“I’ve tried hypnosis for weight loss/smoking before and it didn’t work…”
Other programs use hypnosis to give suggestions to reduce cravings, for food or substances like nicotine. These suggestions can be helpful at first, then may lose effectiveness after time.
At Journeys Holistic Therapy Group, we use hypnotherapy, which goes beyond mere suggestion. We provide the opportunity for individuals to explore the reasons why they overeat or smoke and eliminate these self-medicating habits for the rest of their lives. 
Hypnosis vs. Hypnotherapy
What is the difference between hypnosis and hypnotherapy? First of all, it helps to understand that the subconscious mind is like a machine in some respects. Using the techniques of Hypnosis, you can deliver an instruction to your subconscious such as "Don't smoke," and for a time you will stop smoking. However, we're not just machines: we're living beings motivated by needs. Bad habits are "bad" simply because they don't really meet the need they're trying to meet. If you give your mind a hypnotic suggestion to stop a bad habit, you may succeed in stopping that behavior for a time, but the pressure of the unanswered need will eventually bring that bad habit back, or create another, equally troublesome problem to take its place. Hypnotherapy combines the power of hypnosis and hypnotic suggestion with therapeutic understanding. Hypnotherapy helps you connect with your genuine need and design an effective strategy to fulfill that need. Your bad habit or life problem is like a dandelion in your yard. Trying to solve it with hypnosis is like pulling off the top of the weed and leaving its roots in the ground. For a time, you won't see a dandelion in that spot on your lawn, but as the rain falls and the sun shines, that dandelion will grow back. Hypnotherapy is like digging out the weed by its root so that it will never grow back again.
-Jack Elias, CHT
Hypnotherapy is a powerful modality for many life issues including
trauma, anxiety and pain management. The following are references to articles
that may be of interest to our clients.
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“The Body Speaks: Are We Listening?” This article by Thomas Roberts is a brief yet thorough discussion of the healing power to be found in communicating to the body that it is being listened to rather than being silenced. Silencing the normal body response to a stressful event creates somatic symptoms. Every somatic symptom, however, has within itself a deeply coded solution. Hypnosis is a particularly powerful method to utilize clients' language during the hypnotic experience. [Roberts, T. (2005). The Body Speaks: Are We Listening? Annals of the American Psychotherapy Association, 8(4), 13-19.]
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“Hypnosis and Relaxation Therapies” This article summarizes many techniques, such as sequential muscle relaxation, visualization, meditation, yoga, and tai chi, that produce mental and physical relaxation. The use of hypnosis is highlighted for behavior change, symptom relief and as an aid to psychotherapy because in the hypnotized state, the conscious mind presents fewer barriers to effective psychotherapeutic exploration, leading to an increased likelihood of psychological insight.Vickers, ., Zollman, C., & Payne, D. K. (1999). Hypnosis and relaxation therapies. British Medical Journal, 319, 1346-1349.]
What is the difference between hypnosis and hypnotherapy? First of all, it helps to understand that the subconscious mind is like a machine in some respects. Using the techniques of Hypnosis, you can deliver an instruction to your subconscious such as "Don't smoke," and for a time you will stop smoking. However, we're not just machines: we're living beings motivated by needs. Bad habits are "bad" simply because they don't really meet the need they're trying to meet. If you give your mind a hypnotic suggestion to stop a bad habit, you may succeed in stopping that behavior for a time, but the pressure of the unanswered need will eventually bring that bad habit back, or create another, equally troublesome problem to take its place. Hypnotherapy combines the power of hypnosis and hypnotic suggestion with therapeutic understanding. Hypnotherapy helps you connect with your genuine need and design an effective strategy to fulfill that need. Your bad habit or life problem is like a dandelion in your yard. Trying to solve it with hypnosis is like pulling off the top of the weed and leaving its roots in the ground. For a time, you won't see a dandelion in that spot on your lawn, but as the rain falls and the sun shines, that dandelion will grow back. Hypnotherapy is like digging out the weed by its root so that it will never grow back again.
trauma, anxiety and pain management. The following are references to articles
that may be of interest to our clients.