wollongong therapist
Frequently Ask Questions
Not sure yet? Here are the answers to some common questions
Strategic Hypnotherapy Differs from other forms of hypnosis because it addresses the perceptual filters that create the problem. Most hypnosis involves guided visualisations to calm you down and teach you how to relax. There are plenty of forest themes and floating in calm blue oceans. While pleasant, it does not address the cause. It only addresses the symptoms. Strategic Hypnosis will address the way you see risk. If you are hyper-vigilant, we will help you reality check. If you are overthinking a situation, I will help you recognise what is useful analysis and what is not.
The old chestnut that people believe they may not be hypnotisable is a hangover from traditional forms of hypnosis. Traditional or authoritarian Hypnosis tended to be scripted and to tell you what to do.
Modern forms of hypnosis will not tell you to do anything. I will offer you possibilities, and you can cherrypick what you want from the session. Because you have nothing to fight, there is no resistance and no concerns about not being able to be hypnotised.
Sydney Clinical Hypnotherapy offers a unique approach to mental well-being compared to traditional meditation and relaxation techniques. While meditation aims to bring calm to the mind and achieve a state of peaceful focus, hypnosis diverges significantly in terms of brain activity. The brain operates on various electrical wave frequencies, such as beta during alertness, alpha during relaxation with awareness, theta during somnolence, and delta during deep sleep. Hypnosis induces a distinct brainwave pattern that is neither akin to normal waking, sleeping, or meditation. Instead, it shares similarities with the alpha state, characterised by physical and mental relaxation combined with heightened awareness of one’s surroundings.
In contrast to the misconception of hypnosis as a zombie-like trance, it aligns more closely with meditation, albeit with a purpose beyond relaxation and inner peace. Hypnotherapy can harness the alpha state’s enhanced mental clarity and creativity to facilitate therapeutic changes. This approach demonstrates that hypnosis is not a mystical realm but a scientifically understood process that taps into the brain’s natural rhythms, offering unique benefits for those seeking to address various mental and emotional challenges through clinical hypnotherapy in Sydney.
In summary, clinical hypnotherapy in Sydney diverges from traditional meditation by reprogramming your cognitive patterns, helping you regain control of your mental and emotional state. This approach dispels the misconception of hypnosis as a trance-like state and instead emphasises its therapeutic potential for addressing a range of mental and emotional issues.
One common misconception about hypnosis revolves around the mistaken belief that the hypnotherapist holds control over the client’s actions and thoughts. This misunderstanding likely stems from portrayals of hypnosis in TV shows and performances by stage hypnotists. However, in reality, this notion couldn’t be further from the truth. All hypnosis is essentially self-hypnosis, and individuals cannot be hypnotised against their will. People under hypnosis will not do or say anything that goes against their normal behaviour or moral values.
Research conducted at the University of NSW by Dr. Amanda Barnier highlighted that hypnotized individuals do not transform into mindless robots or become powerless subjects of planted post-hypnotic suggestions in their subconscious. Some individuals genuinely experience a change in their persona during hypnosis, while others may convince themselves of it, and a small percentage may even fake it. To address clients’ fears related to this misconception, hypnotherapists often use questions like, “Could anyone talk you into doing something against your moral or ethical values, like robbing a bank or public indecency?” This helps clarify that hypnosis doesn’t override one’s principles or control their actions. Additionally, it’s pointed out that people can deviate from their moral values without the need for a hypnotherapist, such as engaging in drug use, theft, or cheating, illustrating the independence of individuals’ choices and behaviours.
Any person suffering from any degree of emotional or physical “dis-ease” can benefit from Clinical Hypnotherapy. The problems treatable through hypnosis are equally diversified. Although hypnosis is commonly associated with habit cessation (losing weight, quitting smoking, etc.), almost any area treatable by conventional means can be enhanced through the use of hypnosis. The well-trained clinician, using hypnotherapy can help clients suffering from the following –
Alcoholism, Anger, Anxieties, Asthma, Bed Wetting, Blood Pressure, Blushing, Breathing Disorders, Bulimia, Burns, Chronic and Acute Compulsions, Confidence, Dentistry, Depression, Eczema, Exam Nerves, Exam performance, Gambling, Gastro – intestinal Disorders, Goal Setting, Grief, Guilt, Habit Control, Headaches, Hostility, Insomnia, Memory Enhancement, Mood Swings, Nail Biting, Obsessive / Compulsive Behaviours, Obstetrics (hypnobirthing), Over Eating, Pain Control, Assertiveness, Communication, Pain management, Panic Attacks, Personal Growth, Phobias, Psoriasis, Public Speaking, Relationships, Relaxation, Releasing the Past, Resentments, Sexual Dysfunction, Skin Problems, Sleep Disorders, Smoking Cessation, Sports Motivation, Stress relief, Study Recall, Stuttering, Warts and Worry, even some forms of schizophrenia and multiple personality(DID) have been treated with hypnotherapy.
