The Science Behind Hypnotherapy. This is to explain what hypnotherapy is and isn’t.
What Is the Science Behind Hypnotherapy?
The evidence suggests that hypnotherapy is a real psychological state or process that can influence attention, perception, and behaviour for the better.
The best way to describe hypnotherapy would be as a state of focused attention, reduced awareness of distractions and increased responsiveness to suggestions that help you.
Delving deeper, brain imaging studies using fMRI (this measures changes in blood flow to different brain regions, so when a group of neurons becomes more active, it uses more oxygen) and EEG (this stands for electroencephalogram - it’s a test that records the electrical activity of your brain using small sensors placed on your scalp. In effect the tiny electrical signals produced when large groups of neurons fire together) have found measurable changes during hypnosis, including in the brain regions involved in:
- Attention – helping you sustain focus on a specific idea or experience.
- Pain processing – altering how your brain interprets pain signals.
- Self-awareness – changing how thoughts and sensations are experienced. You’re less bothered by interrupting thought in other words
- Executive control – influencing how suggestions are integrated into new more helpful thoughts and behaviour.
Why the science behind hypnotherapy matters.
Being backed by science means it's one of the most reliable ways to measure the effect of hypnotherapy, rather than relying on intuition, tradition, or authority alone, the science uses observation, experimentation, and evidence.
Science provides methods to test hypnotherapy objectively.
What is the science behind hypnotherapy?
Technically hypnotherapy is a form of therapy that uses hypnosis to help you work on specific psychological or physical issues. During a session, a trained hypnotherapist (me) guides you into a state of focused attention and relaxation, then uses therapeutic techniques and suggestions aimed at your goals.
It's important to distinguish the two terms:
- Hypnosis is the mental state—focused attention and increased responsiveness to suggestions.
- Hypnotherapy is the therapeutic use of that state to help address a problem you’re facing, for example a fear, phobia, a stress, or anxiety.
Understanding the hypnotic state
The hypnotic state is a mental state characterised by focused attention, reduced awareness of distractions, and increased responsiveness to suggestion.
Although people often associate hypnosis with sleep or a trance, research shows that a person under hypnosis is typically awake, aware, and able to communicate.
Here's how scientists and clinicians understand it.
Focused attention. During hypnosis, attention becomes highly concentrated on a specific thought, image, memory, or the therapist's voice. This intense focus can make external distractions seem less noticeable, much like becoming so absorbed in a book or movie that you lose track of what's happening around you.
Reduced peripheral awareness. In a hypnotic state you often pay less attention to irrelevant sights, sounds, or thoughts. This doesn't mean you’re unconscious, rather your attention is selectively directed toward the experience of hypnosis. You’ve ‘zoned in’.
Increased responsiveness to suggestion. One of the defining features of hypnosis is that you respond more readily to suggestions that help you, match your goals, dial down your fears. For example, a hypnotherapist (me) might suggest you:
- feel calmer in stressful situations.
- view a pain in your body as less intense, even not notice it at all.
- Imagining not feeling any pressure in a situation.
- Build strengthening confidence in overcoming a habit.
These suggestions are not commands. You retain the ability to reject suggestions you find uncomfortable, or inconsistent with your values.
Deep relaxation. Many hypnotic inductions (that means the process to get you to relax) involve techniques and people often report feeling physically calmer.
Changes in perception. Hypnosis can influence how people experience sensations, emotions, and perceptions. For example, under hypnosis, some individuals may:
- Experience reduced pain.
- Feel less anxious.
- Imagine sensations more vividly.
- Feel happier, more in control, less bothered.
How Does Hypnotherapy Work?
Hypnotherapy works by focussing your attention, relaxing you, letting you use your imagination, and being open to accept therapeutic suggestions to help you change how you think, feel, perceive sensations, and respond to situations.
Its strongest scientific support is for areas such as pain management, IBS, and anxiety related to medical procedures.
What Happens in the Brain During Hypnosis?
During hypnosis, your brain doesn’t switch off, or enter a mysterious state.
Research suggests that hypnosis involves the brain undergoes changes in the "default mode network”.
This is where you:
- Reflect on yourself
- think about the past, or future
- let your mind wander.
Studies suggest hypnosis may alter activity and communication within this network. This may contribute to changes in self-awareness, such as feeling deeply absorbed in an image, memory, or suggestion.
Another area that undergoes change during hypnosis is your brain’s
executive control system. This helps you with:
- Decision-making
- Self-control
- Evaluating information.
During hypnosis, research suggests there may be changes in how these control systems interact with other brain networks. This helps you become more open to therapeutic suggestions while still maintaining awareness and judgment.
Where this can help is in changing perception and pain processing
One of the strongest areas of hypnotherapy research is pain.
Pain is not simply a signal from the body - it's an experience created by the brain. Hypnosis may influence:
- How strongly pain signals are experienced
- How much attention is given to pain
- The emotional response to discomfort.
Brain imaging studies have found changes in regions involved in pain processing during hypnotic pain control. “Dialling down the pain” as it were.
Also your brain under hypnosis can change your imagination and mental imagery. Hypnosis often involves vivid imagination. So when you imagine an experience such as feeling calm, safe, or confident, the brain can activate some of the same areas involved in actually experiencing aspects of that event.
This is why guided imagery and mental rehearsal can be powerful tools in therapy and performance training.
