Hypnosis for Self Help

Hypnosis is usually associated with resolving issues such as smoking cessation or weight loss, but there is no reason why it can't be used for more generative purposes such as improving sports performance, or programming yourself to be a more motivated individual.

Usually hypnotherapists work with specific issues so most generative work is performed by people working on their own using self hypnosis for such purposes - the easiest way being to either use post-hypnotic suggestions for hypnotic self-programming or record your own scripts.

Many people use self hypnosis for subjects such as confidence, public speaking, and anxiety, and considering the number of hypnosis cds and mp3s available many people have success with these recordings.

For very specific issues you may find it easier to achieve the results you want with NLP - see PlanetNLP.com for details. By specific I mean that curing a flying phobia is specific, whereas smoking cessation usually requires many smaller incremental changes.

Would it be better to see a Hypnotherapist?

That really depends upon the issue and upon the therapist. For many people the most cost effective approach is probably to try and resolve the issue yourself through self hypnosis recordings, and then if you fail to resolve the issue fully, seek the help of a hypnotherapist.

With this approach you may find that you can resolve some of the issue and then require a hypnotherapist to finish the change. For instance if you're trying to lose weight you may be able to resolve an eating compulsion but then fail to motivate yourself to exercise. One advantage of using a hypnotherapist is that they are trained to look for small elements of your behavior that need changing that you may miss.

Conclusion

Really there are no internal limits to what can be achieved with hypnosis (though there are obviously a few physical ones), other than your own imagination. Self Hypnosis is a good approach for many issues and even if not entirely successful, can save you a few sessions with a hypnotherapist.