FAQ's

1) What is Hypnosis?

Hypnos, a Greek word derived from the word Hypnosis the god of sleep, is a slight untruth in as much an individual does not enter a sleep state but a trance state, or state of altered consciousness. The hypnotic state gained recognition in the 18th century by a Scottish physician Dr James Braid, the hypnotic phenomena is something that most individuals experience every day without consciously being aware of it, how many times have you become engrossed in a film, TV program or book and lost all track of time this is a form of waking hypnosis.

2) Could I remain in a trance and not come out of it?

No, the state of trance is a natural occurrence and if you were left in trance by a therapist you would either come back to awareness yourself or go to sleep and awaken naturally.

3) Can anyone be hypnotised?

Yes, apart from the very young or elderly, but there are people who a hypnotist should never attempt to hypnotise, these include any individuals who suffer from bipolar depression, endogenous depression, schizophrenics and any person suffering from any sort of personality disorder, although a trance state could be induced a therapist could end up upsetting their treatment package from a psychiatric unit or GP.

4) Is hypnosis a guaranteed success?

No, as with any sort of therapy a certain amount depends on whether an individual is determined to succeed in reaching their goal, be it to quit smoking, lose weight or combat a phobia.

5) When hypnotised will I say something I don't want to?

No, the trance state is to help an individual if any questions are asked which could be upsetting to a person they will either refuse to answer or they will come out of trance.

6) What are the laws surrounding hypnosis?

There are currently no laws within the UK governing clinical hypnosis, however steps are being taken within parliament to promote all types of alternative therapies, Prince Charles being one of the main campaigners to push alternative therapy into mainstream therapies.

7) How may I learn self-hypnosis?

The best way to learn self -hypnosis is to ask a qualified hypnotist to teach you, he/she would then give you post hypnotic suggestions to reinforce everything that you learn. There are also many good books on the subject one that I would personally recommend is The Theory And Practice of Hypnotism, by William J Ousby.

8) How quick can a person be hypnotised?

This is a question often asked of me and the simple answer is as long as it takes, in a clinical environment I generally use a longer deep relaxation technique this can take any thing from on average 5 to 10 minutes to achieve somnambulism or deep trance, whereas in my stage show I always use rapid hypnosis which happens in a split second, before adding a deepening technique to achieve deep levels of hypnosis.

9) Is hypnosis a therapy readily available on the National Health Service?

Many UK practices are starting to introduce complementary therapy into mainstream medicine, but these practices are still very much in the minority, if an individual is considering hypnosis as a form of therapy it may well be wise to enquire with their own general practitioner or surgery.

10) What is the difference between stage hypnosis and hypnotherapy?

Stage hypnosis is used solely for entertainment purposes, getting an individual to use their imaginations while on stage, I've generally found from personal experience that my show brings out the extrovert side of a person regardless of their own personality trait. Whereas hypnotherapy is used to help overcome phobias, pain reduction, help to reduce weight and probably the most common to overcome a cigarette habit.