Some say that all hypnosis is self-hypnosis, and the hypnotherapist merely acts as a guide for the client. In contrast, hypnotherapy is a more powerful therapeutic tool that occurs during therapy.

Hypnotherapy can help to remove the critical faculty that separates the conscious and unconscious minds so that a person has access to their full mental capacity.

There are many methods to achieve this outcome. Generally these methods are divided into the following three categories:

• The Standardized Approach
• The Authoritarian Approach
• The Ericksonian approach

• Each person is unique. Therapeutic communications should be based on each client's actual patterns of self-expression, in their beliefs, motivations, symptoms, and behavior. This requires each therapy to begin from a position of experiential inexperience. This requires the therapist to learn and utilize the world-view reality of the client.
• Hypnotherapy is an experiential process of communicating ideas. Effective suggestions produce ideas and distinctions within a person's map of their reality. The therapist should identify and utilize the absorbing ideas of the client to develop their trance. This is experiential participation rather than conceptual understanding to absorb the client experientially and then guide their attention towards therapy.
• Individuals have generative resources. The assumption is made that individuals have all the resources they need and they have many more abilities than they are consciously aware of. The therapist helps the client to learn to use the abilities they already have within them. This realization occurs from the experiential explorations of the client that mobilize their resources.
• Trance potentiates resources. Trance allows the deframing of rigid beliefs and permits the reorganization of fixated systems. These rigid and fixated systems b ecome endless loops that are demonstrated by repetitive behavior in several channels. Transformational change is accomplished by trance that potentiates resources by giving an unbiased state that allows for new ways of existing to become clear.
• Trance is naturalistic. Trance states are part of every individual's normal life processes. Trance intensifies and lengthens the usual experiential involvement of a client for a specific goal. The naturalistic nature of trance allows it to be an ideal method for a person to establish deep systemic changes by perceiving and modifying basic experiential relationships.
• Orient to course-alignment rather than error-correction. The therapy should focus on meeting the goals and needs of the present self and not examining and understanding the past. The client's present learnings and understandings are acknowledged as the foundation for additional developmental learnings. The client is oriented to their interests and goals and given opportunities to reach them.
• Individuals uniqueness may be appreciated on many levels. Four levels may be examined: the deep self, the unconscious mind, the conscious mind, and the contents of consciousness. This concept is also very similar to the Hawaiian Huna concept of the basic self, middle self, and high self. Each individual can be appreciated as being a unique deep self operating within the unique organizational system of the unconscious mind and using unique strategies in attempting to reach goals from the conscious mind and being absorbed at a specific time in the contents of their consciousness.
• Unconscious processes can operate generatively and autonomously. This makes a distinction between the unconscious and conscious minds. The two systems are seen as complimentary. The conscious mind is seen to be responsive to the more inclusive unconscious mind. Trance is seen to set the conscious process aside to allow the unconscious to produce meaningful transformational learning.

Common issues that respond well to hypnotherapy are pain control, weight control, smoking cessation, stress reduction, relaxation, memory improvement, improvement of concentration, confidence enhancement, improvement of study habits, overcoming anxiety, and enhancing creativity.

References
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About the Author

Dr. Randi Fredricks, Ph.D. is a psychotherapist and author specializing in the treatment of mental health using integrative medicine and natural therapies. She works with individuals, couples, and families at her office in San Jose, California. Dr. Fredricks' publications include the landmark book Healing & Wholeness: Complementary and Alternative Therapies for Mental Health. No part of this article may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems. Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of Dr. Randi Fredricks as articles often present the published results of the research of other professionals. Copyright © 2012.