Hypnosis is a state of mind in which a person remains calm, concentrated and aware, whilst their body becomes completely relaxed. This altered state of awareness allows access to the subconscious mind, having relaxed the thought processes of the conscious mind.

The subject is not asleep or unconscious, and is aware of what is being said to them and any noises in their environment, as their normal physical abilities are not impaired. It's similar to being engrossed in a television programme, whilst hearing a conversation in the background. Basically, all else just fades into unimportance.

What is Hypnotherapy?

Hypnotherapy is the treatment of emotional and psychological conditions, unwanted habits and undesirable feelings using hypnosis. The aim is to assist people in finding meaningful alternatives to their present unsatisfactory ways of thinking, feeling or behaving. Hypnotherapy also helps clients become more accepting, both of themselves and others, and can be very useful in promoting personal development and unlocking inner potential.

Standard hypnotherapy involves inducing a client into hypnosis, then making positive suggestions that are appropriate to their problem. This "suggestion" therapy is the only technique used by some therapists and, although it can have a beneficial effect, it often only glosses over a problem without ever finding the true root cause.

Advanced Structured Hypnotherapy does use suggestion therapy, but only as one of many techniques. The advanced therapist gains access to the client's subconscious mind in order to firstly ascertain the cause, and then bring about positive change to the benefit of the client. Regression may also be used, to see if there are any events from earlier in a client's life which may have had an influence, either directly or indirectly, on their condition. This often involves childhood experiences, although not exclusively.