FAQ

HypnoCounseling offers effective attitudinal and behavioral modification using hypnosis as your tool for making positive changes. By employing hypnosis techniques, HypnoCounseling targets, disarms and consequently reduces or eliminates the negative effects of your stresses and pro-actively promotes your self-improvement as reflected in your mind, body and Spirit. Specifically this includes assisting you in activating positive revisions in those mind sets, belief systems and/or emotional associations that are responsible for causing you distress. Also, you will learn HypnoCounseling techniques that allow them to avoid future negative responses to stresses. For example, a HypnoCounselor would give the smoking cessation client pre-approved hypnotic suggestions to end the smoking habit. Furthermore, specific hypnotic suggestions also would direct the client to release the emotions/mind sets that were motivating him to continue to smoke cigarettes. As his subconscious integrates the hypnosis suggestions, the client stops smoking. Thus, the client who quits smoking feels more in control and also feels greater self-confidence/high self-esteem as personal growth benefits.

Hypnosis directs your conscious mind that typically is at the forefront and dominant, to take a back seat, thereby allowing you to access the subconscious part of your mind directly. Hypnosis helps you to temporarily create an altered state of mind (similar to what you experience when you are awake and daydreaming) in which the subconscious mind becomes receptive to your suggestions. During hypnosis, the body and conscious mind are in a very neutral, non-interfering, relaxed state while your subconscious mind remains alert and receptive to suggestion. It is not intended that you sleeps but rather remains deeply relaxed, aware and focused. In fact, during this state you are very aware of all that is happening, being said and with very few exceptions, remember everything. While under hypnosis, you are more acutely focused and able to concentrate without being distracted by outside factors. Transitioning into hypnosis is a relatively easy process that is very comfortable and enjoyable. You reach this state of mind through very pleasant relaxation techniques that overcome the automatic interferences that the conscious mind normally creates. Normally your conscious mind prevents access to your subconscious mind where most habits, mind sets, associations, belief systems and behaviors are established and maintained. Hypnosis allows for speaking directly to that part of your mind that can understand, accept and integrate new suggestions.

Yes. The American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association have approved hypnosis for use by professionally responsible individuals. The British Medical Association also adopted hypnosis as a viable therapeutic tool in 1958 the same year as the AMA.

Stage Hypnosis enlists volunteers who want to have fun and enjoy being in the limelight. Under hypnosis, they are directed to say and do things which appear funny and entertaining to the audience. The hypnotist usually gives them the suggestion that they feel no embarrassment afterwards and perhaps even forget how they behaved. In contrast to Stage Hypnosis, HypnoCounseling employs hypnosis for a different, self-improvement or self-enlightenment purpose such as helping you break a bad habit or overcome a fear or raise low self-esteem. Also, in HypnoCounseling, the hypnosis is conducted in a private setting without an audience and with complete confidentiality. A client only shares the information that he/she desires and can withhold anything at will. Hypnosis does not control you; rather, you are always in control. You dictate the necessary subject matter and what changes you desire. You are responsible for 90% of the effort and the HypnoCounselor, as the facilitator, is responsible for the other 10%.

People may be hypnotized as long as they are not mentally disabled or challenged, are willing to be hypnotized and participate in the process without resisting. This also applies to children. People who have severe psychological disorders such as schizophrenia are advised against using hypnosis unless the hypnosis is facilitated by their psychiatrist or under the supervision of their psychiatrist. Regarding those who may unintentionally resist hypnosis, Glassner Associates Hypnosis is experienced in ways to help you, the client, overcome subconscious resistances such as fears and anxieties. Another important requirement for being able to transition into hypnosis is your ability to hear adequately. Additionally, trust and confidence in your HypnoCounselor increase the ease in which you may allow yourself to enter hypnosis. Nevertheless, some people may take a little longer than others to relax; and, in an extremely rare case, a client may postpone the hypnosis until a follow up visit. It is routinely advised for you as a new client of Glassner Associates, to listen to Gale’s hypnotic guided imagery CD, Relax, Release and Dream On, before coming for your hypnosis session. This in fact ensures an easier transition into hypnosis because you will have already experienced the state of hypnosis, hypnotic guided imagery and affirmations. In the case of young children under 7 years of age, the HypnoCounselor may start with a personalized CD that the young child listens to while sleeping.

