Hypnotherapy in Carlton North, Melbourne

When Your Conscious Mind Is Completely On Board, But the Rest of You Apparently Didn’t Get the Memo

You know smoking is bad for you.

You know the thing you’re terrified of probably isn’t going to happen.

You know lying awake at 2am mentally rehearsing seventeen possible catastrophes isn’t helping.

You know the habit you keep repeating isn’t particularly useful.

Excellent.

So why don’t you just stop?

Ah.

Welcome to being human.

A surprising amount of what we do isn’t the result of sitting down, carefully considering our options and making a beautifully rational decision.

We develop habits.

Associations.

Expectations.

Automatic responses.

Ways of thinking.

Ways of protecting ourselves.

Things become familiar.

And sometimes we can consciously want one thing while another part of us continues doing something completely different.

Hypnotherapy works with this territory.

At The Urban Alchemist in Carlton North, hypnotherapy uses focused attention, relaxation, imagination and therapeutic suggestion to explore and potentially influence habitual thoughts, feelings and behaviours.

You remain awake.

You remain in control.

And no, nobody is going to make you cluck like a chicken.

Unless chickens are somehow central to your therapeutic goals.

Book Now!

Not sure whether Hypnotherapy is right for you? Contact our team on (03) 9347 9247.

Is Hypnotherapy Right for You?

People may explore hypnotherapy when they want support with things such as:

• Smoking or vaping cessation
• Habit change
• Anxiety and worry
• Stress
• Fears and phobias
• Sleep-related habits
• Confidence
• Behaviour change
• Emotional patterns
• Motivation
• Eating behaviours
• Relaxation
• Developing different responses to familiar triggers

Hypnotherapy isn’t appropriate for every condition or every person.

It may be used as a standalone complementary approach in some circumstances or alongside psychological, medical or other healthcare depending on what you’re seeking help with.

Our Hypnotherapists

Fees

• Initial Session ~ $200 for 90 minutes
• Individual Session ~ $180 for 60 minutes
• Four Session Program ~ $600, paid upfront

Please book an initial consultation before commencing.

Current appointment options and fees are displayed through our online booking system.

If you’re unsure which appointment to choose, contact reception on (03) 9347 9247.

Curious About Hypnotherapy?

If consciously knowing what you want to change hasn’t been enough, hypnotherapy offers another way of working with familiar patterns and automatic responses.

Book Now!

Not sure which appointment to book? Contact our team on (03) 9347 9247.

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What Is Hypnotherapy?

Hypnotherapy uses hypnosis within a therapeutic context.

Hypnosis is a state of highly focused attention in which awareness of everything else happening around you may become less prominent for a while.

This isn’t as strange as it sounds.

Human beings naturally move into absorbed states all the time.

You become completely engrossed in a book.

Drive a familiar route and realise you barely remember parts of the journey.

Lose track of time while making something.

Become so absorbed in a film that your body reacts emotionally even though you know perfectly well you’re sitting safely on a couch.

Hypnosis deliberately creates a focused state in which imagination, attention and therapeutic suggestion can be used towards a particular goal.

What Does Hypnosis Feel Like?

Usually considerably less dramatic than television has led you to expect.

You might feel:

• Deeply relaxed
• Heavy
• Light
• Warm
• Very still
• Highly focused
• More aware of some sensations and less aware of others
• As though time passed quickly
• As though time slowed down

Or you might simply feel:

I’m lying here listening to someone talk.

Also completely valid.

There isn’t one sensation that proves you’ve been “properly hypnotised.”

Am I Asleep During Hypnosis?

No.

The word hypnosis comes with a lot of cultural baggage involving sleep, swinging watches and suspiciously compliant volunteers on stages.

Clinical hypnotherapy is different.

You’re generally aware of what’s happening.

You can hear the practitioner.

You can think.

You can move.

You can speak.

You can reject a suggestion.

You can open your eyes.

And you can stop.

Hypnosis isn’t unconsciousness.

It’s focused attention.

Will I Lose Control?

No.

This is probably the most persistent myth about hypnosis.

Hypnotherapy doesn’t hand another person the keys to your brain.

You don’t suddenly become incapable of making choices or develop an irresistible urge to cluck like a chicken.

You remain an active participant.

Therapeutic hypnosis is collaborative.

The practitioner guides the process.

You decide whether you engage with it.

But What About the Subconscious Mind?

