How Does Hypnosis Work

You keep on hearing about therapy programs based on hypnosis that help people in changing their lives and overcoming addictive behavior patterns. The big claims made by hypnotists tend to make one skeptical about the truth underneath them. It makes you wonder about whether hypnosis works at all and if it does, how does it exactly work. I myself have been intrigued by these questions and this article is a result of my research into this subject.

What is Hypnosis?

Hypnosis is a psychotherapy process, which is used to modify the behavior of a person through suggestions made after putting him/her into a relaxed, higher state of mental concentration, by suppressing other distracting stimuli. There are a lot of unresolved issues regarding hypnosis; its working and its effectiveness, like many other psychotherapy techniques.

There is evidence that hypnosis does work in subtly modifying the behavior patterns of people. In fact, it has been applied and used in solving psychological problems and motivating people working in various fields of human endeavor. There are many theories, none totally validated, about how hypnosis works at an individual level. However, people are quite certain about why stage hypnosis works. It's mostly fake and effected through a combination of peer pressure on the compliant person being hypnotized and deception on part of the 'circus master' like hypnotherapist.

To exactly analyze hypnosis, one would have to exactly understand how the brain works. However, neuroscience is still faraway from figuring that out. You could say its still in infancy as a field. Neuroscientists have no clue especially about the part where brain projects an entity of a self aware consciousness. Currently, the best they can do is use tools like MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) and map parts of the brain that show activity during and after hypnotherapy and try to study effects of hypnotism empirically. So, whatever I discuss here about hypnosis working in actuality and the possible mechanism of its working is all half-knowledge, half experience and mostly inspired guesswork at best. In short, I can only describe the working of hypnosis in the empirical or heuristic sense, without going into the underlying mechanism that makes it work.

Traditional Methods of Hypnosis

Today hypnosis or hypnotherapy training is a part of a licensed psychotherapist's arsenal of treatment therapies. It has been around for quite some time now and a method of effecting hypnosis has evolved. Subjects of hypnotherapy lie on a couch and are asked to totally relax. Soothing and calming music along with low brightness lighting creates a favorable atmosphere for going into a relaxed state of mind. It is a part of hypnotist's skill that he quietens the mind of the subject through soothing conversation.

Often subjects are asked to concentrate on an oscillating shining object in front of their eyes and motivated to keep looking at it while ignoring all other thoughts. In many cases, this induces a trance like state of mind, in which the mind of the subject is responsive to suggestions and fully attentive. This state may be alternatively achieved by a hypnotist by sort of guiding the person into a 'happy place', where he finds it easier to concentrate and let go of all other thoughts. In such a state, attraction of the mind towards external stimuli is suppressed and diverted inwards instead. It is not that subjects stop hearing things, but they are so focused in that state of mind that the guiding voice of the hypnotist is the only thing they listen to. Then the hypnotist may make some suggestions and even repeat them which are aimed at changing the behavior pattern.

A theory states that during such a trance state, a figurative window to the subconscious opens up and whatever suggestions are made by the hypnotists reach and get imprinted in it unconditionally. If you compare your mind to a lake, then our conscious mind, that keeps on getting distracted by thoughts is like the surface of a lake disturbed by waves. The subconscious is the base of the lake, which is made up of an accumulated amount of memories, experiences, submerged thoughts and is the rest of the 7/8 th of the iceberg that is not seen above. By directing the subconscious, long-lasting changes can be brought at a conscious level. If you ask me how hypnosis works for smoking withdrawal or whether hypnosis works for weight loss, I can't provide you with an exact 'yes' or 'no', as results have been shown to vary with people. However, it all also depends on how willingly one submits to the process of hypnosis.

If you ask me, does self hypnosis work, I would say on the basis of my own experience, it does work! If you unconditionally believe in an idea and visualize your self attaining the goals of that idea, it actualizes you to take efforts in achieving it. Fear is a barrier that needs to be overcome through self belief and conscious, affirming auto suggestions daily, while going to sleep and waking up. The only way to really see if this process works, is to try it out for yourself and confirm!