Hypnotherapy FAQs:
What It Is, How It Works & Results | Anna Hanael
You have questions about hypnotherapy. Here are real answers, grounded in research and in what actually happens in a session.
What Is Hypnotherapy and How Does It Work?
Hypnotherapy is a therapeutic method that uses hypnosis to help you change patterns of behavior. During a session, you enter a deeply relaxed state called trance, where your subconscious mind becomes open to new ideas and new ways of responding.
Guided by a hypnotherapist, specific suggestions are given directly to your subconscious mind, so you respond to life in new and more positive ways. For example, when hypnotherapy is used for anxiety, suggestions of peace and calm are placed into the subconscious mind. Over time, you respond to stressful situations automatically, without having to think your way into calm.
Over the last seventy years, hypnotherapy has become increasingly recognized as a supportive therapy in medical settings. Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic or Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, all recommend hypnotherapy as part of recovery and integrative care. Sports teams around the world also work with hypnotherapists to support athletes’ performance and focus.
Hypnotherapy has shown a 93% success rate in just six sessions, compared to 38% for traditional psychoanalysis over 600 sessions.
Source: Barrios, Alfred A. “Hypnotherapy: A Reappraisal,” Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice (1970)
How Is Hypnotherapy Different from Hypnosis?
Hypnosis and hypnotherapy are often used interchangeably, but they describe two different things. Hypnosis is simply a state of deep relaxation, where the mind can wander freely with no particular direction.
Hypnotherapy uses that same relaxed state with intention. Once you are in a deeply relaxed, focused state, specific suggestions are given directly to your subconscious mind so your behavior shifts toward what you want.
Think of it as installing a new program. Except this program shapes how you think, feel, and act, automatically. Hypnotherapy is always built around your specific needs and goals. There is no one-size-fits-all approach: each session reflects what you, individually, need to shift.
What Is Hypnotherapy Used For?
Hypnotherapy can help you with:
- Phobias and fears, including fear of public speaking and fear of flying
- Healing emotional and physical pain from abuse, anger, abandonment, and rejection
- Sleep disorders
- Stress reduction
- Anxiety
- Test and performance anxiety
- Depression
- Grief and loss
- Breaking unwanted habits
- Digestive disorders
Hypnotherapy can also work by reversing the root cause of an issue such as a phobia, neutralizing emotional attachment to past traumatic events, changing automatic reactions to specific situations, releasing cravings, removing self-limiting beliefs, restoring a positive relationship with yourself, and resolving internal conflict.
Hypnotherapy is always performed by trained hypnotherapists, who learn to quickly identify the root cause of a pattern, how the mind operates, and which technique will work best for you. The most effective sessions are one-on-one, tailored specifically to you and delivered in language your subconscious mind recognizes as your own.
What can be done with hypnotherapy, for example:
- Reversing a root cause of the issue like phobias
- Neutralizing emotional attachment to traumatic events in life
- Changing reactions to stressful situations and triggers
- Reversing cravings in addictions
- Reinforcing positive resolutions and behaviors
- Neutralizing self-doubt and self-destructive patterns
How Do You Feel After Hypnosis?
After a hypnosis or hypnotherapy session, most people feel deeply relaxed and calm, often describing it as a weight lifting off their shoulders. Hypnosis produces the same brain waves as meditation, allowing your body and mind to settle back into balance. It is a powerful complement to any meditation or mindfulness practice you already have.
Can Everyone Be Hypnotized?
Have you ever missed a turn while driving, or forgotten to close a door behind you? That is a hypnotic state. Most people can be hypnotized, because this state occurs naturally every day, similar to becoming fully absorbed in a film or a book.
Hypnotherapy and hypnosis are not recommended for people experiencing delusions, hallucinations, or other psychotic symptoms.
Can Hypnotherapy Be Done Online?
Yes. As long as you are guided by a hypnotherapist and you are in a quiet space where you can sit or lie down comfortably, hypnotherapy works just as well online, by Zoom, or even over the phone, as it does in person.
What matters most is being properly guided so your mind can take in the suggestions that are right for you. Turning off notifications and using headphones or earbuds helps create the best experience.
How Does Hypnotherapy Help with Anxiety and Panic Attacks?
Relaxation and anxiety cannot exist in the same moment. Anxiety and panic attacks are triggered by specific thoughts or situations: your mind perceives danger and activates physical responses such as a racing heart, shallow breathing, or a sudden chill.
In hypnotherapy, you first build a deeply relaxed, peaceful state of mind. From there, the work shifts how your mind responds to the thoughts, triggers, and situations that once felt overwhelming. What used to create panic no longer does.
The result is a calmer mind and a steadier body, supporting you in reaching your goals at work, in relationships, and in daily life with more ease and confidence.
How Many Sessions Do I Need for Anxiety?
Most people need between six and twelve sessions to significantly reduce anxiety, though it may take longer if anxiety has been part of daily life for many years. Hypnotherapy works by creating new neural pathways in the brain, supporting a lasting sense of peace and emotional control.
Can I Hypnotize Myself to Get Rid of Anxiety?
Self-hypnosis can offer some relief, but without the guidance of a trained hypnotherapist, your mind often stays focused on the same stressors and triggers, which can reinforce them rather than resolve them.
Working with a hypnotherapist means specific suggestions are created and delivered to your subconscious mind in a way it can fully accept. After your sessions, you also receive personal recordings to use if anxiety resurfaces, giving you a tool that speaks directly to your subconscious whenever you need it.
What Happens in a Hypnotherapy Session?
A hypnotherapy session takes place in a chair or recliner, in a position that feels comfortable to you. With the guidance of a hypnotherapist, you move into deep relaxation, and at some point your eyes close as you enter a hypnotic trance.
While in trance, you remain aware. You hear every suggestion offered and you always decide whether to accept it. The idea that someone can control another person’s mind in hypnosis is a myth. Nothing happens against your will.
A session typically begins with a conversation, followed by induction into trance, which lasts a minimum of twenty minutes.
What Are the Benefits of Hypnotherapy?
Hypnotherapy supports change in almost any area of life where you want more peace, confidence, and clarity. Common benefits include:
- Increased confidence and self-esteem
- Positive thought patterns
- Deeper self-trust and self-love
- Becoming the version of yourself you already know is possible
- Motivation toward your goals
- Comfort in social situations
- Breaking old habits and addictions
- Restoring healthy digestion
- Faster recovery after medical experiences
- Pain management support
- Improved memory
- Stronger communication skills
- Deeper, more comfortable sleep
- Relief from anxiety and panic attacks
- Overcoming fear of public speaking
- Healing emotional rejection, guilt, abandonment, shame
- Healing grief and loss
- Releasing anger and frustration
- Moving beyond fear and procrastination
Whatever you want to shift in yourself or your life, hypnotherapy can help you get there. The changes created in hypnotherapy are designed to last, so you can keep moving forward without carrying the weight of old patterns and past emotions.