Hypnotherapy is a talking therapy that takes place when you are under hypnosis by a competently trained hypnotherapist. Hypnotherapy aims to encourage ("suggest") positive ideas which lead to improvement. You will not be asleep or unconscious. An induction is used which helps to by-pass your conscious mind and directly communicate with your unconscious mind. Because the unconscious is the store of all your resources and problems, this is the reason why Hypnotherapy is a lot quicker at getting results than other types of psychotherapy. Simply put, Hypnotherapy gets the conscious, critical you, out of the way so that useful and positive information can be given to your unconscious mind without negative interference.
Each person is different, but most feel very relaxed due to the suggestions made by the Hypnotherapist. Your limbs may feel heavy and your breathing will slow down. Most people hear everything that is said and remember all the suggestions after waking. In trance, you may find you pay attention to what the Hypnotherapist says and at other times your conscious mind may go blank or start to wander. This is normal, but most importantly your unconscious mind will hear everything that's being said.
Most Hypnotherapists use relaxation techniques, and you are also likely to be asked to concentrate on certain things. For instance you may initially be asked to focus your attention on your breathing and to relax as you slowly breathe out. As there are many ways to induce hypnosis your therapist will use a method best suited to you.
Most people can be hypnotised. The exceptions will be people who have learning difficulties or are mentally impaired through brain damage; people prone to certain types of psychotic episodes, or those who are 'high' on drugs or alcohol; .and very young children. Everybody else who reasonably co-operates with the process can be hypnotised.
Some people are very easy to hypnotise, whilst others take longer, and most people remain in a fairly light state of hypnotic trance, whilst a very small percentage naturally go to much deeper levels. Sometimes people drift in and out of lighter and deeper states. All this is perfectly normal. Deep states of hypnosis are not required for successful therapy.
It depends on what you mean. For most people, it offers a fast and effective treatment. One of the things David will do is to check how your presenting issue affects you before you start therapy, and what solution you would like. This will be done in a free 10 -15 minute phone conversation where both you and David can decide if this kind of therapy is for you. This avoids unnecessary waste of time and money. David will not agree to see you unless he has a very high degree of certainty that he can help you.
