Q: Those people on stage are faking it or are friends with the hypnotist, right?

" Occam's Razor " states that the simplest explanation is the most likely. Which is most likely? Yeah, it is. Try it some time. Those folks are playing the most vivid and real game of ""make believe"" of their entire adult lives. Not since being children on the playground has imagination been so real. It's fun, refreshing and it feels really good. Why isn't everybody doing this?

Question 1

Can I get 'stuck' in a hypnotic trance?

Accepted Answer

Nope. You cannot get stuck. In 4000 years of recorded hypnosis history, the only one who has ever gotten stuck is that guy in the movie "Office Space" and to be fair, he kind of needed it. In that movie, the hypnotist dies of a heart-attack while his client is hypnotized and for the rest of the movie, the client is still in trance and ultra-relaxed.

In reality, what would happen is that the client would come out of trance and try to help the dying hypnotist or he would fall into a deep, relaxing sleep and awake naturally, then try to help the already dead hypnotist. There is no 'stuck'.

I'll let you in on a secret. If people could get stuck, we hypnotists would create armies of "hypnozombies" to do our bidding for us, while we lived lives of luxury and pleasure. Muahhahahahahha! Just kidding. (Or am I?). Nope, No stuck. Instead, we try to help people.

Question 2

Can you really be hypnotized?

Accepted Answer

Yes! Hypnosis is a natural state of mind that occurs in most people on a regular basis.

Many people associate hypnosis with a state of deep relaxation, but the process of hypnosis does not have to involve relaxation at all! In fact, one way to induce hypnotic trance is by using a "shock induction", which uses the startle reflex to make the mind open the suggestion.

If you have ever watched a stage hypnosis show and seen the hypnotist shout "SLEEP!" while yanking the arm of a subject, who then collapses in a heap, you have witnessed a shock induction.

Most people can be hypnotized. In general, if you have at least normal intelligence and even a bit of imagination, then you can too.

The process may vary between stage hypnosis and clinical hypnosis, but the end result is the same, a state of heightened suggestibility where hypnotic suggestions bypass the critical faculty and subconscious mind / unconscious mind act upon them.

For most people, the experience of hypnosis is profound. Your heart rate drops and smooths out and your brain activity settles into something closer to an active sleep state than full wakefulness. For many of us, the closest state we have to compare to in daily life is that of "lucid dreaming'. Of course, the hypnotized subject remains in complete control and has an awareness of what is going on around them at all times.

If you'd like to experience hypnosis, reach out to your local hypnotist! We LOVE what we do. You don't need to be seeking some type of behavioral therapy, or need to change something in everyday life. Most of us are always looking for a new hypnotic subject and would be more than happy to gve you a demonstration of the power of your subconscious mind / unconscious mind.

Question 3

What's this I hear about twins?

Accepted Answer

A few years back, I had the chance to have a pair of twins in my office who where interested in exploring their bond using hypnosis.

I was hooked.

I have had many couples in my office exploring hypnosis together, but I am fascinated by the bond shared by twins. I have now had many pairs in, "identical" and fraternal and while each person has left no doubt that they are unique, the connection between them, especially the identical twins is astounding.

Know some twins who would like to try something new? Have them reach out to me. Please! :)

And to that orginal pair, who were so brave as to come try it out the first time, I am in your debt.

Question 4

What hours are you open?

Accepted Answer

Since we don't see "walk up" traffic, we don't post "open hours". Besides, it's fun to keep getting nagged by Yelp! because they want us to post some hours of operation. :)

Booking is by appointment only. If you visit the booking/scheduling section of the site, it will allow you to choose from the available time slots. If you can't book it, it's not open. If you can, it is.

The exception is, of course, you can mail us at anytime with questions, comments, or maybe just to talk.

Question 5

What is "Ericksonian" hypnotherapy?

