What is the difference between psychotherapy and hypnotherapy? (Learn how the hypnotic trance is created physiologically) Vol. 578, May 5, 2022

I am answering this from the perspective of having come to hypnotism and neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) after working in the world of conventional psychiatric as a non-licensed counselor so I believe I can give you a fair appraisal of the differences between the two.

 

First psychotherapy is based on diagnosing dysfunctional thoughts and behavior based on the DSM 5 for the mental health professional to be able to submit insurance claims to their patient’s health insurance company to receive payment. It is how the system is set up. Not all therapists even share the diagnoses with their patients having had a few hypnosis clients come to me after having had conventional therapy for decades in some cases without knowing their diagnosis and wondering why their therapist never told them. Hypnotists and NLP practitioners are not licensed to diagnose so we don’t.

 

Psychotherapy comes from the point of pathology – meaning that there is something wrong that needs to be ‘managed’ which they do with medication in many situations with the help of a psychiatrist who is licensed to dispense medication and talk therapy in which the patient is to speak about what is going on with them. The therapist will use different types of therapeutic interventions such as family systems work, which is actually very helpful in the situations where I saw it demonstrated, Cognitive Behavior Therapy which relies on the patient being aware of the problem and making different choices that are more healthy for them, EMDR which is a form of hypnotism where the patient is to focus on the therapist’s finger as it goes back and forth as the patient recalls traumatic events to the point where there is no emotional charge left on the event, and of course talking about situations, in general, to work through them gaining a better understanding of what happened and learning from the events. There are many types of therapy, but all but EMDR are done in the conscious mind making it more difficult for many patients to release their issues because the conscious mind allows for reasoning, rationalization, and judgment. When a patient has had traumatic events from childhood that person is recalling these events from the perspective of a child who will not necessarily be able to understand the situation with the other person involved their prefrontal cortex not fully developed until the age of 25 for females and 26 for males. That is physiology folks!

 

Hypnotism includes neuro-linguistic programming as both are bypassing the prefrontal cortex into the emotional mind. According to Dr. Speigal, Associate Chair of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Director of the Center on Stress and Health, and Director of the Center for Integrative Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine: The 4 Key Elements of Hypnosis are 1. Breathing 2. Vision 3. Bodily states 4. Directed mental focus

The Neurobiology of Hypnosis:

 

There are 3 things that happen when we enter into a hypnotic state: – First, there is a turning down activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (DACC), which is a brain region that subserves cognition and motor control. The DACC is like a salience network or conflict detector. The DACC tells you to pay attention to potential danger. It helps you decide. It turns down activity in the DACC making it less likely that you’ll be distracted.

 

Second, there is a higher connectivity between the DLPFC (Left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex -key region in executive control functions-) with the Insula (mind-body control system, involved in emotion processing and arousal including awareness of one’s own bodily states as well as decision-making and other executive processes).

Third, there is an inverse functional connectivity between DLPFC and the posterior cingulate cortex (area that decreases in meditation). You put things outside of conscious awareness. You are doing something but not thinking about what it means. This is the dissociation that happens with hypnosis.

 

I can tell you with over 20 years of working with my clients that instead of merely ‘managing’ symptoms of depression (which is a sign like pain, there is something wrong that needs to be addressed), anxiety, grieving both of lost loved ones and lost abilities through disease processes, eating disorders, sex addictions, OCD, and somatized pain, that hypnotism works very well when you have a practitioner who has an understanding of the physiology of the brain and body, as well as a good understanding of psychological and psychiatric issues.

 

Do note that there is nothing that I can do for those with personality disorders, those with an IQ under 70 (because they can’t focus on the processes), and those with psychotic features such as schizophrenics. So there are limitations, but for the majority of people who are desiring to be rid of their emotionally based issues once and for all hypnotism can be the answer they are looking for. Because hypnotists do believe that our clients have all of their own answers in their own minds, in their UNconscious minds they are able to heal. However, they need the facilitation of an outside party to access it and know which processes to use to help to let go of the issues. From my own training, it is very important for the client to have a ‘compelling future’ that is more alluring to them than holding onto their problems in which to work toward. My clients work on bringing their compelling futures into their lives as we do the work making it worthwhile to go through the process of dealing with any negative issues that will be dealt with during the work.

 

However, we hypnotists also love to make the work as fun as possible, only being really serious when it is necessary.

Thank you for this question, because it is important for people to realize that we do indeed now understand the actual workings of the hypnotic state, as well as being able to truly help our clients where everything else they tried has failed them.