What is Hypnosis?

Hypnosis is also known as hypnotherapy, trance or hypnotic state, is a relaxed and allows for focused attention. It is a rapid learning state that mimics the theta brain waves of sleep while allowing you to pay attention just like when you are awake.

Hypnosis allows for rapid learning of things like coping skills and new behavior patterns. This is one of the reasons it is so useful for reducing mental health issues such as anxiety. It can also be used for physical problems like irritable bowel syndrome, smoking cessation and chronic pain.

Types of Hypnosis We Offer

There are many types of hypnosis, but it can be broadly put into two categories, hypnosis and clinical hypnosis.

Hypnosis

Regular hypnosis is done for the purpose of vocational and avocational self improvement. This covers things such as quitting smoking and doing better at public speaking. In Ohio you do not have to be a therapist or other mental health practitioner to do this type of hypnosis.

Clinical hypnosis

Clinical hypnosis is used to help with mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, PTSD and other clinical diagnoses. In Ohio, and most other states, you must be a licensed mental health professional to do clinical hypnosis. To work on mental health problems with hypnosis without a clinical license from the state in question is considered practicing without a license and is illegal in most states.

If someone is offering you hypnosis for this type of problem and they are not a licensed mental health professional such as a licensed marriage and family therapist, licensed clinical counselor, licensed social worker, clinical psychologist or psychiatrist, you have to assume they are not only practicing illegally, but I would question their ethics and training as well.

Accredited schools of hypnotherapy teach their students law and ethics, so if someone is practicing therapy (clinical hypnosis) without a license, they likely are not very well trained anyway.

Self Hypnosis Training

The end goal we have in mind when you come to use for hypnosis is that you don’t need us long-term. Hypnosis helps with many things, but we don’t want you to be dependent on your hypnotherapist.

You can do hypnosis at home with some very simple training. Our hypnotist can teach you to use self hypnosis at home in order to reduce anxiety, improve performance, improve sleep, and even help with chronic pain.

When doing self hypnosis you will give yourself at least one hypnotic suggestion. You will also benefit from the relaxation that happens when you are hypnotized.

Appointments Available Now

When you are hurting, it is difficult to wait weeks or even months to get the support you need. If you are on this website, it is because you want to see someone as quickly as possible. Columbus Therapy and Hypnosis offers appointments within the next week so that you can begin the healing process as quickly as possible.

Don’t want to skip work for therapy? We’ve got you covered. Evening,  weekend and telehealth appointments are available now.

Who Needs Hypnotherapy?

Many people can benefit from hypnotherapy. Hypnosis has been used to help with many issues over the years. However, there are some specific people who can really benefit when hypnosis is used in their therapy.

When Regular Therapy Has Not Worked

Hypnosis has been used successfully with people for whom traditional talk therapy does not work. As an experienced hypnotherapist, I often work with people who have had multiple types of therapy and had it fail. They come into hypnosis because they feel it is their last hope to feel better.

When You Are Stuck In Therapy

Sometimes, when you are in therapy you reach a plateau and feel stuck. Hypnosis works to help pinpoint those blocks. Hypnosis can be used to remove the blocks as well.

For instance, I often partner with EMDR therapists who have a client who is not making progress. In these cases, I see their client for 1-2 sessions and use hypnosis to determine what is keeping them from progressing. Hypnotism can often break through barriers to the subconscious mind that other types of therapy cannot.

When You Need A Behavior Change

Hypnosis is not magic, it’s a behaviorist technique. While in the hypnotic state, it is easier to learn new behaviors and unlearn old, maladaptive behaviors. It can also help to change harmful thought patterns that lead to these behaviors. In my experience hypnotic suggestion works better for behavior change than cognitive behavioral techniques.

When You Can’t Talk About A Problem in Therapy

Sometimes it is difficult to even talk about a problem. This can be for many reasons such as shame, fear, increased anxiety, feeling out of control, or unwillingness to focus on a memory. Sometimes a person just does not want to bring a memory back to their awareness.

Hypnosis may help in cases where a client has difficulty talking about a problem and really feels the need to do so. While someone is hypnotized it is easier to give yourself permission to do difficult things. The hypnotherapist can help ease any anxiety the patient has so that they can talk about the things they want to address in therapy.

When Talk Therapy is Too Traumatizing

Sometimes it is difficult to even talk about a problem. This is especially the case when there is trauma. Talking about a trauma can be triggering and talking about it too much can be re-traumatizing.

The hypnotic state is very relaxing and focused. During this state it is often easier to deal with trauma than it would be normally. The hypnotherapist can also give the client tools during hypnotism to help reduce the level of distress around the trauma.

The hypnotherapist can also use hypnotic suggestion to help the client feel better outside of the hypnotic state. A hypnotist may even show the client how to do self hypnosis in order to feel better and more in control at home.

Benefits of Hypnotherapy

Hypnosis can benefit clients in many ways. It can help a client have a stronger mind body connection. It can support the work of their health care professionals. It can help in therapy where things like cognitive behavioral methods are not helping. It can also allow clients to feel more in control of their mental state throughout treatment and even after.

Unlike medications, hypnosis has no side effects, and unlike many medications there is no ramp up time for it to work. Hypnosis is usually able to provide some relief during the first session. Hypnosis can be used with a variety of client types, and works with children, adolescents and adults.

Hypnosis is a state of focused relaxation that allows patients to improve sleep, mental state, and other cognitive issues while they remain aware. While in this trance like state, clients can work on many things that they feel are blocking them from health and happiness.

What Hypnosis Can Help With

A highly trained hypnotherapist can help with a variety of issues. However, not all hypnotherapists may work with the issue you want to address. The best option is to look at the website of the hypnotherapist you want to work with and see if they work specifically with your problem.

You can also contact the office and ask about your situation directly. It is important to make sure that the hypnotherapist can help you before scheduling your appointment. This is to save yourself time and money in the process.

Hypnosis has been used for a variety of issues such as smoking, trauma, to chronic pain, sexual problems, and mental health issues that are difficult for clients to address in traditional therapy. I have often found that use of hypnosis for early state EMDR resourcing works well and speeds up the process. And in my practice, hypnosis and EMDR can often be interchangeable when working with a client.

And as always, remember that if you are getting hypnosis for psychological issues and not just personal growth, it needs to be done by a trained therapist. Doing hypnosis for phycological issues without being a trained therapist or working under the supervision of one can be considered practicing without a license. At the very least this is unethical, and in most states it is illegal.

 

 

What training should your hypnotist have?

A lot of people offering hypnosis have little to no training. This is fine if they are an intern or just learning. However, an experienced hypnotist will have hundreds of hours of training and often hundreds of hours of internship before advertising themselves as an experienced hypnotist.

Thee hypnotherapist should have training from a reputable school such as Hypnosis Motivation Institute(HMI) or hours of training from an experienced hypnotherapist. If your hypnotist has not hypnotized many people, then they should be working under the supervision of an experienced hypnotherapist.

For example, our owner has her hypnotherapy diploma from HMI, which included 300 hours of training and 200 hours of putting clients into the hypnotic state and working with them before graduation. Our interns are either required to have the same training, or work under the supervision of the owner, learning techniques and getting feedback.

As our therapists work with psychological issues such as anxiety and PTSD, they are all also licensed therapists or working under the supervision of a licensed therapist.

Contact Us Now For an Appointment

If you would like to work with a hypnotist, contact us to find out what it’s like to be hypnotized and if hypnosis may help you. Use of hypnosis is possible with many problems and our hypnosis may help you. Find out if hypnotherapy is right for you today.