The Power of Hypnotherapy

Amy Taylor January 31, 2013

Sure thing – our brain isn’t too big. But despite its limited size, its complex structure does have unlimited capabilities. There’s no maximum amount of information you can store in your brain. If you will compare your brain with a video recorder, you would need to leave your TV running continuously for over 300 years before your storage becomes full! It could even be more, who knows!?

Nevertheless, structural damage, such as the death of cells and neurons, and inflammation in certain parts in the brain may affect our ability to remember some information we’ve entered to our mind. It’s not that they have totally disappeared. We just forget where we’ve hidden them. If you are having problems recalling things, names and places, you might want to consider hypnosis as part of your treatment plan.

Hypnosis and Memory

One of the most favoured tools by practitioners when it comes to helping patients deal with memory problems is hypnosis. But how does this therapy help you recall or strengthen memories?

First off, we want to understand how our memory works. Memory formation, recall and retrieval are major cognitive processes that are highly complex in nature – complex in a sense that many areas of the brain are involved. While many studies have been conducted on memory, it is still not fully understood until today.

Most of us know that memories are generally categorised into two – short-term and long-term memories. Short-term memories include names of people we are not closely affiliated with, phone numbers and other ‘not so significant’ details in our everyday life. Long-term memories on the other hand, are usually the product of different experiences, especially those that have significantly impacted our life. According to studies, long-term memories work in a two-way process. First, you store the information somewhere in your mind, and second, you recall it. In some instances however, problems occur in either the storage or the retrieval. Sometimes, the problem takes place in both.

This is where hypnotherapy comes in. The process involves increasing concentration and focusing on a limited area in the brain, to effectively trace back the path towards the ‘lost’ memory or memories. When administered by a professional practitioner, hypnosis can slow down your thinking, heighten your imagination and eliminate distractions that preventing you from retrieving such information.

If you have experienced hypnosis before, you will probably agree that this therapy is a powerful mind tool. Through hypnosis, you allow your mind to focus on the experience or memory and recall the details involved until you’ve finally retrieved the exact information. Because of this, hypnosis has been used in helping witnesses of crimes recall memories, especially when they are under trauma. But because of the possibility that the therapist may insert false information, the use of hypnosis in legal matters was banned. This, nevertheless, does not alter the fact that hypnosis can help retrieve memories that were trapped somewhere in our minds.

What else can hypnosis do?

Decades of research suggest that hypnosis is a safe and effective treatment. Other than helping us recall memories, hypnosis was also found to help manage pain during childbirth, headache, and other forms of physical pain. Clinical studies suggest that hypnosis doesn’t just reduce pain and anxiety after a surgical operation, but also cuts the time involved and lowers the risk of complications. At present, hypnosis is gaining popularity for its role in treating phobias and in helping smokers quit.

Based on these facts, we can say that hypnosis is indeed a powerful therapy that gives us a range of health benefits. Nevertheless, it is important that you seek treatment only from a qualified therapist. Seek out a licensed, certified hypnotherapist to ensure the success and safety of the treatment.

Dear Readers,

Of course, there are many forms of hypnotherapy and ways in which it can help but what are they? Knowing various therapy methods can be helpful for others.

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