The advantage of Hypnotherapy is that it deals directly with the mind and that is where many of human kind's issues reside. Some examples are the desire to smoke, phobias, lack of self worth and stress.

The list is endless, so hypnotherapy goes direct to the root cause (the mind) and gets to work.

Most people's perception of Hypnosis is gleaned from stage shows, which although use hypnosis, are distinct from Hypnotherapy. In stage shows the hypnotist appears to be in complete control of their participants. It seems as though the hypnotist merely has to click their fingers and you do exactly as your told to do. And that is true, but there is one very important factor left out of this equation and that is - the hypnotist has complete control only because you have allowed them to have it. In some shows the bouncers come on from the side and politely ask one or maybe two of the participants to return to their seats with profuse thanks for volunteering. This happens because the hypnotist has realised that they are not prepared to let them have complete control and if they are not prepared to do this then they will snap out of the hypnotic state and the show will be ruined.

An extremely important point about Hypnosis is that no one can be made to do something under hypnosis that they are not prepared to do in real life. So the participant who has been asked to sit down may be someone who is not prepared to make a fool of themselves on stage in front of an audience. They would snap out of the hypnotic trance when asked to do something they did not want to do and once again the show would be ruined.

One thing that hypnotic shows do demonstrate very clearly though is that your mind and your perception can be altered - if you let it.

So if you have a phobia of - shall we say - spiders, it is your perception of spiders, how your mind sees them, that causes the phobia. Not everybody is so afraid of spiders, but you are and the fear is very real to you because that is what your mind is telling you. You want to rid yourself of the phobia and under hypnosis the hypnotherapist will (because you want it) change the fear of spiders into indifference toward them. When you come out of hypnosis your perception has been changed, because you wanted it to be changed and you no longer fear spiders. Hypnotherapy works if you want it to and you let it.

Everybody can be hypnotised. In the same way that some people have an aptitude of learning languages, some people have an aptitude for being hypnotised. Others have less of an aptitude, but they can still be hypnotised. The more you are hypnotised the greater your aptitude becomes, but like the language learner the one with aptitude will become fluent, the one without the aptitude will be able to get by. They will be able to speak the language and they will be able to converse, but not as well as the person with a flair for languages. It's the same with hypnosis.  If you have a flair for it you can effect any change you want. If you do not have the flair you will still be able to effect the changes you want to, but it may take a little longer.

Something that not many people understand is that Hypnosis is a natural state. When you watch a film your conscious mind knows full well that it is merely a flickering image projected onto a screen. Although you put that to one side, you actually tell your conscious mind to ignore the fact that you know it is a flickering projected image so that you can enjoy the film. (What the critics call suspending your disbelief.) In any other words it is hypnosis. You suspend you disbelief so that you can change the way your mind sees the world.

So bearing this in mind it should be possible to change not only the way you view the world but also the way you view your part in it. Hypnosis can boost your confidence, your self-esteem and your assertiveness because these are all mental states that Hypnosis is excellent at changing. If you let it and if you want it to, Hypnotherapy works.

Hypnotherapy can also be used to help overcome physical problems as well as mental ones.

Your mind has enormous power. Your imagination (and by that I mean your ability to see yourself in a certain way) has enormous power. Supposing you have a sore throat, it is possible under hypnosis to picture a flood of white blood cells going to your throat and eating up any spiky germs or viruses that are there. As you pretend to see this happening, your mind thinks this is real life, and it has been known for situations like this to clear up!

There is absolutely nothing to fear from hypnosis in the therapeutic setting. You are always aware of everything that is going, you can hear the hypnotist's voice, you know what they are saying and you know where they are. You cannot be made to do anything you do not want to do.

In the worst case scenario under hypnosis nothing happens. In the best case scenario your issue is cleared up -permanently.

Hypnotherapy works.