Hypnosis FAQ

Hypnosis for Podiatry

Most treatments in podiatry should not hurt. Some however, like clearing an ingrowing toenail or treating a verruca, can be rather painful. Hypnosis is one tool which can be used to greatly reduce or even eliminate this pain. Many people, however, are cautious about hypnosis and there is a lot of inaccurate information around.

What is Hypnosis?

There is nothing magical or mysterious about modern hypnosis. It is simply a very relaxed state of mind in which your subconscious can be selective about what it chooses to experience.

Have you ever, whilst gardening or playing sport, cut yourself without even realising? The cut is real, and from a physiological viewpoint so are the signals are sent to your brain, yet your brain chooses to ignore them. Now imagine you were to have that same cut delivered in your doctor’s surgery with a scalpel. Do you think you’d feel it then? You bet you would! The only difference is your state of mind. Using Hypnosis we can reproduce that phenomena.

What will happen?

Firstly, forget anything you may have seen in bad sixties dramas. Nobody is going to swing anything in front of your face. Opera cloaks are no longer de rigueur for hypnotists and nobody will ask you to look into their eyes! There are several methods of inducing a trance state and different methods work better with different people but most of them involve nothing more complex than following a series of instructions and most take no more than a few minutes or as little as a few seconds. A client once asked if was going to use a pocket watch to hypnotise her, I told her that I could if she really wanted although it would be rather awkward so I’d rather not!!

Will I be asleep?

No. Although hypnotists use the word “sleep” a lot, hypnosis is nothing at all like sleep. Somebody in hypnosis can still hear what is going on around them, speak, and if they desire, wake themselves up. Sometimes, depending on the level of relaxation, people find they don’t remember much of what went on, in much the same way as if you are driving you can forget the journey home although they were fully in control throughout! Many people on coming out of hypnosis do not believe they have been hypnotised at all (even though they were). Occasionally people have even woken up not believing they were hypnotised and not realising that the procedure they were dreading has been completed!

Can I be made to do something against my will

Absolutely and unequivocally NO. With stage hypnosis people do act the clown and appear to be made to do things, however it is all their choice. A stage hypnotist will usually start with a large group and whittle it down. Those they select are generally the ones who will be most entertaining, often the natural extroverts. What a stage hypnotist does is enables people to be uninhibited in a similar way to a bottle of wine. They then perform for the audience. They are not being “made” to do anything, they are being allowed / empowered. After all many people would love to have a theatre full of people entertained by their stage act! If a hypnotist asks a subject to do something they would not otherwise do they will either ignore the suggestion or wake up.

Can I be hypnotised.

If you want to be almost certainly yes. Many people think they cannot be hypnotised. This is untrue almost without exception. The limiting factor is whether somebody wants to be. In truth, a hypnotist is little more than a facilitator. We guide people in what to do to enter hypnosis. If they wish to, they can. If they don’t, they won’t. It’s that simple.

Is it safe

Yes. There are a few contra-indication for hypnosis which the hypnotist should confirm with you. These are ECT within the last 3 months, active clinical depression, significant tranquilizers and nervous breakdown. Otherwise however hypnosis is completely safe and natural. Its a state which we all enter several times a day when we drive, or read a book, or even daydream.

What If I don’t wake up.

Never happens, any more than anyone could not wake up in the morning. The worst that can happen in hypnosis is that you slip from hypnosis to normal sleep (in which case you can be woken in the usual way).

OK, so will I feel anything?

This varies between individuals. The majority of patients state afterward that they felt nothing at all. Some say they were aware of sensation but only in a very distant and detached way. A few say they were aware of sensation but that it did not seem to matter. What you experience depends on how you personally respond to hypnosis and that depends largely on how you want it to go.

Will I need to see you before hand?

It depends on the procedure and your feelings. For things like nail surgery, I usually recommend a short preparatory session no more than a week prior to surgery. This serves several purposes.

It enables me to get to know you, and what hypnotic triggers and methods work best for you.

It enables you to experience the sensation of hypnosis and build confidence before the procedure.

This can be done as part of an assessment appointment.

For more everyday work I usually do everything on the day, but if you’d prefer I’m happy to arrange an appointment to just try the hypnosis and then decide if you want to proceed with using it for analgesia.

As I mentioned earlier hypnosis is really down to the subject. Therefore, just like riding a bike, it gets easier with practice. The more times you undergo hypnosis the easier you will find it and the more effective it will be.

Can I have a recording?

By all means. You are welcome to bring your own recording device to record the session (most mobile phones have this facility) or I can record one for you on CD for a nominal fee. If you are in a course of treatment this can be helpful to reinforce suggestions.

Can you help me stop smoking / Learn to love spiders / Lose weight at the same time?

Unfortunately not! Hypnotherapy is a rather different process. Whilst I AM a certified and qualified hypnotherapist I can't do that at the same time! If you are interested in Hypnotherapy please visit www.Footprintshypnosis.com