As a Clinical Hypnotherapist with years of experience, I have seen first-hand how hypnosis can transform lives—helping individuals lose weight, quit smoking, and find relief from anxiety. However, it’s important to understand that while hypnosis and hypnotherapy offer many benefits, they do not solve every problem.
My name is Darren, and I’m a certified hypnotherapist at Stop Hypnosis, specialising in mental health issues, weight management, fears and phobias, and smoking and vaping cessation. In this article, I will discuss three things hypnosis cannot achieve—no matter how skilled the hypnotherapist or how suggestible the client may be.
What Hypnosis Can’t Do: The Limitations
Hypnosis is a highly effective method for addressing various issues, especially for those willing to try to explore their inner resources. However, like any tool, it has its limitations and is not meant to be a quick fix for every problem.
Let’s take a look at the top three things hypnotherapy cannot achieve.
Hypnosis Cannot Cure Serious Physical Illnesses
One common misconception about hypnosis is that it can heal serious physical conditions like cancer, diabetes, or heart disease. In reality, hypnotherapy is highly effective for enhancing mental and emotional well-being, but it should never be seen as a substitute for the medical treatment of serious illnesses.
Hypnosis is not a substitute for medical treatment or prescribed medications; it is best suited for promoting general health and well-being. While it would be remarkable if we could heal physical ailments solely through the power of the mind, the brain—though powerful—cannot always overcome diseases that require medical intervention.
Facts to Know:
- Among patients with chronic diseases, hypnotherapy also has pain-relieving effects.
- It may help with chemotherapy symptom relief (e.g., nausea or anxiety) but does not serve as a cancer treatment per se.
Hypnosis Cannot Control Your Mind or Make You Act Against Your Will
A common myth about hypnotherapy is that it can make you do things against your will, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Hypnosis is not mind control.
Even in a deep state of hypnosis, your mind remains in control, and you will never do anything that goes against your will or ethical values. This misconception often arises with clients who are nervous or sceptical before their first session.
The idea that a hypnotherapist can force you to act against your will has been fueled by movies and stage hypnosis shows, but real hypnosis is far less dramatic and entirely different from these portrayals.
Key Points to Remember:
- You are in control — for the entire session.
- Hypnotherapy works with your desires and cannot force you to act against your values.
- It’s often used in collaboration with your subconscious, but you will always reject suggestions against your beliefs.
During hypnotherapy sessions, you always remain fully aware and in control. No one can make you act against your will or values. Hypnosis is about relaxation and focus—not a loss of control. As your hypnotherapist, I work with your mind, not against it. You will only accept suggestions that align with your true wants and needs.
For example, in a hypnotherapy session to quit smoking, the process is interactive. Together, we work to reframe thoughts and habits, but real change always comes from within you. Even in a deep trance, your conscious mind is still present and can reject any suggestion that doesn’t feel right.
Whether the session is focused on weight loss, quitting vaping, or relieving anxiety, my role is to guide you, but you are always in control. You remain aware of everything happening and can reject suggestions that don’t resonate with you.
Hypnosis Cannot Change Your Personality
One of the most common fears about hypnotherapy is the idea that it can fundamentally change who you are. Some worry they’ll emerge from a session as a completely different person, with altered values, beliefs, or personality traits. Let me reassure you: hypnosis cannot and does not change your core identity.
For example, if you’re naturally introverted, hypnosis won’t suddenly turn you into the life of the party. However, it can help you handle situations more confidently by enhancing the qualities you already possess.
Hypnosis is designed to modify behaviours or habits, not your personality. Whether you seek hypnotherapy for managing anxiety or stress, it helps you improve how your body and mind respond—but your core values, ethics, and character remain unchanged.
Key Insights:
- Hypnosis can help you reduce fear and boost self-confidence, but it won’t change who you are at your core.”
- “While hypnosis is great for managing stress, anxiety, insomnia, or improving public speaking, it won’t alter your core personality.
When clients come to me for help, I remind them that hypnosis works by enhancing the strengths and qualities already within them, not by transforming them into someone else. Hypnosis can assist in managing depressive thoughts, improving sleep, and reducing anxiety, but it won’t change the fundamental aspects of who you are.
For example, if you’re seeking hypnotherapy for anxiety, it can help reframe negative thought patterns and build mental resilience, but it strengthens your existing mental framework rather than creating a new one.
