journeying to Your Past Life.......................................................................168
Revealing any past-life memories.....................................................168
Choosing a route ................................................................................169
Reaching a dead end..........................................................................170
What to Expect during Your PLR Session .................................................171
Setting the scene ................................................................................172
Visiting those important times .........................................................173
Being present at your death..............................................................173
Healing past hurts ..............................................................................174
Completing the journey and returning to the present ..................176
Chapter 11: Removing Your Phobias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .179
Rationalising the Irrational: Defining Phobias..........................................179
Explaining phobias.............................................................................180
Comparing phobias to plain old fear ...............................................181
Pointing out triggers ..........................................................................182
Examining the Various Types of Phobia....................................................184
Specific phobias .................................................................................187
More complex phobias ......................................................................187
Removing Your Phobia through Hypnotherapy.......................................188
Starting with the basics .....................................................................188
Approaching the trance.....................................................................190
Picturing your life without your phobia .........................................192
Confronting Your Phobia: A Contract for Action .....................................192
Part IV: The Practical Stuff
Chapter 12: Finding a Hypnotherapist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .197
Looking Out for a Hero ................................................................................197
Knowing what to look for ..................................................................198
Believing adverts – or not .................................................................199
Cruising the information superhighway..........................................199
Relying on word-of-mouth.................................................................200
Table of Contents xvii
Looking Into Your Hero ..............................................................................201
Researching by word-of-mouth.........................................................201
Making sure your hypnotherapist is professionally trained ........202
Talking to a few therapists ................................................................202
Asking the right questions ................................................................203
Selecting Your Therapist.............................................................................204
Chapter 13: Your First Hypnotherapy Session Step by Step . . . . . . . .205
Entering the Office ......................................................................................205
Caring enough to pay your own way ...............................................206
Knowing how many sessions it may take........................................207
Starting Your Hypnotherapy Session ........................................................207
Getting acquainted with your hypnotherapist ...............................208
Creating a working relationship .......................................................208
Teaming up with your hypnotherapist............................................209
Supplying a Case History ............................................................................210
Going Into a Trance......................................................................................211
Inducing a trance ...............................................................................211
Homing in on what a trance feels like..............................................212
Taking you in and taking you deeper...............................................213
Experiencing the Actual Therapy ..............................................................213
Choosing the best approach for you ...............................................214
Receiving post-hypnotic suggestions ..............................................215
Strengthening Your Ego...............................................................................215
Adding the feel good factor...............................................................216
Bolstering a weak ego ........................................................................217
Waking Up .....................................................................................................218
Coming completely out of trance.....................................................219
Continuing therapy while you’re coming out of trance.................219
Doing Your Homework.................................................................................220
Chapter 14: Practising Self-Hypnosis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .221
Connecting to Your Unconscious...............................................................221
Setting Your Goal .........................................................................................222
Hypnotising Yourself ..................................................................................223
Inducing your own trance .................................................................224
Deepening your trance ......................................................................226
Trusting your unconscious mind
to carry out your suggestion.........................................................227
Strengthening your ego .....................................................................227
Waking yourself from trance.............................................................228
Examining the Pros and Cons of Self-Hypnosis........................................228
When self-hypnosis is appropriate ..................................................228
When self-hypnosis isn’t appropriate..............................................229
Developing Your Own Scripts.....................................................................229
Ongoing Self-Hypnosis ................................................................................230
Making your hypnosis work..............................................................231
Establishing a routine ........................................................................231
Improving your effectiveness ...........................................................231
Chapter 15: Meeting the Family: Some
Cousins of Hypnotherapy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .233
Looking at Reasons to Use Something Other Than Hypnotherapy.......234
Asking why your hypnotherapist isn’t using hypnotherapy ........235
Making sure that you understand what
your hypnotherapist is doing........................................................235
Gazing at Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR)....236
Eyeing EMDR’s theories.....................................................................237
Wagging a finger: EMDR in action.....................................................238
