Short answer
Hypnotherapy is a form of work in which a practitioner helps a person enter a state of focused attention and use it to explore and change habitual reactions. It is not sleep and not external control: the person remains conscious and takes part in the process.
Key points
- Hypnosis is described as a state of focused attention with heightened responsiveness to suggestion and inner experience.
- Hypnotherapy is the use of that state for a specific purpose, within individual work.
- The person keeps the ability to hear, speak, stop and disagree.
Definition
The American Psychological Association (Division 30) defines hypnosis as a state of consciousness involving focused attention and reduced peripheral awareness, characterised by an enhanced capacity for response to suggestion. Hypnotherapy is the use of this state for therapeutic purposes.
What it is not
Hypnotherapy is not stage hypnosis, not “switching off” and not a way to make someone act against their will. Nor is it a cure-all: it does not suit every problem and it does not replace medical care.
How The Sovereign Protocol uses it
In Daniel Tikachov’s work, the focused state is used to examine a specific recurring reaction — doubt, delay, excessive control — at the moment it starts, and then to carry what is found into real life.
Questions
No. Despite the name, hypnosis is not sleep. The person stays conscious, and attention usually becomes more concentrated.
No. It is not suitable in crises or emergencies and does not replace medical or psychiatric care. Whether it suits you is discussed in the first conversation.