The methods that hypnotherapists use to induce behavioral changes have not been written about in great detail and often the ability of a therapist to produce those changes have been hard for even the therapist to describe if required.

In the last 30 years two scientists now recognized by most as having developed the science we know as Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), went on a mission to understand the complexities of the hypnotic techniques of certain hypnotherapists in an attempt to be able to model their behavior and produce similar results in clients of their own.

They have provided us with concrete explanations of some of the inner workings of hypnosis and in doing so given every day individuals the ability to employ to some extent the technology hypnosis offers in their every day lives.

This article will examine the science of hypnosis and attempt to illustrate just a few of its more powerful techniques and principles.

The Map is Not The Territory

Hypnosis is based on the notion that each of us lives our lives in reaction not to what is actual reality but to a model of reality (known as a representation) that over the course of our existence we have created.

This explains why two people can react completely differently when confronted by the same situation. Each person has a set of beliefs, fears, likes, dislikes, wants, experiences, values and thoughts that create a model of the world and of reality to which they often unconsciously adhere.

This is often why communications between two people goes haywire. One person is trying to convey a message from their reality to someone with a completely different reality where every chance exists that the communicator's message has a completely different meaning! It follows then that habits such as smoking or overeating are the result of behaviors caused by these models we have of reality.

By altering those models, a hypnotherapist can alter behaviour. This is the focus of any type of therapist, whatever their chosen method; to alter a patient's way of thinking to allow access to a more positive and beneficial type of behaviour.

The only difference is that in the majority of cases, the methods of hypnotherapy are able to achieve the same results in much less time than traditional therapy. The question is how?