Aims of today’s session
 To have bit of fun.
 To give an overview of historical influences
 To define Hypnotherapy
 To look at different types of therapy
Definition of Hypnotherapist
 A therapist who utilizes hypnosis as a primary tool for
assisting clients to achieve their goals.
 A Hypnotherapist often differs from others therapists
by focusing on the role of subconscious behaviours
and influences on the client's life.
Dr. John Kappas, Founder of the
Hypnosis Motivation Institute
 defined the professional as one who;
 Induces hypnotic state in a client to increase motivation or
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alter behaviour patterns:
Consults with client to determine nature of problem.
Prepares client to enter hypnotic state by explaining how
hypnosis works and what client will experience.
Tests subject to determine degree of physical and emotional
suggestibility.
Induces hypnotic state in client, using individualized
methods and techniques of hypnosis based on interpretation
of test results and analysis of client's problem.
May train client in self-hypnosis conditioning.
Types of therapy and historical
influence
Traditional hypnotherapy
 The form of hypnotherapy practiced by most Victorian
hypnotists, including James Braid and Hippolyte
Bernheim, mainly employed
 Direct suggestions of symptom removal
 therapeutic relaxation
 aversion to alcohol, drugs, etc.
 This simple form of treatment employed direct
methods and continues to influence most subsequent
forms of hypnotherapy.
Hypnoanalysis
 1895 Sigmund
Freud and
Joseph Bruer published
a seminal clinical text entitled Studies in Hysteria
(1895) which promoted a new approach to
psychotherapy. Freud and Breuer used hypnosis to
regress clients to an earlier age in order to help them
remember and abreact supposedly repressed traumatic
memories.
Pierre Janet
 A French rival of Freud's who had already published a case study
describing the use of age regression in hypnotic psychotherapy, a
few years earlier
 So Freud gradually abandoned hypnotherapy in favour of his
developing method of psychoanalysis
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Subsequent regression hypnotherapy was sometimes known as
hypnoanalysis
analytic hypnotherapy
psychodynamic hypnotherapy
Uses in history for Hypnoanalysis
 Hypnoanalysis found support in both world wars
where it was used by military psychiatrists as a rapid
alternative to psychoanalysis in the treatment of
sheelshock now known as post traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD).
Milton H Erickson
 one of the most influential hypnotists of the 20th century.
 From the 1950s onward, Erickson developed a radically
different approach to hypnotism, which has subsequently
become known as
 Ericksonian hypnotherapy
 or
 Neo-Ericksonian hypnotherapy.
 In this he used a more informal conversational approach
with many clients and complex language patterns, and
therapeutic strategies.
NLP
 The founders of Neurolinguistic programming (NLP),
a methodology similar in some regards to hypnotism,
claimed that they had modelled the work of Erickson
extensively and assimilated it into their approach
called the Milton Model.
Early History - Egypt
 it is known that ancient Egyptians used a form of it in
their dream temples.
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 Some ancient Egyptian paintings depict an apparently
sleeping person with others who seem to be making
hypnotic passes over them.
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Mesmer (hence the term
Mesmerism)

Austrian doctor in the 18th Century named Franz Anton
Mesmer found he could cure people of different diseases
without medicine or surgery.
 he believed he had a magnetic force which could regulate
the flow of magnetic fluids in people to produce cure. In
many cases his cures were successful and this method of
healing came to be known as Mesmerism.
The rise of Mesmerism
Mesmer believed that trance and healing were the result
of the channelling of a mysterious "occult" force called
“animal magnetism.
In the mid-18th Century, this became the basis of a very
large and popular school of thought termed
"Mesmerism".
Uses
Medical hypnosis
Hypnosis in childbirth
 Hypnotherapy has long been used in relation to childbirth. It is used during pregnancy to
prepare a mother for birth, and during childbirth to reduce anxiety, discomfort and pain.
Hypnosis in surgery
 In the middle of the 19th century, Mesmerists used hypnosis to alleviate pain and distress
during surgery.
 James Esdaile in India and John Elliotson in England were renowned for their work in this
area.
 The founder of hypnotherapy, James Braid was a surgeon himself, specialising in muscular
conditions, and reported many cases of minor surgery using hypnotism
Psychotherapy
 Hypnotism was originally used to treat the condition known in the Victorian era as hysteria
 Modern hypnotherapy is widely used in the treatment of anxiety, subclinical depression and
certain habit disorders, as well as in the treatment of conditions such as insomnia.
So is it voodoo or alternative
therapy?
British Medical Association (BMA)
 In 1892 commissioned a team of doctors to undertake
an extensive evaluation of the nature and effects of
hypnotherapy, they reported,
‘The Committee, having completed such investigation of
hypnotism as time permitted, have to report that they
have satisfied themselves of the genuineness of the
hypnotic state.’ (British Medical Journal, 1892)
They added…..
‘The Committee are of opinion that as a therapeutic
agent hypnotism is frequently effective in relieving
pain, procuring sleep, and alleviating many functional
ailments [i.e., psycho-somatic complaints and anxiety
disorders].’
 This report was approved by the general council of the
BMA, thereby forming BMA policy and rendering
hypnotherapy a form of "orthodox", as opposed to
complementary or alternative, medicine.
..and the up to date view of
therapy
 In 1999, the British Medical Journal (BMJ) published a Clinical Review
of current medical research on hypnotherapy and relaxation therapies
saying
 "There is strong evidence from randomised trials of the effectiveness of
hypnosis and relaxation for cancer related anxiety, pain, nausea, and
vomiting, particularly in children.“
 "They are also effective for panic disorders and insomnia, particularly
when integrated into a package of cognitive therapy (including, for
example, sleep hygiene)."
 "A systematic review has found that hypnosis enhances the effects of
cognitive behavioural therapy for conditions such as phobia obesity,
and anxiety."
 "Randomized controlled trials support the use of various relaxation
techniques for treating both acute and chronic pain.
Regulations and training.
 A BBC investigation found that the conditions for
becoming registered as a hypnotherapist aren't always
sufficient to prevent fraud:
 "The regulation of hypnotherapists in the UK is so lax
that even a cat can become accredited, George the cat
was registered with three hypnotherapy
organisations." Similar results were found in the
United States.
Hypnotherapy Organisations in
the UK
 General Hypnotherapy Register is responsible for
compiling a register of qualified therapists and has a
code of conduct.
 Diploma in Integrative Hypnotherapy and
Psychotherapy is a one year course leading onto an
Advanced 2nd year and then Master pathway to
develop a practitioner with many therapies at their
disposal.
Other ways of training
 In 2002, the Department for Education and Skills
developed National Occupational Standards for
hypnotherapy the Qualification and Curriculum
Authority and hypnotherapy became an approved
stand-alone therapy in UK. NCFE a national awarding
body issues level four national vocational qualification
diploma in hypnotherapy.
(http://website.ncfe.org.uk/)