Self-hypnosis has become one of the hottest ways to help people cope with their addiction. Of course, this is not something that you can use for instance when you are addicted to drugs or when you have a bad case of mental disorder. For the most part, self-hypnosis works for addictions that are not deeply-rooted and does not involve any forms of withdrawal.
One of the most common uses of self-hypnosis nowadays is towards self-improvement and personality shift. If you want for instance to suddenly become more patient and manage your anger well, this is the procedure for you. The same goes with people who want to excel academically by enhancing their memory and concentration skills. Self-hypnosis is also found to be effective when it comes to helping relive pain after a medical procedure or when pain is one of the symptoms. There are some who have even used self-hypnosis to quit smoking although it was not completely effective in all of the cases. According to experts, the effectiveness of the procedure will still depend on the individual's own personality and response. There are people who are much easier to hypnotize than others.
Despite its more modern uses, self-hypnosis or hypnosis in general has been part of the world's history since time immemorial. The Egypt for instance found this a good thing and likened it to spiritualism. The Church however do not condone the use of hypnosis and have even been mentioned in the past as one way to open the mind to the devil. New age believers however feel that hypnosis is an untapped science that can help the humankind when utilized better.
Contrary to what most believe, self-hypnosis is safe, perhaps even safer than professionally administered hypnosis because you are basically in control of your own mind. You are not surrendering complete control to the hypnotist. This is good especially if you are not really sure on the abilities of your hypnotist. Doing it yourself can however have a downside. One of them is its slow rate of response. You may need to wait awhile before you can actually notice a change in your behavior. You may have to work real hard for it as opposed to sitting pretty in the company of a professional hypnotist.
This "your own effort" bit is most often what attracts people to self-hypnosis. If you must remember, one of the earlier criticisms against hypnosis is the fact that patients are not essentially changing their behavior but having someone tweak it for them. There is no hard work involved nor there is an intrinsic change to speak of. However, even with the emphasis on doing it on your own, you still need the guidance of a professional hypnotist. In fact before starting the session, you need to get instructions from them. They will also answer all your questions and guide you through your sessions. There is still professional involvement in the sense that they will be monitoring your progress.
On what is more effective, self-hypnosis or professionally-administered, the jury is still out. According to industry experts, a lot depends on the patient who may respond well or not well to a hypnosis session. Still, the mere fact that you can have complete control over yourself even during a hypnosis session already makes self-hypnosis the better choice for most people.