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It cannot be stressed sufficiently that when used properly and sensibly, self-hypnosis is completely safe, however, like any ability, it can create problems if it is misused! Accordingly, listed below are some of the areas that you should avoid.

Self-hypnosis should NEVER be used to: -

In addition to the above self-hypnosis should be used with a great deal of caution to treat the following conditions: -



1.    Creating False Memories:

False memories are one of the most devastating problems of modern mental health care. They are predominantly planted into the minds of young females by seriously disturbed therapists, usually fundamentalist Christians, who  are convinced that most of the problems in the world are due to Satan and his evil followers. They tend to adopt a belief that any psychological problems in young female are the result of childhood sexual abuse, and, in particular, that these women have been unwilling participants in satanic rituals involving their parents!

There have been numerous instances where these types of false memories have been installed in the minds of patients; what is even worse is that once these “memories” are planted in their minds  they tend to evolve. Through a process of confabulation other memories of non-existent events tend to evolve, and as all of these false memories are reinforced and manipulated by the therapist, the patient comes to believe the terrible events actually occurred.

Such false-memories create enormous mental problems for the patient, and the subsequent allegations of abuse have resulted in a number of families being torn apart, even to the extent of fathers being imprisoned on the basis of claimed criminal activity that never occurred.

Your memories are not only very precious, they can also be rather delicate. Interfering with them, or implanting alternative memories, can cause serious mental damage, so avoid all such activities.

This is not to say that you cannot intervene to control the emotional content of memories, especially the negative way in which you respond to emotional-memories; this aspect will be examined later in  Chapter 16 – Dysfunctional Thinking and Behaviour:

   
2.    Creating Dangerous Imagery:

A great deal of your hypnosis will involve the use of visualization*, a technique where you create images, or imaginary scenes as part of your hypnotic inductions. While visualization is extremely effective in a wide range of applications, it is important that you only ever use images or scenes  that are safe and non-threatening. Never use images that might cause you to feel fear, anxiety or uneasiness. The reason for this is that, when you enter hypnosis you create an alternative reality, and, in this alternative reality your responses to the imaginary images and scenes can be similar to the responses you would experience if they were actually real; that means if you use something you fear, you could counteract your principal objective of creating a relaxed, comfortable feeling!

In a BBC programme on hypnosis, a physician related a particularly disturbing experience he had when using hypnosis to treat an asthmatic child.

Having only studied hypnosis a short time before, he admitted, he was relatively inexperienced and rather skeptical about whether hypnosis could actually produce any changes in patients. He began by suggesting to the child what he thought would be an ideal imaginary scene; he told the child to imagine it was a lovely sunny day, and that he was standing in the open air, in a field of lovely waving grass. Unfortunately, instead of the child relaxing he immediately began to choke and splutter, as if he was unable to breathe!

What the physician had failed to appreciate was that this child was an excellent trance subject, one of those who enters hypnosis quickly and easily, and so, was able to visualize the imaginary scenario as if he were the real thing. As far as the child was concerned he was actually standing in a field of waving grass, and since grass produces pollen, he reacted by experiencing a full blown asthmatic attack, brought on by his allergy to the imaginary pollen.

Fortunately, the physician had the presence of mind to suggest to the child that he was now lifting up into the clear air, and that the higher he rose, the clearer the air became. Following this suggestion the child began to slowly breathe again and gradually, as he imagined himself rising higher and higher, he was able to relax completely and his breathing returned to normal.

As the physician admitted, inexperienced as he was with hypnosis, he had not anticipated such a violent response to what he thought would be a simple relaxation exercise.

Be warned, for many, hypnotic imagery can be so realistic that they respond exactly as if they were in a real-life situation. Accordingly,  as you begin to extend the scope of your self-hypnosis and you begin to use many different images and scenarios for your self-hypnotic inductions, always proceed with caution; never, ever use any imagery that might create a negative physical or psychological response.

You know the things that frighten you, or cause you to experience anxiety, so, for instance, if you have a particular phobia, such as a fear of heights, or claustrophobia, the worst imagery you could use would be to imagine you going down a deep mine-shaft in a small enclosed lift; stick to the images that make you feel safe and secure.


