7. Hypnosis in the Clinic
Written on Feb 19, 2026
Let's now consider the context in which hypnosis is used by a medical doctor, dentist, psychotherapist or counsellor. The basic procedure is as follows. The practitioner will normally administer a hypnotic induction procedure to the patient or client (I shall just use the term 'patient' or 'subject' here for convenience), usually one which is replete with imagery and suggestions of physical and mental relaxation, focusing on the practitioner's voice and inner experiences. They will then conduct whatever therapy is planned, which will often involve the use of abundant suggestions (including post-hypnotic suggestions) and various imaginal ploys as appropriate. At the conclusion of this, the practitioner will alert the patient.
First consider the influence of context on how the subject experiences hypnosis and the behaviour of both the subject and the hypnotist. The context defines the demands on each participant and their expectations about what is to happen and how each of them are to behave. In short, the subject is to behave as a patient and the hypnotist as a doctor, therapist, or whatever. So, for example, unlike the in the context of a stage show, the hypnotist will not be suggesting that the subject will quack like a duck or feel completely intoxicated, having drunk copious amounts of alcohol.
That much is obvious. More significant here is the difference in the quality of the responses of subjects on stage and in the clinic to the same suggestions. For example, when given suggestions that they are feeling tired and sleepy, relatively little outward change is noted in the responses of subjects in the clinic (and the laboratory, for that matter), whereas on stage, participants may slump in their chairs, drape themselves over one another, and even slide to the floor as though in a stupor. And in the clinic, a subject responding to the suggestion of being a child again will usually remain relatively unchanged in their demeanour, though, again in accordance with the context, they may, say, become upset if a painful memory is triggered. Stage participants on the other hand fidget, giggle, jump off their chairs and run around, fight with one another, and so on, all in a childlike manner.
Clearly these differences arise because the demands on the stage require participants to be immediately responsive and give a highly visible and flamboyant performance for the entertainment of the onlookers. Such is decidedly not the case in the clinic!
I shall now present a very simple outline of what is either implicit or explicit in the application of hypnosis in the context of the treatment of physical and mental health problems.
Firstly, when hypnosis is used for therapeutic purposes it nearly always involves, at least in the first stages, procedures aimed at helping the patient experience a state of mental and physical relaxation and often patients are instructed in the use of these procedures in their everyday life (self-hypnosis). This cannot be other than beneficial for anyone, and certainly for many people with physical and psychological problems.
Secondly, it is assumed that having undergone the induction procedure, the patient becomes more receptive to the practitioner's ministrations, suggestions and other communications. In other words, unlike in the laboratory, for clinicians and therapists, the idea of some kind of altered state of awareness or trance is central to their understanding of hypnosis.
Thirdly: Some practitioners go further and adhere to the notion that the subject's receptiveness arises because the trance state allows suggestions to be 'implanted in the subject's unconscious mind' and thus will operate more automatically without the usual effort on their part. So here we have the idea of communication with the unconscious mind. However, this communication is assumed to be two-way, and it is claimed that in the hypnotic trance, significant memories, conflicts, desires, anxieties, and so on that are not being allowed conscious expression - that is, they are repressed - may be allowed such expression and then resolution. Some clinicians adopt a more Jungian notion of the unconscious: patients already have the personal resources to solve their problems, but these are not immediately obvious or accessible to them (hence they are 'unconscious').
I have much more to say about hypnosis in medical, dental and psychotherapeutic practice. In the next post I shall examine the idea of what practitioners often call the 'therapeutic trance' in further detail.
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