Can hypnosis help even if I am already receiving psychotherapeutic treatment?

In principle, it is recommended that a patient should not undergo two psychotherapies at once. This is because he would then not be able to engage intensively with a therapist or a therapy process and it would simply overtax him. That would be this typical "dancing on two weddings". He would work in both therapies, but not fully engage in both. What happens very often, however, is that a second therapy is done immediately afterwards. This can have various reasons, especially inpatient therapies are limited and different topics can only be touched on there. Even after an outpatient therapy, others often follow. Two psychotherapies in parallel are therefore not possible or advisable. However, the situation is different for psychotherapy with combined hypnotherapy.

If you are considering turning to a hypnosis therapist in addition to your psychotherapists, that is only legitimate. There is nothing against it either, the only important thing is that you discuss it with your therapist. Hypnosis can be very helpful in addition to therapy, but it can also be detrimental and contraindicative. To decide that in each individual case, you have to look at the problem and the condition, why you are in therapy. The form of psychotherapy also plays a role. For many problems, according to experience, hypnosis can work very reliably and bring about a noticeable improvement, especially after a short treatment. This would be the case, for example, with phobias, traumatic experiences or sleep disorders. Here, a parallel hypnotherapy can be very useful and helpful. Hypnosis can then go well with "conventional therapy" and even complement it. Imagine it as if you were at your family doctor and would additionally visit a specialist who would treat you more specifically.

Hypnotherapy is usually a short-term therapy, while psychotherapy lasts several months, if not years. If your problem or type of therapy would require a long-term accompaniment by a hypnosis therapist, a double treatment is rather difficult. In this case, there is a risk that a so-called transference relationship will develop. This means that an intense one develops between patient and therapist, which could make the relationship with the actual therapist difficult. This could hinder the therapy process and overwhelm the patient. This is precisely why it is so important that you discuss your request to go to hypnosis with your therapist. In addition, you should also tell your hypnosis therapists that you are undergoing psychotherapy.