Hypnosis can work immediately, after a few days or, in some cases, only after months. In my experience, the full effect of a session is usually reached after about two weeks. If the change you want hasn’t happened by then, another session is usually needed. Overall, it usually takes two to five sessions.
The trance itself, on the other hand, can set in very quickly. It doesn’t take much effort or complicated inductions. What can take longer is the change in everyday life.
How do you notice that hypnosis is working?
In my experience, hypnosis often works unconsciously. Clients tell me it didn’t work, and when you ask more closely, something has in fact already changed. Maybe you react more calmly in a situation without having noticed, or you reach for a cigarette less often.
So write down before the session how you would notice a change. Then you can look back honestly after two weeks. If you feel that nothing has moved at all, the steps in Hypnosis isn’t working, now what? will help.
Why hypnosis doesn’t work equally fast for everyone
Hypnosis is a way of communicating with the unconscious parts of a person. In therapy, we use post-hypnotic suggestions to propose something new to the unconscious. Modern hypnotists no longer work with commands here, but with suggestions.
Whether and how fast that works depends on whether the unconscious accepts the suggestion. It always means well, and above all it wants to survive, not necessarily to live well. That’s why it holds on to the old for as long as the new doesn’t seem safe enough. The more persuasion it takes, the longer it lasts.
When something else pushes back
A client complains that she isn’t self-confident. Upon closer questioning, we find out that she mainly doesn’t stand up for herself in conflicts. So we use hypnosis to help her stand up for herself more. But as soon as she does, she feels guilty, because in her mind conflicts are negative and must be avoided.
Her moral ideas are blocking the expression of healthy self-confidence, and with it the effect of the hypnosis. Things like this need clearing up first, and that takes time.
When you don’t fully want it yet
Two smokers come to online hypnotherapy to quit smoking with hypnosis. One smokes 60 cigarettes a day, the other 20. You would think the first one would have a harder time.
But Smoker A has absolutely had enough of smoking. Smoker B wants to quit for the sake of his new girlfriend and says: “If it were up to me, I wouldn’t necessarily have to quit.” Smoker A also regularly practices self-hypnosis (meditation).
In the end, Smoker A needed just one session to quit, and Smoker B several. Your conscious mind doesn’t strictly have to be convinced of the change, but it helps a lot.
How can you support the effect?
- Give it time. Don’t judge the result right after the session, but after about two weeks.
- Use the new state. Try out in everyday life what feels different, instead of automatically falling back into old routines.
- Practice self-hypnosis. Almost everyone responds to hypnosis, but to different degrees, and trance can be trained. The more often you practice, the easier it gets.
- Address what pushes back. If part of you doesn’t want the change, that belongs in the next session.
How long the change lasts afterwards is a separate question. I answer it in How long does the effect of hypnosis last?
Conclusion: how long does hypnosis take to work?
Expect to be able to judge what a session has done after about two weeks. Some people notice it sooner, and sometimes something only becomes clear much later. The pace depends more on you and on what’s attached to your issue than on the hypnosis itself.
Sticking with it pays off. If you’d like to try it, you can do so from home with online hypnosis via video chat.
