Hypnotherapy is a form of therapy that is typically used alongside other forms of psychological treatment, such as traditional modes of talk therapy. Hypnotherapy can have many applications as a part of treatment for trauma, anxiety, stress, panic attacks, post-traumatic stress disorder, phobias, substance abuse including tobacco, sexual dysfunction, undesirable compulsive behaviors, mood disorders, and bad habits. It can be used to help improve sleep, communication issues, and relationship challenges. Although there are different techniques, clinical hypnotherapy is typically performed in a calm, therapeutic environment. The therapist will guide you into a relaxed, focused state, typically through the use of mental imagery and soothing verbal repetition. In this state, highly responsive to constructive, transformative messages, the therapist may guide you through recognizing a problem, releasing problematic thoughts or responses, and considering and ideally accepting suggested alternate responses before returning to normal awareness and reflecting on the suggestions together. Is someone undergoing hypnotherapy unconscious? No. Unlike dramatic portrayals of hypnosis in movies, on TV, or on stage, you will not be unconscious, asleep, or in any way lose control of yourself or your thoughts. You will hear the therapist’s suggestions, but it is up to you to decide whether or not to act on them.