Clinical Hypnosis
Sometimes you know what you want to change.
Clinical hypnosis is focused, goal-oriented work for people who have something specific they would like to change.
It uses a naturally occurring state of focused attention to work with patterns, responses, and associations that aren’t always easy to change through conscious effort alone.
Clinical hypnosis is offered as a distinct service from psychotherapy. The work is collaborative, thoughtfully paced, and organized around the change you would like to make.
What Is Clinical Hypnosis?
Clinical hypnosis is a focused state of attention that can make it easier to work with patterns, responses, and associations outside of ordinary conscious awareness.
You are not unconscious, asleep, or under someone else’s control. You remain aware and able to speak, respond, stop, or redirect the process at any time.
Many people describe the experience as similar to becoming deeply absorbed in a book, a piece of music, a creative task, or simply their own thoughts. The difference is that here, that focused attention is used intentionally toward something you want to change.
What Can Clinical Hypnosis Help With?
Clinical hypnosis can be used to work with a wide range of specific goals, particularly when you know what you would like to change but conscious effort alone hasn’t quite gotten you there.
People may seek clinical hypnosis for concerns such as:
Stress & Anxiety
Changing automatic responses to stress, worry, and situations that feel disproportionately activating.
Fears & Phobias
Working with learned fear responses that persist even when you logically know you’re safe.
Habits & Smoking Cessation
Addressing automatic behaviors and the associations, routines, and responses that help keep them in place.
Confidence & Performance
Working with self-doubt, anticipatory anxiety, public speaking, professional performance, athletics, or other situations where your internal response gets in the way of what you know you can do.
Pain & Physical Responses
Using focused attention to influence the experience of pain, tension, and other mind-body responses alongside appropriate medical care.
Emotional Patterns
Working with recurring reactions or responses that you understand intellectually but still find difficult to change.
You don't need to fit neatly into one of these categories. The starting point is simply what you'd like to be different.
Clinical, Collaborative, and Individual
A Different Kind of Work
Clinical hypnosis is offered separately from Joanna’s psychotherapy practice. It is focused around a specific goal or change you would like to make rather than the broader, ongoing work of psychotherapy.
Some concerns may respond in a relatively small number of sessions, while others benefit from more time. There is no predetermined timeline; Joanna will work with you to determine what makes sense based on your goal and how you respond to the process.
For people who are also in therapy, clinical hypnosis may sometimes complement that work. Joanna may also incorporate hypnosis within psychotherapy when clinically appropriate, but the two services remain distinct.
The goal isn’t to replace therapy. It’s to offer another way of working with something you would like to change.
Common Questions
Will I lose control?
No. You remain aware and able to stop or redirect the process at any time.
Can everyone be hypnotized?
Most people can experience hypnosis to some degree. Joanna works with you to find an approach that feels natural and effective for you.
How many sessions will I need?
It depends on what you want to change. Clinical hypnosis is focused around a specific goal, and Joanna will discuss what a reasonable course of work may look like for you.
Is clinical hypnosis the same as therapy?
No. Joanna offers clinical hypnosis as a separate service from psychotherapy. Hypnosis may also be incorporated into psychotherapy when appropriate, but the two are distinct.
Ready to See What Might Change?
You don't need to know exactly how hypnosis will work for you. You just need something you'd like to be different.
Sometimes you know what you want to change.
A Note About Clinical Hypnosis
Clinical hypnosis is a complementary wellness service and is not a substitute for medical or mental health care. Hypnosis does not diagnose, treat, or cure medical or mental health conditions. When appropriate, it may be used alongside care provided by licensed medical or mental health professionals.
Joanna may incorporate hypnosis into psychotherapy when clinically appropriate, but standalone clinical hypnosis is offered separately from her psychotherapy practice.