What is the difference between Clinical Hypnotherapy and Stage Hypnosis?
Hypnosis is a powerful tool that can be used for the good of many people who suffer from a range of physical and emotional complaints. (see What Does Hypnotherapy Help With?). Stage hypnosis is a misuse of this tool and presents hypnosis as some sort of gimmick for entertainment and titillation, where participants in the show invariably make a fool of themselves in some way, being open to laughter and ridicule. Entering hypnosis in this way may open susceptible individuals to emotional experiences which are not monitored or managed in this setting as they would be in a clinical environment. Unfortunately, because such shows are easily accessible and often televised, the general public are left with a distorted view of hypnosis and its uses. This means that therapists who employ hypnosis clinically and ethically have to overcome resistances which are set up by negative exposure to hypnosis as demonstrated by stage hypnotists. Furthermore, people may resist entering into what could be a