People often use the word subconscious to describe the enormous collection of processes that happen without deliberate conscious thought.

Habits.

Associations.

Automatic reactions.

Learned expectations.

Emotional responses.

Memories.

Things you’ve practised so often you no longer consciously think about doing them.

Think about learning to drive.

Initially:

Mirror.

Indicator.

Brake.

Gear.

Steering wheel.

OH GOD THERE’S ANOTHER CAR.

Eventually, much of driving becomes automatic.

You don’t consciously calculate every movement.

Our emotional and behavioural lives contain automatic patterns too.

Hypnotherapy is interested in what happens when we deliberately bring focused attention, imagery and suggestion to some of those patterns.

You don’t need to believe there’s a tiny hidden person operating your subconscious control panel.

The human mind is interesting enough without one.

Hypnosis and Imagination

Imagination is one of the particularly interesting parts of hypnosis.

Imagine biting into a lemon.

Really imagine it.

Cutting it open.

Smelling it.

Putting the intensely sour flesh onto your tongue.

You may notice your mouth responding to something that isn’t actually happening.

That’s interesting.

Our brains and bodies can respond to imagined experiences.

Athletes use mental rehearsal.

Musicians mentally practise.

We anticipate conversations that haven’t happened.

We frighten ourselves with futures that don’t exist.

We replay memories and experience real emotion in the present.

Hypnotherapy deliberately uses imagination and focused attention as part of the therapeutic process.

Habits and Automatic Behaviour

Habits are useful.

Without them, you’d need to consciously decide how to brush every individual tooth each morning.

But habits can also become frustrating when the automatic behaviour is something you consciously want to change.

A cue appears.

The urge arrives.

The familiar behaviour follows.

Often remarkably quickly.

Hypnotherapy may explore:

• The situations associated with the behaviour
• The sensations or emotions that precede it
• Expectations surrounding it
• Alternative responses
• Imagery
• Therapeutic suggestions
• Mental rehearsal of responding differently

The aim isn’t to magically erase a habit.

It’s to create another opportunity for something different to happen.

Hypnotherapy for Quitting Smoking or Vaping

Smoking and vaping involve more than nicotine alone.

There can also be powerful behavioural associations.

Coffee means cigarette.

Alcohol means cigarette.

Driving means vaping.

Stress means nicotine.

Finishing dinner means going outside.

Talking on the phone means reaching automatically for something.

Sometimes the behaviour has been repeated thousands upon thousands of times.

Hypnotherapy for smoking or vaping cessation may work with these triggers, expectations and automatic associations while helping you mentally rehearse different responses.

Our Four Session Quit Smoking and Vaping Program

Our structured Quit Smoking and Vaping program runs across four consecutive weekly sessions.

Before beginning the four-session program, you will need to attend an initial consultation.

Fees

• Initial Consultation – $200
• Four Session Program – $600, paid upfront

The program works out to $150 per program session.

Hypnotherapy isn’t guaranteed to make somebody stop smoking or vaping, and evidence comparing hypnosis with other smoking cessation approaches remains mixed.

If nicotine dependence is significant, evidence-based smoking cessation support from your GP, pharmacist or another qualified healthcare professional may also be useful.

Hypnotherapy can form one part of your approach rather than requiring you to put all your eggs in one hypnotic basket.

Hypnotherapy for Anxiety

Anxiety is an excellent example of the difference between knowing something and experiencing it.

Your logical brain says:

I’m probably okay.

Your anxious brain says:

Interesting theory. However, have you considered EVERYTHING THAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?

Anxiety can involve patterns of:

• Catastrophising
• Anticipating threat
• Repetitive worry
• Physical tension
• Avoidance
• Hypervigilance
• Reassurance seeking
• Fear of particular situations or sensations

Hypnotherapy may use relaxation, focused attention, imagery and suggestion to help you practise different responses to anxiety and develop a greater sense of confidence around situations that usually trigger worry.

Research into hypnosis for anxiety has produced promising findings in some settings, particularly when hypnosis is used alongside other psychological approaches, although the evidence differs between anxiety conditions.

Hypnotherapy shouldn’t automatically replace psychological or medical care for an anxiety disorder.

Read more about Anxiety

Read more about Psychology

Our Four Session Hypnotherapy Program for Anxiety

Our structured anxiety program is delivered over four consecutive weekly sessions.

The work may explore familiar patterns of worry, catastrophising and anxious responding while developing and rehearsing alternative responses.

