1. Hypnosis is a special way of using various naturally occurring psychological and physiological states. It’s a collaborative process in which you allow yourself to follow the guidance of the therapist by using your imagination to evoke positive emotions and rehearse behaviour change.

2. Everyone can, in principle, be hypnotised. It has been shown to help if you relax, think positively, and imagine the things being suggested.

3. Hypnosis increases your ability to respond to positive suggestions, accompanied by relaxed attention to the ideas being suggested.​

4. Hypnosis is not a state of sleep or unconsciousness. Roughly 90% of people report being aware of everything that happens, and relaxation helps but is not essential to hypnosis.

5. Hypnosis is not a state of mind control. You cannot be made to do anything against your will. On the contrary, normally you must want to accept suggested ideas and actively imagine responding to experience their effects.

6. You can not get “stuck” in hypnosis. 

7. Stage hypnosis has very little to do with clinical hypnotherapy and has been shown to foster misconceptions which can prevent people from benefiting from treatment. 

8. Hypnotic suggestion is a means of experiencing certain helpful ideas at a level profound enough to directly influence our emotions and behaviour.

9. Psychological and emotional problems can be seen as the result of negative thinking, whereas hypnotherapy aims to encourage ("suggest") positive ideas which lead to improvement.

10. Hypnotherapy, except for nail biting or smoking cessation, usually requires more than one session. However, it is one of the briefest forms of psychological therapy,  with an average of 4-6 sessions.

11. Hypnosis can help with an enormous range of different issues.   Research tends to provide most support for its use in:

• Anxiety management.

• Pain management.

• Overcoming sleep disorders

• Treating certain psychosomatic or stress-related illnesses

​12.​​  Hypnosis is also used to conquer habits such as nail-biting or smoking cigarettes, and for personal development in areas such as sports

      performance, public speaking, or creativity.

13.  Thousands of positive experimental and clinical research studies on hypnosis have been published. It was recognised as an effective treatment

      by the British Medical Association (BMA) and American Medical Association (AMA) in the 1950s and, more recently, by the American

      Psychological Association (for obesity) and NICE guidance (for IBS) used by the NHS.

14.  Hypnosis is essentially a simple, down-to-earth, and common sense therapy. For example, by relaxing, thinking positively, and picturing your    

      goals, hypnosis can help you to progressively improve your habitual feelings and behaviour.

 

References

AMA    (1958). ‘Council on Mental Health: Medical use of Hypnosis’, JAMA, Sep 13, 1958: 186-189.

BMA    (1955). ‘Medical use of Hypnotism: Report of a Subcommittee appointed by the Psychological Medicine Group Committee of the British Medical Association’, Supplement to the BMJ April 23, 1955: 190-193, Appendix X.

BPS.    (2001). The Nature of Hypnosis. Leicester: BPS.

APA    (1997), Update on Empirically Validated Treatments, The Clinical Psychologist, 1997