Hypnotherapy: Giving your body and mind permission to respond differently
MARSHALL COUNTY — The therapeutic benefits of hypnotherapy are continuing to gain attention in the field of mental health. Director of Marshall County Bowen Center Lindie Leary, MS Ed, LMHC is passionate about the treatment; she has witnessed great success among clients.
Though some people confuse staged hypnosis used for entertainment with the therapeutic treatment of hypnotherapy; they are very different. Leary explained that hypnotherapy is giving your body and mind permission to respond differently. “The goal of hypnotherapy is to bring somebody into their subconscious state and to provide suggestions to provide solutions for whatever their difficulty is. Ways to think differently. Ways to cope differently. Ways to react differently.”
She explained that there are no pocket watches or spinning circles involved in a professional hypnotherapy session. “In hypnotherapy, it’s all about the way we speak and use the ability of everyone to go into their subconscious state. Everyone has a conscious, subconscious and unconscious state.”
The subconscious state is where hypnotherapy provides an opportunity to change one’s response to a memory. Leary described the subconscious state as “autopilot”; such as when an individual drives home safely without being focused on the way unless a red light or an obstruction to the lane jolts them back to their conscious state. It is within that state where hypnotherapy can be effective in rewriting a response to a memory.
A hypnotherapy session requires the patient to get comfortable and to trust their therapist. To establish that trust; the patient and counselor meet before a session to determine the main concern; what the patient wants to work on; and how they want to think, feel, respond to differently.
Leary explained what to expect from a hypnotherapy session. The patient sits in a comfortable chair and listens. “The job of the patient is to get comfortable. I change the way I speak and my cadence. I slow down. I just really talk through ways to start relaxing yourself.”
That stage of the intervention is called an induction. “After I see that they are starting to relax in their chair and they are feeling comfortable; I move in to a deepening technique where I will provide them with a safe place.”
The patient builds that space within themselves as they are led by their hypnotherapist. The space they build is a safe place where they can return to subconsciously whenever needed.
When a patient relaxes
Hypnotherapy