The process of communicating with the subconscious mind of a patient by a trained hypnotist as a part of the treatment that he is undergoing is known as clinical hypnosis. Normally it will be performed only by qualified physicians who have acquired the knowledge about the mental and physical functions of a patient.

Clinical hypnosis is becoming more and more popular among the general public considering the use of it to control the behavioral problems of individuals such as smoking and alcoholism. This method of behavioral conditioning is proved to be very effective to control obesity also.

As many of us believe it is not a process by which the doctor can brain wash a patent to give him a rebirth. It requires a lot of time and complete cooperation from the side of the patient undergoing the process of hypnotic therapy. For this reason the treatment by using this method totally depends on the attitude and co operation of the patient. Most of the time clinical hypnosis may require a number of sittings to achieve the desired goal. If the patient is patient enough to cooperate and accept the positive suggestions from the hypnotist during clinical hypnosis process he will undergo a lot of mental and physical alterations that can change his behavior positively. A patient who wishes to undergo the treatment to get rid of unhealthy habits like drinking and smoking should have to be extremely co operative with the clinical psychologist to get the desired outcome.

This type of hypnotherapy used as a part of medical treatment is also known as therapeutic hypnosis. Unlike self hypnosis that can be practiced by the subject himself therapeutic clinical hypnosis requires a well trained hypnotist who is in a position to understand the physical condition of the subject also. Performance of hypnotherapy by an inexperienced person may result in extreme reactions by the patients. For this reason it is always better to seek the help of an expert clinical psychologist to perform hypnotherapy.

This mode of treatment is most commonly utilized by men for stopping drinking and smoking habits. It says that a large portion of the income of this group of hypnotists is derived from cessation of smoking and body sculpting programs. As on today there exists no evidence to show that it can be a cure to serious diseases such as cancer, diabetes and arthritis. But it can be used as an effective tool in palliative clinics that helps the cancer patients to suppress the pain.