An initial consultation is required before commencing the program.

Fees

• Initial Consultation – $200
• Four Session Program – $600, paid upfront

The program works out to $150 per program session.

Hypnotherapy for Fears and Phobias

Phobias can be particularly baffling because the conscious mind may understand perfectly well that the feared thing isn’t proportionate to the reaction.

And yet:

Spider.

Needle.

Plane.

Lift.

Dog.

Public speaking.

Your body has already voted.

Hypnotherapy may be used to explore the associations surrounding a fear and mentally rehearse experiencing the situation differently.

For significant or complex phobias, psychological approaches including exposure-based therapies have strong established roles, so Psychology may also be appropriate.

Read more about Psychology

Hypnotherapy for Sleep

Sleep is another activity that becomes remarkably difficult when you try extremely hard to make it happen.

RIGHT. I MUST RELAX NOW.

Very soothing.

Hypnotherapy may be used to support relaxation and work with thoughts, habits or associations surrounding bedtime and sleep.

Persistent insomnia can have many causes, including medical conditions, mental health difficulties, medications, substances and sleep disorders.

If sleep problems are ongoing or significant, medical assessment may be important rather than assuming the problem is purely psychological.

Hypnotherapy and Eating Behaviours

Eating is influenced by considerably more than hunger.

Habits.

Emotions.

Culture.

Environment.

Reward.

Stress.

Convenience.

Learned associations.

Body image.

Restriction.

And occasionally the fact that somebody put hot chips in front of you.

Hypnotherapy may be used as one tool for exploring habitual eating behaviours, awareness and responses to triggers.

We prefer this framing to promising that hypnosis will simply make you lose weight.

Body weight is influenced by many biological, psychological, social and environmental factors, and research into hypnosis specifically for weight loss remains limited.

Where weight, nutrition or eating behaviours are significantly affecting your health, appropriate medical and nutritional care may also be important.

Hypnotherapy for Confidence

Confidence isn’t necessarily the absence of nerves.

Sometimes it’s:

I’m nervous and I’m doing it anyway.

Hypnotherapy may use imagery and mental rehearsal to help you imagine responding differently in situations where you usually feel uncertain.

That might include:

• Public speaking
• Performance
• Difficult conversations
• Social situations
• Interviews
• Returning to something after a difficult experience

The aim isn’t to install a new personality.

You’re still you.

Ideally just you with a little less internal heckling.

Hypnotherapy and Stress

Stress can create its own familiar patterns.

You notice pressure.

Your body responds.

Your thoughts accelerate.

You become more reactive.

You sleep poorly.

You have less capacity.

Everything feels harder.

Which creates more stress.

Hypnotherapy may provide a structured opportunity for deep relaxation while also exploring habitual responses to stressful situations.

Relaxation isn’t a solution to every stressful circumstance.

Sometimes the job really is unreasonable.

Sometimes the relationship really does need a boundary.

Sometimes there are practical problems requiring practical action.

Therapy shouldn’t hypnotise you into tolerating things that need changing.

What Happens During a Hypnotherapy Session?

A session usually begins with conversation.

You’ll discuss what brings you in, what you want to change and relevant background information.

Your hypnotherapist may then guide you into a focused hypnotic state using things such as:

• Relaxation
• Breathing
• Focused attention
• Imagery
• Visualisation
• Therapeutic language
• Suggestion
• Mental rehearsal

The exact process varies according to your goals and the therapeutic approach being used.

At the end of the hypnotic work, you’ll be guided back to ordinary alert awareness.

No pocket watch required.

Do I Have to Be “Good at Hypnosis”?

No.

People vary in how readily they experience hypnotic absorption.

You don’t need to perform.

And trying extremely hard to determine whether you’re hypnotised enough can be a spectacular way of distracting yourself from the entire experience.

If you’re hearing the words, following the process and engaging with the imagery or suggestions, that’s plenty to work with.

Can Everyone Be Hypnotised?

People differ in their responsiveness to hypnosis.

Some enter deeply absorbed states very readily.

Others experience something much lighter.

Hypnotherapy doesn’t require you to achieve some mythical level of trance where you forget your own name.

Your experience is your experience.

Can Hypnotherapy Make Me Do Something Against My Will?

Hypnotherapy isn’t mind control.

You retain agency during the session and can reject suggestions that don’t fit with your values or intentions.

That means hypnotherapy works best when you actually want the change you’re seeking.

