For those of you who don’t know much about hypnosis, other than the images of a bearded, menacing eyed man, swinging his pocket watch or a small pendulum to and fro in front of the eyes of a troubled patient, as being portrayed in old movies, here is a brief description about the art. Hypnosis is a state of intense focus or concentration, to an extent like when you get lost in an interesting book or while watching a gripping movie. In that intensely focused state, one’s brain waves slow down, and that is artificially created and exploited in the art of hypnosis. A hypnotized state brings the brain from the alpha consciousness to beta consciousness, in which state the brain waves slow down and in that absence of critical chatter of the conscious mind, the doctor could pass in positive messages to the subconscious mind. These positive messages can be anything related to the behavior change, dislodging of fears and phobias, pain management or simply any outcome you want to affect.
This is a carefully executed methodology only a professional can accomplish. Further, hypnosis in itself has become so specialized that now each individual application of hypnosis has somewhat become a different domain itself. For example, hypnosis is very effective in curing fears and phobias, easing the pain associated with pregnancy, checking bad habits like smoking and drinking, changing behavioral problems, and in relieving stress related problems, but, all of these treatments, most of the time, are not done by a general hypno-therapist; instead, hypno-therapists specializing in each of the disciplines specifically, are employed. So, if you have a phobia or a bad habit like smoking or drinking for which you are seeking a cure, you may not be able to get treatment from a hypno-therapist specializing in pregnancy related issues. It is necessary to seek council at a clinic specializing in phobias or smoking issues.
On websites or newspapers, sometimes, you might have seen multiple ads talking about learning or teaching hypno-therapy in a few weeks/month time. This claim is totally false. Yes, it is true that anybody can master a bit of hypnosis by practice, but, in order to apply it for good reasons, it requires expertise and experience. Someone with just a casual knowledge of hypno-therapy could do more harm than any real good.
So, it is always better to hire a hypnotist than trying out something by yourself. Now, how and where to find one? The best place to start looking for a hypnotherapist is the World Wide Web. Yellow pages and newspaper ads come next. Search by city or your place of residence, in forums, or yellow pages, and you will find many of them with different specializations. You could also gather a list of expert hypno-therapists in your region from the hypno-therapist association website. Also, it is also a good idea to ask your doctor for recommendations. He/she might be able to refer to a couple of good hypno-therapists.
Once, having found a hypno-therapist, make it a point to check his/her experience, specializations, and qualifications. This is important because the effectiveness of hypnosis has a lot of bearing on the ability and experience of the hypno-therapist. What an experience hand could bring about, a less experienced person may not be able to accomplish that easily. After all, at the end of the day, it is you who are subjecting yourself to hypnosis. Obviously, you cannot afford to let it slip into the wrong hands.
