Are you thinking about trying hypnosis or did you just schedule your very first hypnotherapy session? Then you should know about these myths.

1-   Everyone can’t be hypnotized

When I first read the Stanford study that was published in 2016 about brain activity under hypnosis, I was surprised to discover that researchers had to specifically find the 10% of the population that are highly hypnotizable. Practicing hypnotherapy for quite some time now, I can confidently say that yes, there is a group of people who are highly hypnotizable (about 10% of the society). However, this doesn’t mean that rest of the people are not hypnotizable. Especially, nowadays, we have much more evidence and knowledge about how hypnosis works in the brain.

There is a number of factors that make hypnosis effective and helpful. According to an article that explains the mechanisms of hypnosis, these variants are social factors, psychological factors, and biological factors. Psychological state includes the person’s expectation, imagination, motivation, attitude, and hypnotizability; social factors include the rapport with the hypnotherapist and hypnotizability; biological factors are about the brain’s frontal lobe activity.

Clearly, hypnotizability is not the only factor that creates a successful hypnotherapy experience. Even if the person is not hypnotizable, by improving other factors such as rapport, expectation, or motivation, we can still get significantly good results.

2-    When hypnotized you shouldn’t be hearing your hypnotherapist

Hypnosis is often confused with sleep. Yes, you will probably feel sleepy or drowsy during hypnosis but you will not fall asleep. Think of when you are very focused on a movie. You can hear outside noises but your focus is still on the movie, right?

Hypnosis is much like that. You will be able to hear your hypnotherapist’s voice at all times. Sometimes your mind may wander to different topics or you may be very focused on the voice of your hypnotherapist. Either way, it works perfectly because your hypnotherapist will be guiding you through the journeys or suggestions.

3-    Hypnosis is an out of body experience

Remember when you saw someone being hypnotized on TV or on a hypnosis stage show? Their body may be limping or they may move uncontrollably. That doesn’t happen in hypnotherapy.

Hypnosis is probably the exact opposite of out-of-body experience. During hypnosis, many people actually get in touch with their bodies and are able to manage even the smallest muscles. That’s how we can control the relaxation response and improve physical conditions.

4-    Hypnotherapy can’t be done online

To be honest, at first, I was pretty skeptical about doing a hypnotherapy session through online channels. I actually did my first online hypnotherapy session way before COVID-19 started and it was successful. My client was living in another country and we accomplished quite significant results in the comfort of her home. I was impressed by the effectiveness and the ease. 

Since COVID-19 hit, online hypnotherapy sessions became even more successful and effective because the more we got used to online sessions the better therapeutic tools we developed. Currently, I find online sessions just as effective as in-person sessions, if not maybe even more. You can read more about the effectiveness of online sessions from my earlier blog post.

5-    You will do whatever your hypnotherapist suggests

What is hypnosis if you are not going to do everything a hypnotherapist suggests, right?

Well, unfortunately -or fortunately- hypnosis doesn’t work that way and we cannot make anyone do anything without their will.

We often see people following hypnotherapists’ suggestions religiously on stage shows. How does that happen?

We still don’t know what makes those people do all the funny acts but it’s estimated that these results are due to those candidates’ will to pleasing, being under the influence of the show environment, and being affected by the showman a.k.a. the hypnotist’s charismatic presentation.

In fact, hypnotherapy is all about giving YOU control of your own mind rather than controlling your mind. At the beginning of a hypnotherapy session, usually you will receive counseling about your goals. According to these goals and desires, the hypnotherapist will give you suggestions or imagery journeys. Since you are already consciously aware of these goals, it will be easy for your subconscious mind to accept these ideas.

During hypnosis, you will have your mind’s control at all times. For example, anyone who wants to move, open their eyes, or make a comment during hypnosis could very well do so. However many people prefer to relax into hypnosis since it’s a comfortable and calming experience.