Can I be placed into hypnosis? How easy is it to attain a depth of trance?

Hello,

I hope that everyone is well and that you have had a wonderful weekend.  For me the Sun was out and I was really enjoying the feeling of the warmth shining onto my face.  I had a sort of mini-holiday and it was so good to get away and have a break.

Over the weekend I watched two movies – ex-Machina and Fury – two amazing films for different reasons, but they covered some of the basic human traits of both survival and choice.  If you haven’t seen either film then I recommend them thoroughly.  Fury, really is one heck of a film but not one for those who wouldn’t wish to see conflict portrayed realistically, a little heads up there.

Okay, back to the blog.  Today’s topic is about, something that I alluded to earlier on, choice.  Sometimes, one of the questions that people ask me is:

“Will I be able to be hypnotised okay?”

Great question and one which is discussed within my FAQs but I thought that I would try to expand on it a little as it comes up so regularly.  The truth is that hypnosis is one of those states of mind that you have experienced many times before and only a small number of people are unable to be helped into trance by the therapist, so inability to attain trance is rare.  So rare that I have only encountered it once and that was for a very special reason which I can’t go into.

Current thinking suggests that 20% of people are highly susceptible whilst 20% would be more difficult to assist into the wonderful altered state.  Of those 20% that would find it more challenging, it's still not impossible, i.e. it will take longer and need differing techniques, sometimes they are more likely to be okay with another hypnotherapist.  Providing you trust your therapist and listen to their voice, and choose to 'let go' then that’s all you really need to do.

I would like to assure you that by having your eyes closed, steadying and focusing on your breathing and relaxing, this does actually constitute a very light trance and would bring therapeutic benefit – of course, I do believe that the deeper levels bring more effective changes, although this is always discussed and no conclusion has been reached.  There are a number of levels of hypnotic depth which the therapist will have in his mind, so he/she will use different techniques of suggestion to make those changes depending how deep the trance the client has attained.  The key part of hypnosis is choice.  You have the choice to let go, relax and give yourself permission to allow hypnosis to happen...

In summary, I would suggest that it is very rare to get someone in the therapy room who can't be hypnotised although common thinking is that 80%+ of clients will attain a therapeutic depth of trance.  I hope that this has answered the question will or won’t you be placed into hypnosis, more than likely yes, but you do have choice.

In another blog I will talk about success of change, number of sessions, and much more.  Please do follow me on Twitter or on Facebook, or both, so as not to miss them.

Should you have any questions about today's blog topic, please do contact me.

Thank you for reading my blog and best wishes for the week.

Iain