George Pegios – What Is Hypnosis
George Pegios You are sure that when we talk about hypnosis each one of you imagines a different thing, and many will think that hypnosis is that which appears in television shows.
When I tell my patients that we are going to use it in their therapeutic process, many of them look at me like I’m crazy, with an expression on their faces that is a mixture of disbelief, fear, and curiosity.
However the reality is that hypnosis is simply a technique that psychologists use to help our patients, it is not harmful, it has no side effects.
It has been used since the dawn of psychology, and authors as famous and varied as Freud, Pavlov, W. James, and even our Nobel Prize winner Ramón y Cajal, have used it and have spoken and written about it.
George Pegios -How is hypnosis defined?
According to the American Psychological Assiciation (APA) Hypnosis is an increase in the capacity to respond to suggestions, increasing the focus of attention and reducing the perception of peripheral information
What will I feel if they hypnosis me?
When you are hypnotized your body goes into a state of deep relaxation. Your mind becomes more receptive to the psychologist’s suggestions, and that is why it is a very effective technique for the therapeutic process.
At the same time, your “conscious” relaxes, giving way to your most unconscious world, the one that sometimes gives us problems that we don’t know where they come from. That is, you will notice that your mind is active but it will adapt to the hypnotist’s suggestions while your body will be calm.
George Pegios-Can they take advantage of me during hypnosis?
In hypnosis, contrary to popular belief, the patient never loses control or is at the mercy of the hypnotist, moreover, if he wants he can “get out” of the hypnotic process. I can also assure you that during hypnotic therapy the patient will not do anything that he does not want to do. Hypnosis is suggestion, but not submission or loss of consciousness
George Pegios – How is hypnosis going to help me?
The patient who is in hypnosis is more receptive and flexible to modify his behavior, his thoughts and his beliefs, being therefore easier the therapeutic change. The time spent achieving therapy goals is also reduced. But it must be remembered that the psychologist’s thoughts or beliefs are not going to be “implanted”, this is impossible, but hypnosis acts as a facilitator to obtain the results that the patient wants.
Imagine being able to relax in seconds. Imagine being able to tackle issues that disturb you in a state of absolute relaxation. Imagine facing your problems without getting upset and creating resources that you can then use in your daily life, and all that while you are deeply relaxed. Imagine also that you can take these benefits with you and use them in your day to day, that is hypnosis.
It’s dangerous?
The only “danger” of hypnosis is that the patient remembers something he had forgotten, but that, well used, will help him to heal.
George Pegios – Does hypnosis work for everything?
Hypnosis is almost as old as psychology itself and has amply demonstrated its effectiveness, not only from what psychologists see in consultation, but through controlled laboratory studies with neuroimaging techniques.
The most studied fields of application are anxiety and stress, acute and chronic pain (fibromyalgia, migraines, preparation for delivery or even a visit to the dentist for a person with allergy to anesthesia), and certain types of addictions such as smoking . However, the application of hypnosis is much broader, coming to be used in processes of trauma, dissociation, phobias, regression or simply as relaxation.
Hypnosis can also be used to create new scenarios where the patient can relate to his thoughts and emotions in a safe and controlled way.