Everyday Uses for Hypnosis

Joan Jobsis, PhD

Hypnosis is a powerful tool that can be integrated into psychotherapy in many ways to assist in the therapy process.

However, when clients work with hypnosis in therapy, they are also gaining an additional advantage, The same hypnosis which works for them in therapy can become a tool that can be helpful in everyday life. Clients are indirectly learning techniques for self-hypnosis that they can utilize in their daily living.

For example, hypnosis can be utilized for relaxation and for the reduction of stress and anxiety. An individual can learn to create an inner environment of self-relaxation with hypnosis that exist regardless of what might be happening in the external world. This allows us to use hypnosis can help us relax in test situations or in performance situations such as public speaking, stage performances and sports performance. Athletes regularly use hypnosis to calm their pre-performance nerves and to imagine and rehearse the physical movements of their golf stroke or their dive off the high board.

In addition to relaxation for performance, hypnosis can be utilized to promote even deeper relaxation to serve as a sleep aid. This can help people both to fall asleep and to remain in deep restorative sleep.

Another useful function for hypnosis outside of the therapy office is its usefulness in assisting clients to distance from pain. For example, hypnosis can be used to distance from uncomfortable procedures in dental or medical situations. Also, post-operative healing and comfort can be enhanced with hypnosis. Many women have found hypnosis helpful in remaining in control during childbirth. As it decreases the intrusion of external stimuli, it can enhance attention, focus and concentration. Students can benefit from this in studying for exams or in the actual process of taking exams.

In addition to helping in the focus of attention, hypnosis can also help us shift attention (distract ourselves) from negative situations, such as uncomfortable pain or destructive or obsessive thought.

In addition to helping us to focus attention on a specific task or goal and decrease the impact of external factors, it can also help us to decrease a central focus (i.e. pain control, obsessive thought) and widen our focus to include external factors. Thus, hypnosis can be an amazing and powerful tool to assist us in the challenges and activities of daily living.