Hypnosis can be utilised in the treatment of most disorders, whether mental or otherwise, where the relaxation response promotes the person’s attitude. For example, with a physical injury, the person’s mental resources can be enlisted to aid in managing the subsequent discomfort, allow for some rest and lessen the associated emotional trauma. It must be noted that Hypnotherapy is not a replacement for medical treatment from a doctor. The most important determinant of the eventual success of the therapy is the true desire to get well.
A Clinical Hypnotherapist uses hypnosis to enable the client to achieve a state of mental, physical and emotional relaxation. When in hypnosis, the conscious mind (that busy, critical, analytical part of the mind) takes a rest. Hypnosis allows people to tap into the storehouse of information that lies in the subconscious, sometimes referred to as the unconscious, mind and make positive changes to thought patterns, habits or the effects of traumatic incidents that are having a negative impact either mentally or physically.
Each client may experience hypnosis differently relative to the technique being used and the psychology of the client. For some, it is a heightened awareness; for others, a profound relaxation. Sometimes the client hears every word the hypnotist says, and other times the voice fades in and out or becomes completely inaudible. In Ericksonian work, the client is never put under the “control” of the hypnotist. The client is always free to alter the hypnotic experience or awaken at will.
Hypnosis is a normal, naturally occurring, healthy state of mind. It is totally DRUG FREE. There has never been a single documented case of harm resulting from the use of hypnosis that I know of.
Leslie Le Crone, psychologist and authority on hypnosis, states: “As to self-induction, many thousands have learned it and I have yet to hear a report of any bad results of its use”.
In his book Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, Dr William S Kroger states: “Platonof, an associate of Pavlov, who used hypnosis for over fifty years in over fifty-thousand cases, reports as follows: ‘We have never observed any harmful influences on the patient which could be ascribed to the method of hypnosuggestion therapy, or any tendency toward the development of unstable personality, weakening of the will, or pathological urge for hypnosis”.
Dr David Cheek, MD, who has vast experience in the field, writes, “We can do more harm with ignorance of hypnotism than we can ever do by intelligently using hypnosis and suggestion constructively”.
Psychologist, Rafael Rhodes, in his book “Therapy through Hypnosis”, writes: “Hypnotism is absolutely safe. There is no known case on record of harmful results from its therapeutic use”.
Clinical Hypnotherapist, Gil Boyne, who I have had the pleasure of training with, states, “In almost forty years of practice and more than 40,000 hours of hypnotherapy, I have never seen or heard of any harm resulting from hypnosis”.
However, at this point I would like to bring up poker machines. Briefly, Progression of Emotions and Coping Strategies
Understanding the way the emotions progress is important. It is important that we develop appropriate coping strategies when we are first hurt. An example can be:
HURT: A man goes to work and his boss tells him that he may be losing his job.
PAIN: He gets a headache.
FEAR: He starts to worry about his bills, can he get another job.
ANGER: He is driving home and yells at an old lady who is driving too slowly.
DEPRESSION/SAD: He gets home and just sits and feels very sad – life is not worth living, why does this always happen etc.
DISASSOCIATION: He feels numb, sleeps all day, watches TV or drinks excess alcohol, plays poker machines etc.
Examples of good coping strategies – going for a walk, calling a friend, doing breathing exercises, seeing the funny side or other person’s side etc.
Just take note of a poker machine room, it is perfect for trance. Very rarely do they have window, and only just recently did a law come in to say a clock had to be in clear view. The hypnotic sound of the machines, how now you only have to slide money in to the shoot, no breaking state to get more change etc. The hypnotic pattern of the left right eye movement. Remember the watch. Very good place to get away from pain, except when the money runs out and you have to come back to reality.
What hypnotherapy does is to help bring out the best in you. This means that you will change by leaving behind any habits or baggage you no longer need or want and thereby become a stronger and happier person. Hypnosis will not put something into you that was not there in the first place. It just helps you to uncover your strong and good qualities, which you may not even have known you have.
The feeling when in hypnosis is of being physically and mentally relaxed. It has been likened to the feelings we experience just before waking completely from sleep or just as we drift off to sleep. Some people say it feels like daydreaming. When in hypnosis, people experience a state of complete mental, physical and emotional relaxation. In itself, this is a very healing state. Dr Milton Erickson, a leading American Hypnotherapist, described the process of clinical hypnosis as “a free period in which individuality can flourish”.