faq

• Does it work?
• Does it work even if I don't believe in it?
• How many sessions does it take to work?
• Can you hypnotize me even if others were unable to do so or if I just don't believe I can be hypnotized?
• Does hypnosis work with only one session?
• What can you do hypnosis for?
• Will I go to sleep?
• What will I experience?
• What if you hypnotize me to do something bad?
• How can you help me if I tried hypnosis before and it didn't work?
• How long will this take?
• When can you see me?
• I don't want to quit smoking I just want to control it. Can this happen?
• How or when will I know if the hypnosis is working?
• Will you give me a CD or tape of the session which I will listen to later?

Does it work?
It can and it can in a powerful way. I make no guarantee for one session success or even multiple session success. There can be sophisticated and complex reasons your mind doesn't respond or resolve issues to your conscious satisfaction. I will say this; once you sign on with me I will never give up on you and will do as many sessions as you require and are willing to engage in. Happily, most of the common reasons people come to me such as desires to control smoking and weight are generally quickly responsive to our sessions.

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Does it work even if I don't believe in it?
Yes. You don't have to “believe” you just have to be willing to try it. You can walk through my door telling me you just don't see how it can work. The very fact you have made the effort to come see me is enough conscious desire on your part to effect change.

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How many sessions does it take to work?
I make no guarantee on number of sessions needed. I t may very well be you experience total success after only one session. However, multiple sessions may be necessary. I tell people to be prepared for two sessions to stop or control smoking and three sessions to lose weight. That doesn't mean you will need those extra sessions but be prepared.

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Can you hypnotize me even if others were unable to do so or if I just don't believe I can be hypnotized?
Yes. I have never been unable to hypnotize someone. In the hypnosis world we recognize depth or levels of hypnosis and it might be you do not go very “deep.” The interesting thing about depth is you don't have to be very “deep” in order to effect change. Now , the deeper you go the easier and more lasting seems the change to be. The key to the hypnotic induction is for the client to have reason to engage in it. If there is reason upon your part to follow through it can occur. Anyone, even the village idiot, can resist hypnosis if that is their choice. If you want to experience but are resistant to deep hypnosis that is OK. I have techniques to help you past your mental reticence and hesitance to engage deep hypnosis. If you come to me, don't worry. We (you and I) will get you “hypnotized.”

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Does hypnosis work with only one session?
It can. I don't guarantee this however. Generally be prepared for two sessions to stop or control smoking and three sessions to begin experiencing weight loss. Be prepared for multiple sessions, but also know you can achieve resolution in one initial session. If you contact me I can communicate to your specific needs and desires concerning those issues you're interested in addressing with hypnosis.

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What can you do hypnosis for?
Everything. I believe all behaviors as well as physical change can be affected with hypnosis. Your unconscious mind, I and many others believe, affects all parts of your experience of life. This includes all behaviors such as smoking, eating, nail biting, sports performance as well as perceptions such as fear and anxiety which affect behaviors. My experience with physical change has been those changes take time and can be the most complex. Yet, they can occur. Here is a partial list of issues hypnosis has been effective upon in my experience:

smoking, alcohol, drug cessation/control of, social anxieties, fear of driving, fear of dogs, fear of water, fear of enclosed spaces, fear of the dark, fear of the monster under the bed (really), fear of flying, fear of snakes,fear of spiders, fear of the dentist, fear of needles- increasing athletic performance for golf, running, basketball, power lifting, soccer-increasing academic performance, maximize study skills, maximize memory retention, maximize test taking skills while decreasing test anxiety, decrease dislike and frustration of math-decrease body weight, decrease body fat (not necessarily the same as decreasing body weight), increase muscularity-decrease or eliminate fear of surgical procedures, decrease or eliminate post and intra-operative pain, decrease or eliminate pain of degenerative arthritis, eliminate chronic sinusitis, eliminate reactions to topical and airborne allergens.

I have ongoing projects that, as resolution is achieved, I will add to the list. Anything you might be curious to try hypnosis upon I am game to try and will go to great lengths accommodating your needs in order to help you as well as expand my knowledge. Understand that much on the above list may require multiple sessions which I am quite willing to accommodate.

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Will I go to sleep?
Hypnosis is not actual sleep and I do not use the term sleep in my practice. I use the term relax and you can expect to be very relaxed during and once we are finished.

