What Happens in Hypnosis
A session is normally divided into two parts. In the first half, you sit in a chair with your eyes open, in a normal waking state, and share your issues and concerns with your therapist. This exchange may resemble the talk part of conventional therapy as you may describe your emotional state, explore a pattern and past issues underlying it, or analyze behavior. However, with a hypnotherapist the initial conversation serves to set the path of inquiry for the second, hypnosis part of the session. Hypnosis involves harnessing the trance state to take a journey into the subconsious, and for such a journey to constitute therapy, you and your therapist need to hone in on a specific issue that needs healing.
When the hypnosis starts, you get comfortable and close your eyes. Most of my clients prefer to lie down, and I have a massage table in my office as I incorporate light-style acupressure into my sessions. Other therapists may use a couch or a recliner. The goal is to be as comfortable as possible so that you may go into relaxation. Sometimes one has to be creative in one's approach: I once had a client who came to me for management of an excruciating neurological condition; the least painful position for her was standing, so I hypnotized her in that position and we were able to achieve some reduction in her pain level. When I work with clients remotely, as I began to do during the Covid epidemic, clients choose the most comfortable place they can find, most often their bed or living room couch.
Once you are lying down, you will be led into a trance state. There are many ways to do this. I use a combination of breathing techniques, body scan, light touch, and guided visualization. (More on trance and how you get there further on). The session that follows may be either directive or interactional, or some combination of the two, depending on the client and her issues.
A directive approach involves your going into a deep, quiet state, in which you journey to a safe, pleasant place and receive positive suggestions. (This approach may also be called suggestive, traditional, or standardized.) The safe place is often drawn from the memory of a beautiful spot visited in real life, like a beach or favorite park. It may also be imaginary or imagined. I had a client who had been severely abused as a child and the only safe place she could imagine was a magical kingdom she had seen in a video game. Even if a person's life has been devastating and marked by trauma, there is usually a place in make-believe that can offer respite and healing.
Once you are in a trance, the mind is more able to receive and absorb directions and instruction. The therapist gives positive suggestions or affirmations. Classic suggestions include statements like "You find the smell of cigarettes repulsive" or "You see yourself working out and feeling good about your body." They may also highlight a client's positive qualities, in order to help her manage a difficult situation, for example, "You have the experience and competence you need to handle your new job" or "You have the strength and patience to parent triplets."
In a directive session, the client may go into a hypnotic state so deep that they drift and feel they have "missed" some of the suggestions as though they'd momentarily fallen asleep. I usually record these sessions so that clients can listen to them again between sessions.
In interactional hypnosis, the client may begin by going to a special place, but the place is used as a kind of safe departure platform for a journey that may involve one or a combination of processes, such as a dialogue between personality parts, journeying to painful or traumatic memories in order to heal them, resolution of inner conflict, modulation of physical symptons, or spiritual inquiry (more about these processes in future posts). This kind of journey leads to resolution of some layer or aspect of wounding to the personality and concludes with positive suggestions from the hypnotherapist. In traditional therapy, a session can end smack in the middle of a fit of despair or weeping. This should never happen in a hypnotherapy session. If your therapist is competent, you will leave feeling you have received a healing. This healing arc that each hypnosis session provides was the main reason why I chose to become a hypnotherapist instead of a traditional therapist. I never leave a client "hanging." The client must achieve some sense of resolution and peace before I bring her out of hypnosis.
The choice of directive versus interactional approach depends on the client, the issue, and even the mood and energy level of the client on a specific day. As always, the therapist adjusts the hypnosis to the individual client and the issues presenting at a particular point in time.