What are the prospects for smoking cessation?
The success rates of smoking cessation through hypnotherapy vary between 30% and 90% depending on the source. Serious sources usually assume a moderate success rate of about 50%, provided that hypnosis is used as a single therapy and not combined with other methods. The basis of every smoking cessation is also here an inner motivation and the willingness to want to stop smoking.
If this premise is not given, no hypnotherapy can help. Thus, at the beginning of a possible hypnotherapy, the patient’s motivation is first of all questioned. The actual hypnotherapy has the goal of changing the attitude towards smoking. This way it is conveyed that one is indifferent to smoking and can relax without cigarettes.Before the application of a hypnotherapy, however, an independent attempt to wean oneself should have already taken place, since this itself already shows passable success rates and one becomes more aware of one’s inner readiness and motivation.
What are the prospects for an anxiety disorder?
In recent years, hypnosis therapy has become increasingly important in the treatment of severe anxiety disorders. Anxiety disorders can take on very different dimensions and forms and, together with depression, are one of the most common reasons for imagining them in a psychotherapeutic practice. Since severe anxiety disorders cannot always be adequately treated by behavioral therapy, a combination with hypnotherapy is now increasingly used for these disorders and in some cases is even covered by health insurance. The effect of hypnotherapy in the context of anxiety disorders is probably due to the fact that anxiety disorders are often based on traumas from early childhood that are only subconsciously present later on. Through hypnotherapy these experiences can be brought back to consciousness and thus processed, in the sense of “neutralization”.
What qualifications does the therapist need?
Since the improper use of hypnosis also has side effects and risks, it is recommended to consult only doctors or psychologists/psychotherapists who have attended a training course and are certified by the German Society for Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy. A list of all hypnotherapists certified by this society can be found on the internet. In addition to this advanced training, the treating therapist should have a basic training in the medical or psychological professions in order to have sufficient knowledge about the clinical pictures and their diagnosis.
