Does hypnosis really work?

This question has been asked many times, and it is a reasonable enough question. The answer is yes, it does work, and works even better if you really want it to.

No one can be hypnotised against their will. You have to want to be hypnotised and know what it feels like for it to work. Its okay if you are unsure, or feel a bit apprehensive or anxious. As long as you really do want to be hypnotised it will work.

Of course the therapist plays a huge role in helping you to understand what hypnosis is, and having had it explained correctly, you should easily be able to go into a trance.

If a therapist has not been trained well, they may not explain about it enough, and just go ahead to try to hypnotise you, but more often it will fail, because maybe you were not ready to relax. It might be that you don't feel as though you trust the therapist, or another way of describing it is, you are not in rapport with them.

This is not your fault, but the fault of the therapist, because it is their job to relax you and make you feel safe.

Occasionally the therapist will become complacent, and think that all his or her clients should go into trance. Big mistake! All clients are individual, and the therapist needs to treat them as the unique person they are.

Hypnosis works because when you are in a relaxed state, you are way more open to suggestions and new ideas. Your unconscious mind takes in the new ideas and suggestions and you find yourself easily carrying out all the new suggestions or ideas. Of course they are ideas that are for your benefit and fit in with your belief systems and not the therapist's.