The difference between hypnotherapy and stage hypnosis
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Hypnotherapy V's Stage hypnosis
There are many different types of hypnotist in the world with two of the main groups are those who conduct stage hypnosis in front of an audience and those who use hypnosis for treatment. A person using stage hypnosis is called a hypnotist, whereas a person working with individual clients to offer treatment for a specific issue or concern is called a hypnotherapist. The title of the role says a lot about the difference. However, some of the techniques used in hypnotherapy are not dissimilar to those used by stage hypnotists.
The main difference between stage hypnosis and hypnotherapy is the expected outcome. Stage hypnotists aim to put on a good show where the volunteers and audience to have a fun, entertaining time. Also, stage hypnotists give suggestions that only last for the duration of the show, and that are removed after the volunteers are ‘awakened’ at the end of the trance or show. Where as, in contrast, a hypnotherapist aims to help clients reach a personal goal and make positive change, whether that is overcoming a phobia, stopping smoking, managing anxiety or stress or losing weight to name a few. The hypnotherapist gives post hypnotic suggestions that are intended to remain beyond the therapy session, in order that the client experiences long-term change in various aspects of their life.
A stage hypnotist will typically identify those to be invited to participate by using some suggestibility tests, helping them identify people who are likely to be more suggestive to hypnosis. A hypnotherapist will also likely use these tests to demonstrate to a client that they can enter hypnosis and help them formulate a treatment plan. So, when a person volunteers to be on stage, they are moving their brain from the critical state that most people in the audience will be experiencing, to a state of consent, starting to have an expectation that something unusual can happen.
A stage hypnotist will often use a technique that is called ‘rapid induction’ that helps a participant to enter into a hypnotic state quickly. Some hypnotherapists use similar rapid methods with clients whilst many will not.
A stage hypnotist can seemingly get a person on stage to do something they wouldn’t otherwise do. In fact, this happens because the participant consents to it and cooperates. It is suggested by some hypnotists that participants often dissociate from the experience, as if someone else is doing those things. Dissociation is used extensively in hypnotherapy to help clients get closer to difficult situations and to help desensitise them, for example when revisiting earlier traumatic experiences.
One of the main differences is the setting of the hypnosis. Stage hypnosis is a public affair, conducted for the amusement of an entire audience. Where as hypnotherapy is a private treatment experience that is usually conducted on a one to one basis within a therapy room, the client’s home, or online, which focuses on individual needs, goals and wellbeing. Some hypnotherapy approaches such as that for addiction treatment may use group hypnotherapy within a clinical setting.
Finally, a stage hypnotist makes suggestions to a person on stage or in the audience about how they will respond when something happens after hypnosis. For example, a common trick is to get people to shout something or to stand up when the hypnotist subsequently says a seemingly unrelated phrase. A hypnotherapist uses this technique extensively, such as stopping smoking, establishing which future triggers will lead to which new supportive responses that the client wants to have.
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