A simple analogy is if you imagine your brain as a computer with many programs running. Say normal waking life with many programs competing for attention.
Then with hypnosis there are fewer programs running in the foreground, allowing one selected process (such as relaxation, imagery, or a therapeutic goal) to receive more attention and processing power.
In summary what we’re saying is that the brain during hypnosis appears to enter a state of focused attention with altered patterns of communication between brain networks.
It is NOT a loss of consciousness, but a shift in how the brain processes information. This may help explain why hypnosis can influence pain, anxiety, habits, and perception.
The Psychology of Suggestion
Suggestion is one of the central mechanisms in hypnotherapy. A suggestion is an idea, statement, or mental image that is intended to influence your thoughts, feelings, perceptions, or behaviours.
Hypnosis simply makes it easier to “land the message’. Be more receptive to suggestions that fit your goals.
Suggestion is not unique to hypnosis. You respond to suggestions in everyday life. For example, when your coach encourages confidence before a competition, or when your doctor reassures you before a medical procedure.
But what hypnosis appears to create is a mental state so suggestions can have a stronger effect.
Classic suggestions include:
- "As you breathe, you may begin to feel calmer."
- "You can imagine handling stressful situations with confidence."
- "The discomfort fades away.”
Imagination and mental rehearsal. The brain often responds to vividly imagined experiences in ways that resemble real experiences.
For example, athletes commonly use mental rehearsal to practice skills before competition. Similarly, in hypnotherapy, guided imagery may help you mentally rehearse:
- Remaining calm during a presentation.
- Resisting the urge to smoke.
- Coping confidently with anxiety-provoking situations like public speaking.
Repeated mental practice can reinforce new patterns of thinking and behaviour.
Cognitive and emotional changes. Suggestions may influence several psychological processes, including:
- Attention – directing focus toward helpful thoughts and away from distractions.
- Perception – changing how sensations, such as pain, are experienced.
- Emotion – encouraging calmer emotional responses.
- Motivation – reinforcing commitment to personal goals.
These changes are generally strongest when the suggestions are meaningful and consistent with the person's own intentions.
Individual differences
Not everyone responds to suggestions in the same way.
Factors that influence responsiveness include:
- Natural hypnotic responsiveness (hypnotisability)
- Motivation to change
- Trust in the therapist
- The relevance of the suggestions to the person's goals
Some people experience dramatic changes, while others notice only subtle effects.
What suggestion cannot do
Despite popular myths, suggestions cannot reliably:
- Force someone to act against their deeply held values.
- Guarantee accurate recovery of forgotten memories.
- Make someone permanently change after a single session.
Successful hypnotherapy usually involves repeated practice and active participation by the client.
The Science Behind Hypnotherapy. The conditions science supports
These are just some of the conditions that science has validated.
1. Pain management. Including chronic pain, childbirth pain, and even pain associated with medical procedures. For instance, a meta-analysis published in the Journal of Pain found that hypnosis was significantly effective in reducing pain intensity and medication usage in chronic pain patients.
2. Smoking cessation. Hypnotherapy has been used as a smoking cessation aid with promising results. A study published in the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis revealed that individuals who received hypnotherapy for smoking cessation were more likely to remain smoke-free compared to those who attempted to quit without it.
3. Anxiety and stress reduction. Research published in the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis reported significant reductions in anxiety and improved coping mechanisms among participants who underwent hypnotherapy.
4. Weight loss and eating problems. Studies have found that hypnotherapy, used in conjunction with other interventions, can lead to sustained weight loss and positive changes in eating behaviours.
5. Sleep disorders. Research published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine showed that hypnosis improved sleep quality and decreased the time it took participants to fall asleep.
6. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Hypnotherapy has been considered a complementary treatment for PTSD. Studies have suggested that hypnosis can help alleviate PTSD symptoms and aid in trauma processing.
Common myths and misconceptions about hypnotherapy.
To some it’s still seen as woo woo, the snake in Jungle Book, a man in a film with a pocket watch, Kenny Craig in Little Britain, or someone on stage dancing the funky chicken.
Yep, all these things exist, But Ill be clear I’m talking about clinical hypnotherapy. Hypnosis used to heal a condition, belief thought or behaviour that is hurting you and leaving you out of sorts.
Not - NOT - hypnosis as entertainment.
Is Hypnotherapy Right for Everyone?
No. Absolutely not. Hypnotherapy is generally not recommended for with:
Active Psychosis: Conditions like schizophrenia where distinguishing reality from fantasy is difficult.
Dissociative Disorders: Trouble maintaining a consistent sense of self makes hypnosis difficult.
Severe Depression: Deep depressive states can block the focus needed to engage in the process.
This is just as much a part of the science behind hypnotherapy.
The Science Behind Hypnotherapy blended with therapeutic practice
This is where the ‘art” comes in. The art of conversation. The art of understanding.
One of the key factors in making hypnotherapy effective is how well I (the hypnotherapist) get on with you (the client).
It’s called the therapeutic alliance, also know as trust and ironically for this article, chemistry.
Basically how well we get on.
Want to meet?
I’m James Thomas, The Gentle Mind. I called my company this because a believe that when you’re calm you make better decisions about yourself.
Feel free to contact me at jamesthomas@thegentlemind.co.uk or call 07787563099.
