Hypnotherapy is gaining media attention for its various applications, helping patients with various common problems. It has been used and studied for over 100 years, helping people gain more control over unwanted behaviors and other conditions, including:

• Pain control: Hypnosis can help with pain due to burns, cancer, childbirth, irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, joint problems, dental procedures, and headaches.
• Behavior change: Hypnosis has been used with some success in treating insomnia, bedwetting, smoking, and overeating.
• Mental health conditions: Hypnosis can help treat symptoms of anxiety, phobias, and post-traumatic stress.

In this content, we will explain to you what hypnotherapy is, what its benefits are, and how you can become a hypnotherapist.

What is hypnotherapy?

Hypnotherapy (or clinical hypnosis) is the clinical use of hypnosis, that is, the application of hypnosis by a healthcare professional in their care context. It is used to induce the patient into a special state of consciousness (or hypnotic trance), which involves focused attention and reduced peripheral awareness, characterized by an increased ability to respond to suggestion.

This state of hypnotic trance, also referred to as a “trance,” is similar to being completely absorbed in a book, movie, music, or even in one’s own thoughts or meditations.

In this state, patients can focus their attention completely inward. The goal is to use all their internal resources to help them make changes in sensations, perceptions, thoughts, or behavior [goal-oriented].

In the clinical context, being able to elicit this state significantly increases client engagement in treatment, in addition to having other common benefits in different applications.

Benefits of hypnotherapy

There are many different benefits for which a person might want to try hypnotherapy. Below you can see some benefits, some of which are already explained on our blog:

• Relief from chronic pain conditions;
• Help in relieving nausea and vomiting;
• Reduction of pain during childbirth,
• Pain and anxiety control in dental procedures or surgery;
• Coping with the effects of personality disorders;
• Facing anxiety crises;
• Treatment of insomnia, through self-hypnosis and simple techniques for daily use;
• Help in dealing with addictions to alcohol and other drugs.

What are the risks of hypnotherapy? Is it dangerous?

Hypnotherapy conducted by a trained therapist or healthcare professional is considered a safe, complementary, and alternative treatment. However, hypnosis may not be appropriate for people with severe mental disorders (such as dissociative disorders).

But for ordinary people, hypnotherapy is not a dangerous procedure. It is not mind control or brainwashing. A therapist cannot make a person do something dangerous or anything else they do not want to do. The biggest risk is that false memories can potentially be created, usually as a result of unintentional suggestions or leading questions by the therapist.

Therefore, it continues to be considered an effective technique widely used by great professionals worldwide to increase the effectiveness of clinical results.

Now that you better understand what hypnotherapy is, see below our instructions on how you can become a hypnotherapist.

How to become a hypnotherapist?

The healthcare professional usually does not obtain their training in hypnotherapy through academic education. To this day, it is common to see health courses, such as psychology, that do not mention modern hypnosis in their curricula. Therefore, the therapist who wishes to use hypnosis in their consultations must seek serious, qualified institutions with scientific backing to promote this technical preparation.

The Brazilian Society of Hypnosis recognizes some training available in the market and also offers professional training that shows the concepts behind scientific hypnosis, the ethical limits for its use, and techniques that may be aimed at specific contexts.

Therefore, if you wish to become a qualified hypnotherapist, check out the training courses of the Brazilian Society of Hypnosis. We are a serious institution with ISO 9001 certification valid in Brazil.

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