Hypnotic Hangovers Explained

I recently mentioned ‘hypnotic hangovers’ (a headache which happens as a possible side effect of hypnosis) on a hypnotherapist’s discussion group. I got a surprisingly wide variety of responses, from those who hadn’t come across the idea at all, to those who had only heard of them, and those who had had some experience with them. So, I thought, it would be a good topic to talk about here.

What is a Hypnotic Hangover?

Hypnotherapists use the term “hypnotic hangover” to describe headaches, tiredness, or emotional heaviness that clients occasionally report after a hypnosis session. These reactions are temporary and may occur after deep relaxation or emotionally significant work.

Not every hypnotherapist agrees that this phenomenon exists and, as it’s uncommon, many will never encounter it in their practice. However, it’s useful for therapists to be aware of the possibility.

Does Hypnosis Have Side Effects?

Hypnotherapy is generally a safe and widely acceptable approach to resolving personal issues. However, as with many forms of psychological work, clients may (rarely) experience temporary side effects of hypnosis such as tiredness, headaches, or emotional processing after a session.

Such side effects of hypnosis are very under-researched, possibly because they are relatively rare. And, even where they’re considered, there is usually no distinction made between headaches and other experiences like tiredness.

Unwanted Side Effects of Hypnosis

Gruzelier (2000) and Gates (2011) both mention headaches as a possible side effect of hypnosis. So does Healthline.com (2019) and the Mayo Clinic (n.d.).

Gruzelier (2000, p163) suggests that adverse effects of hypnosis are ‘mostly short lived’. He actually has quite a long list of potential issues, including some pretty scary ones: ‘chronic headache and depression, morbid anxiety reactions, seizure and stupor, resurrecting memories of previous trauma, recurrent spontaneous dissociative episodes, and triggering psychiatric illnesses or producing decompensation’ (2000, p167), but looking at all of them would take much more space than I have here, so we’ll stick to the hypnotic hangovers for now.

I couldn’t find any independently verified statistics for the frequency of hypnotic hangovers in therapy. However, Thom Bush, a hypnotherapist from Singapore, estimates he’s come across around six cases in his 16,000+ hours of clinical work. (Quora.com, 2018)

Why Do Some Clients Experience Headaches After Hypnosis?

Headaches after hypnosis are not common, but they can occur for several reasons, including dehydration, muscle tension releasing after deep relaxation, emotional processing or simple fatigue. The following are explanations for hypnotic hangovers that have been suggested, but remember that the research in particular tends to refer to ALL possible unwanted side effects of hypnosis and not just headaches.

External Factors

• Gruzelier (2000, p165), says that elements such as anxiety can cause headaches. For example, he refers to ‘potential prolonged stress’ caused by participating in stage shows which cause ‘embarrassment’ and ‘humiliation’. Not a fan then.

Context

• Schultz, (1954) and MacHovec, (1987 & 1988) suggest that participants in stage acts are more likely to experience unwanted symptoms than other users of hypnosis.

• Jon Chase, a well-known stage hypnotist, says in an online discussion that he has ‘Only seen [trance hangovers] on stage’. He goes on to say this is because the stage is ‘where more people actually get hypnotised – most clinical hypnosis is just relaxation …’. (Quora.com, 2018).
  Whatever your take on that one, a Google search for ‘will hypnosis give me headaches?’ or similar will reveal a number of people reporting headaches following the use of hypnotherapy or self-hypnosis. So even if it’s more common on the stage, it’s still something that therapists might come across.

Expectation

• In the discussion on trance-induced headaches mentioned above (Quora.com, 2018), and setting aside the issue of whether therapists actually use trance at all, Jon Chase suggests that people develop trance hangovers because they expect it to happen, and the trance termination doesn’t undermine that expectation.
• This explanation is supported by Larry Elman (son of David) in another online discussion on self-hypnosis (Quora.com. 2017), and in a video discussing this topic (Dave Elman Hypnosis Institute, 2010).
  He suggests that the hypnotic hangover was more prevalent in the past because media coverage led people to believe they would experience headaches and grogginess on coming out of trance. (Dave Elman Hypnosis Institute, 2010)

Inadequate Reorientation

• Several contributors, including Larry Elman again, point to incomplete or too-rapid reorientation from trance as a factor in developing hypnotic hangovers, or a kind of ‘brain fog’ or disorientation similar to that experienced on waking suddenly from a deep sleep. (Quora.com, 2016 & 2017)

Susceptibility to Trance

• Various studies have shown that very hypnotisable people are most likely to experience adverse effects of hypnosis. That fits with the idea that stage show participants are more at risk, because stage hypnotists tend to choose highly susceptible individuals for their shows.

Childhood Reactions to Anaesthetics

• Hilgard et al (1961) reported that 8.5% of their subjects had adverse reactions following hypnosis including headaches and dreams connected with the hypnotic experience. They said that ‘childhood adverse reaction to chemical anaesthesia’ were ‘frequently’ associated with these, and this was also supported by another, later study (Orne, 1965).

Pre-existing Mental Health Issues

• Having a mental illness or some kind of psychological impairment seems to make it more likely you’ll encounter problems of any kind with hypnosis.

Physical Changes During Hypnosis

• Headaches, in particular, might be due to changes in blood pressure, the autonomic nervous system, and heart rate that occur during hypnosis. Gruzelier (2000, p178) says ‘Headaches commonly occur with adjustment to shifts in arousal …’. He links trance hangovers to a large number of studies showing that hypnosis (especially if relaxation inductions are used) alters brain rhythms to lower frequencies and shifts autonomic activity from the sympathetic to the parasympathetic nervous system. In my experience, this is the reason most cited by therapists in informal discussions and it’s certainly what I was taught in my original training. It’s nice to know there is plenty of evidence to support it.

