Early on in therapy with my current shrink, we did two things that he thought would help me access other aspects since in my case I tend to be verbal and intellectual which can get in the way. So he suggested getting a large drawing pad and some pastels and just doing anything and that he would look at anything I brought in. It wasn't art therapy per se, but a non-verbal expression. So just mentioning in case hypnosis is not something that either you or your therapist decide works out.

My shrink a little bit after introduced hypnosis. For my it was to help with managing distress, approaching difficult things with a strong container, and reinforcing relaxation techniques. We made recordings on my phone of the induction and de-induction sections so that I could play them whenever I want. It was also a nice way of having his voice which I find soothing at any time I wanted it without bothering him.

We left off hypnosis for a while (and the art as well), but later when I was confronting really old traumatic experiences, we used very well-crafted hypnosis techniques, meaning that they were better designed for me based on a longer relationship. Now I have a range of new recordings for different types of emotional experiences that I can play on my own.

There is nothing really totally magical about hypnosis. Some are more suggestible than others, which is often correlated with the ability to dissociate. Everyone is capable of a trance state and often people go in and out of one spontaneously. The part for me that made the difference was the idea and reinforcement of what is typically called the "container," the safe therapeutic space. It was not necessarily feeling loosened up or suggestions within the experience.