Accepted Answer

In the 1950s, Milton H. Erickson developed a radically different approach to hypnotism, which has subsequently become known as "Ericksonian hypnotherapy" or "Neo-Ericksonian hypnotherapy." Given that dysfunctional behaviors are defined by social tension, Erickson coopted the subject's behavior to establish rapport, a strategy he termed "utilization." Once rapport was established, he made use of an informal conversational approach to direct awareness. His methods included complex language patterns and client-specific therapeutic strategies (reflecting the nature of utilization). This divergence from tradition led some, including Andre Weitzenhoffer, to dispute whether Erickson was right to label his approach "hypnosis" at all. Erickson's foundational paper, however, considers hypnosis as a mental state in which specific types of "work" may be done, rather than a technique of induction.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnotherapy

Question 6

What is trance capacity?

Accepted Answer

"Trance Capacity" generally refers to the aptitude of an individual to achieve hypnosis or "trance".

For more information, search Hypnotechs.com for "Arons Scale", a way to measure hypnotic depth and the "The Spiegel Eye Roll Test for Hypnotizability". Both pages discuss the concept of hypnotic depth/trance capacity.

Question 7

What percentage of people respond to hypnotherapy?

Accepted Answer

71% of patients initially responded to therapy. Of these, 81% maintained their improvement over time while the majority of the remaining 19% claimed that deterioration of symptoms had only been slight. With respect to symptom scores, all items at follow up were significantly improved on pre-hypnotherapy levels (p

Question 8

Those people on stage are faking it or are friends with the hypnotist, right?

Accepted Answer

"Occam's Razor" states that the simplest explanation is the most likely.

Which is most likely?

Yeah, it is. Try it some time. Those folks are playing the most vivid and real game of ""make believe"" of their entire adult lives. Not since being children on the playground has imagination been so real.

It's fun, refreshing and it feels really good. Why isn't everybody doing this?

Question 9

Do you take insurance?

Accepted Answer

I do not.

I'll be honest with you, I looked into it, briefly and it looked like a mountain of paperwork, especially with the changing insurance landscape these days. Maybe there's an easy way to do it and I will figure that out down the road. In most cases, the rates I charge would have to be dramatically increased so that the insurance companies could get their cut and I could cover the time for all the extra overhead. In one example, that increase would have been FIVE TIMES my normal rate. I just can't justify that.

For now, it's cash, check and pretty much every major credit/debit card you might carry.

A number of my clients have reported that they are able to submit reciepts from Hypnotechs to their insurance company for reimbursement under the "alternative medicine category". If you choose to try that, all the information you should need is on my credentials page, license number, location and so on.

Question 10

What Does It Feel Like To Be Hypnotized?

Accepted Answer

Focus

Probably the most common element of hypnosis an intense level of focus. When James Braid coined the term "hypnosis" in 1841 he quickly realized that wasn't quite the right name, since hypnosis has very little to do with "hypno", or sleep. He tried to rename the state "monoideaism" or "single focus", but it was too late, "hypnosis" had caught on. People who have been hypnotized report having been able to concentate with singular effectiveness, often to the exclusion of everything else.

Open-mindedness

In the hypnotic state, we call it "trance" as a sort of shorthand, much of the critical factor of the conscious mind has been bypassed. That doesn't mean that that the hypnotized will fall for anything, they won't, but rather that a principle we call "trance logic" is in play. You won't fork over your deepest secrets, but you might be willing to connect the dots leading you down the path to beleive that going to the gym is going to be a fun adventure that you have actually been looking forward to experiencing for a long time.

Detachment

Hypnotized people have an easy time letting things go. It's easy to take a step back and watch a reply of something that got you really worked up, but do so as an observer and actually create a commentary on what might have been done differently. Imagine experiencing something very stressful. Now imagine watching that same thing on TV. That is the same sort of detachment that many people experience in hypnosis.

Sensory Changes

I LOVE this one. Synesthesia is common. Synesthesia is a mixing up of your senses. Some people can "see" sounds while in trance. Others experience smells as sounds. Synesthesia doesn't happen for everyone, but it's pretty common and even if you don't experience it, sounds are often more intens, colors brighter, light often has "halos" around it and so on.

Relaxation

Okay, hypnosis is not relaxation and relaxation is not hypnosis. Hypnosis can occur in ways that would seem to preclude relaxtion, like onstage in front of hundreds of people. But, in a therapy environment, relaxation is the number one sensation that most people report feeling. Cares and troubles fade into the distance and just don't matter anymore.