What Is Hypnotherapy? A Complete Guide to Hypnosis Therapy for Health

Entertainment media often paints hypnosis as a magic trick where a hypnotist controls a person and puts them into a trance. But hypnosis is not just for fun. In fact, it’s a major component of hypnotherapy, a form of psychological therapy that may help reprogram the mind and is a complementary approach sometimes used to support the treatment of a myriad of health conditions.

Let’s dive into what hypnotherapy is, how it works, and its potential risks.

Hypnotherapy is a psychological therapy that uses hypnosis to treat health conditions, per the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Typically, hypnotherapy begins with a review of your medical history and a discussion of the condition you’d like to address with a hypnotherapist (there are no current standard licensing guidelines for hypnotherapists in the United States). From there, you’ll be guided through hypnosis, where the hypnotherapist will use a series of mental images and suggestions intended to help you change behaviors and possibly relieve your symptoms, according to the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

But what is hypnosis? “It’s a heightened state of concentration and focused attention,” says Samantha Shaw, a Minneapolis-based certified hypnotist and health coach in good standing with the National Guild of Hypnotists and the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. During hypnosis, your attention is usually directed inward — to feelings, thoughts, and images, according to a 2019 editorial in the journal Palliative Care: Research and Treatment.

The idea behind hypnotherapy is that it can be used to reprogram the unconscious or primal parts of the brain that function to avoid pain and seek pleasure. These parts are known as the reptilian (lizard) and mammalian brains. The older “lizard" brain provides basic survival motivations, while the newer “mammal" brain improves our emotions and memory, per the American Museum of Natural History. You can also think of these regions as the more emotional, creative areas that communicate with symbols and images. These regions tend to take over when we become anxious and imagine worst-case scenarios.

According to the editorial article mentioned above, the primate brain — also known as the conscious mind — tends to be more dominant during our everyday lives. This part communicates verbally and is more intellectual and rational than the reptilian and mammalian brains. But it was also the last part of our brain to evolve, and it can take a backseat in our thinking when we become stressed. “It’s the little brother to the reptilian and mammalian brain, and while this younger brother is smart, he gets overpowered by the bigger, buffer brothers that have been around longer,” Shaw says.

So, hypnosis may help you relax, and activate the brain's primal parts that tend to cause problems, per the aforementioned editorial article. It’s theorized that then, the hypnotherapist uses imagery and words that resonate with the unconscious brain, which may help guide these emotionally driven regions toward new ways of thinking that support the outcome you’re trying to achieve.

Is Hypnotherapy the Same Thing as Hypnosis?

The terms hypnotherapy and hypnosis are often used interchangeably, but they’re not quite the same thing.

Hypnotherapy is a form of psychotherapy that uses hypnosis to treat a health concern. But hypnosis in itself is not a therapy — it’s an everyday waking state we often fall into without even trying. For example: “We experience highway hypnosis; that’s a normal waking state where you’re driving down the highway, and all of a sudden you get to your destination, and you can’t remember how you got there,” Shaw says.

Artists and musicians also achieve a hypnotic state, “where hours fly by and then they look up from their project and think, ‘Where did the time go?’” Shaw says.

While hypnosis itself isn’t therapy, it can be used as a mechanism to deliver therapy, according to the aforementioned editorial article.

Hypnotherapy may be an effective complementary therapy to improve a variety of health conditions and concerns. Per the Icahn School of Medicine, the research evidence that supports these uses varies, but some include:

• Anxiety
• Postsurgical pain
• Insomnia
• Cancer-related pain
• Asthma
• Eating disorders
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Smoking cessation
• Indigestion
• Bed-wetting
• Phobias
• Addiction
• Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
• Fibromyalgia
• Skin disorders, such as acne, psoriasis, and eczema (atopic dermatitis)
• Tinnitus (ringing in the ears)
• Weight loss
• Labor and delivery
• Tension headaches

Hypnotherapy may be effective for many health conditions thanks to potential healing benefits, including:

• Promotes relaxation
• Reduces pain
• Eases anxiety and stress
• Encourages behavior change

Some patients and medical experts worry that hypnotherapy is dangerous. But hypnotherapy is mostly relatively safe and carries fewer risks than other treatments, such as pain medications. “Opioids, which are effective and useful in the short term to control pain, [can be] addicting and lethal,” says David Spiegel, MD, a hypnosis researcher and the medical director of the center for integrative medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine in California.

