Hypnosis is used variously to control certain behaviours and has a good track record with addiction, weight issues, negative habits, smoking and other unwanted behaviours.

There are two approaches with hypnosis that are commonly used.

The first is where the therapist gives the client direct suggestions while under hypnosis to stop or control the unwanted behaviour (such as problem drinking, excessive eating, etc). The second is where the therapist will uncover the underlying cause behind the unwanted behaviour and then work to deal with the unhealthy thinking, memories and experiences  that may be driving the unwanted behaviour. These messages and experiences may have started in early childhood. Lets briefly explore both these approaches.

All hypnotherapists take a full case history from their clients, understanding their background, when the behaviour started, how it progressed, what is happening in the present day and how the client feels about this. The therapist will also work with the client to understand and formulate their goals. This is not the therapists goals or “suggestions” but always comes from the client.

The first approach is straightforward. Many therapists routinely treat symptoms and don’t delve deeper. In the example of alcohol, we might ask does the client want to stop completely? Or, are they wanting more control (e.g so that they can drink “normally” on the weekend but not during the week)? These goals will depend on the clients previous history whether they are good candidates for controlled behaviour or whether they would benefit from complete eradication. With alcohol, some clients have a history of not being able to stop once they start so they may need to consider complete abstinence.

There is a well established school of thought that says that addictive drinking cannot be managed by controlled drinking because the very ingestion of alcohol “triggers” the addictive centers in the brain to start craving more alcohol and this is a cycle that can only be broken via complete abstinence. Not everyone subscribes to this theory and sometimes a client may want to try controlled drinking (if they haven’t tried this before) and then determine if that is sufficient.

The hypnotherapist will then give the client direct suggestions that are crafted to the client’s specific goals. The client, in hypnosis, will then take those suggestions and this can result in positive change.

The second approach is to look at the underlying issue with the theory that by removing the underlying issue the behaviour that stems from that (eg. alcohol abuse) will stop. For example, a client may be drinking excessively to dull the fear of rejection that he or she feels. The fear of rejection may be related to the feeling of being unloved by a parent or unwanted – this feeling then drives all others and is so deeply ingrained and powerful that direct suggestions just around the symptom (i.e alcohol, overeating) will not last. The underlying thought system will simply overpower those suggestions in time, resulting in the client being back at square one. In many cases, “first prize” is to deal with the underlying issue. This gives the client lasting change and an ability to be truly free of a thought system that may be impacting many other areas of their life. This gives the client a new sense of self and purpose and from this larger and more meaningful change can be obtained.

However, dealing with underlying causes will be more emotional work for the client, involve the therapist helping the client to be motivated, find resources within themselves and to work more intensively. As therapists we need to build the rapport necessary for the client to be motivated. Some clients will come to therapy already knowing they want to do this work and others will need more support.

The two approaches can be used by the same therapist. There are many hypnotherapists who only use the direct suggestion route and only treat symptoms. However, from experience, I would say that the only drawback to this approach is that it frequently does not give lasting change, as per above. However, it can be a useful starting point if the client is not yet ready to delve deeper. As long as the therapist is skilled in both techniques and explains to the client the two approaches and their outcomes. This then allows the client the choice to determine what they feel is best for them at this point in their lives.

We are all on a journey, what is your journey going to involve?