3 myths about sleep hypnotherapy debunked

Sleep plays a vital role in maintaining your overall well-being and mental health. Yet, millions of people around the world struggle with various sleep disorders, leading to fatigue, impaired cognitive function, and a diminished quality of life.

In the quest for better sleep, alternative therapies like sleep hypnotherapy are popular. However, amidst the growing interest, several misconceptions and myths surrounding sleep hypnotherapy have emerged, clouding its true potential and effectiveness.

In this article, we aim to debunk three prevalent myths about sleep hypnotherapy, shedding light on the reality behind this unique approach to improving sleep quality and duration. By separating fact from fiction, I hope to provide a clearer understanding of sleep hypnotherapy and its potential benefits in promoting restful, rejuvenating sleep.

Hypnotherapy will make you sleep

Hypnotherapy is not a magic wand, it’s a therapeutic modality that uses hypnosis to enhance therapy. Hypnosis is a powerful state of mind that we can all use beneficially every day. Sleep is a problem for many people, but there are so many reasons for sleep problems. The impediment to sleep can range from a neurological problem to a bit of alcohol, or a late supermarket shop in a heavily lit supermarket.

Your hypnotherapist will help you find any lifestyle habits that may affect your sleep. Your hypnotherapist will help you find adaptations to change these habits. If trauma aggravates your sleep patterns, a trauma-informed hypnotherapist will help you work through this. Some people feel that a regular state of anxiety disrupts their sleep. In this situation, your hypnotherapist will use hypnosis within the session to help you move out of the anxious state into the calmer default state. They will give you techniques to use at home, including self-hypnosis/meditation, breathing techniques, mindfulness, and CBT techniques. All are designed to help you sleep.

It’s important to remember that if you continue to do things that unsettle sleep, such as using bright lighting or looking at screens in the couple of hours before bed, not getting adequate nutrition, or consuming adenosine receptor antagonists such as caffeine, hypnotherapy will not help.

Your hypnotherapist will do all the work

With greater information available, most people now recognise that a hypnotist does not have control of the hypnotised. However, preconceived ideas mean that sometimes people think they’ll go to a hypnotherapist, and the hypnotherapist will do something to them; solving all their problems. As a hypnotherapist, I wish that were true!

Your hypnotherapist should have the tools and knowledge to help you find the answer to your sleep problems. Whether that’s advising you on lifestyle changes or helping you work through any trauma or anxiety. However, it is a two-way process. You’ll need to take responsibility for the change by engaging in the sessions, committing to lifestyle changes, and practising techniques at home.

The aim of practising techniques is to improve your skill level, rather than achieve sleep. At first, you may need to use the technique repetitively and for much longer than you desire. With a continued commitment to the process, your brain will take on a new way of being. The techniques will become easier and the effect rapid.  

Hypnosis is not therapy 

As a standalone treatment, hypnosis will not cure anything. Daily practice of self-hypnosis/meditation will help you feel fully in control of your mind, body, thoughts, and behaviours. You’ll have a superb mind-body connection with great introspective and interoceptive ability. It’s this that will give you the power to make positive changes. This is something you can do at home without the guidance of a therapist. You may find you want to seek support alongside your own practice for even greater change. Regardless, your continued practice will help you direct your life as you see fit, without the help of someone else.

If you rely on your therapy sessions as the only means to heal or adapt, your therapist will use therapeutic techniques as the basis of your session. Hypnosis will enhance the process because it’s a state of mind in which you’re very focused and less affected by external stimuli. Your hypnotherapist will use the techniques previously mentioned while using the hypnotic state to increase efficacy.

Hypnotherapy is a brilliant way to help you get the sleep you deserve and need. However, it is important to work with someone knowledgeable about sleep, things that aggravate the natural sleep process, and concepts that help it. In the modern world, sleep has a lot of competition, and simple hypnotic suggestions are unlikely to help it without some other important changes.