What Is the Difference Between Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy?
California does not recognize the difference between Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy. This is good for me because I enjoy facilitating both. With all due respect, it’s really just semantics and politics! For me, the biggest difference I can discern is just how it sounds: hypnotherapy is mainly used for healing: mind, body and spirit. Hypnosis can be used for exploring new experiences, boosting or enhancing physical activities, and stage performances such as stage hypnosis. You can use hypnosis to improve sports prowess and improve academic comprehension. You can use hypnosis to remove bad habits, phobias and addictions. If you have a sports coach he is probably already using hypnosis. Your math teacher may be using hypnosis also, but not realizing it. Hypnosis is just slowly and calmly repeating suggestions until they are accepted. My dentist is definitely using hypnosis with me, but she may not define it as such. Your very first hypnotist is always your own parents or the guardians who brought you up. The word hypnosis is searched for 5 times as much as hypnotherapy.
There are good and bad uses of hypnosis. In my mind, the most blatant and well known form of hypnosis is stage hypnosis. I don’t like it or appreciate it because the audience gets the wrong idea about hypnosis as a one on one therapy for positive change. It may seem to the audience as if the hypnotist is taking over the participants’ minds. It is impossible to do this, even if the hypnotist is bullying the participants. I have seen stage hypnotists actually hitting the people on stage or yelling at them. I don’t feel this is acceptable hypnosis, but it is used the world over in many ways, which I will go into deeper in the next section.
When a stage hypnotist has people on his stage, the people who volunteer and are chosen have the strong desire to entertain the audience. The participants do not want to be excused from the stage by the hypnotist if they are not performing, which is exactly what happens if you do not follow his orders. If you are asked to dance like a chicken, you will do it and appreciate the laughter if that is your personality. If not, you will be eliminated quickly. I have seen many of these stage shows and they always make me feel uncomfortable. I have also been a participant and performer in these shows because my mentor Dick Sutphen gave advanced training in how to do stage hypnosis. It was my most disliked subject.
Negative Hypnosis and Social Conditioning
Negative hypnosis can be identified as child abuse in the home or schools, using corporal punishment and negative programming, repeating the same commands over and over in a forceful tone of voice, to force the child to act in a certain way. Also the military can be understood as an example of negative hypnosis. When young people sign up for one of the armed forces – or worse – if they are drafted or conscripted, the way they are trained to become a killing machine is also through negative hypnosis. Humans are naturally sweet and loving beings. But after many centuries of wars, that negative behavior and experience of soldiers and sailors can absolutely affect and change the DNA of the descendants. This is called a military family, when generations follow their fathers into this career choice.
Another form of negative hypnosis is in organized religions and cults who encourage devotees to disengage themselves from their family members and friends who are not in the same cult. Or they are threatened with excommunication if the member doesn’t follow the rules and ideals of the religious organization. This isolation from society can become dangerous in the extreme such as what happened in Waco, Texas with David Koresh and the Branch Davidians in 1993 and in Guyana with Jim Jones in Jonestown and the suicide pact drinking poisoned Flavor Aid in 1978.
Positive Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy
Positive hypnosis or hypnotherapy is perceived by me as speaking in a slow, calm, loving voice. I have read that many indigenous cultures teach their children acceptable behaviors in this way. We should not reward bad behavior by giving it our attention. We should reward good behavior with loving encouragement and a pat on the back, appreciation for a job well done. Rewarding children with your loving attention for understanding what is required of them is a much more beneficial form of child-rearing.
When in trance, the mind is 200 times more likely to accept change. This I call clinical hypnosis. Together, the client and I construct positive commands to say to themselves while using self hypnosis. After the session I email them full instructions how to do self hypnosis safely at home and include all the commands we created together. In advanced hypnosis training we learned that 30 days of repeating the same commands in a relaxed state can create new habits. Once the command has become their new reality, my client can delete it and add another new idea they want to manifest. This way a proactive person has control over their future. They are no longer a leaf blowing in the wind without direction and purpose.
Is All Hypnosis Self-Hypnosis?
My first hypnosis teacher, John Davis, who taught at Orange Coast College in the 90s believed that “All hypnosis is self hypnosis, you allow it to happen”. The difference between hypnosis and hypnotherapy was not clarified by him. I agree with his assessment of “all hypnosis is self hypnosis”. We can allow it or resist it. It is true, however, that some subjects are more susceptible to hypnosis than others, but it is a choice. You can do what is asked, to allow yourself to get into a trance like state, or you can rebel, refuse the sensations you start to feel when being subjected to an “induction” into the hypnosis trance. And don’t they call it being “inducted into the army”? Google says that phrase means being drafted against your will. There are actually many instances when drafted or conscripted soldiers fired their guns over the heads of “the enemy” because they did not want to kill anyone. It was against their beliefs.
Hypnosis, Hypnotherapy, and Licensed Therapists
When I googled the difference between hypnosis and hypnotherapy I hit a ball of worms. Goggle tries to convince seekers to only go to licensed therapists with hypnosis or hypnotherapy training. This is what I experienced going to the East Coast hypnosis board meeting conventions. This is the National Guild of Hypnotists. They are the biggest professional hypnosis organization and board certification provider in America and the world. They are also very expensive. On the East Coast, hypnotists cannot use the word hypnotherapy or label themselves as hypnotherapists. The trouble with this google search result is that licensed therapists rarely have the time or inspiration to study hypnotherapy or hypnosis. They make a lot more money using talk therapy or CBT. Especially if the patient gets free sessions included with their insurance. It’s very nice to “buy” a friend to talk to, especially if it’s “free”. It’s only when their patients do not improve that they may be inspired to try hypnosis themselves, take some training for it, or refer them out.
I have had clients referred to me by doctors and therapists. I have also had licensed therapists come to me as clients needing help. They were curious about how it works and if it would work for them. One therapist wanted relief from the fear of flying in a passenger jet airline so she could attend a family wedding in another state. Another therapist wanted some physical healing for her knee. Another therapist wanted help falling back to sleep during the night as he was waking up too early.
I recently had a new client come to me for past life regression. She told me the story of her therapist who recently fired her after 10 years! She was outraged! She felt she was getting dumped by her friend. The therapist felt she had done enough for her. My client said suddenly her therapist was telling her what to do instead of just listening to her. Time to move on.
I like working as a certified professional myself in any modality because no one can take away my certificates. As someone who is a licensed professional, their licensing board can take away a therapist’s license, a lawyer’s, a contractor’s, a plumber’s or even a barber’s license at any time for any reason deemed against the rules, and they will lose their careers. I feel a license cannot compete anyway with years of experience and good reviews.
The History of Hypnosis
When Sigmund Freud was first studying the mind and mental illness he was inspired by the much earlier work of Franz Anton Mesmer. Dr. Mesmer was the German physician known as “the father of hypnosis”. Even though Dr Freud discovered being mesmerized was very effective, he voiced concerns that maybe not everyone could be hypnotized. The good doctor knew everyone loves to talk about themselves to their friends one on one. He realized he could be a friend to those in need. He also realized it could be a great moneymaker. It is almost impossible to change ingrained behavior while still being in the conscious mind, as it is protected by the ego which cannot tolerate change. Therefore, patients need to come back again and again to spend more time and money to be healed. And because a doctor never guarantees results, he was protected against failure.
Finding The Right Hypnotherapist in Orange County
Follow this link to my hypnotherapy service page, read about my hypnosis offerings and experience, see prices, book a session. No need for payment now or a password. See my hours and availability, match it to your calendar or book a free consultation over the phone. Enjoy sessions in person or remotely.
