Hypnosis vs Hypnotherapy: A Licensed Clinician Explains

Author: Andreas Balasis, LCSW-QS, CHP

Reviewer:  Dr. Mary Perleoni, LMHC ✓

Hypnosis is the phenomenon. Hypnotherapy is how the phenomenon is applied. If hypnosis is the tool, hypnotherapy is the application of the tool, and when we say application of the tool, that's for a particular clinical goal.

We can simplify it and say it's a way of paying attention, and it's a way of shutting out areas of attention for a particular goal. It's a way to change responses that have previously been automatic, so we can make them more conscious and make them more controllable.

What Is Hypnosis?

The American Psychological Association (APA) defines hypnosis as a state of consciousness involving focused attention and reduced peripheral awareness, characterized by an enhanced capacity for response to suggestion.

Basically, what that's saying is we're training the ability to pay particular attention, to be able to focus on something intently, to be able to reduce distraction, or peripheral awareness, the things that are going on around us.

And in that state, we increase the ability to take in new information and integrate new information about self, about how our body responds to things, about beliefs pertaining to specific problems.

What Is the Difference Between Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy?

In practice, someone comes in, we will induce a hypnotic state, but the purpose of that hypnotic state is to pay particular attention to what has been troubling them, what they've historically had difficulty changing through purely conscious control or willpower, which is what a lot of people describe trying before they come in.

That matters because we can know something logically and still have a difficult time actually experiencing it. This is a tool to take what we might know consciously and create a congruent behavior, or to take what might be happening automatically over years of conditioning and shift those patterns in a way that we can better understand and in a way that we can better enact on a day-to-day basis.

What Is Clinical Hypnotherapy?

Clinical hypnotherapy, if we're going to associate therapy with hypnosis, should be done by a medical or mental health practitioner, in my opinion. People can hang a shingle. They can do a certification course and say, I'm a hypnotist, I'm a hypnotherapist.

The distinction between someone doing hypnosis and someone who is a legitimate clinical hypnotherapist is the background and the ability to properly assess, to do a proper intake, to actually be able to have an awareness of potential mental health diagnoses that are at play. And typically there's going to be more of a solid conceptual understanding of what's going on and the ability to forge the relationship necessary in order to increase the likelihood of success.

That's not to say someone who isn't licensed in a medical or mental health field can't be really good at what they do. But at least in the state that we're in, clinical hypnotherapy should be provided within a larger overall context of psychotherapy and all that comes with that.

Can Hypnosis Happen Naturally?

There are different schools of thought here. I think one of the more agreed-upon ones is this idea of absorption. Have you ever been really engrossed in a movie, almost feeling as if you're there in it? Not separate from it, but truly feeling immersed in it. That's a way that people describe it.

Or say you're driving, and next thing you know, wait. Where did those two lights go? How did I end up this far down the road? It's a state that happens naturally. Some people are more susceptible to that state than others, or some people have an easier time accessing that state than others. The same could be described for losing yourself in a song, this ability to be truly absorbed by something.

And that's focused attention. So there's a hypnosis component in that. That itself is not hypnosis, but that's the focused attention part of it.

Same thing with the reduced peripheral awareness, to pull from that APA definition. Right now, you're probably not all that consciously aware of the feeling of your shirt collar on the back of your neck. But now you are, because I pointed it out. So you have reduced peripheral awareness until it was brought to your conscious attention.

So we have these capacities, and they're at work all the time. Hypnosis and hypnotherapy are a way to, one, acknowledge what might go unacknowledged, and two, create a greater sense of control surrounding it, and to apply it in a way that is most useful.

Where Did Hypnotherapy Originate?

Franz Mesmer and Animal Magnetism

From what I understand, it goes back to this Austrian doctor, Franz Mesmer. He believed that there was an invisible universal fluid that he was able to control and manipulate, and it was very mystical in that sense. The idea of animal magnetism is what he called it. He was inducing a phenomenon, but the mechanics were completely wrong. Louis XVI commissioned Ben Franklin and another gentleman to ultimately disprove it, but the mechanisms weren't understood. That was the late 1700s.

James Braid and the Word "Hypnosis"

Then you get to the mid-1800s, and Dr. James Braid. He was a Scottish surgeon, and he's the one that coined the term hypnosis after the Greek god Hypnos, the god of sleep. Later on he recognized, no, this isn't a sleep state, but it does have to do with where attention is pointed and how attention is regulated. The 1930s saw the first rigorous experiments, using statistical analysis.

Milton Erickson and Modern Hypnotherapy

The 1950s is when Milton Erickson came along and revolutionized the idea of hypnosis as being something that doesn't have to be authoritarian. It's not a sense of somebody, the hypnotist, controlling the patient, which is, and still is, a large misconception surrounding it.

There is agency in the person that is being hypnotized. They maintain a sense of control. It's not, "I'm saying this, so you do it." There's no mind control involved.

It's the ability to understand the mechanics that a person's mind operates under, the language that they use, the way that they understand themselves, and to be able to use imagination, creativity, metaphors, and analogies to shift the way a person understands themselves and their behavior.

Brain Imaging and Research Today

Then you get to the early 2000s, and you start to integrate functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and the game has changed. Now we can actually see the regions of the brain that are being affected. It makes it a lot harder for skeptics to say it's just in someone's mind, because there is an abundance of evidence at this point.

Frequently Asked Questions About Hypnotherapy

Will I lose control during hypnosis?

There's transparency throughout the whole thing. You're going to know what's going to be said. Most people remember what was said. I see myself as the guide, but ultimately you're the one who decides where we go. It's quite literally the opposite of the prevailing stigma, which is you lose control. You gain control.

Is hypnotherapy a form of mind control?

Evidence shows no. You can't directly hack into someone's sense of morals, ethics, and values and change them.

Is hypnosis the same as sleep?

This isn't a sleep state, but it does have to do with where attention is pointed and how attention is regulated.

Can hypnotherapy be done online?

It can be done virtually. The biggest thing is privacy and safety in the environment. Obviously a good internet connection reduces distraction, but it can be done virtually.

Meet Andreas Balasis

My name is Andreas Balasis. I'm a licensed clinical social worker in the state of Florida, and also a qualified supervisor. I've been intensively trained in mindfulness-based stress reduction through the Perelman School of Medicine at UPenn and in dialectical behavior therapy through the School of Social Policy and Practice at Penn. I have a positive psychology certification through UPenn's Coursera course, and I'm a certified hypnosis practitioner through the International Hypnosis Association. Mental performance coaching is another area that I'm really interested in.

I find it fascinating. I've seen the effectiveness working with clients. I've seen the effectiveness in my own life, even before I knew what I was doing. It's something that I truly believe in.

If you're wondering whether hypnotherapy could help with what you're working through, reach out to IBWHC to set up a conversation with Andreas.