Frequently asked questions
Scroll down for some frequently asked questions about hypnosis, its applications and results.
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Frequently asked questions
What is hypnosis? What is it like being hypnotised?
Hypnosis is a natural state of focus and distraction that occurs naturally for us all every day. Whilst people may close their eyes in hypnosis, they are not asleep and remain aware of what is happening. They enter the realm of sleep, as if they are resting, but their unconscious is alert and paying attention. This makes it possible to do powerful therapy.
It is like being relaxed yet awake, clients are able to hear, speak and have their own thoughts while in hypnosis.
Hypnosis is a natural state that we enter frequently during the day, perhaps to access thoughts and process our experiences. As hypnosis is a natural state, it is accessible to everyone and it can happen by itself. A good hypnotist helps to manage the pace, depth and quality of the hypnosis to get the best state for therapy and changes to be made.
Will I be under someone else’s control?
No! This is the most common myth surrounding hypnosis. At no time do you lose control or give your control to me, your therapist. In hypnosis people remain aware of their experience and can decide if they wish to be fully present or focused on their resting state. A good hypnotist can guide and make suggestions, but the client decides what is acceptable or appropriate for them and the client can dismiss, ignore or challenge anything they don’t like. A client in my therapy room is free and able to simply stand up and walk out at any time, they are in control yet I hope they choose to stay in the chair to make the most of hypnosis.
This is an important issue to discuss in the first session or by making a FREE initial enquiry. My starting point is to explain what hypnosis is and to hear any fears or concerns that a prospective client may have. If losing control is what has put you off trying hypnotherapy, please call me for a chat and I can explain how the process works.
Will I remember what happens in hypnosis?
Clients are able to remember what happens in a session of hypnotherapy. There are deep hypnotic states, such as somnambulism, where the hypnosis is so deep that it is a bit more like sleep, but the best therapy is probably achieved in a less deep state of hypnosis.
On rare occasions a client may prefer not to remember a session, if the therapy is working on difficult memories. This is unlikely to occur until a client has established strong trust with the hypnotist.
Results from hypnosis can’t be guaranteed because it is an interactive process, however anything processed through the brain has potential to be improved or changed by therapy during hypnosis.
When hypnotised, the conscious mind is distracted, focused and paying less attention, so the unconscious mind pays more attention to the outside world making it more receptive to suggestion or negotiation with the therapist.
This makes hypnosis ideal for changing things that are hard to change consciously, including phobias, habits, relieving anxiety, stress and other symptoms.
Hypnohealing is a technique that has been used for many physical ailments, but there is no guarantee results can be achieved and no proof that benefits will not have occurred naturally without hypnosis.
What is a phobia?
We all have a very powerful survival and defence mechanism to save us from danger, which is often referred to as our ‘fight-flight-freeze’ response. When this is triggered by something truly dangerous it is a life saver, but if it is fired off by something inappropriate like a mouse, non venomous spider, a lift or the idea of flying, then we call that a phobia.
So a phobia is a powerful, healthy, survival response triggered by something that might not be that life threatening, due to an inappropriate connection. Hypnosis breaks, switches off or disconnects the link that was made some time in the past, often before the phobic client can remember.
The great thing about phobias is they are learnt in a split second, almost instantly, so anyone with a phobia is a fast learner, which means they can also unlearn the phobia rapidly with the right guidance.
Find out more by getting in touch or here’s a short video: Only fast learners can have a phobia
Using hypnosis to rapidly switch off a phobia is much better than slower ‘desensitisation’ therapies that help people manage their behaviour when the fight-flight-freeze response is triggered. If anyone is ‘coping’ with a phobia they really should consider hypnotherapy to stop it permanently, it is much easier than you’d expect.
What phobias can hypnosis treat?
All phobias can be fixed and the worse the phobia the easier it is to treat. With an extreme phobia, instead of looking for a needle in a haystack, we’re finding an articulated lorry, which makes the phobia easier to fix.
Fears are easily diffused or changed using hypnosis, NLP and Kinetic Shift, a good therapist will establish what is the best method to switch off your phobia. The subject of the phobia doesn’t really matter and ‘content free’ therapy can be used where the therapist never even knows what the phobia is. So you are not confronted by the subject of your fear as you might be in desensitisation techniques that are definitely not used at Hypnosis Changes Lives.
Common fears like spiders, flying, confined spaces, lifts, crowds, birds, needles, heights, vomiting and public speaking are fixed rapidly, obscure phobias are exactly the same so don’t be embarrassed about your phobia. Whatever it is, you can be set free from the phobia and you will be recognised as a fast learner and not mocked by our therapist.
Some phobias, like agoraphobia can come with a ‘payoff’ so this has to be explored. For example, a fear of open spaces can lead to a person spending all their time at home while their family runs errands for them, doing their shopping, fetching and dropping children, making them feel loved and cared for. It is important to look at each case individually to make sure the phobic client is ready and willing to forgo any ‘payoff’ in exchange for breaking free from the phobia.
No phobia is made fun of, a fear of bananas is no less awkward than a fear of clowns, spiders, mice, heights or reptiles. They are all stored to protect you and can be changed without confrontation. Whatever your fear, I will not make fun of it, but you might laugh about it once you’ve fixed it using my rapid techniques. I can help you fix your phobia without you even telling me what the phobia is, so you will not be confronted with it and can have no concern of being mocked in any way.
Can hypnosis help me lose weight?
With any habit hypnosis can be used to change the repeated behaviour. Eating is a complex issue with deep meaning from our early childhood, so hypnosis is ideal for reviewing those inner thoughts and feelings. A good place to start is to find out more about the meaning of food and what over- or under-eating might represent.
