Is Hypnosis Good or Bad for You?
- kesha96
- Dec 18
- 10 min read
You're sitting at your desk, staring at your computer screen, and suddenly your chest tightens. Your heart starts racing. Your hands go cold. And for the tenth time this week, you think, "What is happening to me? Why can't I just be normal?"
Maybe you've been to therapy. Maybe you've downloaded every meditation app. Maybe you've tried deep breathing exercises that somehow made the panic worse. And maybe—just maybe—someone suggested hypnosis, and you thought, "Isn't that the thing where people cluck like chickens on stage?"
If you're a professional woman who's supposed to have it all together but secretly feels like your own nervous system is attacking you for no reason, this article is for you. Because the question isn't really whether hypnosis is "good or bad." It's whether it might be the missing piece you've been searching for.
Is Hypnosis Good or Bad for You?
Hypnosis isn't inherently good or bad. It's a tool. And like any tool, its effectiveness depends on how it's used, who's using it, and whether it's the right tool for your specific situation.
The Good News:
Clinical hypnotherapy has been extensively researched and proven effective for anxiety, panic attacks, chronic pain, insomnia, and breaking unwanted patterns. The American Psychological Association recognizes hypnosis as a valid therapeutic technique. When conducted by a trained professional, hypnotherapy can help you access your subconscious mind—where 95% of your automatic responses actually live.
Think about it. All those anxiety patterns, those panic responses, that voice in your head saying, "You're not good enough"? They're running on autopilot from your subconscious. Conscious techniques like positive thinking and breathing exercises are trying to override a program they can't even access. That's why they feel like swimming upstream forever.
The Concerns:
Hypnosis isn't magic, and it's not right for everyone. People with certain mental health conditions like psychosis or severe personality disorders should avoid hypnotherapy. And here's what matters most: the skill and ethics of your hypnotherapist make all the difference. You want someone trained in clinical hypnotherapy, not someone who took a weekend certification course.
The biggest "bad" about hypnosis? When people expect it to be a one-session miracle cure. Real, lasting transformation—especially for deeply ingrained anxiety patterns—takes time and repetition.
What is the Negative Side of Hypnosis?
Let's address the fears head-on, because if you're someone whose heart suddenly races in the middle of important meetings, you've probably worried about every possible thing that could go wrong.
Fear #1: "What if I get stuck in hypnosis?" This literally cannot happen. Hypnosis is a natural state you enter and exit multiple times daily—when you're absorbed in a book, driving on autopilot, or lost in thought. You're always in control and can open your eyes anytime you choose.
Fear #2: "What if the hypnotist makes me do something embarrassing?" You're not unconscious during hypnosis. You won't reveal secrets or act against your core values. Stage hypnosis works because participants volunteer and want to participate in the show. In therapeutic hypnosis, you remain aware and can reject any suggestion that doesn't feel right.
Fear #3: "What if hypnosis uncovers traumatic memories I can't handle?" A skilled clinical hypnotherapist knows how to work with your subconscious safely, at a pace that feels manageable. The goal is resolution and healing, not retraumatization.
The Real Negatives:
The actual downsides are more practical than dramatic:
Some people experience mild headaches or dizziness after deep trance work
Occasionally, people feel emotional as suppressed feelings surface (this is actually part of healing, but it can feel uncomfortable)
False memories can be created by poorly trained practitioners who ask leading questions
It can be expensive, and not all insurance covers it
Results vary significantly—it's not a guaranteed fix for everyone
The biggest negative? Choosing a poorly trained or unethical practitioner who doesn't understand trauma, the nervous system, or proper protocols.
What Type of Person is Most Likely to Be Hypnotized?
Here's where it gets interesting. Remember how your body seems to respond intensely to stress? How panic attacks feel so real and terrifying that you're convinced something is medically wrong? How your nervous system seems to overreact to situations that don't bother other people?
Congratulations—you're probably highly hypnotizable.
The most responsive people tend to be:
Highly imaginative and creative thinkers. If you can vividly imagine worst-case scenarios (especially when your heart is racing), you have a strong capacity for hypnosis.
People with strong focus and concentration. The same mental intensity that creates your panic response can be redirected toward healing.
Emotionally intelligent and introspective individuals. If you spend a lot of time analyzing your symptoms and trying to understand what's happening in your body, you're already doing some of the internal work hypnosis requires.
Those who can "lose themselves" in activities. Ever been so absorbed in something that you temporarily forgot about your anxiety? That's a light hypnotic state.