Tuning into Thought Field Therapy (TFT)................................................239
Feeling Out the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) ............................241
Talking about Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP)................................242
Digging into the name ........................................................................243
Looking at NLP in practice ................................................................243
Part V: The Part of Tens .............................................247
Chapter 16: Ten Common Misconceptions about Hypnotherapy . . .249
Hypnosis Is Magical and Mystical .............................................................249
You’re Under the Power of the Hypnotherapist.......................................250
Hypnosis Is Dangerous................................................................................250
Hypnosis Makes You Cluck like a Chicken and Lose Control .................251
You Have to Keep Your Eyes Closed and Stay Completely Still .............251
Hypnosis Is Therapy ...................................................................................252
You May Not Wake Up from Trance ...........................................................252
You Go to Sleep during a Hypnosis Session .............................................253
Some People Can’t Be Hypnotised – Even if They Want to Be ...............253
You Don’t Need a Hypnotist – You Can Hypnotise Yourself ...................253
Chapter 17: Ten Pioneers of Hypnosis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .255
Franz Mesmer (1734–1815) .........................................................................256
James Braid (1796–1860).............................................................................256
Hippolyte Bernheim (1837–1919)...............................................................257
James Esdaile (1808–59)..............................................................................257
Jean-Martin Charcot (1825–93) ..................................................................257
Pierre Janet (1859–1947) .............................................................................258
Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)........................................................................258
Clark L. Hull (1884–1952).............................................................................259
Milton Erickson (1901–80) ..........................................................................259
Ernest Rossi (1933–present).......................................................................260
Chapter 18: Ten Qualities to Look For in a Hypnotherapist . . . . . . . .261
Confidentiality ..............................................................................................261
Honesty .........................................................................................................262
Well-Trained..................................................................................................262
Empathy ........................................................................................................263
Ethics .............................................................................................................263
Experience ....................................................................................................264
Tidiness .........................................................................................................264
Punctuality....................................................................................................265
Non-Judgemental..........................................................................................265
Active Listening............................................................................................265
Chapter 19: Ten Tips for Choosing a Hypnotherapy
Training Programme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .267
Making Sure the Institution Is Accredited ................................................267
Training for Clinical Hypnosis, NOT Stage Hypnosis! ............................268
Looking at Length of Training.....................................................................268
Going through the Interview Procedure ...................................................269
Sitting Still for Classroom-Based Training ................................................269
Checking the Experience, Background, and Variety of Lecturers..........270
Getting Help from Tutorials .......................................................................270
Talking to Previous and Current Students ................................................270
Offering Continuing Professional Development ......................................271
Supporting You After Training ...................................................................271
Appendix: Resources..................................................273
Hypnotherapy Organisations .....................................................................273
United Kingdom..................................................................................273
United States .......................................................................................273
Canada .................................................................................................274
Australia ..............................................................................................274
Training Institutions ....................................................................................274
United Kingdom..................................................................................274
United States .......................................................................................275
Canada .................................................................................................275
Australia .............................................................................................275
Malaysia...............................................................................................275
Portugal ...............................................................................................276
Spain.....................................................................................................276
Useful Books .................................................................................................276
The Handbook of Hypnotic Metaphors and Suggestions..............276
The Wisdom of Milton Erickson: The Complete Volume...............277
Hartland’s Medical and Dental Hypnosis – 3rd Edition.................277
Hidden Depths: The Story of Hypnosis ...........................................277
Training Trances: Multi-Level Communication
in Therapy and Training ................................................................278
Patterns of the Hypnotic Techniques
of Milton Erickson, Volume 1.........................................................278
Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy with Children, 3rd Edition ..............278
Time Distortion in Hypnosis: An Experimental
and Clinical Investigation ..............................................................279
Ericksonian Approaches....................................................................279
Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis ................................................279
Code of Ethics...............................................................................................280
Index........................................................................281
