William Blank

Hypnosis is a state of deep relaxation and altered awareness. Hypnosis occurs naturally in everyone for a brief moment just before falling asleep. In therapeutic hypnosis, we prolong this brief moment to make it work for your benefit.

Yes. Anyone who wants to be hypnotized can be. However, it is possible to resist hypnosis, just as it is possible to resist falling asleep.

Hypnosis is not magic, but it is useful for many conditions. It is particularly helpful in tension and stress reduction, as well as sleep disorders. Hypnosis is a powerful tool in disrupting habitual behavior, such as smoking and overeating. It helps reduce fears and phobias, and hypnotic visualization has been shown to be a useful adjunct in healing many types of disease. Hypnosis helps improve memory recall, and it can reduce pain by “raising the pain threshold.” The American Medical Association has recognized hypnosis as a medical tool since 1958.

Hypnosis is a much misunderstood phenomenon. For centuries it has been perceived as affiliated with witchcraft and supernatural happenings. Television and movies often distort what hypnosis really can do. The exaggerated claims made for it by undisciplined persons have turned some people against it. Some physicians have little experience with its modern uses and therefore doubt its value.

The hypnotic state is no more dangerous than the sleep state. When hypnosis is practiced by ethical and qualified practitioners, there is no danger in it. It is safer than most drugs. However, hypnosis can be used for entertainment purposes, encouraging people to do things which are silly though not harmful.

The experience of being hypnotized is no different from starting to fall asleep. Because this experience is so familiar and because some people expect something startlingly different in hypnosis, they are sometimes disappointed. In hypnosis you are not asleep. You are fully aware of what is happening. Your mind is active, your thoughts are under your control, you perceive all stimuli, you are in complete communication with your hypnotherapist. Your body may feel more relaxed than you have ever been before, and you may feel heaviness in your arms and legs or tingling in your hands and feet. Most people find it very enjoyable and look forward to repeated opportunities to be hypnotized.

NO! While under hypnosis you are still in control of your actions. You can easily resist any hypnotic suggestion given to you. You are still responsible for your every behavior. There has never been a documented case of hypnosis making someone do anything against his/her normal ethics and morals. You are the only one responsible for the success or failure of your treatment.

YES! You will be aware of everything that happens while it happens, and you will remember it very clearly when it is over. There is no "magical state where you don't remember but it makes you do thing differently." Anyone who claims otherwise is "pulling your leg."

Those people are clucking by choice and with full awareness of what they are doing. They are doing what the hypnotist suggests because they are enjoying being actors on stage for an hour or two. They volunteer knowing they will be asked to do silly things and afterward they remember it all. Think of it like an acting class: it is an appropriate time to do silly things. Being in hypnosis merely helps them lower their inhibitions a bit, to help them do what they want to do.