Here's the paradox: The sensitive nervous system that makes you prone to panic attacks and anxiety also makes you an ideal candidate for hypnotherapy. Your capacity to feel intensely, respond quickly, and experience physical symptoms deeply isn't a weakness. It's a different kind of strength that's been misdirected.
About 10-15% of people are highly hypnotizable, 10-15% have difficulty with hypnosis, and most people fall somewhere in the middle. But what matters more than natural hypnotizability is your willingness to engage with the process.
Does Hypnosis Work if You Don't Believe?
This is the question that stops so many people. "I'm too skeptical. My analytical mind won't let me relax. I've tried everything else and nothing worked, so why would this?"
Sound familiar?
Here's the surprising answer. Skepticism doesn't prevent hypnosis from working. In fact, some of the best hypnotherapy clients are the analytical, questioning types who need to understand how something works before they trust it.
What You Need (It's Not Belief):
Willingness to participate. You have to actually want the change you're seeking. If you're doing hypnotherapy to prove it won't work, well... you might be right.
Openness to the process. This doesn't mean believing in hypnosis as some mystical force. It means being willing to follow instructions, engage with visualizations, and try something different.
Cooperation, not surrender. This is crucial for anxiety sufferers who fear losing control. Hypnosis isn't about giving up control to someone else—it's about accessing parts of your own mind you can't normally reach with conscious effort alone.
The Analytical Mind Advantage:
Your overthinking, problem-solving, need-to-understand-everything mind? It might actually help. When you understand that hypnosis is simply a focused state of attention that allows communication with your subconscious patterns, it becomes less mysterious and more logical.
Think of it like this. You don't have to "believe in" the existence of your subconscious mind for it to create panic attacks. Those episodes are happening whether you believe in them or not, right? Hypnosis is just a method for accessing the control panel where those automatic responses are programmed.
What Can Block Hypnosis:
Active resistance (consciously fighting the process)
Severe anxiety about hypnosis itself
Intoxication or certain medications
Lack of rapport or trust with your hypnotherapist
Expecting it to work without your participation
The irony? The same hypervigilance that fuels your panic might make you resist hypnosis initially, but it also means you'll stay fully aware during the process, which is exactly how hypnosis works.
Is Hypnosis Good or Bad for Your Brain?
Let's talk neuroscience, because if you're someone whose brain keeps sounding false alarms, you probably want to know exactly what's happening up there.
The Good for Your Brain:
Research shows hypnosis actually creates measurable changes in brain activity:
Neuroplasticity activation. Your brain can form new neural pathways. Those panic highways your nervous system races down? Hypnosis helps build alternative routes. The patterns that were created when your body learned that certain situations meant danger—even when they don't—can be rewired.
Reduced amygdala activation. The amygdala is your brain's alarm system. In chronic anxiety and panic, it's essentially malfunctioning, sounding the alarm when there's no real danger. Hypnosis can help regulate this response.
Increased activity in the anterior cingulate cortex. This brain region helps with emotional regulation and self-control. Hypnosis strengthens it.
Enhanced connectivity between brain regions. Hypnosis improves communication between the parts of your brain responsible for control and awareness, which is exactly what you need when panic strikes in that important meeting.
The Science of Safety:
Multiple studies show that clinical hypnosis:
Reduces cortisol (stress hormone) levels
Lowers blood pressure and heart rate
Improves sleep quality
Decreases symptoms of anxiety and panic disorders
Changes brain wave patterns to promote relaxation
Unlike medication, hypnosis has no chemical side effects. Unlike traditional talk therapy, it works with your subconscious rather than trying to logic your way out of physical responses.
The Potential Concerns:
For most people, hypnosis is completely safe for the brain. However:
People with epilepsy should work with a hypnotherapist experienced in their condition
Those with dissociative disorders need specialized approaches
Some research suggests that in rare cases, memories "recovered" under hypnosis can be unreliable (which is why ethical practitioners focus on moving forward rather than excavating the past)
The Bottom Line for Your Brain:
If your brain feels like it's betraying you—racing heart, shallow breathing, that terrifying sensation that something is medically wrong—hypnosis might be exactly what your brain needs. It's not about suppressing or controlling your brain differently; it's about understanding why it learned to respond with panic and teaching it there are other options.
Is Hypnosis Real?
This is the question underneath all the others, isn't it? Because if you're going to invest time, money, and hope into something, you need to know it's not just placebo effect dressed up in mystical language.
The Short Answer: Yes.
But let's define what we mean by "real," because hypnosis isn't what you see in movies or stage shows.
