What is hypnotherapy?

There are many and diverse therapeutic tools existing and used by psychology to assist in medicinal and alternative treatments, hypnotherapy is one of them. Also known as clinical hypnosis, it is a technique used specifically for treatments related to the mind that reflect on the physical body.

In its essence, it is a tool that seeks to channel and even cancel behaviors, habits, sensations and feelings that are not accepted by people. The great objective is to lead patients to reflect on their past actions and activities because they may still be present in their subconscious, causing the conflicts of the present.

The hypnotherapy sessions are accompanied by a health specialist and usually bring fast and effective results. The conflicts are understood from its root and so, the person will be able to face them and choose new behaviors and get more quality of life. Want to understand more about this science? Keep reading and understand more how this treatment can help your well-being.Check it out!

More about hypnotherapy

Using firm and focused concentration and also mind and body relaxation, hypnotherapy seeks to open the consciousness of the person under treatment, expanding it to his/her subconscious. Understanding the mind and its psychological patterns and stages has always been a challenge for medicine. Keep reading and understand more about the history of hypnotherapy in Brazil and in the world!

History of hypnotherapy in the world

The first appearances of techniques similar to those used in hypnotherapy can be found in writings about rituals and ceremonies with religious character of various cultures around the world, while the first scientific guidelines on the subject, with the use of hypnosis tools in medicinal treatments, appear from the 17th century.

Through a Scottish doctor, specialized in ophthalmology and clinical surgeon, James Braid, the first concepts about hypnosis with therapeutic application were documented. The term hypnosis was used to indicate an active channel of consciousness very close to the sleep situation, but with different reactions. In the 20th century, Milton Hyland Erickson, an American psychiatrist, deepened hisknowledge and provoked a division of lines of study for hypnosis: the classical and the clinical.

Erickson was responsible for repositioning hypnosis as an active practice within psychiatry and built a method, used until today, to transform human perception by taking information to the unconscious mind and thus provide deep learning, causing limiting beliefs to be released, helping to overcome traumas and mental problems.

History of hypnotherapy in Brazil

The first scientific papers on hypnosis in Brazil also date from the beginning of the 20th century and make reference to the evolution of the subject in the old continent and with a strong French influence. The first thesis on hypnosis was presented in Rio de Janeiro, where medical congresses were also held in which hypnosis was part of the agenda.

Karl Weissmann, Austrian psychologist, arrived in Brazil in 1938, fleeing from World War II activities. He was the precursor of the term "Freud explains", divulging hypnosis applied to medicine in Brazil, becoming a professor of this discipline in several courses and appearing in the media (television, newspapers and magazines) speaking on the subject.

In 1957, the Brazilian Society of Medical Hypnosis was founded in Rio de Janeiro, inspiring the opening of numerous other parallel societies in several other Brazilian states. It was Jânio Quadro, then President of the Republic, who in 1961, along with the prohibition of public events on hypnosis, also signed the only existing law regulating this technique in Brazil. During the government ofFernando Collor, there was the revocation of the rule.

Recently, in 2018 a new recognition action for hypnosis in Brazil happened. The then governor of São Paulo, Geraldo Alckmin, sanctioned a new law regarding the creation of the "State Hypnologist Day", to be celebrated every year on September 25.

Hypnotherapy and hypnotism

The hypnosis techniques, besides appearing in historical data with therapeutic pretexts, were also and are used until today also for entertainment purposes. This is the main difference between hypnotherapy and hypnotism. Read on and understand the details about this difference.

Difference between hypnotherapy and hypnotism

The use of hypnosis techniques and tools, called hypnotherapy, is applied for various medical treatments. Used as a therapy only by qualified professionals and specifically to treat some symptoms of illnesses such as anxiety, stress, weight gain, trauma or mental situations that affect the nervous system, among others.

Hypnotism, on the other hand, uses techniques and tools of hypnosis, but is applied to entertainment, in sessions exposed to the public in the form of shows on television channels or in events where, the people participating, are conducted by hypnosis to make actions or imitations (of animals, for example) in order to amuse those who watch. There is no therapeutic basis in this employment.

What is hypnotism?

In hypnotism the method of suggestion is used, in which the person is provoked, by stimuli and techniques of hypnosis, to enter a state of almost sleepiness, where then, it is believed to be possible to infer the execution of orders. Thus, the hypnotized person has no control of his actions or activities, being in charge of the mentor (conductor of the process) to decide for him his behavior.

Some studies point out that not all human beings are susceptible to hypnotism. About 30% of men can reach the necessary state of sleepiness, and only 25% of women and children would be susceptible to this application. Remembering that this is not a practice aimed at healing, in any field of medicine.

When to seek hypnotherapy?

In hypnotherapy, the patient, accompanied by a specialist, does not cease to have full awareness of their actions and behaviors. Therefore, the tools of hypnosis can be used by all people, including any age. Understand all forms of use and when it is possible to use hypnosis reading below. Check it out!

Who can benefit from hypnotherapy?

Women, men and children, regardless of age, can benefit from the therapeutic techniques of hypnosis. The exception is only for people with schizophrenia or other diseases that contribute to the distortion of reality or the natural line of time and space.

Seek a qualified professional

Search a suitable place, with certified professionals is the main recommendation to make use of the benefits of hypnotherapy correctly. Doctors of various segments, according to their specialty, can act with the tools of hypnosis.