Bad Posture During Trance

• I haven’t found any research that included this factor in a study of hypnosis, but NHS.uk (2018) suggests that bad posture or sitting in one position for long periods can cause muscle tension that leads to headaches. If the client is not moving around in trance, especially if their head flops into an uncomfortable position, this could arguably be responsible for hypnotic hangovers as well.

What Should Therapists Do If a Client Experiences a Hypnotic Hangover?

Gruzelier (2000, p188) reminds us that ‘It must be kept firmly in mind that most subjects have reported positive effects of hypnosis’, but that nonetheless ‘education about unwanted effects and safeguards should be a requirement for all practitioners’. Quite right too.

He also highlights another issue, which is that clients who might benefit from the use of hypnotherapy or self-hypnosis might be discouraged from using it if they experience headaches, so being proactive in protecting our clients from this is important to therapists. We cannot bury our heads in the sand and simply assume that unwanted side effects won’t occur.

The possible explanations for hypnotic hangovers can help us guard against them, although not all are under our control.

Preventing Headaches After Hypnosis

Client Care Before Trance Work

• Take a thorough case history, checking thoroughly for contraindications and/or any history of psychological issues before working with clients. I don’t routinely ask if the client has ever had an adverse reaction to anaesthetics in childhood, even after reading these studies.
• Manage clients’ expectations, ask if they have any worries or concerns about trance work. If they mention headaches, it’s not ethical to guarantee it won’t happen. However, you can reassure them and address it during the re-orientation (counting out). I don’t mention headaches as a potential side effect unless clients do so first, because of the risk of creating the expectation.

Client Care During Trance Work

• Ensure the client is physically comfortable throughout the trance part of your session. Clients deeply in trance don’t always think to adjust their position or notice slight levels of discomfort. If your client’s posture looks awkward, suggest they can adjust it at any time, and that doing so will take them even deeper into trance.
• Make sure your reorientation is complete, and at a reasonable speed for the client. As a general rule, the deeper they go the slower you should count them back. This enables arousal levels to change gradually and comfortably. Calibrate to what you observe as they are coming out and slow down if they seem to need more time.
• Always include positive suggestions about feeling well and clear-headed as you count them out. I use a quick suggestion to this effect on each number as I count, something like ‘coming back with your head clear, coming back with your body warm and comfortable, ‘open your eyes, feeling better than you have in a long time’, and so on. David Elman (2010) apparently favoured, ‘feeling better than you have all day’ and I usually go with something like “feeling better than you have in a long time”.
• Ask your client to see a doctor, especially if these steps don’t help, or if the headaches are severe or persistent.

Ongoing Care for Therapy Clients

Should your client report any level of grogginess, headache etc, after trance, the simplest option is to put them back into trance with a rapid induction, then count them out much more slowly with positive suggestions for improved wellbeing.

In this case (and this case only!), during reorientation, I would suggest specifically that their head is clear and pain-free when they open their eyes. In other circumstances, I don’t want to use words like ‘pain-free’ in case that sets up the expectation that it might not be.

However, prevention being better than cure, if you follow the tips above, you should find that you rarely, if ever, encounter a problem.

References

Dave Elman Hypnosis Institute. (2010). Hypnotic Hangover. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ytX8DEl9GI [Accessed 14 Mar. 2026].
Gruzelier, J., 2000. ‘Unwanted effects of hypnosis: a review of the evidence and its implications’, Contemporary Hypnosis, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 163-193.
Gates, C.M. (2011). UNWANTED EFFECTS OF HYPNOSIS: A REVIEW OF THE EVIDENCE AND ITS IMPLICATIONS. [online] www.semanticscholar.org. Available at: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/UNWANTED-EFFECTS-OF-HYPNOSIS%3A-A-REVIEW-OF-THE-AND-Gates/d05e1c440e0072b44f429c4129e403489eaae002 [Accessed 14 Mar. 2026].
Hilgard et al (1961). cited in Gruzelier, 2000, p166
Mayoclinic.org. (n.d.). Hypnosis – Mayo Clinic. [online] Available at: https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/hypnosis/about/pac-20394405 [Accessed 14 Mar. 2026].
NHS.uk. (2018). 10 headache triggers. [online] Available at: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/headaches/10-headache-triggers/.[Accessed 14 Mar. 2026].
Quora.com. (2016). Is it normal that I feel a small headache and dizzy after hypnosis? – Quora. [online] Available at: https://www.quora.com/Is-it-normal-that-I-feel-a-small-headache-and-dizzy-after-hypnosis [Accessed 14 Mar. 2026].
Quora.com. (2017). During practicing self-hypnosis, why do I get headaches? – Quora. [online] Available at: https://www.quora.com/During-practicing-self-hypnosis-why-do-I-get-headaches [Accessed 14 Mar. 2026].
Quora.com. (2018). Does hypnosis give you serious headaches? – Quora. [online] Available at: https://www.quora.com/Does-hypnosis-give-you-serious-headaches [Accessed 14 Mar. 2026].
Schultz, (1954) and MacHovec, (1987 & 1988) cited in Gruzelier, J., 2000.
Watt, A. (2013). Hypnotherapy. [online] Healthline. Available at: https://www.healthline.com/health/depression/hypnotherapy#how-it-works. [Accessed 14 Mar. 2026].

Disclaimer
The information and ideas shared on this blog are based on the author’s professional experience, research, and training. They are intended for educational purposes and to support reflection and professional development. Therapists should always apply their own professional judgment and consider the needs of individual clients when using any techniques or suggestions discussed here.
While every effort is made to ensure the information is accurate and helpful, no responsibility can be accepted for any loss, damage, or difficulties arising from the use or misuse of material contained in these articles.