Beyond Consciousness
Popular culture's inaccurate portrayals of hypnosis have hurt this clinical practice. Hypnotherapy is a serious undertaking and not a magical ritual aimed at manipulating. Like all other therapeutic methods, it has strengths and weaknesses, and not all approaches to using it are the same. In some cases, it can be used as a complementary method to regular therapy; in others, it stands on its own.
How does hypnosis work?
Hypnosis can help us reach the root causes of negative behavior patterns, such as low self-esteem. These are usually challenging thoughts and actions buried deep in our unconscious mind. Hypnosis does this by reaching into the subconscious, a part of the mind that lies “between” the unconscious and the conscious mind. In this way, hypnotherapy can help us uncover our fears and insecurities and alter them.
The mind is not a computer and achieving suggestible states is not exactly computer programming, however, it is helpful to think of hypnosis in this way. The hypnotherapist is like a programmer who, instead of writing lines of “code”, helps you alter your brain waves so that you may reach the subconscious and, together with the therapist, “reprogram” your negative behavior patterns. These altered brain waves are the same as when you just fall asleep and your eyes start moving rapidly. This stage of sleep is called “rapid eye movement” sleep (REM or REMS). By delving into this suggestible state a therapist can help you discover information that you don’t consciously remember but which is still in your subconscious mind and influences your actions. Once you reach this point, a therapist can help you change this “hidden” information to produce new, positive patterns of behavior.
Hypnotherapy in Rapid Transformational Therapy
Quick results
Rapid transformational therapy (RTT) is an excellent way to combine the two. It is based on the science called neuroplasticity. It claims that the brain can be rewired for success. It does this by helping us reach the cause of the problem through hypnotherapy to understand better and reframe it.
RTT embraces many of hypnotherapy's positive traits, especially those that are known to produce a palliative effect on clients. However, RTT goes above and beyond traditional hypnotherapy by exploring what works best with each client and applying these findings in therapy.
In this way, RTT is very different from standard hypnotherapy. While traditional hypnotherapy focuses on the therapist “reprogramming” the client, RTT focuses on the client's understanding of how and when their negative beliefs and behaviors were formed and empowers them to make the necessary changes. It is this prioritizing of knowledge and awareness that leads to quicker results than in the case of standard hypnotherapy.
A novel approach to hypnotherapy
There are three types of change a client can experience from RTT. They differ from person to person. They can be immediate, incremental, or retroactive. Immediate changes are those that make you feel a massive shift almost instantly. This can be shown in immediate changes in a client’s thoughts, behaviors, and physiology. Incremental changes can be seen in consistent shifts every day, or over a short period. Retroactive changes take the most time but are the most interesting. These shifts might not be visible right away but after a few months, a drastic change can be seen in retrospect.
