What is a clinical hypnotist? I am often asked that question. While the virtues of clinical hypnotism are becoming increasingly accepted, many people do not make the distinction between clinical hypnotists and other health care professionals. It is often assumed that I must be a psychologist or a doctor, in fact clinical hypnotism is a profession in and of itself and the training and preparation is quite different.
If medical doctors deal with physical disorders and psychologists deal with mental disorders, what is left for the clinical hypnotist? The answer is personal and vocational self-improvement. Simply put the the little things in life that the majority of us struggle with, and that negatively affect our health. For example, many people still smoke although they would like to stop. Or increased daily stress often results in negative lifestyles and the loss of our ability to sleep naturally. I think it is safe to say that most people we know have something they would like to improve in their lives and the areas they would like improvement in are not covered by doctors or psychologists. Self-confidence, self-esteem, sports performance, study skills, stress management , to name a few, are all areas of specialty for the clinical hypnotist. Also, a client with mental or physical disorders can be referred by a doctor to a clinical hypnotist, who can be of great value.