Most of the people in the room have never tried a hypnotherapy session, and seem startled by the effects.

“For the first part I felt quite drowsy,” says a local middle-aged man, “but at one point I think I saw starlight.”

“Exactly,” Shear says. “Did you know you were also shaking for 20 minutes in the process?” The man shook his head. “It felt like I was a child again in my heart.”

After about an hour, many took a deep breath and shared what they felt during hypnosis. They described feeling heaviness in parts of their bodies and then being more relaxed and calm. They could hear every sound around them and they were aware of what was going on during the process.

Shear, a Hongkonger, is certified by the National Guild of Hypnotists in the United States. He says that, during the past decade, he has conducted thousands of hypnotherapy sessions, and treated people with depression, anxiety, insomnia, and even cancer. One private session costs HK$1,800 (US$230).

“Many people see hypnotherapy as unscientific,” Shear says. “Lots of people don’t know that hypnotherapy has existed for thousands of years. People have the misconception that hypnosis is black magic.”

Hypnosis is being adopted more widely by the medical community and can be used to treat some mental illnesses, according to experts. It can help patients deal with pain, anxiety, phobias and depression, according to the American Psychological Association.

Hypnosis, experts say, places a person in a natural, trancelike state, in which they are deeply relaxed, open to suggestion, and have heightened focus.

They say a common misconception is that, when hypnotised, patients lose control over their behaviour. Nobody can be hypnotised if they don’t want to be – a hypnotist only plays the role of guiding you into a relaxed state and it is up to you to decide if you want to follow his or her instructions, says Dr Pauline Wan Yuen-ping, a social worker, psycho-hypnotherapist and lecturer at the University of Hong Kong (HKU).

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Wan, who has been providing mental health services in Hong Kong for 25 years, says a person is often in a hypnotic state when watching movies or riding a bus, yet remains alert.

“I don’t know why people said that the therapy will control the clients in the hypnotic state,” she says. “Actually, when you go to the cinema, even though you are totally absorbed in the film, you still have your logical thinking and you still have your rationality to analyse what happens right now.”

“There is no supernatural power here,” says Christine Deschemin, a French hypnotherapist certified by the US National Guild of Hypnotists who practises in Hong Kong.

“Hypnosis is self-hypnosis,” she says. “Hypnosis is a natural state; you get into that state many times a day. So I just know how to bring about that state within them (the patients), if they agree to it.”

Many people believe hypnosis is an avenue of communication for the unconscious mind. Wan says the conscious mind deals with logical thinking, rationality, and beliefs learned from society and family, while the unconscious mind holds inner feelings and memories that most people are unaware of. When a person’s unconscious mind struggles with the conscious mind, he or she may experience mental problems, Wan says.

“When they struggle and do not know how to express emotions through language, they will express these conflicts or struggles just by physiological symptoms,” Wan says, a chain of consequences through which mental conditions may lead to potentially debilitating physical illnesses.

The causes of this disease are largely unknown but many experts believe it is closely related to stress. The university academic employed standardised assessment scales, commonly used in medical research, to measure the extent of their symptoms. She found that after four weekly hypnotherapy sessions, their pain and discomfort was relieved by as much as 50 per cent.

Concerns about mental health are rising globally. According to global statistics cited in a 2018 report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, a club for developed countries, as many as one in two people will have some form of mental illness in their lives, either minor or severe, and many never seek treatment.

Highly stressed Hongkongers, who work an average of 50 hours per week, according to a 2016 survey by UBS, a Swiss bank, face the burden of mental illness. According to the 2015 Hong Kong Mental Morbidity Survey, about 13 per cent of Hong Kong Chinese residents aged 16 to 75 have mental disorders.

Some Hongkongers have begun to seek help from hypnotherapists. Deschemin says she has helped many Hong Kong businesspeople who felt their anxiety didn’t fit with their image as successful individuals. She has found that, unlike Westerners, Hong Kong people are more hesitant to seek help from therapists.

“There is a cultural reason in Hong Kong,” Deschemin says. “I think people are taught to bottle it up, because they think if you are talking about anxiety and depression, then there’s something wrong with you. I think it’s maybe changing with the younger generations. The youngest people are more open to actually doing therapy.” t

Although there are proven benefits, hypnotherapy isn’t suitable for everyone, Deschemin says. “I will not work with people who have psychotic disorders,” she says, referring to those mental illnesses that include schizophrenia and bipolar disorders. “That’s something that I cannot work with, and they need to get help from a psychiatrist.”

According to the UK’s National Health Service, people with psychosis or certain types of personality disorders, such as borderline personality disorder or dependent personality disorder, should not use hypnotherapy because it may aggravate their condition.

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There are various schools of hypnotherapy and hypnotherapists have different approaches, experiences and accreditations. So finding a qualified hypnotherapist is important.

However, there are no laws or regulatory bodies governing the practice of hypnotherapy in Hong Kong, or elsewhere in the world, according to Wan.

She says people should exercise caution with regard to hypnotherapists’ credentials because anyone can call themselves a hypnotherapist without having a health care background.

“I highly recommend that you check whether the (practitioner’s) title only has hypnotherapist,” she says. “Most of the hypnotherapists have other professional identities, like medical doctor, nurse, physical therapist, and occupational therapist.”

In addition to looking into a hypnotherapist’s educational background and certification, potential patients should consider checking their reputation based on word of mouth, says Deschemin, who sees patients referred to her by doctors.

Deschemin says through hypnotherapy “you can partner with your mind” and become more mentally flexible and adaptable to the surrounding environment. In this way people can make the most of the circumstances in which they find themselves. “But to adapt means to leave all the misconceptions [about hypnosis] behind,” she says.