Harmful reactions to hypnosis are rare, but can include, per the Mayo Clinic:

• Dizziness
• Headache
• Nausea
• Drowsiness
• Anxiety or distress
• Sleep problems

Hypnotherapy can also be risky if carried out by someone who’s been poorly trained in hypnotic age regression, a technique in which a patient under hypnosis is instructed to recall a past event or regress to an earlier age to attempt to process a memory. If the hypnotherapist isn’t careful, a patient may develop false memories (called confabulations). And for some patients, those false memories can create emotional trauma, says Ginger Gibson, a certified hypnotherapist based in Freehold, New Jersey.

How can this happen? “An untrained hypnotist might slip when they’re asking questions; they might ask a close-ended question rather than an open-ended one,” Shaw says. For example, if a patient undergoing age regression recalls a memory of being with a trusted family member, a well-trained hypnotist may ask, “What’s going on? What’s happening?” But an untrained hypnotist may ask, “Did your family member hurt you?”

“Sometimes, in an emotional state, especially when a memory is vague, a patient may respond, ‘Yes, he did,’ and then you’re in trouble,” Shaw says. Instead of helping the patient uncover a memory on their own, the hypnotist has planted a new memory that may or may not be true.

Some people believe that hypnotherapists can control their words and actions while they’re under hypnosis. But the person being hypnotized is always conscious and in control. In fact, hypnosis is a way of enhancing self-control, Spiegel says. Hypnosis teaches people to focus attention and manage perceptions to create the outcomes they desire.

Despite the relative safety of hypnotherapy, it’s a good idea to consult your healthcare provider if you’re interested in trying hypnotherapy for a diagnosed condition. This is especially important if your condition is psychological (such as a phobia or PTSD), notes the Icahn School of Medicine. In these cases, you should be evaluated by a psychiatrist before starting hypnotherapy to see whether or not it may be an appropriate approach for you.

Research suggests hypnosis may be an effective approach for many health concerns, including pain. For example, a randomized clinical trial published in the July 2022 Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine compared patients who received a one-on-one 10-minute hypnosis session prior to knee surgery with a control group who didn't receive pre-surgery hypnosis. The hypnosis group used less opiate medication than the controls, but it was not statistically significant. The greater effect was on the select patients with previous opiate experience who received hypnosis. This group showed a 54 percent daily reduction in opioid use — equivalent to 65 milligrams (mg) less oxycodone per day. That said, more research is needed to explore the effects of hypnosis on opiate use after surgery.

Other studies reported positive outcomes from the use of hypnosis for pain. A past meta-analysis of 18 studies revealed moderate to large pain-relieving effects from hypnosis, supporting its efficacy for pain management. And a later study in healthy volunteers found that hypnosis reduced pain perceptions in a laboratory setting using a thermal skin test by approximately 50 percent.

Research suggests hypnosis may also be an effective method for helping treat anxiety. In a meta-analysis of 17 trials published in June 2019 in the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, researchers found that the average study participant who received hypnosis had 79 percent less anxiety than those who did not. The trials included people with dental anxiety, medical anxiety, general anxiety, and performance anxiety. The authors noted that hypnosis was more effective when combined with other psychological treatments, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).

In addition, hypnosis may have some affect on smoking cessation. A variety of studies and meta-analyses over many years have looked at hypnosis to reduce smoking, and many conclude there are some benefits, yet the more rigorous reviews point to biases in the design and insufficient evidence. Given the low risk of harm and the fact that research has not reported much in the way of adverse effects, it could still be explored after discussion with your primary doctor, along with other conventional approaches.

The field of hypnotherapy isn’t well regulated, and credentialing requirements vary by state. Your best bet for finding a qualified hypnotherapist or hypnotist is to search online directories offered through hypnotherapy and hypnosis organizations like the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis and the American Hypnosis Association.

Note that professional titles vary. In some states, only licensed mental health professionals, like psychologists and counselors, can refer to themselves as hypnotherapists. In these states, people who aren’t licensed mental health professionals go by the title of consulting hypnotist or clinical hypnotist, Shaw says.

Regardless of whether someone is a hypnotherapist or a clinical hypnotist, note that only licensed mental health professionals can use hypnosis to treat clinical mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, and PTSD. “I can help people change unwanted habits or behaviors, improve mood, or reduce stress, but that’s different from [treating] clinical anxiety or depression,” Shaw says.

You can schedule an initial consultation with a hypnotherapist or hypnotist to discuss their experience and approach, and to ensure they’re a good match personality-wise. “You have to be willing to be hypnotized by somebody else, and that takes trust and rapport with your hypnotherapist or hypnotist,” Shaw explains.