Therefore, it is recommended that you find a therapy space with the following characteristics: a quiet place with minimal noise interference and that also ensures the privacy of the consultations; a comfortable place with a sofa or reclining chair for body relaxation; ambient and relaxing music for the session.

Also, gather information about the main activities of the professional, their success cases and main applications. Understand if the ailments and issues you would like to treat are really known to the professional. Have an interview, literally, with the professional before performing the techniques. Be confident, this will help immensely the immersion process to the therapy.

Hypnotherapy and weight loss

People who find it difficult to lose weight, especially those who are overweight and have health problems, can use the therapeutic techniques of hypnosis to understand the emotional factors or factors present in their subconscious that influence their overeating.

The hypnosis, through a specialized professional, will seek to find the roots of this problem, investigating possible past behaviors that may be in the subconscious, such as unresolved issues in childhood, anxiety, links with pleasure, among others. Discovering the root, it will be possible to identify the best way to lose weight.

Anxieties

Many do not know, but anxiety is recognized as an emotion that is generated from negative sensations such as insecurity, fear, anguish that, when constantly felt, becomes a pathology. At this point, hypnotherapy can help in order to understand the causes that generate this emotion and offer tools that help minimize these symptoms.

Addictions

Addiction is any routine habit, executed in excess, that causes the person the most diverse problems, from those related to body and mind health (consumption of illicit and licit drugs, constant presence in social networks, among others), to those that interfere in the life of others. For psychology, addictions can be treated as diseases.

The hypnotherapy is used to discover the causes, present in the subconscious that influence the aptitude to the addictions making with that the person recognizes which are these causes and faces them, solving the question in its interior plan and in such a way, it obtains in the day the day to treat these dependences.

Traumas

According to studies, any type of trauma can be treated with the help of hypnotherapy. Trauma is understood as moments that are stored by the subconscious, but forgotten by the memory of easy access. They are situations or events that have caused deep marks and can influence behavior. Through the tools of hypnosis, these are accessed and presented so that they can be treated.

Hypnotherapy approaches

To fully understand how hypnotherapy works it is interesting to understand details of how the human mind works with studies of medicine and science. Remembering that the mind is our consciousness, something that is not palpable and that is programmed (as in a computer) from person to person. From this, know more about hypnotherapy as models of mind, regression techniques and the lineKeep reading and learn a lot more!

Model of the mind

In hypnosis, the consciousness has its natural state altered to allow the subconscious of a person to be accessed. It is in the subconscious that emotions, habits, memories and feelings are stored. Many of these are long-standing, from childhood moments, for example, that cannot be accessed from the normal consciousness of the mind.

With hypnotherapy, besides accessing these boxes of information, it is also possible to suggest ways with new patterns, as a reprogramming of the mind. To understand the mind, it is taken into account, according to studies, that it is divided into three parts, within a model that includes: unconscious, conscious and subconscious.

In its unconscious version, the mind is instinctive and regulates the physiological function and the maintenance of a person's survival. In the conscious part, on the other hand, the mind is related to the regency of thoughts and deals with easily accessible, effortless memory. Finally, in the subconscious, that is where the mind holds the deepest essence of a person, that is where the desires, fears and habits are, but,with difficult access, with protection.

Cognitive hypnotherapy

In psychotherapy there is a technique called cognitive hypnotherapy that seeks to resolve some pathologies associating clinical hypnosis with a behavioral approach. Using specific techniques and with the use of mental images, the person is brought face to face with beliefs and behaviors. The goal is to develop a coping strategy to resolve theailments.

Regression

The regression techniques are also present in the tools used by hypnotherapy, but are used to access memories that are lost in the subconscious or unconscious mind of a person. It is used by trained professionals when normally other techniques have already been employed and still not obtained the desired result.

Myths about hypnotherapy

The confusion created by the actions linked to hypnotism, generated to hypnotherapy myths or untruths that are not sustained, when this science is properly studied and understood. You may have already heard some of these myths. Read on and clear up your doubts about the myths and truths about hypnotherapy.

You are forced to do something

Hypnosis is a technique that works the mind in its conscious state, so the person will not be deprived of his conditions to decide about his actions. Be sure of the reasons why you need hypnotherapy and what problems or pathologies you want to solve. The initiative, consent and participation will always be from your authorization.

You can stay in a state of hypnosis and never come out

The hypnotherapy sessions promote moments in which you access parts of the mind that are not commonly accessed in everyday life. At the end of the sessions, you naturally return to your conventional state of consciousness. There is no way to continue in a state of hypnosis without stimulation. Even if something happened in the environment or with the professional who led you, you would return completely.

Everything will be solved with hypnotherapy

Looking for new ways, tools and options to understand your problems that may have psychological nature is a great step. But keep in mind that, although it is a technique that brings great results, it may not be the right one to solve each and every issue you need. Understand your needs and never get tired of seeking your health.

Is hypnotherapy a sleep state?

During sleep we cannot control our thoughts, so we can dream. In the hypnosis process, your mind is led to be focused on something, seeking the goal. You will be conscious and remember everything that occurred during and after the session. For this reason, hypnosis is not a sleep state.

Is hypnotherapy recognized by medicine?

In many countries around the world, hypnosis is approved by the World Health Organization (WHO), so it can be used in health care by specific medical professionals. In the United States of America, for example, the technique has its own regulation. In Brazil, the Ministry of Health included in the Unified Health System (SUS) in 2018, hypnotherapy authorized for somespecialties.