Hypnosis in life coaching: effectiveness and therapeutic applications

Life Coaching: The Use of Hypnosis

The hypnotic state

The article 'Hypnosis: An Altered State of Consciousness', by the Mayo Clinic explains hypnosis as an artificially induced change in an individual's consciousness which helps in dealing with different medical conditions (Mayo Clinic staff, 2014). Various benefits accrue to an individual when they are under hypnosis. These include: increased focus, open mindedness, and increased responsiveness to suggestions. According to Smith (2005), these benefits are valid because in 1964, John Solomon, a psychologist, established the connection of the mind and the body and concluded that increased levels of stress and depression highly aggravate medical conditions such as arthritis, because the mind is indeed linked to the body. Jovanov (1995) also used unique software and special methods to investigate how the brain works during meditation, in an attempt to find out the role meditation plays in the healing process. His findings revealed a connection between the psycho-physiology of the healing process and the altered states of the mind. More specifically, consciousness uses signal generators that affect the output influenced by action, and meditation affects the input range that deals with the perception block (Jovanov, 1995). All three authors confirm that hypnosis makes an individual better equipped to control their physical and emotional well-being.

How does information in this article fit with my understanding of hypnosis?

This article supports my notion that the effects of hypnosis are not uniform to every individual, rather, skill and expertise is required for the effect of reduction of pain in different conditions. Hypnosis is more effective when combined with other treatment plans, and it can fail to have the desired effect in some people (The Mayo Clinic staff, 2014). The staff also stress that only experienced hypnotherapists are able to pinpoint the best techniques to deal with different situations. Some of these techniques include: talking gently to the patient to give them options of getting what they want, using vivid imagination to create better pictures of those goals or teaching the patient the art of self-hypnosis.

Apart from reinforcing my understanding of hypnosis, the article also helps in falsifying existing myths about this technique. Individuals do not act involuntarily when they are under hypnosis; in fact, they are able to pay more attention and to concentrate (Mayo Clinic staff, 2014). A hypnotherapist does not also gain unlimited control over the patient and there is no risk of amnesia after recovery. The success of the hypnosis is greatly influenced by the patient's free will and the patient has to yearn for the experience.

The use of hypnosis in life coaching

Work as a life coach generally involves addressing specific issues in a client's life and helping them discover what is happening in their lives, the obstacles they face and the appropriate course of action to what the client considers a better life. Hypnosis can be useful in making clients quit bad habits such as smoking and excessive worrying, because it taps into the subconscious and reprograms the mind to think in a different way. Through stimulation of the client's imagination, hypnosis can also make clients get a clearer sense of what they want to achieve, which makes goals easier to accomplish. On being taught the art of self-hypnosis, clients are able to make small changes in their daily lives - changes that may ultimately reduce their level of stress and minimize their chances of becoming depressed.