There is no point in dealing with a symptom only for another problem to emerge because the cause wasn’t properly explored.
Hypnotic regression therapy can be very useful for returning to the place where a problem started. It isn’t always the best method, regression therapy is just one of the tools available to a good hypnotherapist.
Smoking is a habit not an addiction. The myth of addiction has been challenged by recent research so stopping is easier than people think. Smoking is an important habit to stop because of the harm it does and the high cost makes stopping very prudent.
Deploying the power of the unconscious through hypnosis makes smoking much easier to stop. A good hypnotherapist has many ways to break this habit and the ones used will vary according to the client’s circumstances. My Breathe to Live package helps you change the way you think about smoking and turns your mind away from this expensive and life threatening habit.
Call me for a FREE initial chat about ‘Breathe to Live‘ my 3 session STOP SMOKING PLAN and we can explore your smoking habit and see if hypnosis is your answer to stopping once and for all.
What is the best treatment for trauma and PTSD?
There should be no ‘D’ in PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Suffering stress after a trauma is simply not a disorder but a natural defence and part of the damage caused by trauma.
Hypnosis is be a good way to reduce the stress and Kinetic Shift is a very useful technique as it was first developed for treating post trauma stress.
Counselling may also be an appropriate way to work with trauma, especially if there are unresolved childhood issues triggered by a more recent event, this usually takes much longer. Hypnosis might stop stress and anxiety, but it is recommended to look for the cause as well as fixing the symptoms.
Can hypnosis stop panic attacks?
Yes, hypnosis is great for stopping panic attacks. Hypnosis can be used to find out what purpose the panic attacks serve and develop other coping strategies to fulfil that purpose, perhaps by negotiating with the unconscious to be more alert instead of panicking. Hypnosis can make this huge change very simple to achieve. Panic attacks are serious and can be really frightening, please seek help so you can live without the fear of having one and stop avoiding situations that might trigger them.
Please take the step to call me, or someone, for an initial chat. Talking therapies, like counselling, can also stop these too, but please take the step to seek help as they can be overwhelming and seem impossible to stop on your own. Medication may suppress the symptoms, but why not explore the chance to stop them happening altogether and go back to the way you were before the first one you ever had? Hypnosis is a great was to realign your inner resources, rebuild confidence n those triggering situations so you can enjoy life, stress free again.
I hear voices in my head, can hypnosis help me?
Lance has worked successfully to quieten and remove inner voices, using hypnosis sometimes under the supervision of a psychiatrist on sectioned patients. This is a sensitive and specialised area of therapy, so it shouldn’t be requested from an inexperienced therapist, however well meaning.
Nor should results be promised, because in some cases the voices might stop but the prescribed medication makes full recovery hard and voices can return.
If this is an area of concern for you or a family member, a brief confidential discussion may be appropriate but a full initial consultation would be chargeable and there is no guarantee that therapy would be suitable or effective.
Some Christians are worried by hypnosis, is it ok?
Some people worry that control is given over to a hypnotist, but this is a misconception.
Hypnosis is a natural state, it happens by itself frequently every day, perhaps briefly in every waking hour to help us process reality as we cross-reference our experiences and file them away.
There is no interference or conflict with any faith when using hypnosis as a therapy. Whilst Lance is a Christian, he will happily work with people of any faith or no faith, his main concern is a good therapeutic outcome for every client.
Is hypnosis safe? Does hypnosis have any side effects?
Hypnosis is a natural state so there are no known side effects. If you prevented the natural hypnotic state you’d be accused of torture, because we need to zone out to process our experience of reality.
What is the unconscious?
There is something really beneficial about recognising the strength of our inner resources as we often underestimate our ability. When we realise the incredible things that our unconscious does for us each and every moment of our lives, consistently and tirelessly, we can begin to understand our potential. Hypnosis helps to harness that inner strength to achieve targeted results.
How amazing it is that a spider phobic never forgets to be frightened when they see a spider. Imagine consciously trying to react the same way every time you saw a red door, you’d soon forget to do it. That’s how we know where the phobia resides and why hypnosis is so effective because we work with the unconscious. The therapies that consciously try to change a phobia are generally ineffective.
What is Kinetic Shift (KS)?
Kinetic Shift is a powerful, rapid and dynamic technique developed by Karl Smith from the UK Hypnosis Academy (UKHA) for post trauma that is also very effective for other conditions. I describe it as a therapeutic experience, which is a great pattern breaker and eliminates the anxiety, stress, trauma, emotional baggage that people will find hard to shift on their own. The technique itself is really fast, and has the advantage of being content free so the therapist doesn’t even need to know your ‘issue’ to help you let it go. It takes a qualified Kinetic Shift (KS) Practitioner to understand the when and how to apply KS to each client. KS works without hypnosis, or any hypnotic induction, but in the hands of a good hypnotherapist KS can bring instant results.
Online hypnosis using Zoom
Hypnosis online really works. Remember hypnosis is all about your mental focus and tuning up your unconscious to work better for you. Hypnosis takes place wherever you are, not in my room or on my couch, so online therapy is really powerful. Many hypnotherapists have been working online only for years, not just since the Corona virus limited our face to face contact.
Lance Trendall is the founder of Hypnosis Changes Lives
Lance Trendall’s training in hypnosis began in 1992 with British Hypnosis Research (BHR) in London from Stephen Brooks, then with Atkinson Ball College of Advanced Hypnosis and Hypnohealing including training from the late Ormond McGill, the Dean of American hypnosis – 1913 to 2005. More recently Lance Trendall became a qualified practitioner of Kinetic Shift, which is a powerful rapid technique developed by Karl Smith from the UK Hypnosis Academy (UKHA) for post trauma that is also very useful for other conditions.