In the areas of serious medical health, hypnotherapy is the term used, rather than hypnosis. This is to help distinguish the use of hypnosis treatments for a variety of physical and emotional problems rather than the kind of hypnosis that takes a volunteer and then makes them cluck like a chicken. We've all seen that kind of stage show and though it is entertaining, it's not good for your health. Hypnotherapy can be good for your health and there isn�t an audience to worry about.
Not A Substitution
When it comes to your health, hypnotherapy is not the magic pill that makes all of your problems go away. Medical hypnotherapy should be in conjunction with (and not a substitution for) your doctors or for your therapists (if you have one). You have to be willing to make a change in your life and your health. Hypnotherapy is powerful, but if you don’t want to make the change, even Svengali won’t change your mind.
You should always let your doctor or therapist know that you are thinking of going to a hypnotherapist. Not only will they be able to determine if you are a good candidate for hypnotherapy and help you find one, but they might be licensed hypnotherapists themselves! You should mention all areas of health, hypnotherapy included to your doctor to help coordinate your treatment.
Who Can Benefit
There is a lot of anecdotal evidence and some studies to support that hypnotherapy can help you break bad habits like smoking. There are also studies which claim that hypnotherapy itself wasn't the cause of the person's cure – it was the person's attitude, so that no matter what he or she tried, a cure would happen. In any case, many people find hypnotherapy helps break bad habits by substituting better behaviors.
Hypnotherapy has also helped in some cases of chronic headache, stress-effected skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis and even in hyperhydrosis, a mysterious condition where you sweat for no reason at all. Some people have been helped to get regular sleep with hypnotherapy. But hypnotherapy cannot provide miraculous cures to major conditions like AIDS, cancer or stroke.
Many patients undergoing a mental or emotional issue have also been helped by hypnotherapy, especially people with phobias or people having problems getting over a death of a loved one. But people with severe mental disorders like dementia or schizophrenia will often become worse after hypnosis. People with some neurological conditions like epilepsy can also suffer problems with hypnotherapy.
