Frequently asked questions

Getting stuck in a trance could never happen, as your conscious mind (your ego) is in overall control all of all time, just the same as when a trance state occurs when you’re driving a car or watching a film. You can always remove yourself from that trance any time you want to or need to. The reason the trance endures as long as it does is simply that you allow it to do so. It is the same with hypnosis. The most that could happen is that you could fall asleep, just as when you get comfortable in front of the television. You would, in due course, wake up and think “Oh! I must have drifted off.”   In fact, you are in a naturally occurring trance every night, just before you go to sleep and, again, just after you wake up. These are called hypnagogic and hypnopompic states. They are when you're in a half-waking state. In fact, you can use self-induced trance to send yourself to sleep at night. I do it all the time.

People are just as able and ready to lie under hypnosis as they are in everyday life. If they consciously don't want to reveal something in their normal everyday state of mind, they won't reveal it under hypnosis. The unconscious mind performs a guardian role in relation to the conscious mind and is in overall control at all times. You will only do or say things while under hypnosis that you want to do or say. Nobody can make you do or say what you don't want to.

Everyone can be guided into a trance. As long as you do exactly as I say you will definitely become hypnotised. All hypnosis is actually self-hypnosis and hypnotists are just experts in guiding people into this state of mind. The only one who can prevent you being hypnotised is yourself, if you really do not want to be.

You will not actually be asleep at all in the usual sense of the word. Indeed, if you were, the hypnotherapy wouldn't work. You will, rather, be in a state of deep relaxation, where your conscious mind will be able to communicate with your unconscious in a way that is not available in everyday states of mind, because this connection is not available under normal circumstances.

When you know, in your conscious mind, that your responses to certain stimuli have no basis in intelligence, reason or logic, but, in spite of this, they persist habitually, defying your reason, this is because the part of your mind that uses these validation criteria (the conscious mind) is normally not able to access and manipulate the part of your mind that doesn’t (the unconscious mind).

The hypnotic induction enables your consciousness to be in contact and communication with your unconscious and to make changes, so that the irrational impulses don't override the conscious mind anymore.

Only suggestions that are consistent with your own values and beliefs will get through to your unconscious. Values and beliefs are extremely resistance to change and will certainly not yield to posthypnotic suggestions that are inconsistent with them.

With the kind of induction I will be using – deep relaxation you will always be in control throughout the hypnosis session.

You should not believe what they see on television. What you see in hypnotism entertainment shows is not really hypnotism at all; it is more a case of selecting the most socially compliant characters, who will, however wittingly or unwittingly, subject themselves to the will of another.

It is more compliance than anything else. The participants know what the role of a stage hypnotist’s subject is and some people are highly role-compliant. It is this more than the power of the hypnotist that produces the effects in these shows. Professional hypnotherapy in the consulting room is nothing like these shows.

You have no cause to fear that you will be made to do anything you do not choose to. You will remain in control. If you were unconscious, or asleep, the therapy would not work, as your mind has to be listening. You will remain awake and aware of everything around you. You will, however, be highly relaxed and receptive to suggestions, but the unconscious mind is always alert, watching, and ready to override the conscious mind if necessary.

No practitioner can honestly say how many sessions a client will need to have, to relieve their unwanted behaviour, indeed it would be an insult to them to say otherwise, for everyone is different. What is possible to do, however, is provide averages and I list these below.

Since most conditions require several sessions, I have prepared discounts for multiple advance bookings which will give you the opportunity of making savings. Click here to see them.

Anxiety is always present to some degree, indeed, it’s natural and necessary; it’s when it becomes difficult to deal with that a client can do with some help. This can be a result of conditions of life causing a flare-up, or an ongoing condition of generalised anxiety syndrome. Hypnotherapy can certainly help in both cases on an as-and-when-needed basis. This is why I make available on this site an inexpensive, ego-strengthening download.

Clinical depression responds well, on average, from six sessions.

Exam nerves are satisfactorily dealt with in two sessions, on average and the same goes for performance anxieties, such as stage fright and public speaking.

Low self-esteem problems normally require about six sessions.

OCD and obsessional neurosis, normally respond well from between six and eighteen sessions.

Pain relief is an as-and-when situation, as it depends when the pain arises and the type and severity of the pain but, on average, clients book four sessions to treat an episode.

Weight loss can effectively be dealt with in six sessions, on average. This will enable you to decide whether and how to take advantage of the discount plans offered.