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What is the Difference Between Hypnosis and Counseling?

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Hypnosis is a state of consciousness during which people are more suggestible. The suggestions can be given by a therapist or doctor and can also be given by people to themselves. 

 

Counseling occurs when someone is given assistance or guidance regarding how to resolve a personal or psychological issue. 

 

When people seek therapy with hypnosis, usually hypnosis and counseling are combined. However, this is not always necessaryFor example, let us discuss a case in which a child reports that she wakes up several times a night, and says she does not know why. 

 

How would this situation be treated with hypnosis alone? The child could be taught to calm herself using imagery of being in her favorite place – perhaps building sandcastles on the beachThe child would be instructed to use this hypnotic state at bedtime and given the suggestion that hypnosis will help her fall asleep faster and stay asleep through the night. 

 

How would this be situation be treated with counseling alone? The doctor might question the child about use of electronics in bed and find out that she stays up until midnight to text her friends, and then each time she wakes up at night she checks to see if there were any text responses. If there were, then she responds immediately. It is obvious in this case why the child’s sleep becomes disrupted. The child would be provided with counseling to turn off the phone at 10 pm and leave it in a different room.  

 

A combination of hypnosis and counseling is often the most effective. In the case of a child I treated, who said she did not know why she wakes up at night, hypnosis was used to gain insight into the problem. I asked to use hypnosis to imagine herself sleeping, and to note what thoughts are in her mind just before she awakens. In hypnosis, she said she saw that just before she awoke her cat came into her room and awakened her. She then threw her cat off the bed and went back to sleepThis pattern recurred throughout the night. When she came out of hypnosis, I asked her if she knew her cat was waking her up. She said she had forgotten that. So, I counseled her to close her bedroom door at nightProblem solved! 

 

Increasing the Breadth of Counseling 

Hypnosis can also be used to help people learn how to counsel themselves. With hypnosis, many people can learn to connect with and learn from their subconscious. In my experience, the patients’ subconscious is often smarter and wiser than the patients, and therefore can be an important source of guidance. 

 

As a physician, I often ally myself with my patient’s subconscious and we act as co-therapists. For example, before asking the patient a potentially sensitive question, I might ask the subconscious regarding whether the patient is ready to answer such a question. Or I might ask the subconscious for solutions to a patient’s problem, and often find the patients report remarkable perspectives that help prompt their rapid healing. 

 

Take Home Message 

In dealing with an issue, patients often benefit from therapy that involves both suggestions for improvement through use of hypnosis, and externally or internally derived advice regarding how to best cope. 

 

About Center Point Medicine 

You can learn more about Center Point Medicine, hypnosis, and other great topics by following us on social media or heading over to our website. New blogs are added weekly. A list of all current blogs can be found HERE.

For medical professionals looking to open their own Center Point Medicine office providing pediatric counseling and hypnosis services to your local community, please follow this LINK to learn more about our franchising opportunities. 

 

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Author
Profile Photo or Ran D. Anbar, MD, FAAP Ran D. Anbar, MD Ran D. Anbar, MD, FAAP, is board certified in both pediatric pulmonology and general pediatrics, offering hypnosis and counseling services at Center Point Medicine in La Jolla, California, and Syracuse, New York. Dr. Anbar is also a fellow and approved consultant of the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis. Dr. Anbar is a leader in clinical hypnosis, and his 20 years of experience have allowed him to successfully treat over 5,000 children. He also served as a professor of pediatrics and medicine and the director of pediatric pulmonology at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York, for 21 years.

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