Celebs are hopping on hypnotherapy – but does it work?

Can it really be that easy?

Is hypnotic psychotherapy really the magic bullet the A-list would have us believe? Or will it just have you forking over a fortune to cluck like a chicken? Hannah Vanderheide investigates.

Imagine Ben Affleck, eyes closed on a recliner, counting backwards from 10. Reportedly, JLo’s most recent ex is revisiting hypnotherapy – 20 years after his first foray – to tackle chain-smoking. And it’s not just Affleck; the intervention has also been credited with helping Kirsten Dunst and Adele ditch the habit. Even David Beckham is reported to have used hypnosis to improve his mindset, while Reese Witherspoon praises it for helping her manage panic attacks before filming Wild. Of course, what celebs start, influencers spread, and #hypnotherapy has amassed thousands of posts and millions of video views online. 

Hypnosis is said to help with everything from insomnia to a fear of creepy crawlies. But is it as simple as ‘mind over matter’? 

Ask Louise Corke. In 2023, she was working for a global beauty company, loving life as a UK expat in Melbourne. The only thing she couldn’t handle was blood – but ‘squeamish’ doesn’t capture the surge of panic Corke experienced near an open vein. “I’ve fainted on trains before, just from seeing that,” she tells me, pointing to my lightly bandaged arm, leftover from a blood test I’d had right before our interview. 

“One time, I went to the cinema with my husband to watch a silly shark film, and when the shark attacked – which was so fake – I ended up fainting on the person next to me.” So, when she fell pregnant, faced with multiple blood tests (not to mention childbirth), Corke figured hypnotherapy was worth a shot.

Her therapist used a mix of counselling, relaxation and suggestion to replace Corke’s fear with an image of her ‘happy place’ – walking her dogs on the beach. “She had me stepping in and out of these hoops, being like, ‘OK, you’re thinking of the dog, you’re thinking of the blood, you’re thinking of the dog, you’re thinking of the blood,’” she recalls. 

Sounds a bit kooky, right? Corke thought so, too. But strap in hypno-sceptics, this might just be the real deal.

“The question is, what does it not treat?” asks clinical hypnotherapist, Olivia Walford, owner of Hypnotherapist in Melbourne, who sees people aged four through to those in their 80s at her Black Rock clinic. And she’s not wrong. Research consistently finds hypnotherapy effective in treating everything from chronic pain to anxiety. 

So, what makes this mind-bending treatment stand out? “The main difference is we’re working with the subconscious mind, and that bypasses the conscious resistance to change,” says Walford, which explains why hypnotherapy can yield results in as little as one session (likely to cost up to $250). 

Author and clinical psychologist, Dr Rebecca Ray, believes hypnotherapy can be a great addition to standard therapies by tapping into our subconscious. “For some, it can speed up change or bring insights they wouldn’t reach otherwise.” 

Author and clinical psychologist, Dr Rebecca Ray, believes hypnotherapy can be a great addition to standard therapies by tapping into our subconscious. Image: iStock

But Dr Ray suggests being selective when choosing a practitioner. “Hypnotherapy isn’t as tightly regulated as psychology or psychiatry, so there’s a risk of working with someone who doesn’t have the proper training or understanding of mental health,” she warns. And Walford agrees: “There are a lot of dodgy ones. Some people just do a three-day course.” Both experts recommended finding qualified practitioners through the Australian Hypnotherapists Association.

Corke, who happily chatted to me post-blood test without flinching, now walks calmly into pathology centres to do the same. “I was 34 the first time I didn’t faint getting bloods taken,” she says. “It’s weird because at the time I was like, ‘This is definitely not going to work,’ but it definitely has.”

So, if you’re willing to step through a few hoops and give hypnotherapy a go, lasting change could be a session away. Perhaps when I click my fingers, you’ll be convinced to try it.

Originally published as Celebs are hopping on hypnotherapy – but does it work?