Hypnosis isn’t ‘hit or miss’ nor is it a ‘sure thing’ or even ‘mind control’. Many people have used hypnosis to quit smoking or lose weight but not all have succeeded. If hypnosis was mind control or a sure thing then everyone would be helped by hypnosis. So that myth is easily disproven by personal observation of the people who have experienced hypnosis. Of course, this leads to the belief that some people are ‘hypnotizable’ and some aren’t so a hypnosis session will either work or not work. This isn’t true either. Hypnosis is simply a state of focused concentration. Everyone can focus their attention. So hypnosis (and self-hypnosis) will work every time providing the person has no misconceptions or fears of hypnosis (i.e. they know they will also be aware and their minds can’t be controlled) AND they have the right attitude.
There is only one attitude that makes hypnosis and self-hypnosis work
That attitude is “I love this affirmation/suggestion and I want this change in myself’. If you focus your attention in a relaxed hypnotic state –with a genuine desire to achieve the change you are aiming for – then and only then can you re-program your subconscious mind with the new beliefs.
Three attitudes that block hypnosis and self-hypnosis from working
Don’t like the affirmation/suggestion – If you don’t like what you are hearing then, of course, you won’t want it to be a part of you. So it won’t. This is how it is in everyday waking life and how it is in hypnosis.
Neutrality – If you don’t care whether a particular affirmation/suggestion works or not then you have a neutral perspective. If you are neutral then you don’t have enough desire to make the change a part of you. So it won’t work.
You ‘hope’ it works – If you like what you’re hearing and want it to be a part of how you see and deal with life, BUT don’t really believe you can do it, then it won’t work. You may hope that you could make the particular change you heard in the affirmation/suggestion but you don’t believe it.
“In a hypnotherapist’s office, you can learn self-hypnosis. Don’t worry, you won’t lose control. You won’t do anything against your will. “No one takes away our choice under any conditions — no one can make you do anything you wouldn’t normally do,” says Jane Ann Covington, a hypnotist in Atlanta and founder of the Hypnosis Institute International Center for Developing Mastery.
In hypnosis, you don’t even lose consciousness, Covington tells WebMD.
“If I said something inappropriate to you, you would either disregard it or get up and leave,” she says. “You would react as you normally would.”
From WebMD’s article “Hypnosis Goes Mainstream”