Hypnosis and hypnotherapy shows on TV, should we love them or loathe them? The hypnosis practitioner community voices vastly differing views. Many professional hypnotherapists express disdain and disgust at TV hypnotists and their shows. Such is the strength of feeling, it is a wonder that some hypnotherapists actually praise and enjoy the shows. So what is going on, you may ask; after all, this is entertainment. It is only TV. Or is it?

It really depends on the truth and how important it is to you. Some of us like to live a life of fantasy. We like to kid ourselves that we can instantly be transformed out of an undesirable state of being. And then some of us like to be realists. We like to know that we will live a good life and be happy, and that the right effort will get us there.

And please do not be surprised that some of us prefer fantasy. This preference for fantasy is there for a good reason. Sometime in the life of the fantasist, there was a very grim reality from which there was no real escape. And now, this may be a long time ago. However, stored somewhere in the mind of the fantasist is this grim reality. And one would do anything to escape this ugliness, this sadness, this fear. In other words, the fantasist dreams of an escape to fantasy land, because if we did not have dreams, life can be too much.

Really, the fantasist dreams of an impossible instant cure as a coping strategy. The fantasist may have been through years of painful counselling with no escape from their demons. They may have been through various forms of psychotherapy or psycho-analysis, with little, if any, resolution. As a matter of fact, this counselling or psychotherapy may have caused additional trauma to the trauma already experienced for which they saught help. They may have been given all sorts of medication by a doctor or psychiatrist. And unless a solution has been found, when the pills stop, the demons slowly return. Maybe this is someone you know. And sadly, too many of us have known the pain of traditional therapy.

You can then easily see why the fantasist would wish for an instant cure. On TV, the hypnotist may click their fingers, upon which the show volunteer would close their eyes and appear unconscious. Then the hypnotists commands the volunteer to carry out any number of tasks, and the volunteer happily obeys. There is no pain, no struggle; it is all very easy.

However, there is a huge difference between the hypnosis show volunteer and someone seeking help for their problem. Being a willing volunteer doing what you are told is totally different from making important personal changes. It is like the difference between going to the theatre for fun and going to the dentist for an extraction.

There are even TV shows of actual hypnotherapy for positive change. Most viewers do not hear the part where the volunteer reports feeling better rather than free from their problem. And most viewers do not realize that volunteers are carefully pre-selected, nor that the failures are usually not aired. On TV, change seems very easy.

Unlike our fantasist friend, the realist may approach hypnotherapy with a more down-to-earth expectation. The realist knows that hypnotherapy is a quick fix and does not expect it to work where a major overhaul is needed. The realist is very lucky. They get what they want, because they want what they can get.

A good hypnotherapist would refer on to a good Emotional Freedom Technician (EFT) or similar practitioner for a long-lasting solution. You may even find that your hypnotherapist carries out this excellent work themselves. If so, you may be initially surprised by the techniques used. These do not involve anything like a closed-eye passive state expected by seekers of hypnosis. And if a modern hypnotherapist uses these techniques and tells you it will be a number of sessions, maybe you have found a real gem of a practitioner. It may take longer than on TV, and it may not be as dramatic, but it is for real.