Interview with Yone Alvarez: what are the benefits of hypnosis?

Psychologist Yone Alvarez talks about the nature of hypnosis as a therapeutic resource.

Hypnosis is a form of therapeutic intervention that is as useful as it is interesting. Decades of research into its functioning and modes of application have led to the existence today of various forms of hypnotherapy, and many psychologists are trained to use them to help their patients.

But... what exactly does hypnosis consist of? To better understand the logic of how this practice works in the field of mental health and emotional well-being, we interviewed an expert in the field of hypnosis. we interviewed an expert on the subject, the psychologist Yone Alvarez Boccardo..

Interview with Yone Alvarez: the benefits of hypnosis applied in therapy

Yone Alvarez Boccardo is a psychologist expert in the use of hypnosis, and attends both in person at her office in Barcelona and through the online psychology service. In this interview she talks to us about what hypnotherapy is both in theory and in practice.

What made you interested in hypnosis applied in therapy as a field in which to train professionally?

Psychotherapy has a Wide range of benefits for people, however, we must continue to evolve as professionals and broaden our theoretical and technical frames of reference to provide our clients with a richer treatment for their personal development, which goes beyond the restoration of their previous balance.

In my search I came across new theoretical and philosophical currents, which introduce again in the attention of people a method of healing from hypnosis. In the development of my practice as a hypnotist, I find myself working much more deeply into people's deepest personal dilemmas, helping them to find their own answers to the big questions in their lives that almost always cause them much suffering and confusion.

From your point of view as an expert in hypnotherapy, how do you explain the way hypnosis works?

The hypnosis I perform comes from an American school, initiated by Dolores Cannon, who developed a very specific and transcendent hypnosis method called Quantum Healing Hypnosis Technique.

This hypnosis technique seeks to bring the person to a state of deep relaxation in which their Theta brain waves are activated, which keeps them semi-awake, in a deep meditative state that gives access to their unconscious.

And from the point of view of the patients who come to the consultation, what does it feel like to undergo hypnotherapy?

The person who attends a hypnosis session is not necessarily a patient of psychotherapy, sometimes they come on an occasional basis to have the experience and find very valuable answers to their discomfort or current situation.

Thanks to the channel that opens to their deepest unconscious, the person begins to "daydream", and accesses personal memories and memories of the Collective Unconscious (as Carl Jung would say), finding in those experiences answers to their current concerns, from various angles or perspectives.

Likewise, in this meditative state, in the second part of the hypnosis session, the person comes to have a dialogue with himself in a state of calm, and this gives him his own answers to his concerns, his internal conflicts, his suffering, etc., from a wisdom that in a conscious state he could not access because he is so involved in the discomfort and everyday life. It provides an unparalleled perspective!

Having studied how hypnosis works and knowing how it is applied in practice, what do you think are the main myths about this practice, and how would you disprove them?

Many people are afraid that in this state they can be suggestible by the specialist, which is false in neurotic personality structures. This means that the common denominator of the people who attend could not be suggestible, in fact this is the reason why traditional hypnosis based on suggestion for behavioral changes (addictions to cigarettes, drugs or alcohol, for example) do not sustain effective results over time.

The other myth of the person is the fear of losing control of himself, not being able to stop the process or get out of that state if it is being uncomfortable for some emotional reason. This is false, since in the Theta wave state, the person has access to his unconscious without losing his state of consciousness from the "I", he just bridges the gap between both dimensions of his mind, so if he wants to leave the state, he does it. A funny example of this is that in sessions of 2 hours many people ask to go to the bathroom, go and come back and continue in the hypnosis process without starting from scratch.

Another myth, supported by psychoanalysis itself and later psychotherapeutic currents, is that hypnosis is not useful or effective. And this myth is based on a mistaken view of the benefits of the method. Let me explain briefly: hypnosis is not effective to change behavior, since we cannot act on anyone's free will; hypnosis is effective to generate expanded states of consciousness and access deeper responses of the Self in a state of connection with its truth and essence that is rarely accessed with traditional psychotherapeutic techniques.

What are the problems for which hypnotherapy is most useful and effective?

It is important for people to be clear about their expectations when seeking hypnosis. Behavioral change is a by-product of the deep insights that emerge from the hypnosis process, not the individual's suggestion.

Addictive behavior, eating disorders, impulse control disorders (aggression) or depressive disorders change from the insights and revelations that the person gets from their hypnosis process. Behavior can only change from the vital changes that the person makes by a change of internal perspective where he/she becomes more clearly aligned with his/her True Self.

The usefulness of this technique is that it bridges directly to your True Self, and the impact is transcendent.

And how do patients change for the better? Does it take a long time to notice the first results?

The results of hypnosis can be found in a single session or in several sessions spaced in time (I usually recommend at least 3 months between sessions).

To the extent that the person resists less to find his deepest truths, which make him connect with himself in his most strengthened and powerful place, to that extent sadness, anxiety, suffering, dissonance or confusion, suffering in personal relationships and at work, among many other issues, are changing. What must change is the perspective of the subject in order to be able to modify his or her way of approaching the different issues in his or her life that generate suffering.