If somebody else desperately wants you to quit smoking but you personally remain extremely committed to cigarettes, this is useful information.

Will I Remember the Session?

Usually, yes.

Hypnosis doesn’t normally involve becoming unconscious or automatically forgetting what happened.

Some people may experience changes in their sense of time or remember certain parts more clearly than others, just as can happen during any deeply absorbed experience.

Is Hypnotherapy Evidence-Based?

Hypnosis has been studied across a range of clinical settings, and the evidence isn’t identical for every condition.

Research supports useful effects in some areas, while evidence in others is limited, mixed or still developing.

For example, research has found beneficial effects for anxiety in some contexts, particularly when hypnosis is combined with other psychological treatment. Research also supports hypnosis for reducing anxiety and pain around some medical procedures.

For smoking cessation, however, there isn’t clear evidence that hypnotherapy is superior to established behavioural approaches.

That’s why we prefer:

Hypnotherapy may be useful for this.

rather than:

Hypnotherapy will fix this.

Human beings remain irritatingly resistant to guaranteed outcomes.

Is Hypnotherapy Suitable for OCD?

OCD is a specific mental health condition and isn’t simply a collection of unwanted habits.

Evidence-based psychological treatment, particularly therapies involving exposure and response prevention, plays an important role in OCD treatment.

If you have OCD or think you may have OCD, we recommend appropriate assessment and psychological treatment rather than relying on hypnotherapy as your primary treatment.

Read more about Psychology

What About Substance Dependence?

Substance dependence can involve significant physical, psychological and social factors and sometimes requires specialised addiction or medical care.

Hypnotherapy shouldn’t be presented as a standalone treatment for substance dependence.

If you’re concerned about alcohol or drug use, speak with an appropriately qualified healthcare professional about the safest treatment options.

Frequently Asked Questions About Hypnotherapy

Is hypnosis real?

Yes.

Hypnosis is a recognised psychological phenomenon involving focused attention, absorption and responsiveness to suggestion.

That doesn’t mean every claim ever made about hypnosis is true.

Humans do enjoy getting carried away.

Is hypnotherapy mind control?

No.

You remain an active participant and retain agency during hypnosis.

Will I be unconscious?

No.

Most people remain aware of the practitioner and what is happening.

Can I get stuck in hypnosis?

No.

Hypnosis isn’t a separate dimension from which somebody needs to retrieve you.

What if I can’t relax?

You don’t need to achieve perfect relaxation for hypnosis to occur.

Tell your practitioner what you’re experiencing and the process can be adapted.

What if I start laughing?

Then you laugh.

What if I don’t feel hypnotised?

There isn’t one definitive feeling of hypnosis.

Some people experience profound relaxation or absorption.

Others experience something much subtler.

Will I reveal secrets?

Hypnosis doesn’t automatically compel you to reveal information you don’t want to share.

Can hypnotherapy erase memories?

No.

And hypnotherapy shouldn’t be used on the assumption that memories recovered under hypnosis are necessarily accurate.

Memory is reconstructive and can be influenced by suggestion.

Can hypnotherapy make me quit smoking?

It may be useful as part of a smoking cessation approach, but no responsible practitioner can guarantee that hypnosis will make you quit.

How many sessions will I need?

That depends on what you’re seeking help with and how you respond.

Some of our structured programs involve four sessions following an initial consultation.

Other goals may be addressed through individual sessions.

Hypnotherapy in Carlton North, Melbourne

We spend an enormous amount of time believing that because we know something, we should automatically be able to change it.

Know better.

Do better.

Simple.

Except humans aren’t simple.

We’re creatures of habit.

Association.

Emotion.

Memory.

Expectation.

Imagination.

Automatic responses.

And occasionally spectacularly irrational behaviour.

Hypnotherapy gives us another way of working with that complexity.

Not by taking away your control.

Not by magically reprogramming your brain.

And not by whispering mystical instructions directly into a secret subconscious vault.

By using something your mind already does extraordinarily well:

Focus.

Imagine.

Learn.

Associate.

Rehearse.

And perhaps begin responding differently.

Our Carlton North clinic is conveniently located for people seeking Hypnotherapy from Carlton, Fitzroy, Fitzroy North, Clifton Hill, Brunswick East, Northcote, Collingwood and Melbourne’s inner north.

Curious About What Your Mind Can Do?

Book Now!

Not Sure Which Appointment to Book? Contact Us on (03) 9347 9247