What Hypnosis Actually Is:
Hypnosis is a naturally occurring state of focused attention and heightened suggestibility. It's not sleep, unconsciousness, or mind control. Brain imaging studies show distinct patterns of neural activity during hypnotic states that differ from both normal waking consciousness and sleep.
The American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, and the British Medical Association all recognize hypnosis as a valid therapeutic technique. It's used in major hospitals for pain management, surgical preparation, and anxiety treatment.
The Evidence:
Hundreds of peer-reviewed studies demonstrate hypnosis effectiveness for:
Chronic pain (as effective as medication for some conditions)
Irritable bowel syndrome
Anxiety and panic disorders
PTSD symptoms
Insomnia
Smoking cessation
Weight management
Phobias
This isn't pseudoscience—it's neuroscience applied therapeutically.
Why It Feels Unreal:
Here's where it gets tricky. Hypnosis works with your subconscious mind, where your automatic responses live. That's why you can't just "think" your way out of a panic attack or "decide" to stop your heart from racing. Your conscious mind (the part reading these words right now) only controls about 5% of your mental activity.
The other 95%? That's your subconscious—running your habits, emotional responses, and yes, your panic patterns. Hypnosis is real because it accesses that 95% that your conscious efforts can't reach.
The "But It Didn't Work For Me" Factor:
Some people try hypnosis and don't get results. This doesn't mean hypnosis isn't real—it means:
The practitioner wasn't skilled enough
The approach wasn't right for that person's specific issues
The person wasn't ready for change
Expectations were unrealistic (expecting one session to undo decades of patterns)
The underlying issue needed medical treatment, not hypnotherapy
Think of it like physical therapy. Just because someone had a bad experience with one physical therapist doesn't mean physical therapy isn't real or effective.
The Real Question: Is It Right for You?
You've made it this far, which tells me something: you're exhausted from feeling like your body is working against you. You're tired of breathing exercises that don't work when your chest tightens, afraid to go places because panic might strike, and that sinking feeling that maybe this is just who you are now.
But here's what I want you to consider. What if your sensitive nervous system, your tendency toward panic, your intense physical responses—what if none of that is a flaw to be fixed?
What if it's just running the wrong program?
Is Hypnosis Good or Bad for You? The answer depends on what you're looking for.
If you want a quick fix, hypnosis will disappoint you.
If you want someone else to do the work for you, hypnosis won't deliver.
But if you're ready to understand why your nervous system learned to create panic in the first place... if you're willing to work with your subconscious rather than fight it... if you're done with temporary management strategies and ready for actual transformation...
Then hypnosis might be exactly what you've been searching for.
Your panic attacks in important meetings? They're not happening because you're broken. They're information about patterns that were created to protect you, and these patterns that can be changed.
That question "What is wrong with me?" can become "I understand what's happening, and I know how to transform it."
The question isn't whether hypnosis is good or bad. The question is...
Are you ready to discover what your life could look like when you stop fighting your nervous system and start reprogramming it?
Your body isn't betraying you. What you're experiencing has a reason, and most importantly—it can be transformed.
The only question left is what will you do about it today?
Experience Hypnosis for Yourself
If you're curious about what hypnosis can actually do for your anxious, overthinking brain, I have two ways you can experience it.
FREE Workshop: How to Channel Your Anxiety Into Focused Action to Reach Your Goals in 2026
Saturday, January 10th, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM EST Radnor Memorial Library, 114 West Wayne Avenue, Wayne, PA
In this 60-minute hands-on workshop, you'll:
Learn the exact 2-minute practice for transforming racing thoughts and restless energy into focused action
Identify your ONE most important goal for 2026 (the one your anxiety has been screaming about)
Break your overwhelming goal into THREE doable actions that actually create momentum
Discover how to stop accidentally programming yourself to stay stuck—and start speaking success into existence
This isn't theory. This is a practice you'll actually use when anxiety shows up tomorrow. Plus, you'll receive your FREE copy of my book, "Life Change Now."
Register for the free workshop below.
3-Day Anxiety Breakthrough Bootcamp
Ready for deeper transformation? Apply for three personalized coaching sessions where we work together to eliminate anxiety at its source—not just manage symptoms.
Over three days, you'll:
Understand your specific anxiety triggers and patterns
Learn what's actually driving your anxiety responses
Discover the difference between anxiety management and anxiety elimination
Experience what it feels like to work with your subconscious mind, not against it
This intensive work is offered at no cost to a select group of people who are truly ready for transformation.
Apply for the 3-Day Bootcamp below.
You don't have to keep living with a brain that won't shut off. You just need the right tools to access the calm that's already there, beneath all the noise.
Are you ready to discover it?
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