# hypnotherapy

*WHAT IS HYPNOTHERAPY AND HOW DOES IT WORK?*

By [hypnotherapy](https://paragraph.com/@hypnotherapy) · 2023-09-24

hypnotherapy, trance, self-education, self-training, self-development, health, psyche, psychology, psychotherapy

---

1.  What is hypnotherapy?
    
    In fact, it sounds nothing more than hypnosis treatment. There are two main areas of hypnotherapy: the method of classical hypnosis and the method of Ericksonian hypnosis. The essence of the hypnotherapy method is to immerse a person in a special and, at the same time, natural state of consciousness called trance. Trance is a mental state in which the patient seems to be in a mixed state of wakefulness and sleep at the same time, this is the same feeling - when the body seems to be sleeping and the mind is awake, and at the same time is in dream images, dreams, while perceiving everything the words of the therapist, and not just perceiving, but perceiving most clearly in contrast to the usual state, in fact, this is the power of suggestion in a trance state. Thus, suggestion gives us a special therapeutic or healing effect.
    
2.  Degree of immersion in hypnosis
    
    Before we move on to considering a hypnotherapy session, let’s look at an equally interesting point, these are the levels of trance, and there are three of them (light, medium and deep):
    
    With a light level of trance, the patient will experience phenomena similar to relaxation, such as a fairly relaxed state of the body itself, heaviness in the limbs or body, a feeling of lightness inside the head, peace of mind, this is very similar to the feeling when the entire focus of attention is directed to internal processes or sensations (see the concept of everyday trance). In this state, a person understands everything that is happening and if something goes wrong, he can calmly open his eyes.
    
    With an average level of trance, bodily phenomena will be much richer: heaviness may be replaced by a feeling of lightness, either in the whole body or in part, there may be a feeling of flying or as if falling inside oneself, there may be a feeling as if it is difficult to move or a feeling as if you are forgetting where your arm or leg is, and in some cases the feeling as if there is no body. Also, the state will be very reminiscent of the same effect when the body is asleep or not, but the mind is alert, but at the same time more in dreamlike images. With such a degree of trance, it is difficult to open the eyes (heaviness in the eyelids is pronounced), and at the end of the session, partial or complete amnesia may occur.
    
    And finally, the deep level of trance: it is also called somnambulistic trance. This is the same feeling when a person is deeply immersed in the depths of the mind; it may feel as if he is somewhere else altogether, and not in a specialist’s office. Or behave like a sleepwalker (saying something or doing something completely unconsciously), while your body temperature may drop slightly. The deep trance state is not dangerous; it can be used in the same regressive hypnosis to travel back in time to earlier years of a person’s life. Coming out of this state can often be accompanied by complete amnesia for the session.
    
3.  How does a hypnotherapy session work?
    

The session itself contains 7 stages:

1.Induction and formation of signs of trance.

2.Deepening trance (to medium and/or deep).

3.Therapeutic intervention.

4.Therapeutic suggestion.

5.Post-hypnotic suggestion.

6.Creating amnesia.

7.Breaking out of trance.

Deepening trance is also an integral part of therapy, allowing all work to be carried out more effectively, since in a deeper trance unconscious processes are most vividly perceived. Trance can be deepened by counting or figurative techniques. For example, you can ask to imagine a ladder and go down it, or simply a compound suggestion (for example: and as your unconscious mind allows you, you will begin to go deeper).

Therapeutic intervention is perhaps the main part of the work in hypnosis: it can involve a suggested image (for example, something natural or an image related to the patient’s problem) and working with this image. Milton Erickson introduced a technique called dispersion: this is when, in the form of an intervention, a metaphor is given that is indirectly related to the patient’s problem and through the metaphor a certain meaning is laid down for subconscious work and subsequently gives the dynamics of the state.

---

*Originally published on [hypnotherapy](https://paragraph.com/@hypnotherapy/hypnotherapy)*