Hypnosis has for years been associated with the mysterious sideshows you may have witnessed where members of the audience are invited to the stage to carry out strange acts following instructions from the ‘hypnotist’. People may have seen the magician David Copperfield performing supernatural activities on television. Hypnosis is a natural state of awareness, a natural ‘trance’ state or daydreaming. You are either asleep or awake and there are many different in between levels of awareness, which I will describe later. Humans have in fact been in a hypnotic state on many occasions without even being aware of it.
Our brain would be exhausted if it had to remember to breathe every time the body needs oxygen. I read that Sigmund Freud was one of the first people to raise the idea of the subconscious. He called this mind the ‘id’ - an idea that hypnosis places the unconscious mind at an otherwise unreachable level. It opens up the subconscious mind to the suggestion by the hypnotherapist. I believe that these suggestions can help people make positive changes within themselves.
By the use of a prepared PMR the therapist using a certain tone to their voice and a delivery of speech that is slow and reassuring, the patient will start to feel very relaxed to eventually falling into a state of hypnosis or hypnotic trance. The way in which a PMR works is making the patient more aware of their bodily functions for example their breathing. With the use of the correct technique the patient will experience more laboured and controlled breathing. They may also become aware of a slower heart rate. At the point of delivery the therapist will ask the patient to find a position that they feel comfortable in, this could be seated or lying down.
Relaxation techniques have been recorded being used since 2000 B.C. Aristotle is known to have identified the process of eye movement in REM sleep whilst studying resting and sleeping processes. Other combined physical/psychological therapies use similar methods including meditation, Yoga and massage. Relaxation is the most important technique for the process of hypnosis, “Wolpe wrote ‘Patients who cannot relax will not make progress by this method’” when he described hypnotic trance “’Those who cannot or will not be hypnotised but who can relax will make progress although apparently more slowly then when hypnosis is used’” (Heap & Dryden, 1991). Only when a person is fully relaxed can they be induced into a hypnotic state, and it is this hypnotic state we need to reach the unconscious mind, although the benefit of relaxation alone can bring relief to sufferers of stress conditions.
& C., 1996), guided induction of various states of consciousness (Halsband, 2011) or natural psycho physiological reaction caused by the specific psychological interactions between the hypnotiser and person being hypnotised (Gapik, 1984). However we define the hypnosis currently it is acknowledged that hypnotic state was known to the human beings already in ancient
This includes the psychological and physical aspects of hypnosis and also the role of relaxation and its importance within hypnotherapy. These are some of the topics which I will discuss in this assignment, along with the history of hypnosis and also the benefits of hypnotherapy. Then finally providing a conclusion to my findings and also the benefits I have gained by writing this assignment. The History of Hypnosis Throughout the years hypnosis has come in many forms and almost every culture has used it at one point or another. “The earliest evidence of its existence was found among shamans, who were also referred to as witch doctors, medicine men, or healers.” (Josie Hadley and Carol Staudacher, 1996, third edition, Oakland, New Harbinger Publications) however back then it wasn’t known as hypnosis, the correct term used was ‘shamanism’ and although both involve entering a relaxed state of mind, or consciousness, the overall methods were quite different.
It is an experience that everyone that undergoes the set of techniques will find an individual outcome. Some people will find they have experienced a life-changing phenomenon, others will not feel much different than before, although they will be more relaxed due to the nature of the techniques. This is why it is not easy to prove the success of hypnosis in a world that wants concrete evidence. This is not helped by the perception given by stage hypnosis – that often involves illusion and therefore not wholly believed by the viewer. However, hypnosis is a completely natural state that with the help of the properly trained hypnotherapist it can make positive changes to the subject’s mental, emotional and physical state.
This essay will attempt to dispel the fears and myths that surround hypnosis. A brief history of hypnosis will be followed by an explanation of the physical and psychological effects of hypnosis along with the role that relaxation has to play. The roots
Attending a hypnosis session for the first time can be a scary thing because of all the mythology that a person probably has about hypnosis. Therefor this style is nurturing and is about giving a person choice by using words that are caring. For example, you might say to a person “You may or may not begin to notice that you’re breathing is beginning to relax”, or “you could make yourself as comfortable as possible”. These simple sentences are offering the client choice and making them feel in control and they will not feel a threat and there might not be implications to the conscious mind of the
Some thoughts and behaviors may cause a person some discomfort and are suppressed into the unconscious as not to cause anxious feels when they are recalled to the conscious mind. We try not to dwell on thought that cause us anxiety or discomfort so we try to put unhealthy thoughts somewhere where we do not have to think about them. The conscious mind is where we are now. Awake, alert and communicating with others and we are aware of what we are doing and why. The two types of consciousness our text discusses; are the perceptual consciousness and the mental structure of our brain.