There is a lot of propaganda about hypnosis circulating on the Internet. And to compound the confusion, there have always been a lot of old "wives tales" and misconceptions about it. This article will separate the lies from the truths and give you a clear understanding about what can and cannot be accomplished with hypnosis.

Hypnosis was accepted by the AMA in 1958 as an effective scheme for treating tension, and stress related symptoms. But does it really work, and what should a person look for when seeking a hypnotist, or procuring hypnosis tapes & CDs?

There are many noteworthy hypnotic modalities that are used to reach the unconscious mind to invoke change. There are many misconceptions about hypnosis. And each hypnotic technique has its strengths and its weaknesses. Every person is different, so it makes sense that the best results will be obtained by utilizing the methods that each person will have the most success with.

Most people who sell hypnosis CD's and tapes offer CD's that consist of standard traditional hypnosis methods. A few vendors offer much more current and effective Ericksonian Hypnosis methods. And fewer still offer NLP or Neuro-Linguistic Programming methods.

The newest and most effective technique is video hypnosis. Video hypnosis utilizes the latest NLP mind patterns to produce instant change in a hypnotic subject. Video hypnosis methods are not subliminal in nature.

With "Traditional Hypnosis," we simply make direct commands to the unconscious mind. In case you are wondering, as far as I'm concerned, the term unconscious, and subconscious are indistinguishable -- they refer to the same part of the mind. This type of hypnosis works well for a person who generally accepts what they are told without a lot of questions.

Most hypnosis tapes sold today are based on "Traditional Hypnosis" techniques. This reason is it really doesn't take much experience to create a script and just command an individual to do something. Unfortunately Traditional Hypnosis is not very compelling for people who are analytical in their thinking processes.

By contrast, Ericksonian Hypnosis and Neuro-linguistic programming techniques work far more efficiently for most people today! This is because today people are taught to question everything, rather than just do what everyone else is doing. So these methods do work very well on people who are critical or analytical in their thinking processes.

While it's true that these techniques have a much greater success rate at reaching and influencing the unconscious, it's also true that it can take a great deal of experience to learn how to apply these methods efficiently. So this is a task taken on by only truly dedicated hypno-technicians.

With "Ericksonian Hypnosis," we use little stories; called hypnotic metaphors, to present new ideas to the subconscious mind. This is a powerful and effective method, because it usually eliminates the resistance to suggestions that is often caused by the conscious mind. There are two types of metaphors, "Isomorphic," and those of the imbedded command or "interspersal" nature.

Isomorphic metaphors guide the subconscious by telling a story that provides a moral. The subconscious draws a one-on-one relationship between contents of the story and parts of a problem situation or behavior. For example, if a child is telling a lot of lies, the hypnotherapist might tell the child the story about the "Boy who cried wolf." The subconscious would draw a comparison between the boy in the story and the child, and realize that telling lies could lead to disaster, so the child would probably stop lying.

With the Embedded Command technique, the hypnotist tells an enlightening story that distracts the conscious mind. The story contains covert direct suggestions that are usually accepted by the subconscious. For example: While the subject is in hypnosis, he will usually hear the hypnotist say something like: I'm going to tell you a story about a [beach that has feelings. Isn't that] strange to [you]? It's a warm summer's day, and the beach [feels great].

The hypnotist pauses, shifts his voice tonality, and emphasizes the bracketed text. The subconscious recognizes a "Selectional restriction violation." Beaches can't have feelings. So it's like the subconscious says to itself: "Wait a minute, a beach can't feel anything, so that must mean that I'm supposed to feel something, and I'm supposed to [feel great]." Since the suggestions are embedded in a tale that is distracting the conscious mind, its unlikely that the conscious will realize that it has just received a suggestion, so it won't block it or resist it.

"Process Instructions" direct the subconscious to remember a past event of an experience from the past where something appropriate was learned, and then apply that learned experience to eliminate bad behaviors in the present.

With "Neuro-Linguistic Programming" (NLP), rather than using hypnotic suggestions, we use the same thought processes that are creating a problem, like nail biting or stress, to get rid of the problem. NLP in the hands of a trained and experienced practitioner can be very effective.

NLP Anchoring: Have you ever heard some old music and had it recreate feelings from the past? When you originally listened to the music, you were feeling those feelings, and they unconsciously became attached to the melody of the song. So the song became an Anchor for the feelings. Now when you hear the song, it triggers the same feelings again.

Anchoring can be a very effective methodology. Suppose that you have a memory of being commended for having a great accomplishment in the past. If you get back inside of that memory, you'll be able to recall the feeling of self-esteem that you had at that time. If you touch two fingers together while you re-experience those feelings of self-esteem, that touch will become an anchor for the feelings of self-esteem.

Now suppose that you want to create motivation to stick to a diet and lose weight. If you make a mental image of yourself with a thin, sexy body, and simultaneously trigger the anchor - (press the two fingers together again), your subconscious will attach the feelings of self-esteem to the image of you with the thin body and your level of motivation to lose weight will increase markedly.

NLP Flash: This is a very effective and powerful Neuro-linguistic programming methodology that can be used to turn things around in the subconscious, so that thoughts and experiences that used to trigger feelings of stress actually trigger relaxation instead.

The NLP Flash method is also a powerful way to extinguish conditioned responses. For example: If a smoker has a cigarette while drinking coffee, his/her unconscious will connect the behaviors together so that he/she automatically gets a craving for a cigarette anytime he/she has a cup of coffee. The Flash will cause the smoker's mind to disassociate the image of a cigarette from the cup of coffee so that he/she does NOT get a compulsion to smoke just because he/she is drinking coffee.

With "subliminal" methods, the recording has double tracks. One track contains a cover sound that is heard by the conscious mind. The cover sound could be anything from music to the sound of a thunderstorm. The other track contains ideas that are listened to by the unconscious mind. These suggestions are repeated many, many times during a session.

Subliminal programs can be played while you are driving or working. You don't have to stop what you are doing and relax like you do with self-hypnosis or NLP. Subliminals can be used as an adjunct to hypnotism. But Subliminals will never replace Hypnotism or NLP because they are not as effective! They're not even in the same universe!! Some researchers claim that it can take up to 80 hours of listening to a subliminal tape before it will have any effect on many people.

The last hypnotic methodology that we're going to discuss is "Video Hypnosis." Video Hypnosis is the most useful form of hypnosis! The techniques used in video hypnosis are based on the NLP technology, which works based on the utilization of a person's existing thought processes instead of hypnotic suggestions.

Over 70% of the people on the planet learn more automatically by seeing, rather then by hearing. Think about it. If you feel an craving to smoke or eat when watching television, it's because your unconscious recorded the video image of either food in your hand, or a cigarette in your hand, and then associated that image with the depiction of the TV. You never spoke to yourself and told yourself in words to associate them together, correct?

And that's why the Video Hypnosis technology is so effective. Video Hypnosis is not hypnotic in the traditional sense, relying on the spoken word. But if you've ever shed a tear when watching a depressing film, then you know how practical Video Hypnosis can be at reaching the subconscious mind. With this technique, results usually start with the very first viewing!

The hypnotic video technology has been perfected for losing weight with hypnosis and for quitting smoking with hypnosis.

(c) 2006 By Alan B. Densky. This article can be reprinted as long as it is not altered and the author's name and clickable web address are retained.

Alan B. Densky, CH has been pioneer in the appetite suppression and weight loss field since 1978. Visit his hypnotherapy site to enjoy his Free hypnosis videos, or learn about his powerful weight loss self hypnosis programs or his Patented video weight loss hypnosis cd.