Yes. Hypnosis may be a wonderful approach for attitudinal and behavior modification for children of all ages. Children have vivid imaginations that respond well to guided imagery and hypnotic suggestions. Children also tend to be very open to hypnosis as it is fun. There are, however, different hypnotic techniques which are age appropriate for the mental/emotional development and language skills of children. The child must be able to understand what is being said, sit in one place for 20-30 minutes and follow the verbal directions. For those children unable to do so, Glassner Associates Hypnosis may create a CD with hypnotic suggestions tailored to each child’s needs. The child then listens to the CD at bedtime. The child continues listening to the CD at each bedtime over a period of 30 days in order to establish and ensure that the suggestions have become new habitual ways of thinking, feeling and behaving. Again, it is imperative that the child can hear and process the CD and that the child is without any auditory disabilities which would block the child’s comprehension.

Normally something blocks conscious communication of instructions, desires, goals and so forth, intended for your subconscious. However, when you are in hypnosis it employs an altered state of consciousness that allows your hypnotic suggestions to reach the subconscious part of your mind. It is like finding the correct radio station frequency and once you have tuned into that station’s frequency, you can call in and reach the radio station. Fortunately, the subconscious mind will accept your suggestion as long as the suggestion is clearly understood, framed properly and has no previously accepted belief that contradicts it. The suggestions must be framed within your religious philosophies, and your ethical and moral standards. Furthermore, in order to be effective, the suggestion also has to be something the person really wants. It is the responsibility of your HypnoCounselor to help you to appropriately select/compose each suggestion with your goals in mind and in harmony with the way you see the world. If there were to be something in your subconscious mind that would be opposing your new suggestion, there are HypnoCounseling techniques to resolve such opposition. Unquestionably, formulating these effective suggestions for your specific needs requires special abilities, training and experience. The HypnoCounselors at Glassner Associates are trained in multiple approaches and a wide variety of techniques that serve your individualized needs and interests.

Yes. You will automatically get bored and come out of hypnosis if there is no talking or sound going on after 20 minutes or so; or you may simply take a nap and easily wake up on your own. The hypnotic state may be compared to daydreaming. When you daydream you are in an alpha or theta state of consciousness. You always return to your conscious state from your daydreams or go into sleep and the same holds true for hypnosis.

Hypnosis, as facilitated in HypnoCounseling, helps you produce lasting, positive and stress reducing changes to their lives. You also experience deep relaxation and a time for your body to decompress and recover from stress. Additionally you experience self-empowerment through learning and practicing self-hypnosis. Yet you, the client, are always the one in control while in the hypnosis session. Please note that you can not be hypnotized to think, feel or do anything that is against your moral or ethical standards nor can you be forced to give up a habit until you are really ready to let it go. For example, if a woman says she wants to give up smoking because her husband, mother or even her doctor is insisting upon it, she may not be able to do it with hypnosis until she recognizes SHE wants it for herself.

At Glassner Associates the individualized session of hypnosis is conducted by the HypnoCounselor in a private, safe and comfortable office setting. Accommodations may be made for those people who are physically unable to come to our office. All information is kept in strictest confidence. During hypnosis, you are able to hear, to dialogue with the HypnoCounselor and to remember what is said. You are the one in control of what you choose to share and may decide to keep certain information private. This is completely up to your discretion. The hypnosis process, as practiced by Glassner Associates Hypnosis, is very specific and goal oriented; it is like taking a laser beam and targeting your stresses. Besides this focus, one of the fundamental goals is empowering you, the client, to have better control over all mental, emotional, physical and spiritual stresses. You can expect to learn new techniques that keep you in harmony and balance with consistent feelings of internal peace. Importantly, you receive appropriate instructions so you are able to utilize your own self-hypnosis independently. In addition to one-on-one private HypnoCounseling sessions, Glassner offers weekly Group Hypnosis Meetings. Glassner Associates believes in the benefits of practicing hypnosis regularly in order to reinforce previous suggestions and to maintain harmony, balance and peace of mind regardless of what new issues surface. In fact, hypnosis may be compared to daily meditation with an additionally powerful, pro-active component. You may think of the Group Hypnosis Meetings like going to the gym to strengthen oneself and to keep fit. In fact, by no coincidence, Group Hypnosis Meeting use the acronym GHM pronounced as in gym. To learn more about Group Hypnosis Meetings, please visit our Group Hypnosis Meetings page.

