Different Types of Hypnotherapy

 .If you are considering trying out hypnotherapy for the first time, the first thing you should know is that there is no single standardised hypnotherapy, but rather different types of hypnotherapy that different therapists might use or specialise in.

The following will be a brief overview of the most common types of hypnotherapy so you can decide which type sounds best suited to your particular issue.

Solution-focused

Most hypnotherapists are trained in the “solution-focused” method of hypnotherapy. It is more thank likely if a hypnotherapist is not advertising themselves as any specific type or hypnotherapist that they are a practitioner of this method. The overall approach of this type of hypnotherapy is to remove the source of whatever problem the patient is having at the root, rather than simply removing or alleviating its symptoms.

Behavioural

Many hypnotherapists specialise in techniques meant to affect a patients behaviour or habits. The therapist will initially sit down with the patient to discuss what kinds of behaviours they would like to remove, alter, or introduce, and then the sessions will be mostly devoted to implanting suggestions that will aid the patient to stick to or avoid certain behaviours once outside of their hypnotherapy sessions.

Cognitive

This kind of hypnotherapy is less about changing behaviour or habits and more about changing the patient’s outlook on the world or their selves. One can become used to self-defeating beliefs about oneself or the world that can make them resign themselves to their lot in life and get caught in a rut.

Cognitive hypnotherapy is able to modify these beliefs on a subconscious level that can help people to change their outlook in a way that gets them out of their rut and working towards a better life.

Analytical

This approach to hypnotherapy involves analyzing the patient’s problem in order to provide them with a healing insight into or understanding of the problem. The idea basically is to use knowledge to heal the patient.

In some cases providing patients with a new or deeper understanding of the reason or reasons behind their psychological issues can serve as a remedy in itself.

Ericksonian

This type of hypnotherapy, named after American psychiatrist and hypnotist Milton H. Erickson, uses suggestion indirectly, often via storytelling or analogies, rather than by giving explicit recommendation or council.

The Ericksonian method is able to overlap with many of the other varieties of hypnotherapy, in that Ericksonian hypnotherapy can be behavioural, cognitive, or analytical in practice as well. The feature that would make the practice Ericksonian in each case, however, would be the use of indirect suggestion.

Regression

This type of hypnotherapy aims to solve the present day issues of a patient by taking them back to events from their past.

This can be used to face and resolve negative memories that had been repressed yet still kept a subtle hold on the patient’s present, or it can bring patients back to positive memories from a better time in their lives to help them remember a better version of themselves who they can aspire to be again.

This approach is not often the first one taken by hypnotherapist because behavioural, cognitive, or analytical approaches are all easier on the patient psychologically and don’t pose the same risk of having a repeated trauma. An exception to this rule is found in the case of phobias or fears, which are almost always rooted in past traumas and accordingly regression is very often the best way of treating them.

Clinical

Sometimes the term ‘clinical hypnotherapy’ gets extended to any hypnotism used for therapeutic purposes; however, strictly speaking “clinical” hypnotherapy refers only to hypnotherapy used to treat medical conditions like chronic pain, skin problems, childbirth, or psycho-sexual disorders; basically, anything that patients might otherwise go to see a medical doctor for, as opposed to things like quitting smoking or performance anxiety which a medical doctor would not treat.

Although a lot of professional hypnotherapists advertise themselves as clinical hypnotherapists because it sounds impressive, make sure your hypnotherapists is registered with a reputable hypnotherapy association that has strict criteria for their members to be recognised as a Clinical therapist such as the Australian Hypnotherapist Association. 

Hypno-psychotherapy

This type of hypnotherapy is often incorporated into the treatments of psychotherapists who also have some training in hypnotherapy, or conversely, by hypnotherapists who also have some training in psychotherapy.

Often the practitioners of this hybrid technique will be more trained in one rather than the other sort of therapy, so you may need to decide if you are looking for psychotherapy with a pinch of hypnotherapy, or hypnotherapy with a pinch of psychotherapy.

In conclusion, there isn’t really any way to rank these methods or decide which is the best. It all depends on the individual practitioners and on the individual patients and the issues they would like to have resolved.

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