Frequently asked questions

What is hypnotherapy with Steve Park like?
Being hypnotised by Steve is extremely relaxing – like a meditative experience. And once the issue was dealt with, my heart centre felt lighter and stronger”. – CB

Every hypnotherapy session is different because everyone presenting for treatment is different. However, this is the general experience:

  1. Information gathering – a friendly chat, without any judgement, to understand the issue you want help with. Very often there will be some difficult or trapped emotion at the heart of an issue, usually wrapped in layers of other emotions – so Steve will gently steer you down through these different levels of feeling. You may be surprised to see for yourself what is really at the root of the issue. Somewhere in this process, Steve will initiate the hypnosis. This usually involves some kind of guided relaxation. You’ll be in control at all times. If you’re already nicely focused on the issue at hand, you may not even notice the hypnosis occurring!
  2. The therapy/ the change – modifying the unwanted mental programming; helping you to let go of an old pattern and replace it with a new one. Sometimes, this can be an emotional experience, but you are always safe and in control – and you will feel a whole lot better afterwards!
  3. Bringing back the 'new you' into your normal everyday life beyond the session.
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So it's nothing like stage hypnotism I’ve seen?

No.

You’re not going to be asked to do anything you don’t want to do. No clucking like a chicken. No eating an onion as if it were an apple. All the power and control is with you. There’s no audience to try to impress. It’s just you, the therapist, and the issue you brought to be worked through.

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Can I get 'stuck' in a hypnotic trance?

No.

Does anyone ever avoid daydreaming or meditation because they’re worried they might get stuck in that state? No, because it just can’t happen – and it’s the same with hypnosis. Even if your therapist fell off the edge of the world while you were in trance, you’d either bring yourself back very simply and naturally, or you might fall asleep and then just wake up as normal.

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Will I remember the session afterwards?

Yes.

How much of a film do you remember when you come out of a cinema? It will probably be about the same when you come out of a hypnotherapy session. In rare cases, some clients may sometimes spontaneously generate their own selective amnesia within a session, if they touch upon things which they are unable or unwilling to process at that time – but this is not caused by the hypnosis – they would also experience this in their ‘normal life’ if those matters were touched upon.

Hypnosis is not the same as sleep. We want you conscious during your session so that we can talk things through. I don’t mind being paid while you sleep, but I suspect you might not feel that’s money well spent!
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Is it brainwashing?

No!

Throughout the session, YOU are in control of your mind. If you feel like giving your brain a spring clean, that’s all on you I’m afraid. I don’t want to do any more dishes or laundry than I have to! What I’m interested in is helping your conscious mind reconnect with who you really are and what you really want from life – and then helping you find the path that takes you in that direction.

If you have ever seen a stage hypnotist, or even films like The Manchurian Candidate, you’d be forgiven for thinking that hypnosis is all about taking over peoples’ minds and ‘making’ them do strange or even scary things… So let’s draw a really clear line here: hypnotherapy is a therapy – it’s all about healing.

In the 'real world' (outside the therapy room) we are surrounded by things like adverts, press releases and laws which all exist because people in general are looking to be programmed and controlled. I’d prefer it if who you really are is put back in control of you as much as possible.
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Can you reassure me it is safe?

Yes!

Hypnosis is a spectrum of perfectly normal, natural states of mind which you put yourself into dozens of times every day. Have you ever daydreamed? Have you ever found yourself driving 'on autopilot'? Or got 'lost' in a book or a film? Have you ever used your imagination? These are the same kinds of state of mind as being in hypnosis.

During a hypnotherapy session:

  • You retain control at all times.
  • You remain conscious and aware.
  • You can speak and move if you want to.
  • You could get up and walk out of the session at any time if you wanted to.
  • You cannot get 'stuck' in a hypnotic trance. That idea is a myth perpetrated by Hollywood because it makes for a good story line.
  • It's not about brainwashing you. We're working with what is already in your mind that is not serving you. It's about healing.
  • You will not be 'made' to do anything you do not want to do. It is not a stage show for entertainment; it is therapy. Your welfare is our paramount concern.

In a hypnotherapy session, we are working with what is already within you. If you’re scared of your own subconscious mind, don’t you think you should do something about that? A spot of hypnotherapy perhaps?

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What is Hypnoanalysis?
Hypnoanalysis (or hypno-analysis) is the exploration, while you are in a hypnotic state, of your subconscious patterns, for the purposes of healing and inner growth.

