Are there side effects of long term use of hypnosis / trance?

Does anyone know if using hypnosis or trancelike states over long periods of time can cause any issues?

Let me explain why I ask:

I worked nightshift for 15 years before transferring to a dayshift position where I have to leave my house at 6AM. I used to work 7PM-7AM, I now work 630am-330pm. I fall asleep before midnight. On a normal work week with no sleep meds I was getting 2-3 hours of sleep a night and slowly losing my mind. I went to the doctor and tried dozens of sleeping pills. 1 1/2 years later, still not sleeping unless I take something. Then it puts me into a comma and I don't feel any better than if I had just stayed up. Only now I still have laundry to do because I didn't do it at midnight the night before ;-) So my doctor told me to check the app store and see if sounds or something similar would work. After 2 months....I found it!!!! I don't know if I can post, so I won't, but it is amazing. It is soft peaceful music with a women talking. She hypnotizes you to sleep. From what I understand it using your speech rhythms and patterns to put a person into a trancelike and suggestible state. Its awesome! She works her way through a countdown 10-1 to put you to sleep. Anyway...sorry got a little long winded


Can I do any damage if I use this every night? Honestly, I don't think I would care; but I think my husband is afraid I will wake up 6 months from now and kill him because we watched discovery id before bed

Thanks for any input.

a reply to: Martin75

Long term use of anything can't be good for you.

a reply to: Martin75

I don't think so, and I haven't come across any research that suggests it's dangerous. It's more likely that if you use it for a month or so you'll not need it any more, and will be used to associating bed with sleep. That way you'll fall asleep naturally when you get into bed.
It's definitely healthier than 2-3 hours of sleep a night. Enjoy it!

ETA: Try this link for some more examples: Free guided meditations/mindfulness

Can you message me the name of the app? I would love to try it. Thanks !

As far as being hypnotized, Ive been hypnotized quite a few times and it hasn't caused any long lasting damage. Quite opposite, I was instructed to do something everytime I am stressed and it works. It brings me back to that peaceful stage I was in when hypnotized.

a reply to: Martin75

I took a hypnosis class during my short time in college. The professor told us that he knew of one case where a wealthy guy had to pay a hypnotherapist to deprogram his daughter who was recruited into a cult. He didnt approve of it since he said that the girl had to have constant "touch up" work to keep her from breaking down.

Apparently hypnotherapy is not a long term solution to a long term problem.

He said that its ok for a short term "break" in habits or thought patterns but ultimately the subject needs for natural brain patterns to emerge and reinforce the work done. Just adding layer after layer of programming can be dangerous since it increases the possibilities of conflicting programming. That can leave you all sorts of messed up.

a reply to: beansidhe
I hope that you are right and just following a healthy pattern gets my rhythms back on schedule. And thanks a bunch for the link! I will definitely check it out.

a reply to: blackmetalmist
I sent you a message. I'm hoping beansidhe is right and I can learn the healthier sleeping habits

a reply to: tadaman
Yeah I think that was kinda what my husband is thinking.

I will use for a bit and hopefully I will begin to fall asleep without it

a reply to: Martin75

I wouldn't think it is any different than listening to music or white noise, although I could be very wrong.

You can do it every night, and even try others.

Very good, usually people don't do this every night all their lives, perhaps for a period of time, a few months.

But one thing I would be sure of, in any self hypnosis cd or video, or full hypnosis cd or video, is to analyze it with audacity, and there are tutorials, you'd have to do internet searches, but to see if there is any subliminal messages coded in it that may not be good. If there is, you could make your own file of it and isolate bad things and remove them.

You can also make your own layered audacity song file with nature sounds and theta binaurals and some messages you add, there are samples of hypnosis intro's, deepening, and methods online.

Yes. A serious side affect of hypnosis is healthy lifestyle changes, coupled with processing of traumas and pathologies in a productive and healthy manner. I am a licensed hypnotherapist and can tell you there is nothing wrong with long term sessions, even lifelong. It is nothing more damaging than regular guided meditation [ which it is] and will do nothing more horrific than helping you to become a more conscious, aware, whole being.

I learned how to hypnosis decades ago and have been hypnotized by a professional. Realistically, we hypnotize ourselves and are constantly hypnotized to some degree all of the time by outside forces, TV ads, advice from others, white strips on the highway, etc. I hypnosis CAN be used in nefarious ways, and despite a popular misconception, hypnosis can be used to make a person do something that they would not ordinarily do.

If you have concerns about the message you use. Listen to it when you are cold, stone awake and not wanting to sleep. While drinking coffee at the kitchen table for instance. Listen to the voice at a loud level for any subliminal messages it could contain. Finding nothing that gets your attention, enjoy the tape for its obvious value to your life.

Eventually, you will find that you have learned the procedure for falling asleep on your own without the tape. And perhaps a bit of examination of your life around the absolute given times of work/rest are in order. The factors of daily-living stress and rumination are prime factors in the inability to reach sleep within a reasonable time.

a reply to: Martin75

Thank you. I'll download it today (I have android as well, so the google play store works )

I also DL some nature sounds and fell asleep listening to the sounds of the ocean. It was peaceful and actually had lucid dreams. I hope it doesn't start to become a habit but it would be nice to use it when you are stressed and have to wake up early the next day to go to work.

a reply to: blackmetalmist

I also use a app on my cellphone that has different nature sounds, the rain is my favorite. Sometimes I run a fan for white noise and not for the cooling effect (although it has been hot lately). They help me sleep especially since I am working late at night to early mornings.

Unfortunately, sometimes I use Advil PM to help me sleep but have tried switching to Melatonin, but I hate to get hooked on either of those.