Hypnosis as Everyday Trance by Dr Elizabeth McCardell, M. Couns., PhD

 

July 2025

 

 Quite a lot of people are frightened of hypnosis. They immediately think mind control and stage performances where people are made to do bizarre things, but clinical hypnotherapy is no more threatening than reading a book, walking on the beach, watching a movie, listening to music. It’s just an extension of a common, everyday trance state.

 

You know the sort of thing I mean here: you’re in the zone, you’re not really aware of what’s going on around you even though you can still hear extraneous noises (a dog barking, the wind in the trees), you are aware of passing thoughts, but – like clouds in the sky, they arise and depart; your focus is on reading the book, listening to the song, the rhythm of the walk. You are in connection with the process of where you’re at.

 

As a hypnotherapist I’m uninterested in attempting to persuade you to do anything at all. That strategy would, anyway, lead to a massive resistance on your part!  Instead, I invite you to explore your own experience and inner resources to resolve the thing that is bothering you.  Hypnosis isn’t a violence against you, but a gentle exploration. It is felt as deep, supportive, safe relaxation.

 

Hypnotherapy can have immediate results, or you can notice change happening over time. You may feel different or you may just notice that trepidation, or intrusive thoughts, or feeling compelled to do something habitual has evaporated.

 

I worked with a woman with a fear of flying. She had a planned a trip to Bali but was really worried about getting on a plane. I discovered through the first session (usually about three one hour sessions are what is minimally required) that she used to do really exciting things like scuba diving and motorbike riding. Given that I also have done these things I know the excitement. I know, also, that the body perceives excitement and fear in about the same way (a rush of adrenalin) and thus feeling afraid to fly can be experienced not as fear, but as excitement. By this suggestion alone, when my client flew she was happy and delighted by the whole experience.

 

Intrusive sounds, can likewise evaporate under hypnosis and be translated into the spaces where they used to be a massive bother.  Several years ago, I had a client having to use a dialysis machine at night that made a particular intrusive noise while he was trying to sleep.  Instead of trying to persuade him not the hear the sound (have you ever been successful not thinking about the elephant in the room), I encouraged him through hypnosis to listen to the sound in the same way as he heard the wind in the trees outside his bedroom window, or voices in the street, or anything else going on in the night. In this way, no sound dominated and he was able to sleep.

 

A woman came to me with a fear of falling and was planning a hiking trip through the Grand Canyon. I discovered in her first session with me that her birthday is in January, like me, and I commented that we were both goats. And thus the hypnotherapy sessions were about the magnificence of mountain goats and how they/we are able to climb mountains with great agility and ease. There is caution, carefulness, and confidence in distributing weight and movement. And so my client had a wonderful hike.

 

The process of hypnosis is an interesting one. Brain wave research shows that in a hypnotic trance state a person brains exhibits deep alpha and theta brain waves. Alpha is associated with imagination and theta, with meditation. When the therapist’s brain waves are measured while doing a hypnosis, both alpha and theta are also present, but with the addition of beta waves. Beta is connected to conscious thought. So, in other words, the therapist experiences what the client is experiencing, with the addition of conscious thought in the presentation and shaping of the hypnotherapy session.  You can see why, receiving hypnotherapy feels so good and why I enjoy doing it.

 

I offer hypnotherapy online, which works very well. Contact: dr_mccardell@yahoo.com for more information.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Online Therapy by Dr Elizabeth McCardell, M. Couns., PhD

 

June 2025

 

As most of your already know, I moved to Western Australia a couple of years ago and yet I continue writing for The Nimbin Good Times, as I’ve done since March 2009. Why, you may  ask?  The reason is that as I’m mostly working online these days, it doesn’t matter where I live. I’m also still very much connected to the people of the Northern Rivers and consider your part of the world my second home. I lived there, after all, in Lismore, 14 years.

 

I returned to my home town of Perth for a few reasons, including the realization that I was missing my beloved Indian Ocean too much and I was getting home sick.

 

As the covid pandemic taught us therapists, counselling and doing hypnotherapy online works. In the case of the latter, after all, the hypno is done with the client lying down with their eyes shut and my voice drifting across the ether wherever you or I am. Computer technology is so sophisticated these days that we are generally very comfortable talking to the person at the other end as if we were all in the same room.

 

There are many therapists working exclusively online nowadays. I do see people in person here in Fremantle, where I’m living, as well as online. This is obviously only an option if you’re here in the West. For everybody else, it’s online therapy that I’m  offering. I have clients, these days, spread across the whole of Australia, which is really quite nice. I advertise in Psychology Today, which, like most things these days, is predominantly an online journal.

 

I follow the lives and politics of what’s happening around Nimbin and surrounding areas as closely as I do back here. You matter to me. If you wish to contact me, the best way is by emailing dr_mccardell@yahoo.com

 

It’s interesting how readily we humans have taken to online communication. It doesn’t generally feel very odd at all. Online therapy, also called teletherapy, has been found to be just as effective as in person therapy. It’s better than doing sessions on the telephone as we are very visual creatures. We connect better with each other when we can see the other person.

 

Online therapy, and I use WhatsApp and Messenger usually, allows for great flexibility as clients don’t have to drive to a designated place. We can do it from the comfort of our own homes. This opens the way to good therapy for clients living outside towns and those who are disabled in some way. Time constraints are also more easily managed for online sessions.

 

There are downsides to online therapy and these include dodgy internet connections, difficulty making sure the sessions are private (you need, ideally, to have your living space to yourself for your sessions), incomplete visual clues (we therapists learn a lot about our clients through careful observation), and some psychological issues are not well cared for by this mode of communication. Severe psychiatric crises are best treated by somebody in person.

 

One thing that is as true for online therapy as in person therapy is the need for quiet contemplation before and after each session. Such time allows the person to reflect and prepare for what is to come and to make notes as felt necessary. You might follow up a session with a hot bath and lovely essential oils or sit down to a delicious meal or just head off to the garden. Prospects that don’t include car travel. Not bad, really. The important thing is that you don’t throw yourself into the rigors of work and stress straightaway but give yourself a bit of space around your therapeutic sessions.

 

Online therapy is a matter of personal choice. If you prefer in person sessions, then find a therapist for that; if online suits you best, and you’re interested in my work, contact me, please.