Hypnosis versus Hypnotherapy: What's the Difference? [Part 2]

By Anny Slegten, Master Hypnotist, Clinical Hypnotherapist
In full time practice since 1984.

​Consider a pencil.  Depending what you want to use it for, you can choose a firm lead, a soft lead, or anything in between.  You can write a report, fill out a form, write a poem or a love letter, doodle, make a schematic, draw a portrait or a landscape.
 
The same goes for hypnosis.  The way it is used depends on the training, the intentions and the ability of the person who uses it, and the need and level of cooperation of the person participating in the hypnotic experience.  Therefore, I will only share my own views on the subject.
 
For me, hypnotherapy is usually regression therapy, going from effect back to cause, experiencing now the results of something that impressed our psyche before.  How so?  After all, are we not in the present, the now?
 
There is a part of us that remembers everything.  As you are driving your car today, the way you are driving it now is the result of your interpretation of what you heard, observed and experienced as a passenger and a driver of a car from early childhood on.  The same goes with our life.
 
We are the sum of our life experiences, and by regressing from effect back to cause, the fascinating voyages within our own consciousness usually bring a profound healing at a soul level, resulting in emotional order, clarity of thoughts, and inner peace.
 
Hypnotherapy makes one also very much aware of how much thoughts can affect us physically.  A common example is thinking of a lemon.  Pretend you are holding it in your hand.  Feel the texture, squeeze it, smell it, pretend you cut it in two crosswise, bring half a lemon to your mouth, and bite into it.  Have you noticed how your body responded to this imaginary exercise?
  
The “Imaginary Lemon” experience partially explains why we all respond differently to situations experienced collectively: it is not what actually happened but what we perceive happened that makes an impact in our life.  Emotionalized thoughts are like decisions frozen in time.  Like ball-and-chain, these outdated decisions are mental blocks keeping attitudes to life at different stages of maturity.
 
Revisiting what happened allows us to have a new look at an old story, putting events in proper perspective, and making peace with ourselves.  A most comforting, liberating experience.
 
Because of their inherent qualities, hypnosis and hypnotherapy can be used alone or in conjunction with other health care modalities.  Enhancing other therapies, hypnosis and hypnotherapy can be powerful adjuncts to any therapy of your choice, restoring physical/emotional/mental balance, and most of all, peace of mind. A great feeling.