Hypnotherapy vs Hypnosis: What’s the Difference?

Jasmine
Aug 8, 2025
2 min read

Updated: Oct 21, 2025

In the wellness space, “hypnosis” and “hypnotherapy” are often used interchangeably — but they’re not the same thing.

At SOULSMITHERY, clients often ask:

“Will I lose control of my mind and body?” “Can I just be hypnotised and healed instantly?” “What actually happens in a session?”

This blog breaks it down clearly — so you can make an empowered choice about which path is right for your healing journey.

What Is Hypnosis?

Hypnosis is a state of consciousness — one you’ve likely experienced without realising it.

Ever zoned out while driving, or lost track of time watching the fire flicker? That’s a hypnotic state: a trance-like condition where your brain waves slow down, and the subconscious becomes more receptive to suggestion.

During hypnosis:

The conscious mind steps aside
The subconscious opens up
You're deeply relaxed, but still aware

Hypnosis is not mind control, and it’s not sleep. You’re always in control — but more able to access inner material usually filtered out by the analytical mind.

🧘‍♀️ What Is Hypnotherapy?

Hypnotherapy is what happens in hypnosis.

It’s the therapeutic use of the hypnotic state to uncover, shift, and heal subconscious patterns — such as limiting beliefs, trauma loops, phobias, addictions, or emotional wounds.

A hypnotherapist is trained not just to induce hypnosis, but to work with what’s there once you’re in the trance state.

At SOULSMITHERY, hypnotherapy may include:

🌊 Regression work to uncover root emotional imprints

🌻 Inner child integration

🐺 Symbolic/metaphor healing (like interpreting dreams in real-time)

🔁 Re-patterning loops of thought or behaviour

✨ Spiritual reconnection or soul-level clearing

Hypnosis Is a Tool — Hypnotherapy Is a Process

Here’s the simplest way to think about it:

Hypnosis = the doorway
Hypnotherapy = what happens once you walk through

In that sense, hypnosis can exist on its own — for relaxation, suggestion, or guided visualisation. But hypnotherapy goes deeper, offering structured processes to support long-term healing and transformation.

So Which One Do You Need?

If you're looking for:

Calm, focus, or stress relief → hypnosis may be enough
Deep emotional healing, trauma work, or pattern rewiring → hypnotherapy is essential

In reality, most sessions at SOULSMITHERY weave both — using hypnosis to enter the subconscious, and hypnotherapy to navigate and rewire what we find.