_______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Hypnosis vs. Hypnotherapy

Hypnosis is the process of inducing a trance in a subject. The purpose of which is to have suggestions which can manifest in changed thinking or behavior. Hypnotherapy focuses on therapeutic change and should only be administered by a professional skilled and credentialed in physical and/or mental therapy. These include medical doctors, psychologists, social workers, nurses, and physical therapists, i.e. those trained to administer therapy and have the added skill to use hypnosis as an adjunct modality. Changing someone’s life is serious business.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Brain Waves

There are certain measurable states of brain activity, called brain waves, in which hypnosis is most effective. These brain waves can most easily explained by using the metaphor of an orchestral performance.

Imagine you are a member of this orchestra, playing an instrument. You are interactive, observant, listening and alert. You are playing with your various colleagues, attentive to the conductor for direction. Most likely you are in what is called a beta wavestate.

Now imagine you are at the same concert, but this time you are in the audience, you are experiencing the concert, observing the players, listening to the sounds of the instruments, absorbed and aware of the performance but not interacting in its production.  Most likely you are in an alpha wave state.

You are still a member of the audience, but you are drowsy, dreamy, letting the music carry you away, less consciously aware of the performance than before. You are in a theta state.

Finally, you are a member of the audience, fast asleep, unaware, unconscious, and in a delta state.

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Trance

Trance experience encompasses both the alpha and theta wave ranges. Trance is a state of mind between wakefulness and sleep, between full conscious and full unconscious functioning. This is the state in which we are most prone to suggestion. It is when the music in the above example is most effectively experienced and has the greatest impact on memory. Hypnosis works when there is trance. Suggestions are embedded and retained in memory for long term effect.