You Didn’t Feel Good After Your Hypnosis Assessment — What Does That Mean?

Why Might You Feel Emotional After a Hypnosis Assessment?

Human emotions can be affected by much more than we consciously realize.

A conversation, meeting, question, memory, relationship, person, or even something we hear or see in the news can suddenly change how we feel.

Sometimes we immediately understand why. Other times we don’t.

A hypnosis assessment may involve discussing personal goals, concerns, fears, behaviors, emotional triggers, or patterns that have developed over many years.

Simply bringing attention to these subjects can sometimes create an emotional response.

This is why an individual’s experience should be understood rather than assumed.

The Seamstress and the Fabric: A Metaphor for Personal Change

Imagine giving a beautiful piece of fabric to a skilled seamstress.

If you intended to use that fabric as a comfortable blanket, you might be shocked when the seamstress takes out her scissors and begins cutting it into pieces.

To the untrained eye, it might appear that she is destroying something perfectly good.

But the seamstress sees something different.

She sees what the fabric can become.

She understands that the original fabric is only the foundation. Every careful cut is part of creating something that cannot yet be seen.

Personal growth can sometimes feel similar.

Looking at familiar thoughts, behaviors, fears, or emotional reactions from a different perspective may initially feel unfamiliar or uncomfortable.

The purpose is not discomfort.

The purpose is understanding.

The Michelangelo Principle: Removing What Doesn’t Belong

There is a famous idea commonly associated with Michelangelo: the sculpture was already inside the marble, and the artist’s task was to remove the excess stone surrounding it.

Whether taken literally or simply as a metaphor, it offers an interesting way of thinking about hypnosis and personal development.

Personal change does not necessarily mean becoming someone else.

Sometimes it means identifying what may be getting in the way of the person you already are:

• Unnecessary fears
• Unwanted habits
• Emotional triggers
• Limiting beliefs
• Negative associations
• Self-doubt
• Old patterns of thinking
• Learned responses that may no longer serve you

The objective is not to remove your personality.

It is to better understand which thoughts, feelings, habits, and responses are helping you—and which may be limiting you.

Does Feeling Uncomfortable Mean Hypnosis Is Working?

Not necessarily.

This is an important distinction.

Feeling emotional or uncomfortable after a hypnosis assessment should not automatically be interpreted as evidence that hypnosis worked, that healing occurred, or that something went wrong.

It tells us something simpler:

The next question is why.

What were you thinking about when the feeling began?

Was there a particular question or subject that affected you?

Did the conversation remind you of something?

Was the feeling emotional, physical, or both?

These questions can provide useful information and help place the experience in context.

Awareness Can Be the Beginning of Understanding

Most of us spend years developing patterns of thinking and responding without consciously examining where they came from.

Sometimes we don’t notice a pattern until something brings our attention to it.

That moment of awareness may not always be comfortable.

But awareness and discomfort are not the same thing as treatment or healing.

Awareness simply gives us information.

What we choose to do with that information is the next step.

What Does Hypnosis Feel Like?

One of the difficulties in explaining hypnosis is that hypnosis is an individual experience.

Words can describe love, trust, fear, confidence, music, or the feeling of watching a sunset—but a description is not the same as the experience itself.

Hypnosis can be similar.

You can read about hypnosis, research how hypnosis works, watch hypnosis videos, and listen to other people’s experiences.

But another person’s description cannot tell you exactly what your hypnosis experience will feel like.

That is why responsible hypnosis should begin with the individual rather than assumptions about how everyone is supposed to respond.

What Should You Do If You Feel Different After a Hypnosis Assessment?

First, pay attention to what you are experiencing without immediately deciding what it means.

If something about your assessment concerned you, communicate that experience to the professional who conducted it so that it can be discussed and understood.

If you experience persistent, severe, unusual, or concerning emotional or physical symptoms, seek advice from an appropriate licensed healthcare professional rather than assuming hypnosis was the cause.

Hypnosis Is About the Individual

No two people bring exactly the same experiences, beliefs, fears, habits, memories, expectations, or goals into an assessment.

That is why understanding the individual comes first.

An assessment should not be about convincing someone that every reaction is positive.

It should be about listening, observing, asking questions, and understanding what the person experienced.

Sometimes the most useful discovery is not immediately finding an answer.

Sometimes it is discovering a question you had never thought to ask:

“Why did that affect me?”

That question can be the beginning of greater self-awareness and understanding.

The Most Important Point

Feeling something is information. Understanding why you felt it is where learning begins.

A beautiful piece of fabric can remain a comfortable blanket, or in the hands of a skilled seamstress it can become something entirely different.

The value was always in the fabric.

Sometimes the process simply helps us see possibilities that were difficult to see before.

Have Questions About Your Hypnosis Experience?

If you have questions about an assessment or want to better understand whether advanced hypnosis may be appropriate for your goals, speak with us directly.