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What will I experience?
Everyone is different and the personal experience of hypnosis can be very idiosyncratic and different from person to person. The word trance is often used to describe the hypnotic state. I don't care for the word because it seems to imply a zombie like state for people. You will not be a zombie. You might tell me when we're finished “I didn't go under.” You won't necessarily “go under.” With me I can almost guarantee you will experience the physical and mental relaxation of deep sleep but you will not be asleep. When we're finished you might even think you fell asleep, but will not have. If you have a friend or family member present watching the session (which I have no problem with by the way) they will assert you were under whether you think so or not. The point of all that is you will never be out of control of your faculties. You will simply experience deep relaxation and feel very good afterwards . Immediately upon completion of the session you will feel “like I need to take a nap.” But will quickly become energized within only a few moments. A good description of the clinical hypnosis experience is the sort of relaxation you experience prior to actual sleep and before becoming completely awake. You may have experienced awakening from sleep yet not opening your eyes. It was so pleasant you may have thought “I'll just stay like this for a while.” You may have gone back to sleep or you may have remained conscious with eyes closed in this post sleep hypnogogic state for a time before arising. That hypnogogic state is what you can expect to experience clinically with me.

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What if you hypnotize me to do something bad?
No one can hypnotize you to do something which violates your basic morality despite what you've seen or think you've seen in hypnosis stage shows or movies. Those people are agreeing to play. Anyone who doesn't agree to play will not experience the hypnotic manipulation of their imagination. The same phenomenon occurs clinically. Any deviation from your specific desire for change will simply be disregarded by your mind. In fact, I think that specific suggestions from the hypnotist, if they are not framed the way your mind will accept them, will as well be disregarded, even though those suggestions are specifically intended to affect your conscious desires for change.

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How can you help me if I tried hypnosis before and it didn't work?
If a person goes to an internal medicine physician but isn't happy with the experience, that person doesn't say “ I tried Internal Medicine but it didn't work.” No, that person says “I went to so and so doctor and he/she didn't help me.” Yet with hypnosis people assume that all hypnotists are the same. I'm here to tell you hypnotists and hypnotherapists can substantially differ in their practices. I dare say your experience with me will be dramatically different from your experience with others.

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How long will this take?
I use rapid inductions with all my clients so my sessions tend to be short and powerful. Unless you want to spend time talking about the session before or afterwards (which is OK), you will be in and out in one hour and ten minutes tops. Most people are in and out in less than an hour.

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When can you see me?
I schedule in two hour blocks Monday through Friday:
8am, 10am, 12pm, 2pm
I also stay late on Thursday evenings if you can't come during a week day.

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I don't want to quit smoking I just want to control it. Can this happen?
Yes. I have to admit scepticism the first time I got this request, but interestingly, I found it to be quite possible and have done this several times. People often want to continue smoking but they want to control it and not feel like smoking controls them. In fact I think that most of my unsuccessful smoking cessation sessions were because the client didn't really want to quit smoking but wanted to control it and enjoy it in moderation and we didn't use that approach. This is another example of suggestions not specific to the client's actual conscious desire having little or no effect. This selectivity can be applied to drinking and other behaviors as well. I personally believe most behaviors and indulgences, engaged in moderation, are probably not particularly detrimental to one's health. However, when one is smoking 2-3 packs of cigarettes a day, dipping an entire can a day, drinking two six packs and a half pint every night as well as other out of control behaviors then there are definite issues with all types of repercussions.

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How or when will I know if the hypnosis is working?
You will know that day. Within seven days you will know if you are satisfied with your experience. I ask you to email or call and leave a message after seven days have passed giving me some idea as to how you are doing and if we need to tweak your experience to your satisfaction. Smoking cessation or control is immediately clearly successful or not. With weight loss and eating behavior alteration you will listen to yourself and your desires but will also see positive changes within forty-eight hours. Don't worry about what you read or hear concerning how you are expected to eat. Everyone knows exactly how they are to eat concerning their likes and dislikes and what makes them feel happy and well. They just need a push past their own unconscious barriers and beliefs which prevent that experience.

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Will you give me a CD or tape of the session which I will listen to later?
I can but normally do not. It's my experience that resolution does not require a reinforcing tape or CD. The purpose of regular listening to recordings of the client's specific sessions is a reinforcement through repetition of the specific suggestions given to the client. My experience with recordings and client's listening to them ,at best, only puts off the inevitable. Listening to tapes is using repetition which is the least effective way, in my experience, to effect change upon the unconscious mind. Either resolution is achieved or it is not and no amount of “repetitive reinforcing listening” will make resolution occur. If resolution has not occurred the problem will recur and may not even temporarily disappear. In fact listening to recordings can prevent or obfuscate immediate feedback from your session which inhibits our response to your session.

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