Does Hypnotherapy Work Over A Video Call?
You've found a hypnotherapist you like the look of. You've read her page twice. Then you get to the line that says "York or online", and you stop.
Online? You'd pictured a quiet room and a big chair, with somebody sat a few feet away. You hadn't pictured your spare bedroom, with the laptop balanced on the ironing board.
So you close the tab. You tell yourself you'll look for someone nearer. That was in the spring.
It's a good question, and I'd like to answer it properly.
What I do in a session
Let's start with what happens when you come to see me in York, because it's less than you'd think.
I don't touch you, and nobody swings a watch. I talk.
You listen, and you follow along in your own head. I might ask you to notice your breathing. I might ask you to picture walking into a room you've been avoiding, and then to picture it going well.
All of the work happens inside your own attention. My part is my voice.
And a voice comes down a video call perfectly well. You've known that since the first time somebody made you cry on the phone.
Has anybody tested it?
Yes, once, and quite recently.
In 2026 a Swedish team led by a researcher called Lövdahl ran eight hypnotherapy sessions for small groups over live video. Fifty-one people took part, and all of them stayed at home.
The team then looked at how those people got on, next to the people they usually see face to face. They described the two sets of results as comparable.
I need to be straight with you about the limits.
It was a small pilot study. The sessions were for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), which is a different job from confidence work. The comparison was with the team's own earlier results, so the two haven't been run side by side. And no other team has repeated it yet.
So it doesn't prove anything about you and me. I'm telling you about it because it's the closest anybody has come to checking the same sessions both ways. If you'd like the detail, I wrote it up on my Mind Your Guts blog.
What's different at home
Some things do change, and you should know about them before you book.
You're in charge of the room. That means the door, the phone, the dog and whoever else is in the house. In York I sort all of that out. At home it's down to you.
Here's what helps. Pick a chair that holds your head up. Wear headphones, because my voice will sound closer and the washing machine won't. Put your phone in another room. Tell everybody you're not to be disturbed, and shut the door.
People worry about the connection dropping halfway through. If it does, you'll open your eyes and wonder where I went. That's all. You can't get stuck in hypnosis, any more than you can get stuck in a daydream. I'll ring you straight back and we'll carry on.
There's one thing home does better. When we finish, you're already there. You don't have to find your car keys and drive round the ring road feeling as if you've just woken up. You can sit for ten minutes with a cup of tea.
When I'd tell you to come to York
Online doesn't suit everybody, and I'd rather say so now.
If your house is never quiet, come to York. If you'd feel better having somebody in the room with you the first time, that's a good enough reason on its own.
You don't have to decide from where you're sitting, though.
One way to find out
My free 15 minute call happens on video. So booking it tells you two things at once. You find out whether I'm the right person for you. You also find out how it feels to talk to me through a screen.
If it feels fine, online will probably suit you. If it feels odd, we'll book you into the room in York.
