FAQ

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Can a person in hypnosis tell the difference between what is imaginary and what is real?

Yes. When doing imagery, a person can tell consciously that they are imagining.  However, the unconscious mind cannot tell the difference between imagined and real, and so we respond to our imagery with corresponding physical and emotional responses, just like when we watch a sad movie and start crying, or feel like cheering at the end of "Rocky"; this is the power of suggestion and the "Theater of the Mind."

How many sessions will it take?

That depends on many factors, including your suggestibility, your receptivity, the issue(s) you are working on, how long the issue(s) have been present, how many other processes or programs you've tried to deal with the issue(s), how willing you are to participate in the therapeutic process, how well you follow directions, etc. The human mind is complex, and there are many factors that create behavior.

To be most successful, the client must be a willing participant, they must follow the therapist's directions, and they must be willing to invest the time and energy to go through the process. There is no magic wand or "Hypno-Miracle." 

That being said, many people do consider their results through hypnotherapy to be nothing short of miraculous!  You decide; try it for yourself.

I saw someone get hypnotized in a movie, where the hypnotist snapped his fingers, the client went limp, then immediately regressed to some forgotten childhood trauma, and then didn't remember anything about the session when they woke up. Is this what you do?

No way!! I refer to what you described as "Hollywood Hypnosis," which is a fairly inaccurate, and rather frightening, micro-version of what hypnosis is all about. Only psychiatrists are licensed to perform age regressions.

Hypnotherapy as practiced by myself and other lay hypnotherapists is about overriding negative habits and behaviors by making positive suggestions, guiding the client through positive imagery, and helping the client to move forward toward positive goals, not "digging" for traumatic repressed memories that may be real, or imagined.

A conscientious hypnotherapist's philosophy should be "If it has been repressed, it has been for good reason." Sometimes during the therapeutic process, when significant rapport has developed between client and therapist, and if the client perceives an opportunity to resolve an issue, a repressed memory or issue may surface on its own, however it is not the hypnotherapist's job to suggest that a repressed trauma is at the root of an issue, lest they end up creating something that did not previously exist.  At the very least, as health care practitioners, we are to "do no harm;" and at the very best, we are to assist clients to discover their own inner resources for positive changes.