So, what can hypnoanalysis treat? In order to answer that question, we have to take a look at how hypnoanalysis works. Hypnoanalysis is the most advanced form of therapeutic hypnosis that has the capability to identify and heal the underlying cause of your problem. Hypnoanalysis differs from both traditional talk therapies and hypnotherapy. Traditional talk therapies do not access the subconscious mind, where the root cause for your problem lies. Sometimes, people will comment that they feel like they’re going in circles with traditional talk therapy. This is because talk therapy primarily communicates with the conscious mind, which guards and protects information in the subconscious mind. The root cause of your issue, however, is buried in your subconscious mind and subconsciously affects your behavior and drives your symptoms. (That being said, there is an important place for talk therapy, and talk therapy has been shown to help with certain problems.)

Hypnoanalysis is also different from hypnotherapy. Hypnotherapy is getting people relaxed and planting positive ideas into their subconscious minds. People listen to hypnosis tracks about self-confidence, weight loss, smoking, and other things—these are sort of the “stereotypical” things that hypnosis treats—that plant positive ideas in the subconscious mind. However, if there is a more powerful, negative suggestion that overrides the new, positive ideas, your problem and symptoms will continue. So there is the key limitation of hypnotherapy—you can plant as many positive ideas you want, but if the earth they are being planted in is not fertile for these positive ideas, then the positive ideas won’t grow in the first place. As a result, hypnotherapy can treat more surface level concerns if and only if there isn’t a powerful, overwhelming emotional need beneath the issue.

That’s where hypnoanalysis comes in. Hypnoanalysis analyzes the root emotional cause of the problem and then heals it. This involves uprooting negative suggestions you may have received and then replacing those negative suggestions with new, powerful, positive suggestions. In other words—if we’re sticking with this plant/garden/earthy analogy—hypnoanalysis creates fertile soil for positive suggestions to flourish and grow in your mind.

So, what can hypnoanalysis treat? Because hypnoanalysis is a powerful analytic protocol, it can treat a range of mental health problems, including anxiety, panic, depression, phobias, OCD, somatic symptoms (i.e. chronic pain), stomach issues (which are frequently linked to anxiety), insomnia, and an array of other issues and symptoms. The premise is that there is an underlying reason buried in the subconscious mind that influences our behavior and creates symptoms, and with hypnoanalysis we can find it, uproot it, and replace with new, positive experiences and suggestions. And again, with the: HOW COOL IS THAT?! Because it’s pretty darn cool.