Can Hypnosis go Wrong?? Can it Change a persons personality?

[kelly]

Hi, I was wondering if Hypnosis can change a persons personality. My husband had hypnosis done about 6 months ago for weight loss and hasn't been the same since. Yes he has lost 50 pounds and looks great but he has changed, our relationship has changed. He hasn't touched me is months and spends most of his time away from our home. He used to be a home body now he only sleeps there. You probably are thinking he is having an affair but I honestly do not think he is, and have asked others and they agree, he has just changed. He only thinks of himself now, and what new toys he can purchase. All this happened the same time he started losing weight. Can anyone tell me if they have ever heard of someone changing so much after hypnosis? Maybe I am grasping at straws here but I just can't figure him out anymore. Thanks for the help!

[skip]

Many times in either hypnosis, NLP, or other forms of assisted self help, people come for some change, "weight loss", and in order to accomplish it successfully, different attitudes, beliefs, and values, need to change to help them accomplish the desired result.

You cannot be overweight without a lifestyle that supports it, you cannot be 'thin' with out a corrosponding lifestyle.

It sounds to me, from no more than I have to go on, that the hypnotist accomplished their job, helping your husband lose weight. In so doing changes were made that resulted in your husband having a different set of beliefs and values to support his new behavior. This theoretically is a good thing.

Trying to accomplish the goal, without disrupting overmuch, the individual's life and relationships, is called being 'ecological'. And hopefully the hypnotist and your husband evaluated the ways in which your husbands life, and relationships, might change, so he was aware of the possible overall results.

But lets get back to the current situation. Apparently your husband is satisfied with his 'new life',and he may or may not realize, that you dont seem to be as satisfied, as he is. Id be curious what your husband has to say about it, have you asked him?

Change, in a person, in a relationship, is sometimes difficult on others in the relationship, especially if they were relativewly satisfied with the way things were.

Identify what your concerns are, without letting your imagination and fears run wild, and ask your husband about it, he is the one, who can offer you accurate answers, not your friends.

I wish you well,

skip

[kelly]

Thanks for your reply- Yes I have talked to him, he says he does not feel comfortable anymore in our home or around me which is confusing to me since he use to tell people I was the best thing that ever happened to him.

I am happy he has been able to lose weight, but not with his change in behavior. He barely talks to me anymore and when he does doesn't look at me. When I try to get him to talk about what is bothering him, he says he doesn't know what it is.

Our problems started after he had hypnosis that is why I thought maybe something went wrong.

Thanks again

[Don]

Hi, Kelly.

The mind is a very complex thing. As Skip pointed out, a particular lifestyle supported his weight. My guess is that he hated being overweight and this anger carried over to everying that went along with it whether there was a direct association or not.

Do you see what I'm getting at? It is possible that in his mind he equates his weight and the associated anger and unhappiness with his home life. In his mind, to make a change in one thing (weight) required him to make a change in everything, including his home life.

I realize that what you are experiencing must be terrible for you. My guess is that it is terrible for him, too. But the truth is that he may have been very unhappy and desirous of change before he went to the hypnotist.

Hypnotists help people change their behavior. That is exactly what the hypnotist did and it sounds like the hypnotist was totally successful. However, unless hypnosis is simply a part of the methodology of a licensed psychotherapist, the hypnotist was not a psychologist, psychotherapist, or psychiatrist.

I would respectfully suggest that you two get into couples counseling as soon as possible. I would also respectfully suggest that if he will not do this, that you get into counseling of some sort for yourself.

So to repeat, my guess is that he had hidden unhappiness before he lost weight, and the weight loss has simply allowed him to manifest and act on that unhappiness. Another way of looking at this is by saying that the weight he had was associated with certain feelings and emotions. When he released the weight, he also released the emotions. Now it is time to deal with these newly-released issues.

Good luck!