Hypnosis: Experience reports from patient and therapist

care instead of the other way around.

As an adult, my body reacted with strong inner restlessness when something reminded me of the past. Similar experiences of others struck a chord with me. I have tried many things to deal with this pain. After schema, behavioral and systemic therapy, I understood myself better cognitively, but I still felt blocked internally.

At a further training course I met a psychotherapist and hypnotherapist. She explained that hypnotherapy works on a deeper emotional and physical level, involving the subconscious. I wanted to try that.

I had twelve sessions about three weeks apart, the treatment took place as part of behavioral therapy. In the first three meetings, the therapist diagnosed an adjustment disorder. We continued this in the fourth session with hypnotherapeutic exercises. I was surprised at the feelings that emerged in trance – and that I could suddenly allow them.

In one exercise we worked with several chairs that were supposed to represent different phases of life. As I sat in the chair of my childhood share and the therapist walked me through certain memories, I cried hard. I felt the deep sadness of a child longing for a loving mother. In the chair of my youthful part, I felt anger, accusations, aggression – feelings that I could previously name but never physically feel. By switching between the parts, I felt for the first time how memories are stored in the body – and how different these states feel.

Another exercise took place while lying down. I imagined a room with my eyes closed and described what I perceived. I was supposed to meet my mother there and get in touch with her. But no matter how hard I tried, even with imaginary tools like laser beams, I couldn’t do it. This experience was painful – at the same time it made me realize that my real efforts to be close to her often come to nothing.

The therapist then directed my attention to the question of what gives me connection and energy instead. After I was asked to immerse myself in different areas of life, it became clear: animals. Dogs and horses have always been a source of stability for me. The realization felt healing.

Not every exercise had the same effect. But over the sessions, a new calm and acceptance developed within me. This was also evident in my dealings with my mother. When she – now 84 – fell in love again and only wanted to visit me with a partner, I recognized old patterns: she prioritized a man in her life again. I refused to visit together and set a clear boundary for the first time. I was sad but remained able to act. After the relationship ended, she visited me again. We didn’t talk about it – and that was good for me. I no longer had to shoulder all of their problems.

Hypnotherapy has allowed me to listen to my inner experience on a physical, subconscious level. Something could come loose right there. I didn’t experience any feeling of loss of control. I was present at all times and could have stopped any exercise.

That’s what a therapist says

Hypnotherapy is a therapeutic approach that is used for very different stresses. People come to me with depression, sleep disorders or anxiety, as well as with clearly defined problems such as fear of heights or, most recently, with a pronounced fear of childbirth during pregnancy. Hypnosis should not be used in acute psychoses or severe personality disorders if it would have a destabilizing effect.

The treatment begins with a detailed anamnesis and exploration in conversation. The central component is then working together in a hypnotic trance state. Trance means focused attention inward. Contrary to a common misconception, patients are neither unconscious nor willless.

There are various rituals to help the patient enter a trance. For example, the therapist asks him to fixate on an object, wait until his eyes close and then look inward and concentrate on internal images.

Then she leads him into a calm state through stories and by evoking further inner images; The patients usually sit relaxed with their eyes closed. Areas of consciousness that are not directly accessible in everyday life can then be explored. Here the concept of the unconscious serves as a helpful metaphor for internal processes, memories and resources.

The process is then similar to conversation-based therapy: the therapist asks questions, the patient answers. On this basis, new experiences, perspectives and solutions are developed. The transfer into everyday life is often already prepared. A patient with a fear of heights can first experience, in a hypnotic trance, the ability to stand at the window of a high-rise building without fear, before doing so in reality.

One problem is that the term “hypnotherapist” is not protected. Reputable training requires a qualification as a psychological psychotherapist or doctor and lasts around 300 hours. Recognized professional societies include the Milton Erickson Society for Clinical Hypnosis, the German Society for Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy and corresponding organizations in Switzerland and Austria.

To this day, hypnotherapy is still associated with the image of the “old suggestive hypnosis”, which saw trance as a kind of sedative to dampen critical consciousness and enforce instructions. Modern hypnotherapy according to Erickson reversed this understanding in the 1970s: it is not the therapist who has the suggestive power, but rather the solution is sought from the patient himself.