What Is Hypnosis

"What Is Hypnosis?" Describe the psychological and physical

aspects of hypnosis and discuss the role of relaxation in

Hypnotherapy.

Objective:

During this essay I will be describing what hypnosis is including the psychological and physical aspects of hypnosis as well as discussing the role of relaxation in hypnotherapy.

What Is Hypnosis?

Hypnosis is a natural state of mind that can be used for many purposes, in different settings. Nowadays research in the field of hypnosis and associated areas has blossomed and there is valuable evidence that hypnosis has real and measureable affects on both the body and mind.

Hypnosis is often associated with witch doctors and ancient medicine men and in many respects this is probably a correct association although the actual term 'hypnosis' was not in existence until many years after such people existed. Sigmund Freud however was the first recognised figure from the past to note the existence of the unconscious mind. The first credible and notable recorded theory of trance like behaviour was documented by an Austrian, Franz Mesmer around the 1700's who believed it was "connected to animal magnetism" (Hypnosis for Change - Josie Hadley and Carol Staudacher).

With the assistance of modern day science we now understand this mystifying practice slightly better and research has shown how it is linked to brain waves, so we can now surmise that Hypnosis is simply the name of an intentional technique for accessing natural brain waves and the sub conscious mind at will.

The brain has four noted brain waves or levels of activity, varying in frequency all of which manifest themselves in very different physical and psychological ways.

* The first type of brain wave is the Beta wave (15 to 40 cycles per second) and is associated with the active or assertive side of our personality. When we are feeling alert, engaged and ready for action, for example if you are in a meeting and you are trying to get your point across in a debate both listening but waiting for a suitable time when you can speak and engage. This is your conscious state and you are rational and logical.

* The next is Alpha waves (9 to 14 cycles per second) and these are slower than the Beta waves and represent a less aroused state. After a task or maybe the debate you would sit back and relax and at this state you may go in to Alpha waves. This state represents creativity and a relaxed state of well-being; these waves are not always present and can come and go. This wave is entering your subconscious where your brain is slowing down; you are relaxed and have no questions to answer.

* The next is Theta waves (4 to 8 cycles per second) these are present during dreaming and some meditative states. Theta waves are associated with our subconscious mind where we hold all our past experiences, thought and behaviour patterns. Activation of theta waves may, because of this, sometimes bring up suppressed memories, bringing them to the notice of the conscious mind, which may be emotionally painful but may also be healing with the correct support. Here we are accessing our intuition and our gateway to learning. If you are taking time off from work and are day dreaming you may be in the theta range, or when you are driving, usually on a long straight or well-known road and suddenly realise that you cannot remember the last few miles, you were in the theta rhythm and then go in to beta to drive safely. The power of suggestion is also key in this wave as your brain is in an imaginative state for example suggesting that the client imagine they are in a beautiful place enabling them to go in to a deeper trance.

* Finally, the Delta waves (1 to 4 cycles per second) these are produced in our subconscious mind and when we are in our slowest deepest state of rest and there are no other waves active for example when we are asleep but the brain is still awake. The waves never go down to zero as this is the state of brain dead. Dreamless sleep will take you down to the lowest frequency of 2 or 3 cycles per second.

The wave frequencies that our brains go through do not jump but dip and rise, slow down and speed up in an organised flowing manner. For example as we go to sleep we go from the beta to alpha to theta to delta and when we wake up the process is reversed.

We can see that the waves that we will commonly see in hypnotised clients are those of alpha and theta which enable us to access the subconscious mind and which therefore is the basis of the success of hypnosis.

Hypnosis in everyday life:

We experience the "hypnotic state" in everyday life and it often occurs without recognition of such. It is believed that our mind can drift from alert state into different levels of consciousness whenever we do activities in automatic mode, like driving, jogging, taking a shower, walking etc. These are hypnotic like trances. The main difference between these sorts of trance and clinical hypnosis are specific motivation and suggestions to achieve some desired results.

Although hypnotherapy work