Clinical Hypnosis in Charlotte, NC
What is Clinical Hypnosis?
Most people have experienced something close to clinical hypnosis without realizing it: the absorbed state of being fully lost in a book, a long drive where miles pass without conscious attention, or the threshold between waking and sleep. Clinical hypnosis works with that same natural capacity, deliberately and therapeutically.
The word “clinical” distinguishes this from stage hypnosis or entertainment. Clinical hypnosis is practiced by licensed mental health professionals as part of a broader therapeutic relationship, with clear goals and ethical boundaries. Beneath the surface of conscious thought, there are patterns, beliefs, and responses that shape how a person feels and behaves. Clinical hypnosis offers a way to work with those deeper layers directly and gently.
Clinical hypnosis can be used as a primary therapeutic approach or alongside other evidence-based therapies. Either way, it operates within a fully informed, collaborative relationship between therapist and client.
What Clinical Hypnosis Can Help With
You know the feeling: a meeting runs long, and by the time you get to your car you are already calculating what I-77 looks like right now. By the time you merge onto the highway, your shoulders are tight and your mind is three conversations ahead. That response is not a flaw. It is the nervous system doing exactly what it was built to do: scan for threat and keep you safe. The challenge is that a nervous system trained to protect can also become one that rarely rests. What the concerns below share is that they all involve patterns operating beneath conscious awareness. That is precisely where clinical hypnosis works best.
Anxiety often persists not because a person lacks insight but because the nervous system has learned to respond in a particular way. Clinical hypnosis works directly with that learned response, helping the mind and body find a different baseline. For people carrying trauma, clinical hypnosis offers a way to work with difficult material at a pace that feels safe. It can gently access the layers where trauma is held, helping to process what is there without requiring a person to relive or verbally recount their experience in detail.
Depression often involves deeply held beliefs about the self and the world that feel like facts rather than patterns. Clinical hypnosis can reach those underlying layers and begin to shift them in ways that more surface-level approaches sometimes cannot. For people who lie awake with thoughts they cannot slow, clinical hypnosis offers something direct: a practiced path into the kind of deep relaxation the body needs in order to sleep.
These concerns do not always arrive separately. Many people carry more than one at a time, and clinical hypnosis is well suited to working with the whole of a person’s experience rather than one thread at a time.
What clinical hypnosis can support
Clinical hypnosis is most often used alongside other approaches, shaped around what each person is working through. It can support work with:
- Anxiety and persistent stress
- The lasting effects of trauma
- Depression
- Sleep difficulties
- Phobias and specific fears
- Performance and situational anxiety
What a Session Involves
Before anything else, the therapist and client spend time together establishing what the session will address and what the client hopes to experience. Nothing happens without that foundation in place.
The shift into hypnosis is gradual and gentle. A client does not cross a threshold so much as settle into a different quality of attention, one that feels quieter and more open than ordinary waking awareness. The working phase of a session draws on the client’s own inner resources. The therapist is a guide, not an operator. What emerges comes from the client, not from something imposed on them.
At the close of the session the therapist guides the client gently back to full waking awareness. The transition is easy and unhurried. Most people feel calm, clear, and often surprised by how refreshed they feel afterward. With client authorization, a recording of the session can be made and sent securely, giving clients a tool to return to between sessions and extend the work on their own terms.
Clinical hypnosis works cumulatively. Each session builds on the last, and change often deepens between sessions as well as within them.
Setting the Record Straight
The gap between how hypnosis is portrayed in popular culture and what clinical hypnosis actually involves is significant. A few things worth knowing before you begin.
You are in full control during clinical hypnosis. The therapist in Charlotte offers guidance and suggestion. You decide, at every point, whether and how to respond to it. Nothing happens without your participation. Stage hypnosis is performance. It selects for highly responsive participants, uses social pressure, and is designed for entertainment. Clinical hypnosis is none of those things. It is a therapeutic tool used within a professional relationship, with informed consent and clear clinical goals.
Most people who approach clinical hypnosis with some hesitation find that the experience itself answers their questions more effectively than any explanation could.
Clinical Hypnosis at Montgomery Counseling Group
John Burns brings years of clinical experience to his work with hypnosis, drawing on a deep familiarity with how the mind holds difficult experiences and what it takes to shift them. No two people bring the same history, the same concerns, or the same relationship to their inner experience. Clinical hypnosis at MCG is shaped around the individual every time.
When clinical hypnosis is combined with other evidence-based therapies, the result is often a more complete and durable kind of change. MCG’s approach is always to find the right combination for the person in front of the therapist. Clinical hypnosis integrates naturally with EMDR, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), DBT, and mindfulness-based approaches and the path forward is always determined by what serves the individual, not by a fixed protocol.
We see clients in person at our Park Road office in Charlotte and by telehealth anywhere in North Carolina. If you are curious about clinical hypnosis or wondering whether it fits what you are working on, a free consultation is the simplest place to start. Call (980) 949-8990 or book online whenever you are ready.
Clinical Hypnosis at MCG is offered by John Burns
John Burns, MSW, LCSW, EMDRIA Approved Consultant
John Burns, MSW, LCSW, holds the EMDRIA Approved Consultant designation from the EMDR International Association (EMDRIA), an advanced credential that qualifies him to provide formal consultation to other EMDR therapists. His clinical hypnosis training includes the Intensives series at the Milton H. Erickson Foundation and the 100-hour clinical hypnosis training led by Michael Yapko, PhD, a clinical psychologist internationally recognized for his work in clinical hypnosis. Training such as these are open only to professionals who hold a health care license. John is a member of the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis (ASCH) and the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis (SCEH), the two principal professional organizations for clinicians who practice hypnosis.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does clinical hypnosis feel like?
Clinical hypnosis is usually experienced as a deep state of focused relaxation. You stay aware of where you are and what is happening the entire time. It feels similar to the absorbed state of being lost in a good book or a long drive. You do not go unconscious. You settle into a quieter, more focused quality of attention.
Will I lose control or do something I do not want to do?
You stay fully aware and in control throughout clinical hypnosis. Your therapist offers guidance and suggestions, and you decide whether and how to respond. It depends on your active participation, and nothing happens without your consent.
How is clinical hypnosis different from stage hypnosis?
Stage hypnosis is entertainment. It selects for highly responsive volunteers and uses social pressure to create a show. Clinical hypnosis is a therapeutic tool used within a professional relationship, with informed consent, clear goals, and ethical boundaries. The two share a name and little else.
Can clinical hypnosis help with anxiety?
Anxiety tends to operate through patterns below conscious awareness. Clinical hypnosis works directly with those patterns, supporting the nervous system in finding a steadier baseline. At Montgomery Counseling Group it is most often used alongside other approaches, such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and shaped around what fits the person.
How many sessions does it take?
The number of sessions varies from person to person. Some concerns shift within a few sessions, while others involve a longer course of work, especially when the concern is deeply rooted or longstanding. Your therapist checks in regularly about how the work is progressing, and the pace stays collaborative.
Can I combine clinical hypnosis with other therapy?
Clinical hypnosis combines well with other approaches, and at Montgomery Counseling Group it is most often used as an adjunct to therapies such as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Internal Family Systems (IFS), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and mindfulness-based work. It can form part of a broader plan of care or be used on its own, depending on what fits the person.
Do you take insurance for clinical hypnosis?
Montgomery Counseling Group is in network with Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Magellan, Medicare, and United Healthcare, and also sees clients out of network. The standard self-pay rate is $150 for a 60-minute session, and a sliding scale based on financial need is available.