The word hypnosis came from the Greek word ‘hypnos’ which means sleep. Before, hypnotherapy was considered risky by some people in the medical field because of its inclination to the metaphysical. Even the use of hypnosis was not famous because people see it as part of witchcrafts especially when shamans in ancient times influenced people with their minds during religious rituals. However, through the years, some people of science began to recognize the positive effect of hypnosis and somehow this slightly eliminates the bad faiths against hypnosis.

Hypnosis was first practiced by Franz Anton Mesmer, an Austrian physician who had faith that the cause of man’s mental illnesses comes from the magnetic fluids in his bodies that went out of its equilibrium. Since Mesmer studied the principle of hypnotism, he then used some hypnotic techniques along with some magnets to cure his patients suffering from slight dementia. Though some have been cured, this did not fully convince most of the people in the medical field and did not believed in his theories. Some even saw his methods as fraud and unscientific. It was during the 1900s when the medical community saw the full significance of hypnosis when Milton H. Erickson became widely popular for using hypnosis in his treatment. With so much support from most of the medical institutions in America, in 1958, the American Psychological Association and the American Medical Association have finally considered hypnosis and hypnotherapy as effective techniques in curing some of the mental issues of man that cannot be cured by other medical means.

In hypnotherapy, hypnotherapists use several techniques to bring their patients into trance and in deep relaxation. Once the patient is already in these states, he can be more prone to suggestions and agreement with the therapist. When a person is in a trance he can be more aware of himself and what he does and so he can fully master
his own state of awareness. Therefore, when he uncovers what keeps him with his addiction, he can now understand what made him addicted with some habits. Hypnotherapy is most useful in curing some of the habitual addictions that some people may have developed during their younger years.

Unfortunately, there are still some misconceptions about hypnotherapy because some people still see it as a risky treatment being one person to control another person’s mind. This is a big misconception because in hypnotherapy, the therapist simply taps the subconscious mind of his patients to reveal what is hidden that makes him do the habits. The hypnotherapist actually limits himself to go deeper beyond conditioning the mind of his patient.

People according to studies tend to develop addiction to some things because they believe something or someone has influenced them to make them addicted. So when people experienced some extreme events or develop an addiction to some bad habits, they have the tendency to connect it to certain events that have started it. For example, if a man will be asked why he turned to be a chain smoker, he can declare that as a young man, he can see his father smoke as well as his friends too and this led him to smoke altogether.

Literally, having a bad habit can affect the physical and emotional state of a person. In hypnotherapy, hypnosis is used to bring the mind of the person in a trance and the hypnotherapist will ask the patient to remember what causes his habits. When all are revealed, the hypnotherapist will then replace the negative emotions, tensions, anxieties and feeling of repression and depression with positive emotions. In this manner, the hypnotherapist will induce renewed personality to the patient and delineate his negative side into the constructive side that when he wakes up some of the negative thoughts that cause his addiction have already vanished. Hypnotherapy can last for few sessions depending on the needs of the patient but positively it can make the person develop self-confidence and will have renewed outlook with things.