**1. Just a little background on hypnosis and hypnotherapy**

Over time, hypnosis has been defined in various ways. In its early stages, it was associated with supernatural states. The current official definition, according to the American Psychological Association, is "a state of consciousness, involving a focused attention and reduced peripheral awareness, characterized by an enhanced capacity for response to suggestions" [1]. Unestahl [2] defines hypnosis as "an alternative state of consciousness, where information can bypass the logical mind and bring about changes in suggestibility and perception and in which there are alternative control systems available." Taking both definitions into account, we propose the following definition that describes this state of consciousness more broadly:

*Hypnosis is a state of intense and focused attention that leads us to a special state of consciousness, in which previously learned experiences can be evoked in an involuntary way. This state is characterized by an increase in suggestibility and the ability to modify the perception, memory, and functioning of the autonomic nervous system [3].*

In the past, it was also common knowledge that hypnosis implies a relaxation, or a sleep-like state, in which the hypnotized person loses his/her consciousness temporarily, being completely under the hypnotist's control. Now, however, it is known

### *Hypnotherapy and Hypnosis*

that hypnosis is a natural state that tends to occur periodically several times a day, approximately every 90 min in human beings, as one of many psychobiological ultradian rhythms [4] during which the person is in total control of his/her will [5].

According to our definition of hypnosis, we can say that this state is not limited to a relaxed state but any state of focused attention that switches our mind to a more creative mode, helping us to find solutions for specific problems or seeing things from a different perspective, enhancing the capacity to access unconscious memories and perceptions and to reframe them, and facilitating processes of dissociation.
