The reason hypnosis works to relieve a wide variety of mental and physical problems is that all physical and mental experiences and behaviors, whether they are conscious or unconscious, psychogenic or resulting from physical injury or illness, follow nerve transmissions in the brain. The pathways of these nerve signals can be altered by suggestion when the brain is in an alpha or theta brain wave state. These are the brain wave states that lie between sleeping and waking consciousness.
The task of the hypnotherapist is to activate these naturally occurring brain wave states. The subconscious and unconscious functions of mind are more susceptible to suggestion in these states, so that healing patterns of response can be suggested, practiced and established as an automatic response to a specific experience.
For example, a stress response to job-hunting can change to one of relaxed confidence. Another example is the experience of pain, which can be modified by being blocked or changed via establishing a new neuron pathway, so that the sensation of pain becomes a sensation of warmth, or a slight itch.
While it is the hypnotherapist who speaks the words that induce the alpha or theta brain wave state and and makes the suggestions to set up a new pattern of response, it is the client who determines what the new response will be. Hypnotherapy offers many methods to go about making changes, and a well-educated hypnotherapist knows how to interview a client to determine which combination of methods would be most comfortable and healing for each individual client.
While a hypnotherapist can neither diagnose nor treat medical conditions, clients can use a hypnotherapist's skills to change their automatic responses to conditions that their physicians have already diagnosed, assisting whatever treatments clients' physicians have prescribed. Hypnotherapists work alongside doctors to reduce or transform sensations of pain and can prepare clients for surgery and childbirth ahead of time by teaching them self-hypnosis and giving suggestions for rapid healing after surgery. These same hypnotherapy methods can be used in addition to physicians' treatments for conditions that cannot be addressed with surgery. Hypnotherapy can also be used by clients to augment medical treatment of psychiatric issues.
Enlisting the immense strength and unwavering focus of the subconscious mind can strongly enhance a client's psychological and physical health. However, the only effects produced by hypnosis are those the client agrees are beneficial because the subconscious mind will only accept that which it has already determined is acceptable. In addition, a reputable hypnotherapist will thoroughly discuss and review the suggestions to be made with the client beforehand.
Source: American Association of Professional Hypnotherapists