The number of individualized hypnosis sessions varies depending upon you and the complexity of your issue(s). Glassner Associates suggests but does not require a minimum of three sessions. Under certain, less common circumstances, two sessions may be sufficient to achieve your initial goal. The weekly Group Hypnosis Meetings are available (with a few exceptions due to scheduling conflicts) and are highly recommended as a follow up for all Glassner Associates’ hypnosis clients. A few issues such as weight reduction necessitate at least four private sessions supplemented by the optional Group Hypnosis Meetings. A weight reduction program for a substantial amount of weight includes monitoring over several months or even over a year. The same is true for weight gain programs. For your convenience, Glassner Associates also offers telephone hypnosis. The first hypnosis session typically is two, full 60 minute hours and includes a hypnosis orientation segment, an information gathering interview, an assessment of the main presenting issue(s), and the identification of goals for disarming the stress which is tied to the client’s main issues. Other assessment tools may be used as deemed necessary. The second session is typically between 1-1 ½ to 2 hours. After the initial two sessions, the sessions are typically 1-1 ½ hours depending upon the needs of the client. As part of the hypnosis work, the client acquires a mastery of self-hypnosis techniques. After the third or fourth session, the HypnoCounselor and client evaluate the progress achieved thus far and identify the benefits derived from the hypnosis process before determining whether additional sessions are needed. For many people, three or four sessions are all that are necessary to disarm the main stress factor that brought the client to HypnoCounseling. In many cases an established client achieves favorable results and decides to continue their sessions to clear any remaining resistance or to address a newly uncovered and related stress issue. It is ultimately the client and her needs that determine the frequency of her visits. For instance smoking cessation may take between two and four sessions. “Nail Biting” may take just two to three sessions. “Fear of Flying” typically takes three or four sessions. It is important to note however, that in clearing the stress of one issue, the client often finds relief in other related stress areas. This remarkable, automatic reaction represents an additional benefit to the hypnosis.

People can not be hypnotized to think, feel or do anything that is against their moral, ethical or religious standards. That is why it is so crucial to understand how each client views the world and what belief systems are valid for him/her. The hypnotic suggestions are formulated according to the client’s frame of reference.

HypnoCounselors specialize in the use of hypnosis as their primary modality of assisting people. Other practitioners may use hypnosis as an adjunct to their other, main specialty. Some practitioners are full time practitioners while others are part-time only. Furthermore, like in many professions, there are differences in the format, choice of techniques and how hypnosis professionals practice their skills as well as differences in their training, skill sets and intuition. Glassner Associates Hypnosis offers hypnosis as its primary focus/specialty and since its establishment in March, 1999 has been operating as a full time business.

For medical issues, a dentist, an internist, gynecologist, or another specialist may refer a client to Glassner Associates and GA maintains the communication (with the client’s written consent) with the doctor who monitors the client’s progress. For mental health issues, the client’s psychiatrist, psychologist or social worker may refer to GA. Before clients begin a weight loss program, they should get a physical exam from their doctor. Also, before giving assistance with pain management, GA needs a doctor's referral. GA is pleased to work with other cooperating care providers. HypnoCounseling is a complementary approach which welcomes conventional western medicine as well as Chiropractic, Acupuncture, Naturopathic, Homeopathy, Aromatherapy, Massage, Acupressure, Therapeutic Touch, Reiki and other alternative therapies.

Medical insurance coverage depends upon an individual’s health insurance plan. Glassner Associates Hypnosis is a “fee for service” provider; therefore, clients need to check with their insurance provider. Many of Glassner Associates clients, who do not have insurance coverage, find it possible to pay privately since Glassner Associates’ practice of HypnoCounseling can be extremely effective and considerably “short term.” For the client’s convenience, Glassner Associates takes all major credit cards and offers other payment options.

One popular alternative for conducting hypnosis is via the telephone. In some cases, it is necessary beforehand to be seen in person by the HypnoCounselor at least once before starting telephone hypnosis. However, Glassner Associates has many clients who use telephone hypnosis exclusively from out of state or out of the country. Also, telephone hypnosis will help those with intermittent difficulties scheduling in person visits. There are certain conditions, however, which do not allow for the use of hypnosis via the telephone. If interested in opportunities for hypnosis over the telephone, please email Glassner Associates at info@galeglassnertwersky.com or call Glassner Associates directly at: 973.865.4177, 818.854.6077.

Yes, Glassner Associates has weekly Group Hypnosis Meetings (GHM, pronounced as in “GYM”) one weekday evening, 8:15-9:30 pm with approximately 40 minutes of hypnosis. These meetings allow clients as well as interested persons from the general public to experience the relaxation, rejuvenation and peace of mind that hypnosis achieves plus many other benefits. For more detailed information, visit our Group Hypnosis Meetings page.