Tools of the Hypnotherapist

Many people do not understand how many skills are involved in successful hypnotherapy. It is not just a matter of knowing how to induce a trance. When you come to your session, the first thing that happens is an intake interview. During this phase, your therapist will be gathering a great deal of information about you, both by the use of skillful questioning, trained listening, and observations of body language and eye-accessing cues.

The therapist will use a variety of techniques to learn what your perceptual modality is, whether you process visually, auditorily, kinesthetically, or through a combination of these and other sub-modalities. The therapist will be building trust and rapport with you through this process as well.

During the trance induction phase, the therapist will be using your modalities, your language patterns, and an induction technique styled to best enhance your experience. There are hundreds of techniques for inducing and deepening trance.

Throughout the meat of the session, the therapist will be listening for cues and observing you carefully to help guide you through the process toward the goal you have set during the interview process. This might include things like listening for negative programming and helping you reframe your thought processes into a more positive mind set. Most sessions are interactive, and the therapist must be able to follow your lead, giving suggestions and alternative courses of actions or viewpoints for you to consider. The post-hypnotic suggestions must be tailored carefully to be useful to you and what you wish to accomplish with the work.

The therapist will be drawing upon a vast array of knowledge that spans psychology, spirituality, biology, and many other healing modalities. The personal orientation of your therapist is relevant, and the therapist needs to be able to blend with your orientation as well.

After you are de-hypnotized, a good therapist will help you integrate your experience and provide time and space for you to fully come back to a conscious state of well-being.

The therapist may or may not provide suggestions or guidelines for you to continue the work between sessions or on your own, depending on the nature of the work you came to do.