In fact, ‘getting hypnotised’ involves a state shift or deepening – something happens to your level of attention that subjectively feels different from what it was a moment or two ago. In this case, the dissociation refers to what you aren’t paying attention to anymore. For this reason, when there is absorption, there is also dissociation. Intuitively, if you’re going to be focused in on something, you have to be focused out of something as well. For example, when athletes say they are ‘in the zone’, they are describing a hypnotic state. Hypnosis is a state of focused or heightened attention (known as ‘absorption’) that is reflected in changes in key brain networks involved in mental focus and control. What’s more, there has long been disagreement over how to understand the state of hypnosis, and about what the procedural process of doing hypnosis looks like. Part of the confusion about hypnosis lies over the fact that the term ‘hypnosis’ can refer to a state or a procedure. My hope is that you will come away feeling well-informed about whether hypnosis might be right for you and the people close to you – and what to do next to get started. I’m an experienced clinical psychologist who uses hypnosis in my work, and in this Guide I will help you understand what hypnosis involves, give you an idea of the kinds of difficulties it can address, and show you how to try self-hypnosis, as well as how to find a suitably qualified therapist if you want to take things further. In 2009, Jack Watkins, a psychologist and early practitioner of clinical hypnosis, wrote an article: ‘Hypnosis: Seventy Years of Amazement, and Still Don’t Know What It Is!’ His title says it all – even the experts have had a hard time agreeing on an exact definition of hypnosis.
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