Why does hypnosis turn me on

That amount of hot flashes takes a toll on sexy time, understandably, so researchers enrolled half of the women in five sessions of hypnotherapy weekly to see if it would increase their overall sexual health. The other half received more standard structured attention control therapy. Relaxed yet? So what makes hypnotherapy so effective at improving sex? Oh, why not? I wriggled out of my jeans. Earlier, I had asked Emily whether the technique worked equally well with men.

It is about imagination and stretching the limits of what the mind can do, she added. And the more I rub, the more you feel it building. I understood that she was describing an orgasm, and I started to feel it. Sort of. Emily said the feeling was getting bigger and bigger and I flexed my thigh muscles and curled my toes the way I do when I climax.

Still, it felt pretty good. There is no one "right" way to feel during hypnosis. One thing that might come as a relief to people who want to try hypnosis is that it may be a strange experience, but it's definitely not mind control.

As Gitch says, "A hypnotist cannot make someone do something against their will. Despite popular belief, you can't get stuck in hypnosis, or remain slightly hypnotized after leaving your session. You can, however, experience visible changes once you leave. As Raether says, "85 percent of the people I see for smoking quit after one session. That way, they'll be better able to handle whatever it dredges up. Depending on what you're seeing a hypnotherapist for, you might want to brace yourself for an onslaught of unpleasant memories and emotions.

Using hypnosis repeatedly with an individual is ultimately weakening to them, because it can put out the spark of volition by making them increasingly open to suggestion, and not only to the suggestions of their therapist.

That is one reason that therapy should be as brief as possible. The aim of therapy is to help people detach and cope alone, not become dependent. All dangerous mass movements involve hypnosis and the programming of people, once they are emotionally aroused. This danger has long been known. Each time another stuns the horses into submission the person loses an amount of their own mental energy. From continued regular sessions of hypnosis from another person, entering into this docile state, instead of gaining power and better control, the mind can become a shapeless powerless mass eventually leading to the mental asylum.

Of course there is a bright side to hypnosis, otherwise we would not have been teaching how to use it in therapy all these years. To recap, hypnosis is the accessing of the REM state artificially by focusing attention until it can be guided. Once a person is in that trance state, therapists can make powerful, positive psychological interventions, such as offering metaphors, embedding empowering suggestions, giving direct instructions and by guiding rehearsal of desired new behaviours in imagination, such as successful public speaking or driving confidently.

Trance also provides the best platform for unhooking strong emotions from traumatic memories that the brain has interpreted as life threatening, which is why, using specific techniques, it offers the quickest means to help people overcome phobias and PTSD. Trance plus therapeutic interventions is what constitutes hypnotherapy. The activating agent is whatever means the therapists chooses for inducing the REM state in the client we recommend gentle ways, not harsh ways, like shock.

Every pattern match fires an emotional response an expectation , however subtle. The client may then think about the new ideas and rehearse new possibilities. All learning happens in trance. Whenever we recognise something familiar in the world, it is always because we are making a pattern match between what is out there in the environment and an internally stored pattern, which we normally call a memory.

Our brains are constantly pattern matching to the outside world and we only become aware of that if something different from the norm occurs — the orientation response fires and our attention is drawn to it. All learning, by its nature, involves novelty and we have to focus, however briefly, on what is new and different in order to absorb it. That requires us to go into the REM state.

When the new knowledge to be absorbed is profound, we need to introspect about this new pattern match and adjust our model of reality to it. Thus all learning is post-hypnotic. When we use hypnosis to induce trance in psychotherapy, our brain is our prize tool. So we must keep it sharp by improving our understanding of what we are doing, developing our skills and staying alert and focused when activating the REM state in our clients, otherwise we can harm the very people we want to help.

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