What is Clinical Hypnotherapy?

Clinical Hypnotherapy is a combination of hypnosis and psychological treatment administered by a trained professional.

The word hypnosis derives from the Greek word for “sleep”. However, in clinical hypnosis, the client is actually in an altered state of consciousness between sleep and wakefulness (trance state). 

Hypnosis is a changed state of awareness and increased relaxation that allows for improved focus and concentration and can treat various psychological disorders such as anxiety, trauma, pain, stress and burnout.

Here at EQ we work with using the methodology of Ericksonian Hypnosis.

How come we work with the Ericksonian methodology?

Milton Erickson was a psychiatrist and psychologist who specialised in hypnosis and family therapy.

Conventional hypnosis methods tend to focus on addressing problems. It loses sight of the fact that the client already has the answers to the questions they seek within. In contrast, Ericksonian hypnosis adopts a solution-oriented approach, aiming to assist clients in restructuring their thoughts, behaviours, and emotions to facilitate positive transformations.

Ericksonian Hypnosis is based on 3 principles:

1. To help someone, you have to empathise with the person and establish a connection (we now call this ‘rapport building’). Otherwise, the person would not trust you have the intention or the ability to help them.
2. To access the unconscious mind, you have to distract the conscious.
3. Indirect suggestions have a greater likelihood of being accepted by the unconscious and helping the person make natural, sustainable changes.

How can Hypnosis help?

Hypnosis can help you gain control over behaviours you’d like to change. It may help you cope better with stress, burnout, anxiety, phobia or pain. Although you’re more open to suggestion during hypnosis, you don’t lose control over your behaviour during a hypnosis session, instead there is space for your unconcious state to reorganise to gain a positive solution.

During hypnosis, most people feel calm and relaxed, making suggestions around behaviour and thought pattern changes with ease.

What to expect in a session?

During a session, the therapist brings the client into a hypnotic or trance-like state. After an initial consultation, we work together to discover what your goal is. Using your language, the therapist will create scripts and weave words as suggestions into stories that will begin to create changes in thought patterns or behaviours. The clients’s mind and attitude play a key role in the success of this therapy – clients should have the desire to participate and be fully guided during the sessions.

How do you feel after a session?

There are many positive side effects of hypnotherapy afterwards that increase as the days and the weeks go by, including relaxation, sleeping well, improved confidence and self esteem. You may experience the halo effect which can be felt like feeling lighter, calmer, clearer, even a euphoric feeling of positivity afterwards.

Can I do hypnosis awake?

Yes you can. This form of hypnotherapy is called Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy (CBH). This is not an uncommon question. It can feel overwhelming stepping into a new therapy modality and we often have clients that are concerned of being put into a trance state.  We help clients ease into hypnosis by offering sessions using CBH first.  Once clients gain a taste of the relaxation they often are happy to continue the work through “sleep” hypnosis. One thing we like clients to remember, even while you are in a trance state, you can hear everything the therapist is saying.

What is CBH?

Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy (CBH), rooted in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) with the addition of hypnosis, focuses on the ways in which individuals think and act in specific circumstances, and how emotional and behavioural problems may be overcome.