You Are Getting...Healthier

MAYBE STRONGER. PERHAPS EVEN RICHER? THAT’S WHAT SOME PROPONENTS OF HYPNOTHERAPY SUGGEST, AND EMERGING RESEARCH SAYS IT’S NOT ALL BUNK. EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT “GOING UNDER” BUT WERE TOO AFRAID OF TRANCES TO ASK.

- Cotton Codinha

As alternative treatments go—and in a time when we seek wellness at any cost, they’re not going anywhere—hypnosis has an image problem. The perception is that it’s mind control, using stopwatches to put patients (and their bad, bad behaviors) to sleep. The reality is far more complex, and it’s backed by new research that promises benefits you may not have imagined.

Do people still turn to hypnosis to quit smoking and lose weight? Absolutely. But hypnotherapy, aka the clinical use of hypnosis for therapeutic benefits, is also being tapped to treat emotional health (anxiety, depression) and physical health (irritable bowel syndrome, chronic sleep issues). And more and more people are actively seeking it out. Silicon Valley entrepreneurs have used hypnotherapy to improve their public speaking, while royals (Kate and Meghan) have reportedly tried hypnosis techniques to manage physical challenges they faced during their pregnancies (food aversion and pain, respectively).

To put it simply, hypnotherapy helps readjust one’s thinking to relieve pain and reduce anxiety. To put it metaphorically, it’s like a “massage for the mind,” says Daniel Ryan, a hypnotherapist in New York City. It’s a way to loosen the kinks that might be holding you back. That has led some to suggest that hypnotherapy could be a part of one’s overall wellness diet. And yet confusion abounds. So how does it work, and, more importantly, could it work for you?