We explained what past-life regression is in a previous newsletter, and now we’d like to address a few myths about hypnosis that are commonly perpetuated by hypnotherapists themselves:
1. Hypnosis is totally safe
This is only true if you go into hypnosis and immediately come back out again. In a highly suggestible state, bad suggestions can have just as much of an effect as positive ones. Poorly performed hypnosis can mask symptoms and delay treatment, cause false memories, and generally leave the client worse off. At Morpheus, we believe in practising risk-aware hypnosis rather than pretending that there are no risks involved.
2. Everybody [with an IQ above 70] can be hypnotized
While this might be true in theory, it isn’t in practice. There are some clients we won’t accept because we don’t think we can effectively hypnotize them. If they won’t or can’t suspend their critical mind, they simply cannot be hypnotized.
3. Hypnosis/I can absolutely help you
We’re aware of a couple of prominent trainers who teach hypnotists to say this to every prospective client in order to build positive expectancy. While a good hypnotist can help most people who walk into their office, they can’t help everybody. If a hypnotist says this to you before they’ve assessed your specific needs and hypnotizability, it’s said for comfort.
4. You can be made to remember anything during hypnosis
Human memory is not like computer memory. It’s fallible, easily distorted, and prone to being influenced by outside forces like the suggestions of a hypnotist. That’s the reason the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that hypnotically recovered testimony is inadmissible in court. We’ve had some success helping people, for example, remember where they placed a lost object, but treating human memory as perfect is folly.
These are the biggest myths we’re aware of. If you’ve heard of any others, let us know and we’ll address them in a future blog post!
One of our Client Care Coordinators published this post.