How does Hypnotherapy Work?
After a lifetime's experience in medical practice I believe that a general understanding of one's own body and mind is very helpful in combating adversity and illness which so often go together.
Once a person realises the powerful force of the subconscious mind and its influence on actions then he or she will start to think about how the subconscious is created.
Hypnotherapy is an excellent way of treating any problem which the client feels diminshes the quality of life. The degree to which we find life truly rewarding is related to the closeness with which the subconcious and concious minds work given that good positive drives dominate both aspects of the psyche.
What is Hypnosis Like?
From the client's point of view hypnosis is a simple therapy involving sitting back in a comfortable chair and listening to the therapist in a calm, relaxing atmosphere.
The client's mind focuses on the therapist's voice and just as one can become absorbed in a film, a book ,so the client focuses down on the therapist's words and in this way the conscious mind goes into neutral and the subconscious mind is engaged.
In this state which is usually pleasant, comforting and relaxing the therapist speaks to the client's subconscious and catalyses the release of tensions and facilitates insight into the situation.
What is more important the conscious, or the subconscious?
Lets take smoking; the conscious mind says: 'I am giving up smoking' the subconscious mind says 'no you are not'. Who wins? the subconscious. Take another example the conscious mind says 'I am going out shopping'. The subconscious says 'we are not going out shopping, we hate crowds of people'.
When both subconscious and conscious minds think alike their relative strength is less important. By combining a talking analytical approach with hypnosis we aim to influence the subconscious in a positive way and unify both conscious and subconscious elements of the mind thus creating a healthy unified 'whole'.
How does the subconscious and conscious mind develop?
Basically these two aspects of our mind develop in parallel. It is useful to think of two people on a tandem bicycle.
The one in front pedals, steers and decides direction from moment to moment and the one behind pedals, produces power and in general terms backs up the partner in front.
If these two riders get out of synchronization then the trouble starts.
How is the subconscious mind programmed?
Basically the developing child's family programmes the infant's subconscious mind. Freud described various stages in development and the mechanism of this is that the influences surrounding the child particularly the Mother's enter the conscious mind and are stored in the subconscious rather like loading an operating system into a computer bit by bit.
Freud emphasised the role of sexual factors in subconscious development and the analytical school of psychology which he founded created the basis of modern psychology and psychiatry. Many schools of psychology have developed since Freud's time but common to all is the concept of the subconcious.