This is a very common question when someone calls me and they want to get an idea of how long it will take for them to achieve their goal. Just like with any other treatment and modality, the number of sessions needed will depend on several factors such as: nature of the problem: stop smoking, stress, weight loss, lack of confidence, insomnia, fears, phobias, anger, sadness, pessimism, etc., severity of the problem, how long people have experienced a particular problem, how much stress they have in their lives, personality, level of motivation to overcome the problem, open-mindedness of the person, his/her cooperation during the process, whether the person believes they can overcome the problem or not, among other things.

For the most part, people can experience a change and improvement of their symptoms with a few sessions, but not everyone is the same. While it’s true that hypnosis can help us work at a subconscious mind level and move faster to accomplish the desired changes, some people might need more time than others, and that’s ok I guess. In the beginning I suggest people do about 5 sessions once a week (or every 2 weeks if sooner is not possible) and then we can decide if more sessions are needed and how often, later on sessions can be more spaced.

Once size does not fit all, and this is part of the reason why, as hypnotists, we don’t offer guarantees. In my case, I follow the code of ethics of the national guild of hypnotists  (NGH) which cautions hypnotists not to offer guarantees. I know some hypnotists do, I guess in an effort to attract more clients, but human behavior cannot be controlled or predicted. After all, doctors don’t guarantee to cure or heal someone, neither do psychologists or psychotherapists, so why should we? Hypnosis is not mind control after all. However, I believe that anyone who has the right attitude can improve, make progress and sooner or later overcome their issues to be successful and live a happier, healthier and more meaningful life.