Hypnosis means ' to therapy'

We all hypnotise ourselves everyday but we don't always get it right, says

Laurence Sugarman , who believes it can take healthcare to a new level

Health hypnotism

psychology

You believe hypnosis has the potential to transform healthcare. How so?

Many problems we bring to our doctors have a psychophysiological component: irritable bowel syndrome, recurrent migraines, anxiety-related symptoms. And we know that people can somehow keep powerful medications from being effective. Access to mental healthcare is important here, but it’s physicians who are most often in a position to help those people self-regulate.

Clinical hypnosis is about learning how to interpret nonverbal cues and improve trust, communication and empathy. It is about educating the patient to be a better boss of their body and mind. That is improving care.

Then why is hypnosis not widely used?

In part, because nobody knows what it is. We first need to be able to say,

this is what hypnosis is, and this is all it is. Then we can say how we think it works.

So, tell us what hypnosis is and how you think it works.

My colleagues and I propose that hypnosis is simply a skill set for influencing people . It involves facial expression, language, body movement, tone of voice, intensity, metaphor, understanding how people interpret and represent things. It isn’t something you’re in, or that you do: hypnosis is something you use. That means it’s not a therapy; it’s a means to therapy.

In strategies like psychoanalysis or cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), the most therapeutic influence tends to be the act of being heard. The skills that facilitate that are part and parcel of the influence of hypnosis.