The great advantage over other forms of psychoanalysis is that in a hypnotic state, the conscious and unconscious parts of the mind are more accessible, and more open to influence and change – so it is both easier to get to the heart of an issue, and easier to change any unwanted patterns while in a hypnotic state. As Einstein is quoted as saying, "No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it". Hypnosis gives you access a different level of consciousness, allowing you to 'solve' (or change) things that you have found impossible to deal with within your 'normal' consciousness.

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What is Hypnotic Regression?
Hypnotic regression is going back (in your mind) to access memories, while in hypnosis.

The hypnosis facilitates access to memories which are outside your normal conscious awareness. In a therapeutic session, the purpose of regression is for you to change how you relate to those memories – enhancing any positive associations and letting go of any negatives.

Life has a habit of throwing you back into situations which have something in common with an earlier, unresolved emotive experience, as if you are being presented with another opportunity to heal the original hurt. Very commonly, if you were unable to heal the hurt in the original incident, you’ll be unable to heal it the second or third time round, indeed it might get 'worse' with every iteration – so we end up with a number of emotive incidents, all with the same 'baggage'. The good news is that in regressing to any one of these events, we can liberate all of them.

How 'real' are my memories?

It is important to realise that when we regress, we are not dealing with objective truths – we are interested in how you felt about an event and how you responded, rather than what actually happened. All of our memories are highly subjective – they are essentially 'false memories' – but they can nevertheless cause us distress because they are 'real' to us. The only meaningful reality in the regression process is whether you are really able to let go of a long-carried burden, or not. It may help to think of all your memories as symbolic, rather than literal – and this is true of memories from your younger days, as well as 'past life' memories.

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What is Post Hypnotic Suggestion?
During the session, we might help you clarify how you would like to think, feel or behave in a given situation. While you are in a hypnotic state (and your mind is more open to influence and change), these positive ideas can be reinforced in the form of 'suggestions'. After you have been brought out of hypnosis, these positive ideas will be active in your subconscious, subtly prompting you to connect with them more and more.

If you could just turn up, receive a few suggestions and then have all your dreams come true, hypnotherapy would be much more 'mainstream' and there would be no sadness or difficulty in the world! In reality, Steve will probably need to help you undo layers of unwanted past programming before you can reprogram yourself in a more affirming way.

The key points are:

  • You’ll create the suggestions
  • They’ll only 'stick' if you want them to
  • You and your mind are in full control of the process

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How can Steve’s Hypnotherapy help so many conditions?
Unwanted symptoms or issues can be predominantly physical or behavioural (hair pulling, smoking, tinnitus), or principally mental (low confidence, poor memory), or primarily emotional (depression, anxiety, phobias), or may operate across many levels at once.

Steve’s hypnotherapy can address these various symptoms in a number of powerfully effective ways:

  1. Transmuting subconscious patterns – if there is something unresolved in your subconscious mind, it can find expression in unconscious (and usually unwanted) behaviour, feelings, or thoughts. Using hypnoanalysis, Steve can help you free yourself from that subconscious baggage. All the energy that had previously been going to support that unwanted past baggage then becomes available to support some new, desirable beliefs, thoughts, feelings and behaviour.
  2. Positive visualisation – in hypnotic states, the mind can be much more focused and powerful. Positive beliefs, thoughts and feelings can be greatly enhanced by your will in hypnosis. Steve can help you redirect your subconscious energies into more desirable behaviours, thoughts and feelings.
  3. Relaxation – in hypnosis you can access very deep states of relaxation. Simply relaxing this deeply helps to reduce stress and anxiety, and boost your immune system, helping to manage many different symptoms.
  4. Physical ease – along with relaxation, hypnosis can be used for natural pain relief. These days, this is most associated with hypno-birthing, but hypnosis has also been used in hundreds of major surgeries in place of anaesthetic drugs.
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How long will treatment take?
Each case is different. Each person is different and their issues are different. Most people will benefit from hypnotherapy in one way or another, but there are no guarantees. We cannot claim that hypnotherapy is a cure-all – we’re not selling snake oil.

Typically, you may require 6-8 hours worth of sessions to resolve an issue. Sometimes a single session is enough. Sometimes it takes longer. We’d usually recommend a 2-hour session to start with.

At the start of your first session, we’ll clarify:

  • What do you hope to achieve from your session(s)?
  • How will you know when you have achieved this?

We will then have a clear end goal to aim for, and you will be able to judge if we are moving towards that goal satisfactorily.

Sometimes resolving one issue will reveal another one underneath. If you want to continue, we can go through the same process again – clarifying what you want to achieve, and moving towards it until you are satisfied you have achieved it.

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Can you tell me more?

Certainly! Please contact Steve if you have any further questions: help@stevepark.co

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Steve Park Hypnotherapy

help@stevepark.co