International Diploma in Clinical Hypnosis
Hypnosis & Hypnotherapy Training Malaysia

Hypnosis, Hypnotism and Hypnotherapy

Hypnosis is most easily explained as an inferred psycho-physiological state that is characterised by an increase in suggestibility. It is thought to be an altered state of consciousness.

Hypnotism is therefore the study and use of suggestion with or without the presence of hypnosis. Hypnotherapy is best described as a form of psychotherapy for which the use of hypnosis constitutes the main part of the treatment.

Hypno-psychotherapy

Hypno-psychotherapy is the branch of psychotherapy that uses hypnosis as central or fundamental to its core. Most of the research, work and publications are based on the efforts of the last 300 years. This culminates with the impact of Milton Erickson on hypno-psychotherapy last century and those who have been influenced by his work.

In essence, hypno-psychotherapy explains that we have a learned model of the world. This can sometimes operate to restrict the way we feel, what we understand, our attitudes and our behaviour. Hypnotherapeutic intervention comes in the form of a therapist who can draw the individual's attention to new possibilities, to alternative patterns of thought, emotions and behaviour.

Hypno-psychotherapy uses methods and strategies designed to make use of the resources and capabilities that reside within all people. The individual is not required to fit into a standardised pattern.

Hypnotherapy, as it is known, may be invaluable for anyone seeking to resolve specific problems, or for personal development. It is also important to remember that in a solution based approach, hypnotherapy is not simply restricted to problem solving but is an increasingly useful tool to improve performance, develop strategies for success and obtain and achieve goals.

Increasingly we see CEO's, human resource managers, businessmen and sports professionals along with counselors, therapists, doctors, spiritual practitioners, students, teachers and the seriously interested.

Medical Hypnotherapy

Many of you will ask yourselves the question: 'Why should I learn about medical hypnotherapy and how can I use it as a discipline in my practice?' It is becoming ever more clear that hypnotherapy is rapidly developing into a specialist branch closely associated with medicine, as is evident from the very active section within the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM). This section is devoted solely to the use of medical hypnotherapy in a clinical context set within the broader confines of psychosomatic medicine. Regular meetings and discussions of this section reiterate the vastly varied clinical conditions which are amenable to hypnotherapeutic intervention.

As we learn more about the way in which certain conditions are acquired and then perpetuated, the resolution of maladapted behaviour patterns by therapies including hypnosis is becoming more relevant. It is fair to say that psycho-pharmacology is also a rapidly expanding area with increasing numbers of new psychotropic agents available. However, the mechanism of action of many of these agents is poorly understood. Furthermore, side effects from such medications are prevalent in many cases and although some patients do respond favourably many fail to show improvement and might benefit from a different therapeutic angle. Medical - and dental - hypnotherapy is not just restricted to maladapted behaviour, it may be used with considerable benefit for many somatic and psychosomatic conditions (details are available in the main LCCH hypnotherapy training website).

The LCCH does not regard hypnotherapy as alternative to medicine but likes to regard it as a specialist branch of psychotherapeutic intervention used within the auspices of general medicine. (See www.lcch.co.uk).