Clinical Hypnosis – What’s Actually Going On

Forget the stage show

Most people have a particular picture in mind when they hear the word “hypnosis”: a swinging pendulum, a click of the fingers, someone slumping forward and clucking like a chicken moments later.

That’s entertainment. Stage hypnosis works because the people who respond most strongly are deliberately selected beforehand — and because standing on a stage in front of an audience creates enormous pressure to play along.

It has about as much to do with what you and I will be doing as an action film has to do with your commute.

What hypnosis actually is

Hypnosis is a state of focused attention in which your surroundings recede into the background and you become particularly responsive to suggestions. That’s also how it’s defined by the hypnosis division of the American Psychological Association.

On the face of it, that sounds unremarkable. What makes it interesting is what becomes possible in that state.

There, we work with images, ideas and turns of phrase that fit your goal. We plant the seeds for a new way of thinking and feeling — for the version of you that no longer struggles with the issue. And because your mind can shut out almost everything else for the duration of the exercise, a single idea takes on a weight it could never have amid the ordinary noise of daily life.

You already know this state

A film that pulls you in so completely you forget the popcorn. Music you disappear into entirely. Dancing, where time simply drops away. A book — and suddenly an hour has gone.

These are perfectly ordinary states of consciousness. And they’re very close to what we’re aiming for in hypnosis: consciously and willingly going along with ideas that are there to help you.

And just as you can stop dancing at any moment if something important needs your attention, you can stop here too. At any time.

And yet something remarkable does sometimes happen

People experiencing hypnosis for the first time are often surprised — not because it feels eerie, but because it works so directly.

Your body responds immediately to what you picture. An arm might feel light or heavy, your breathing changes, tension releases in places you had no idea were tense. You notice in real time how much influence you have over your own inner state.

And it does happen that ideas surface out of nowhere. An image, a sentence, a shift in perspective you simply hadn’t reached in your ordinary, analysing frame of mind. Sometimes that’s the moment an issue turns.

This isn’t hocus-pocus, and it isn’t access to hidden truths. The straightforward explanation: when the inner commentator goes quiet and your thinking runs in images rather than arguments for a while, connections form that everyday life simply leaves no room for. Your brain does that — not me.

Trance may happen, but it doesn’t have to

Some people experience something distinctly altered: a hazy sense of time, deep stillness, the feeling of having been far away. Others say afterwards, “I was simply awake and relaxed the whole time.”

Both are entirely fine. A noticeable trance experience is not a mark of quality and not a prerequisite for a good outcome — people who experience nothing dramatic benefit just as much.

What is actually needed:

• your attention on my words
• an open, well-disposed attitude
• a willingness to go along with the exercise

That’s all. You’re allowing your mind to be responsive. Every part of it is voluntary.

What the research knows — and what it’s still debating

An honest distinction is worth making here, because the two get cheerfully blurred online.

Well established: that people respond to suggestion to differing degrees isn’t a claim — it has been measurable in standardised form since the 1960s. The best-known instruments are the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility and the Stanford scales.

The pattern is stable: a small proportion of people respond very strongly, a small proportion rather weakly, and the large majority sit somewhere in the middle — and moderate responsiveness is entirely sufficient for very good results.

Notably, this score stays remarkably constant across decades, rather like a personality trait.

Equally well established is its effectiveness for pain, for anxiety around medical procedures, and as an addition to behavioural therapy.

Openly debated: whether “trance” is a distinct, clearly delineable state of consciousness. Imaging studies show measurable changes in brain activity in highly responsive people — how to interpret them remains contested to this day.

If someone tells you that hypnosis is a scientifically settled, unambiguously defined “trance state”, they’re going beyond where the evidence currently stands.

For practical purposes, this changes little: what works, works — even without the theoretical question being resolved.

A quick myth check

“I’ll lose control.” No. You remain responsive and clear-headed, and you can stop at any point. Nobody can get you to do something that goes against your values.

“I’ll be asleep.” No. Hypnosis isn’t sleep. You’re awake — often more alert than usual.

“I’ll forget everything afterwards.” As a rule, no. You’ll remember the session much as you’d remember a conversation.

“I’m definitely not hypnotisable.” It’s very unlikely you’re among the few for whom almost nothing happens — and even then, there are ways.

“Hypnosis brings up repressed memories.” The most dangerous myth of the lot. Hypnosis doesn’t make memories more reliable — it only makes people more confident that their memory is accurate. That’s a significant difference. Which is why I don’t work with “regressions” as a matter of principle.

Why I combine hypnosis with CBT

Hypnosis alone is rarely the whole answer. Its strength shows when it acts as an amplifier.

Cognitive behavioural therapy provides the toolkit: how do you recognise your rumination pattern? What exactly do you do differently? How do you test a catastrophising thought?

Hypnosis ensures those new patterns aren’t merely understood but experienced — emotionally, physically, with real force. Meta-analyses have shown the same trend since the 1990s: CBT plus hypnosis performs better on average than CBT alone.

That intersection is exactly where I work.

How a session runs

We start by simply talking: what’s going on, and what specifically you want to be different. Then I’ll explain what’s going to happen in the exercise — no surprises.

The hypnosis itself begins with an opening sequence (an ‘induction’) that gathers your attention. After that we work with the images and phrasing that fit your goal. At the end you’ll be back in your ordinary waking state, and we’ll talk through how it was.

You’ll be sitting at home in your own armchair, over video. In my experience this works exceptionally well — the familiar surroundings are actually an advantage.

Where my work ends

I work with non-clinical concerns: stress, rumination, sleep quality, exam and performance anxiety, burnout prevention, specific fears and phobias.

If you have a condition that requires treatment, you belong in medical or psychological hands — and I’ll tell you so openly. That’s part of working responsibly too.