Qualified health care professionals use clinical hypnosis to explore and address a wide variety of health and well-being matters.
Hypnosis is a natural state, very much like when we’re daydreaming or driving down the highway and not paying attention to the signs for a while. It is a trance-like state which occurs throughout the course of a day.
In clinical hypnosis, you are focused and aware of your environment. People describe clinical hypnosis as a pleasant, calming, clearly remembered experience which involves a state of relaxed consciousness.
Seeking help from a Regulated Clinician for Clinical Hypnosis
When carried out by a professionally trained and skilled hypnotherapist, the benefits can be long-lasting and often permanent. When the hypnotherapist is accountable to a recognized organization such as the Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons, Dentists, Psychologists, Nurses, Occupational Therapists, Social Workers or Psychotherapists, among others, you can be assured that ethical standards must be met by the therapist, and his or her competence must be maintained by Continuing Education.
Can anyone be hypnotized?
Most people have a natural ability to respond to calming suggestions. If you wish to focus your mind, you can likely enjoy entering a hypnotic state, especially with practice, by listening to the voice of a trained, trusted therapist.
Clinical hypnosis can only be entered voluntarily, and you accept only the suggestions that you choose to accept.
Is clinical hypnosis safe?
Yes, when you are in the care of a qualified regulated therapist, you can be assured that ethical standards must be met by the therapist, and his or her competence must be maintained by Continuing Education.
Are there other credible descriptions of clinical hypnosis?
Yes, and some are far more detailed than provided in this website. Our information is distilled from credible associations and health professionals practicing clinical hypnosis. In 2015 the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis published an article entitled Advancing Research and Practice: The Revised APA Division 30 Definition of Hypnosis by Dr. Gary Elkins of Baylor University, a psychology professor at Baylor University, President of the Society of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis (SCEH), and his colleagues. They describe the 2014 Revised Definition of Hypnosis of Section 30 of the American Psychological Association as follows:
Hypnosis: “A state of consciousness involving focused attention and reduced peripheral awareness characterized by an enhanced capacity for response to suggestion.” They define hypnotherapy as “The use of hypnosis in the treatment of a medical or psychological disorder or concern.”
Is clinical hypnosis scientific?
Yes, clinical hypnosis is in a continual state of development. Many of its practitioners conduct research at major universities and hospitals, and publish their finding in peer-reviewed journals in psychology, psychiatry, and the neurosciences, many of them available online.
Clinical hypnotherapy has been found effective with health conditions through attention to our perceptions, thoughts, feelings and actions. The following is a list of some of the most commonly treated conditions:
Anxiety
Depression
Compulsions (including Obsessive Compulsive Disorder)
Self-esteem issues and ego strengthening
Panic disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Unwanted habits (nail biting, hair pulling…)
Smoking cessation
Eating disorders
Weight management
Pain and headache
Phobias (flying, social interaction…)
Childhood trauma
Sexual trauma
Anger management, stress management and relaxation
Self-injurious behaviours
Addictions
Dental pain and anxiety
Performance anxiety (work, study, sports, public speaking)
Sleep disorders
Bereavement
Surgical procedures
Obstetrics, including childbirth
Stress-related medical conditions (high blood pressure, irritable bowel syndrome, cardiac arrhythmia…)
Infertility of uncertain cause