Psychologist Olga Gilman reported that hypnotherapy helps relieve tension in the body, explaining how this therapy can contribute to reducing chronic anxiety and limiting automatic negative reactions.
According to the expert, this method is particularly suitable for anxiety disorders, panic attacks, psychological and physical symptoms, chronic stress, and repetitive behavioral patterns in life.
Gilman emphasizes that there is a fundamental difference between theatrical hypnosis and medical hypnosis.
She says: "In theatrical hypnotherapy, the goal is to perform and suggest, while in therapy we work on the internal experience to relieve the tension that has accumulated in the body over years, and sometimes even decades."
The mechanism of action is explained as follows: the therapist helps the person to engage with the problem rather than avoid it, allowing for the reprocessing of the incomplete experience and the adoption of a new response, this time at the subconscious level.
She adds: “The most important thing is that addressing the root cause changes the response without the need for willpower. When the essence of the problem is removed, the symptoms disappear, just as weeds wither when their roots are pulled out. The changes occur at the level of mental structure, not at the level of superficial reactions. Then the person stops struggling with the past and begins to look to the future with new energy, desires, and goals.”
The expert also refutes three common myths about hypnotherapy: “They will control me” (untrue), “I will not wake up from the hypnotic state” (impossible), and “It is a kind of magic” (it is actually a science related to attention and cognitive processes).
In conclusion, she points to the contraindications for the use of hypnotherapy, foremost among them being acute psychological conditions, where it is used only within a specialized inpatient therapeutic environment.
She warns: "The main danger lies in resorting to an unqualified specialist, so it is essential to check the academic qualifications, whether in clinical psychology or medicine, in addition to specialized training in hypnotherapy."