3.    Concealing Pain:

While hypnosis is an excellent means of treating pain, especially severe or regular bouts of pain, you should never use hypnosis to remove the perception of the pain unless: -

Pain occurs for a reason; it is a warning sign that there is a physical problem that needs to be attended to. If it is a serious problem, then it may require professional  treatment.

However, once the actual cause of the pain has been identified, and appropriate treatment implemented, you may then use your self-hypnosis as part of a strategy to help to reduce the intensity of the pain, or to make it more bearable.

4.    Creating Negative Aversions To Behavioural Or Addictive Problems:

It is often tempting for those who are inexperienced in the use of self-hypnosis to treat such behavioural problems as overeating, nail-biting, smoking, alcoholism and drug dependency, by using a treatment known as negative aversion therapy.

This technique involves using hypnosis to create a negative response to the particular behavioural problem. A common approach is to suggest that you will feel quite sick at the sight, smell or taste of the items you wish to avoid. However because this form of treatment can be quite hazardous it  should never be used!

This form of treatment was once quite common, used by Hypnotherapists looking for a “quick-fix” for particular behavioural problems. While it often worked quite well, it also tended to have unfortunate side-effects, ones that created major problems for the patients, and then had to be put right by more skilled professional therapists.

Negative aversion was very popular for treating people who were overweight; in one example, a woman who tended to overindulge herself with cakes and pastries was treated with this technique. She was given the hypnotic suggestion that whenever she saw or smelt these items she would feel violently ill. So successful was the suggestion that the first time she went shopping after the treatment, she immediately felt quite ill, her sick feeling brought on by the smells coming from the bakery. So sick did she feel that she had to quickly leave the shopping centre and return home.

Unfortunately, she then found that she felt sick whenever she went to the local shops; with food supplies at home running low, and unable to shop, she became quite desperate and sought proper treatment. Now while aversion therapy can often be easy to apply, it is often quite difficult to remove, and it took a number of treatments before she was once again able to go shopping.

Crasilneck and Hall (1985) mentioned another example, that of a patient who used self-hypnosis to overcome his smoking habit. He gave himself the suggestion that he would become “… nauseated and would vomit at the smell of cigarette smoke.” [p. 417]. The suggestion worked so well that when he lit a cigarette to test the suggestion, he felt quite ill.

Unfortunately, he had overlooked the fact that, when he went to work, he would be around other people who smoked, and he quickly discovered that even the lingering smell of cigarettes on their clothes made him feel sick. Unable to work or to even interact with people he found his life seriously curtailed, and was forced to seek professional help to remove his problem.   

5.    Dangerously  Increasing Your Personal Performance:

Self-hypnosis is regularly used by athletes and sportspeople to increase their stamina and to help them through the pain-barrier. In these conditions it is acceptable, since athletes are normally fit, their activities are generally of a short duration, and once they have run their race, they will normally rest and allow themselves the opportunity to fully recover.

The danger in attempting to increase personal performance comes when you are tempted to increase your stamina or endurance beyond acceptable limits, such as attempting to work for long periods of time without sleep.

There have been several instances of semi-drivers using self-hypnosis to increase their endurance so they could drive long distances over several days, without taking sleep breaks. The  self-hypnosis worked quite well, but unfortunately by removing the normal sleep-cycle they severely upset the normal physical and mental cycles of their bodies. One driver was able to drive for three days without sleep, until finally, feeling faint, he had enough sense to pull off the highway at a rest stop. He immediately fell asleep, and when he woke up he was amazed to find he had slept for some 26 hours.  

The human body needs regular periods of rest, sleep, and dreaming to balance out the time spent awake; although you can interfere with these cycles for several days, eventually the body demands its balance of sleep. As with the driver mentioned above, he actually gained no real benefits for going three days without sleep, since, in addition to the tremendous stress it imposed upon his body, he ended up sleeping for the equivalent of three nights of normal sleep.

For this reason, if  self-hypnosis is to be employed to extend personal levels of stamina, it should always be used sensibly and should be restricted to short term activities.


6.    Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders:

All psychiatric disorders are medical conditions and, as such, should only be treated by medically trained professionals. Furthermore, the use of hypnosis to try to treat such disorders can actually create additional problems. Many psychiatric disorders are characterized by unusually extreme levels of emotional behaviour or bizarre imagery, and so, given that hypnosis can greatly intensify the perception of emotions and imagery, it has the potential to exacerbate such problems.