Every day, I help clients seeking to improve their lives, whether by quitting smoking or vaping or managing stress and anxiety. While hypnosis helps them reach these goals, their core identity remains unchanged.
What Hypnosis Can Do: The Benefits of Hypnotherapy
Now that we’ve discussed the limitations of hypnosis, let’s explore what it can achieve. Hypnosis is a highly effective tool for addressing specific behaviours and mental health challenges, including:
1. Helping You Quit Smoking or Vaping
Many of my clients seek hypnotherapy to quit vaping or smoking—two of the most common and effective applications of hypnosis. In a deeply relaxed state, your mind becomes more receptive to suggestions, allowing me to help you reframe your relationship with smoking or vaping.
Through focused sessions, we work together to reduce cravings, reshape your mindset, and help you break free from these habits permanently. Hypnotherapy has been life-changing for many of my clients who have battled smoking or vaping for years.
2. Managing Mental Health Conditions
Hypnotherapy is highly effective for reducing anxiety and managing stress. I’ve witnessed firsthand how hypnosis helps individuals achieve a state of calm and focus, enabling them to navigate life’s challenges with greater ease.
Hypnotherapy allows us to address negative thought patterns and replace them with positive, empowering beliefs, which ultimately relieve stress and anxiety, amongst other mental health issues.
3. Overcoming Fears and Phobias
Many clients turn to hypnotherapy to help them overcome specific fears and phobias that disrupt their daily lives. By guiding you into a deeply relaxed state, hypnosis allows us to explore the root of your fear and gradually change your response.
Whether you’re struggling with a fear of heights, spiders, or flying, hypnotherapy can help you regain control, reducing the emotional intensity of your reactions.
Addressing Common Misconceptions
Here are a few myths and realities about hypnotherapy that often arise during consultations:
- Myth: Hypnosis is mind control.
- Reality: You are always in control and cannot be made to do anything you don’t want to.
- Myth: Hypnosis can cure physical diseases.
- Reality: While hypnosis helps manage symptoms, it cannot cure physical illnesses.
- Myth: Hypnosis can erase memories.
Reality: Hypnosis cannot erase or permanently delete memories. While it can help reframe how you perceive or react to certain memories, it doesn’t remove them entirely. Hypnotherapy is more about managing and processing emotional responses to past experiences rather than erasing them. - Myth: Only weak-minded or easily influenced people can be hypnotised.
Reality: Hypnosis works on people of varying personalities and intellects. The ability to enter a hypnotic state depends on your willingness and openness to the process, not on mental strength or intelligence. It’s about being open to suggestions, not being weak-minded.
- Myth: You will be unconscious or asleep during hypnosis.
Reality: During hypnosis, you are in a state of focused awareness, not unconsciousness. You remain awake and aware of your surroundings, though you are deeply relaxed and more open to suggestions. - Myth: You can get “stuck” in hypnosis and not wake up.
Reality: It’s impossible to get stuck in hypnosis. Hypnosis is a natural state of mind; you can exit it anytime. If left alone, a person will leave the trance naturally or fall asleep and wake up as usual. - Myth: Hypnosis can make you reveal secrets against your will.
Reality: Hypnosis does not make you lose control or reveal private information unless you choose to. You maintain full control over what you say and do, and a skilled hypnotherapist will not ask inappropriate or invasive questions.
How I Can Help You: Darren, Clinical Hypnotherapist
As a Clinical Hypnotherapist at Stop Hypnosis, I’m dedicated to helping individuals reach their personal goals. I hold an AIM Award in Hypnotherapy and Counselling Skills and specialise in areas such as smoking and vaping cessation.
To learn more or get in touch, visit my About Me page! I’m always here to listen and support, even if it’s just to offer a compassionate ear. I’m approachable and open, so don’t hesitate to reach out—there’s no obligation.
If you’re ready to take the first step toward positive change, contact me at 07359 627 584 or email me at darren@stophypnosis.co.uk.
Conclusion
While hypnosis has its limitations, it is a powerful tool for enhancing mental and emotional well-being. Whether you’re dealing with smoking, anxiety, weight loss, or insomnia, hypnotherapy could be the solution you’ve been searching for.
As a certified hypnotherapist with years of experience, I am dedicated to helping clients achieve their goals and lead healthier, more fulfilling lives. Contact me for a personalised consultation, and begin your journey to a better you today.