What Is Hypnosis?

What is Hypnosis? Describe the Psychological and Physical aspects of Hypnosis and discuss the Role of Relaxation in Hypnotherapy

Word count: 2103

Hypnosis has long been associated with the strange and mysterious, with sideshows and faith healers (Hadley & staudacher, 1996). Hypnosis is not however the least bit mysterious or supernatural and has always been a misunderstood pathway of psychology and still is to this day. The aim of this assignment is to therefore explain what hypnosis is. To achieve this I will firstly discuss the history of hypnosis which will lead me on to describing what the psychological and physical aspects of hypnosis are. I will then go onto discuss the part that relaxation plays in hypnotherapy today.

To achieve a greater understanding of what hypnosis is it is beneficial to first look at where it all began and how it has evolved over the years. The history of hypnosis is not a modern concept and has been around for at least 6,000 years. Dr Franz Anton Mesmer was born in 1734 and is regarded by many as the father of hypnotic therapy (Lotery, 2013). In the 1770s he created a concept he described as "animal magnetism". He believed that water could be used to create a trance state to heal. He was successful in many cases and used theatrics to enhance the belief of his subjects. Mesmer however was considered by many of his peers as a fraud and much of what he discovered was lost in the fall out from his accusation ( Kihlstrom & Heap, 2012).

In 1840, James Braid who was an English doctor from Manchester coined the term 'hypnosis' from the Greek God of sleep Hypnos (Manning, 2013). He conducted the first scientific study concluding that the cures involved were not due to animal magnetism but suggestion. He then went on to develop the eye fixation technique; the state that resulted from this was what he termed originally as hypnosis.

Meanwhile, Dr James Esdaile opened a hospital in India and used hypnosis to perform operations for patients without the use of painkillers. He was very successful and this is when the western world first saw evidence of the power of hypnotism (Kihlstrom & Heap, 2012). During this period, Dr John Elliotson was the first to demonstrate the use of hypnosis in British medicine. Due to his methods however he was not a popular practitioner and he was hounded until he died in 1868.

Liebeault, who was a French doctor, forged the next developments in the history of hypnosis. He provided free treatments to the poor and successfully cured a patient of sciatica. He then teamed up with Berheim who is responsible for the development of the soothing lilting screeds we often use today (Douglass, 2013). Sigmund Freud studied with Liebeault and Berheim and believed that humans have powerful hidden mental processes and went on to incorporate hypnosis in his work with the use of non-verbal inductions (Lotery, 2013). Finally, in 1901 Milton Erickson was born and is considered the father of modern hypnosis today.

Hypnosis involves a number of complex psychological processes and to understand how it works, it is important to have a general understanding of the conscious and subconscious mind. The brain is composed of two halves the right and left. The left side of the brain controls the conscious mind and is the logical, rational mind that asks critical questions and analyzes situations (Cherry, 2013). It also stores our temporary memory, which enables us to remember, for example what we had for breakfast, or a conversation we had last week (Gold, 2012). Unfortunately, our conscious mind cannot always get in touch with what is really motivating us, and we are therefore unable to resolve our problems. Often, self-discipline can often be a struggle and so is usually temporary due to human nature.

Hypnosis is an effective tool as it bypasses the limitations of the conscious mind in order to utilize the subconscious, which helps us to make authentic realisations and permanent change. The subconscious mind is on the right side of the brain. Gold (2012) describes the subconscious mind as being like an enormous computer that stores the memory of all our experiences from the time we first became conscious beings. This part of the brain also stores our core beliefs and our habits which grow out of those experiences. Our bodily functions such as breathing, heart rate, digestion and body temperature are also controlled by the subconscious mind (Cherry, 2013).

The subconscious mind has a protective feature because if it perceives a threat to our emotional or physical security, it will create a belief or a habit to keep us safe (Smith, 2008). A good example is of a young girl who experiences a trauma leaving her feeling insecure. The subconscious mind then searches for something that made her feel secure in the past. One of the earliest sources of comfort for us all is food and the subconscious mind activates the habit to eat to find security. As the subconscious mind does not realise when a threat is no longer present, she will then get stuck with the habit of overeating whenever she feels stress. Through hypnosis however, the subconscious mind can identify and let go of those habits that we have outgrown.

At the age of six we develop what hypnotherapists refer to as the critical factor of the conscious mind (Smith, 2008). This can be referred to as a 'gatekeeper' which stands between the conscious and subconscious mind and who decides what suggestions and influences get let in. Unfortunately when we experience trauma, the gatekeeper does not do well at keeping the negative influences out. This is what has a hand at shaping us. Positive suggestions however are scrutinised by the gate keeper and if the suggestion is allowed into the subconscious mind, the information will be stored in the 'computer' forever.

The key to hypnotherapy is getting past the 'gatekeeper' and into the subconscious mind. This is done by going into hypnosis, also known as a trance like state. This involves getting as relaxed as possible both physically and, more importantly, mentally. It is essential to be sitting as comfortable as possible with your eyes closed and the volume of the conscious mind turned down (Charnock, 2010). This will allow you to focus on the words and directions of the hypnotherapist. Essentially, you must be ready to make the change and believe that hypnosis will make that change possible.

Once a trance like state is reached and the subconscious mind is accessed the hypnotherapist can simply cancel out old suggestions