CAN HYPNOSIS BE USED FOR TWO OR THREE PROBLEMS AT ONCE?

Many people go to a hypnotist for one major problem, but once there, want to work on one or even several more.  If these problems are related, there should be no difficulty doing this.  For example, if a woman is  being seen for weight loss and one of the reasons she overeats is stress related, then stress reduction should be part of the overall program.  If the problems are unrelated, it would be best to experience success with one before going on to another.  Given the same problem of weight control as the primary problem for which a woman seeks help, but she also wants to work on her fear of flying, it would not be a good idea to work on them simultaneously.  Weight control is generally dealt with by suggestions and imagery during hypnosis and a self-hypnosis program utilizing an affirmation.  Fear of flying would be best overcome by going through a phobia desensitization process.  Hypnosis and self- hypnosis are used initially in a general way to achieve a conditioned response to a particular self-hypnosis technique.  After a few sessions, a process of mental rehearsal during hypnosis can be initiated by the hypnotist to help the client visualize the entire flying process, interrupting every time she becomes even a little tense to calm her down with the technique taught in self-hypnosis.  Eventually, the client will be able to use this technique on her own when she has to take a flight and be significantly calmer.  Every time she flies and the technique works well, the conditioned response she had of anxiety connected with flying becomes weaker and eventually goes away completely.  For obvious reasons, it is probably best in this case to work on one problem until success has been achieved.  Once the work on the second goal has begun, suggestions of reinforcement of the initial goal can certainly be used with each session.