Healing Hypnosis

Do you have a bad habit? Chronic pain? Emotional distress? Instead of medication or traditional therapy,
some people are turning to hypnotherapy. David Fairweather, C.Ht., explains why this is a viable option, and why you shouldn’t be afraid to try it.

When you think of hypnosis, you might imagine a stage show with a group of volunteers squawking like chickens or taking their clothes off. Or you might picture a cartoon character whose eyes turn into swirls as they mindlessly do whatever their nemesis says. With these images etched in our brains, it’s no wonder that many people are hesitant to try hypnotherapy. No one wants to be forced to do things they don’t want to do or risk being stuck in a hypnotic state forever. But, as I learned from certified hypnotherapist David Fairweather, there is really nothing to fear.

Hypnotherapy is all about harnessing your subconscious. “There’s a lot of subconscious activity that the mind is going through on a daily basis,” says Fairweather, “which is why you’re still breathing while you’re talking to me but you’re not thinking about it.” Fairweather explains that our conscious mind might justify smoking, for example, but the subconscious mind knows what’s best for you. “That’s why the hypnotherapist can’t make you do something that’s not part of your moral boundary,” he says. “He can’t make you do anything that you wouldn’t do for your best interest.” This comment makes me think about those hypnosis stage shows. I ask Fairweather how those hypnotists get people to do things they wouldn’t normally do. He explains that, in fact, they probably would do it. “It’s predetermined that they’re going to let down their defences and be silly,” he says. “They’re not going up on stage expecting to do nothing.” Furthermore, the hypnotist narrows down the volunteers to the people who are the most hypnotizable, guaranteeing an interesting show. “No one on stage is ever going to do something that they wouldn’t do drunk,” Fairweather adds.

Of course, hypnotherapy is nothing like a stage show. It’s a method of overcoming a wide array of problems formed in the mind, from fear of flying to carpal tunnel syndrome. Fairweather, who is a member of the Ontario Association of Hypnotherapists and the National Guild of Hypnotists, became involved with hypnotherapy when he couldn’t find treatment for his own carpal tunnel within the medical community. He practiced meditation and eventually became passionate about hypnotherapy. Fairweather explains that pain, like that associated with carpal tunnel, is stress-related, and therefore can be controlled with the mind. Other forms of chronic pain can also be treated with hypnotherapy because, “it’s a psychosomatic reaction to a Pavlovian conditioning that occurs very often when someone has an injury and that injury’s pain sustains for a long period of time.”

So how does hypnotherapy work? No, there are no swinging pendulums to stare at or a man with a deep voice telling you that you are “getting very sleepy.” Rather, hypnotherapy uses guided relaxation. The hypnotherapist will work with you to reach a trance state whereby you can focus your mind’s energy on the issue at hand. But don’t be put off by the word “trance,” the relaxation can vary person by person, and is not always heavy. Fairweather explains that when we watch a movie and cry during an emotional scene, we are in a trance – we allow ourselves to forget that it’s just a movie and get completely mentally involved. According to Fairweather, the most difficult people to hypnotize are the highly intellectual or analytical because they have difficulty relaxing their minds. For these people, distraction techniques are used. By having them focus on something arbitrary like a number sequence, they can engage their subconscious with no resistance from their conscious mind. Fairweather explains that hypnosis “gets someone focused on something to such a degree that they can be overwhelmed or profoundly insightful about something that they hadn’t taken the time to think about.”

I wanted to know exactly what to expect when one visits a hypnotherapist, so I asked one of Fairweather’s clients, Stuart*. Stuart went to Fairweather to deal with emotional issues stemming from problems with family. “Hypnosis is a lot less mystical that I expected it to be,” Stuart says. “It’s really just listening to [Fairweather’s] voice and his guidance through the hour process, with eyes closed, relaxing.” Stuart explains that in the first session, Fairweather guided him through writing down his problems and emotional states, which he likens to a “workout”. Then in subsequent sessions, Fairweather spoke to Stuart using the information from the first session. “Halfway through the sessions, you’re saying to yourself, ‘how does he know that?’ But actually I gave him that information to work with,” Stuart says. Stuart is now an advocate of hypnotherapy, and he explains that because the hypnotherapist works with the information you give, “there’s really nothing to be afraid of other than yourself.”

Of course, not all hypnotherapists are created equal. Before paying for services, find out exactly what the treatment process will be and meet the hypnotherapist who will be doing your actual sessions. “It’s all about personality,” Fairweather says. “You need to gel with your hypnotherapist and you need to feel confident that they can help you.” Fairweather also warns not to pay money to sit in a room listening to a CD, or listening to a hypnotherapist reading from a pre-written script. He customizes his scripts and creates custom CDs, which are professionally edited and tailored for each client to use on their own time, not during sessions. “It’s all about a soothing voice, an empathy, an understanding of their issues, a willingness to personalize their treatment plan, and a commitment to providing professional tools to help them,” says Fairweather.

Fairweather says that there has been documented evidence of someone under hypnosis who had a coin placed on their arm and was told that it was red hot – the person had a blister in that spot the next day. Of course, hypnotherapists nowadays wouldn’t try this test because it would cause harm to their clients, but it does provide an excellent example. “Anything we do in our lives begins with a thought,” Fairweather explains. Even inanimate objects were once an idea in someone’s mind. When you think of things this way, you realize how much of ourselves we could control if we could only harness that power. Through hypnotherapy, people like Stuart are finding a way.

For more information, visit www.helpinghandhypnosis.com or call 416-820-3686.

*Name has been changed