What are the strengths of Hypnotherapy as a treatment modality?

​What are the strengths of Hypnotherapy as a treatment modality?

Having written a short piece on the myths of hypnotherapy I also wanted to explore the strengths of the tool that is hypnotherapy. It has a very many strengths, and can prove a very powerful rapid treatment choice for certain psychologically healthy individuals allowing them to access swift change if the profound desire is there within and especially if they have gotten to the point of being sick and tired of their old way of being.

As I have mentioned previously on this site hypnotherapy is not a panacea, so when the individual who phones for an appointment and believes that they can shed pounds simply by coming to one session, without changing habits or behaviours and that they can go home and eat what they like afterwards – I obviously decline to work with them. If someone is not motivated to change and unwilling to engage and take responsibility exercising their will and personal strength, they may as well burn their money or invest it elsewhere and really that is what therapy really is an investment in the Self. You work with it. It will not do anything alone, engagement and co-operation with principles, tools and exercises is essential.

(Be warned - there are many lay hypnotists out there who will make all kinds of promises. Simply remember the old adage “If it sounds too good to be true – it probably is!”).

There is something about hypnotherapy which can really facilitate and enhance psychotherapeutic treatment. Integrating elements of CBT and hypnotherapy seems to produce very favourable results indeed.

Alladin (2008, pp. 10-16) outlines the elements of hypnotherapy that are empirically informed and supported.

• Hypnosis adds leverage to therapeutic treatment and shortens treatment duration.
• Hypnosis can serve as a strong placebo.
• Hypnosis breaks resistance with various techniques such as Erickson’s paradoxical indirect suggestion (Erickson & Rossi, 1979).
• Hypnosis fosters a strong therapeutic alliance (Brown & Fromm, 2013).
• Hypnosis facilitates rapid transference (Nash & Spinler, 1989).
• Hypnosis induces the powerful rapid relaxation response.
• Hypnosis strengthens the ego and really counteracts negative internal dialogue (Heimberg et al, 1990), (the self hypnosis that gets people in a distressed state in the first place!). Interesting fact: Research indicates that every human being speaks to themselves at a rate of somewhere between 150-200 words per minute, all of that dialogue is hypnotising the person either in a positive or negative way. Pay attention to your thoughts and what you are saying to yourself.
• Hypnosis facilitates divergent thinking by maximising the focus of attention. This is one of the factors that make it particularly suited as a tool in solution focussed therapy.
• Hypnosis directs attention to wider experience.
• Hypnosis allows engagement of the non-dominant hemisphere of the brain.
• Hypnosis allows integration of cortical functioning and the organising of emotions. This can be when it comes to working with neuroses, anxiety, post traumatic stress, fears, phobias etc.
• Hypnosis facilitates imagery conditioning (Kosslyn et al, 2000).
• Hypnosis can induce dreams and can increase dream recall (Golden, Dowd & Friedberg, 1987).
• Hypnosis induces positive moods. In fact repeated hypnotic induction of positive mood can lead to the creation of “anti-depressive” neural pathways (Alladin, 2007; Schwartz, 1984). Psychosynthesis psychotherapy can do this also (Ferruci , 2015)
• Hypnosis provides post-hypnotic suggestions which serve to give direction to, propel and motivate a client with strong desires. Post-hypnotic suggestions really influence behaviour and are a very important part of the therapy.
• Hypnosis enhances training in positive self-hypnosis – and all hypnosis is really self-hypnosis!
• Hypnosis creates perceived self-efficacy.
• Hypnosis techniques are easily exported to support many forms of therapy and it can be easily integrated with many other modalities (Brown & Fromm 2013).

I never cease to be amazed at what hypnotherapy can do for the motivated individual, with strong desires and a will, in a relatively short space of time. It’s as if the tools they learn help them move, what they previously perceived as inner mountains! After all - Hypnosis is really LEARNING and CREATING, by putting in a little effort and work – it can take you a long way. 

Finally - remember- all hypnotherapy is self hypnotherapy. Individuals are hypnotising themselves all the time everyday with their inner dialogue.

Choose to speak kindly and with compassion to yourself! Become aware of that voice within. 
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1. Alladin, Assen. Cognitive hypnotherapy: An integrated approach to the treatment of emotional disorders. John Wiley & Sons, 2008.
2. Alladin, Assen, and Alisha Alibhai. "Cognitive hypnotherapy for depression: an empirical investigation." Intl. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis 55.2 (2007): 147-166.
3. Bretherton, Inge, and Marjorie Beeghly. "Talking about internal states: The acquisition of an explicit theory of mind." Developmental psychology 18.6 (1982): 906.
4. Brown, Daniel P. "Clinical hypnosis research since 1986." (1992).
5. Brown, Daniel P., and Erika Fromm. Hypnosis and behavioral medicine. Routledge, 2013.
6. Erickson, Milton H., and Ernest Lawrence Rossi. Hypnotherapy, an exploratory casebook. Irvington Publishers, 1979.
7. Ferrucci, Piero. "PSYCHOSYNTHESIS IN THE LIGHT OF NEUROSCIENCE." 2015.
8. Golden, William L., and Fred Friedberg. "CHAPTER TEN Cognitive-Behavioural Hypnotherapy." Cognitive-behavioural approaches to psychotherapy (1987): 290.
9. Heimberg, Richard G., et al. "Evaluating the states of mind model: Comparison to an alternative model and effects of method of cognitive assessment." Cognitive Therapy and Research 14.6 (1990): 543-557.
10. Kosslyn, Stephen M., et al. "Hypnotic visual illusion alters color processing in the brain." American Journal of Psychiatry 157.8 (2000): 1279-1284.
11. Nash, Michael R., and Dwayne Spinler. "Hypnosis and transference: A measure of archaic involvement." International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis 37.2 (1989): 129-144.
12. Nielsen, Janni, Torkil Clemmensen, and Carsten Yssing. "Getting access to what goes on in people's heads?: reflections on the think-aloud technique."Proceedings of the second Nordic conference on Human-computer interaction. ACM, 2002.
13. Schwartz, G. "Psychophysiology of imagery and healing: A systems perspective." Imagination and healing (1984): 35-50.