Most people have a limited understanding of the positive results that can be achieved in a professionally controlled hypnosis session. We would like to dispel some of the myths and answer the most frequently asked questions about hypnosis.

Question 1: What if I can't be HYPNOTIZED?

Generally speaking, every normal person is hypnotizable.  That is people with an IQ of at least 70, and no severe mental disorders.  Therefore, virtually anyone can achieve successful results with hypnosis.

A lot of people see stage shows where they perform a test before working with subjects and think that must mean not everyone can be hypnotized. The truth is that everyone can be hypnotized. In fact, the average person is in hypnosis at least 3 times per day. 

Common examples of this are when you're driving your car and your mind wanders. That's an example of light state of hypnosis. When you become so absorbed in a book, movie, or project that you lose track of time is another example of a light to medium state of hypnosis.  Hypnosis is actually a very natural everyday state of mind where your attention is focused your imagination is active.  What's happening on those stage shows is the Hypnotist trying to determine who 'wants' to be hypnotized, not who 'can' be.

People have a wide variety of hypnotic susceptibility. Like most things, the ability to be hypnotized is normally distributed. This means that that about eighty percent of all people are moderately susceptible and five to ten percent are either highly susceptible or not susceptible at all.

Question 2: How will I know if I am or have been HYPNOTIZED? Hypnosis is completely safe.  You are aware and in control at every moment and can terminate the session at any time.  Hypnosis is not sleep, nor can you get stuck in a state of hypnosis.  You can't be made to do something against your will!  Hypnosis is a safe, relaxing and enjoyable experience.

“Now a new study in the current issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry offers evidence that hypnotized individuals do, indeed, experience distinct changes in brain function that mere role-playing would not account for.” - All Things Considered, NPR August 2000

Question 3: Is HYPNOSIS safe? Hypnosis is completely safe.  You are aware and in control at every moment and can terminate the session at any time.  Hypnosis is not sleep, nor can you get stuck in a state of hypnosis.  You can't be made to do something against your will!  Hypnosis is a safe, relaxing and enjoyable experience.

“Approved as a valid treatment by the American Medical Association in 1958, hypnotism has become increasingly accepted by the medical community. Its use for chronic pain was approved in 1996 by the National Institutes of Health.” - The Capital (Annapolis, MD), April 2004

Question 4: How does HYPNOSIS Work? Our minds work on two levels, the conscious and the unconscious.  We make decisions, think, and act with our conscious mind.  The unconscious mind controls our habits.  In the relaxed state known as hypnosis we can communicate directly with the unconscious mind.  This is why it is so quick and easy to change lifelong habits with hypnosis.

Why does it work? “Because the patients are in an altered state, solely focused on the message, soaking it up, rather than in a psychological mode in which they can trivialize or ignore it.” - Dr. David Spiegel, psychiatry professor and medical director of the Complementary Medicine Clinic at Stanford University -Washingtonian, March 2002

Question 5: Can people be made to do things against their will while they are HYPNOTIZED? Under hypnosis people can not be made to engage in actions that would go against their moral beliefs. In general, people who are hypnotized are not mindless robots that can be totally manipulated by the hypnotist. They maintain control over their behavior and can refuse to comply with any suggestions given to them that are in direct moral conflict with them.

“A hypnotist can't make you do anything you don't really want to do. There's nothing spooky about it.” - Business Week, February 1999

Question 6: How do I know if I'm HYPNOTIZED or asleep? Hypnosis has been called sleep-like because of its superficial features. It has been shown in laboratory a brain wave pattern study that, in reality, hypnosis does not resemble sleep. A hypnotized person is usually quite relaxed but is also quite alert, and may be very focused.

“The word hypnosis comes from the Greek word for sleep,” says Dr. Hoover. “But actually, you are not asleep, you are focused and have more self-control. Researchers have done EEGs of persons in trances that showed their brains were highly alert and focused.”  - Dr. L. Dean Hoover psychiatrist - The Capital (Annapolis, MD), April 2004

Question 7: What is Neuro-Linguistic-Programming? The name Neuro-Linguistic-Programming comes for the three areas it brings together: Neurology, the mind and how we think, Linguistics, how we use language and how it affects us, and programming, how we sequence our actions to achieve our goals. NLP helps us to understand how our minds process and store information and allows us to make significant changes rapidly to the way we think and feel bout things.