Raised a conservative Baptist, the Lexington woman thought stories of delving into the subconscious were scary, she said.

“I was raised to believe the hypnotist would have power over my mind,” she said.

But after meeting Lexington hypnotherapist Ben Blyton in 1996, Conley took a different view.

“He said, ‘You’ve got so much internalized stress and if you’re not careful you’ll get a neurological disorder like MS,’ ” she said.

Conley was shocked.

Having been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis twice – both in her 20s and in her 30s – the owner of a resume-writing business had suffered intermittent spells of numbness, double vision and slight paralysis.

Not long before she met Blyton, Conley was re-diagnosed with stress.

And boy, could Conley feel it. For two years, her legs, feet, upper calves and thighs felt frost bitten.

“The right side of my body became so heavy I almost couldn’t go,” she said.

Desperate to rid herself of the stress that her family physician told her she had the power to lose, Conley turned to Blyton.

“We did regression back to a childhood memory – and it wasn’t overly dramatic, but it was hard for a child to deal with,” Conley said. “We released the negative feeling and forgave anyone, all those who needed to be forgiven.”

Three years later, Conley is symptom free, she said. She has more confidence now and has opened her own hypnotherapy center to help others, particularly women with low self-esteem.

But neither Conley nor Blyton, who runs Southeastern Institute of Hypnotists in Lexington, have mental health training. And while they may be able to help some clients cope, psychology experts say both they need much more training.

“I have a real problem with people with no training in mental health using these techniques by themselves with people who have psychological disorders,” said Dr. Sheila Schuster, Kentucky Psychological Association executive director.

While there’s no question that hypnosis is an effective psychotherapy tool, Schuster thinks only skilled therapists should deal with patients’ memories or repressed thoughts, she said.

“You could have someone who could possibly be suicidal,” she said.

But that doesn’t mean Schuster thinks there’s no place for hypnotists such as Blyton and Conley.

“If a client were being seen by a mental health professional who wasn’t skilled in hypnosis, I think it’s incumbent on that therapist to use it in conjunction” with someone who is a well-trained hypnotist, Schuster said.

Blyton said he doesn’t have a problem working with mental health professionals – and has done so in the past – but he doesn’t agree with Schuster’s theory.

Instead, he said, hypnotherapists are better trained than psychologists to help people through hypnosis.

“A lot of people think a doctor or psychologist who does it is best,” Blyton said. “Usually that’s not the case at all because usually you can only be good at one thing.”

Such beliefs don’t make sense to Schuster, she said.

“Let’s say there was a person who had a great way to do surgical procedures but had no other medical training,” she said. “Would you want a loved one going to that person?”

Blyton said hypnotherapy schools, such as his institute – which accepts high school graduates as long as they’re at least 21 years old and don’t have a criminal record – provide adequate training to help people come to terms with subconscious discoveries.

He recommends that his students receive at least 250 hours of training before they’re certified, he said.

Conley also doesn’t think additional mental health training is necessary because people who undergo hypnosis won’t remember circumstances they’re not ready to deal with, she said.

“I believe if they’re not ready to go into that subconscious place, they’re in control and their subconscious won’t let them,” she said. “It’s very protective.”

While psychologists such as Schuster stand firm in their belief that hypnotherapists need more training, she does think they can be effective at helping people break habits such as smoking.

“I think in those very contained kinds of ways, hypnosis and hypnotic suggestions have been very helpful,” Schuster said. “But you’re not talking about mental illness or psychotherapy.”

But Blyton doesn’t think such habits are far removed from psychological problems.

“If we didn’t have a mental problem, we wouldn’t have an inappropriate behavior,” he said.

It’s the desire to change “inappropriate behavior” that has led many in the Bowling Green area to seek help from a New Jersey-based hypnotist.

On March 13, Goen Seminars of Cedar Knolls, N.J., had a stop-smoking seminar in Bowling Green.

But while Goen hypnotists feel they helped people during the seminar, they don’t consider themselves therapists, Goen spokeswoman Jan Lewis said.

“This seminar does not treat or diagnose any psychological or medical conditions,” Lewis said. “We’re just here trying to help people stop smoking or lose weight and live a healthier lifestyle.”

Even though testimonials from people such as Christie Baker of Dyersburg, Tenn., indicate that such hypnotists are effective, Schuster recommended being wary of out-of-town hypnotists.

“I have a real problem with people coming in on the sly and doing something called therapy,” she said.

And hypnotherapy may not be for everyone, Blyton said.

Many people simply don’t want to be hypnotized, said Dr. Bill Pfohl, a Bowling Green psychologist.

“It’s really an issue of not wanting to give up control to someone else,” he said.

That’s just one reason why trust is important between the client and therapist, Blyton said.

But trust isn’t all it takes to be a candidate for hypnosis.

Bowling Green licensed marital and family therapist Bill Hanshaw said hypnosis involves a client’s willingness and ability to take suggestions, cooperation between the client and therapist, the use of the imagination by the client, and the client’s ability to absorb the situation.

Most people who go into a trance-like state during hypnosis are visually oriented people, Hanshaw said.

“For example, I’ll say, ‘Close your eyes and try to imagine a rainbow,’ ” he said. “And I’ll ask, ‘Is it clear and distinct like a Kodak picture or fuzzy like a memory recall?’

“(People who see it clearly) make excellent subjects. The others have to work a little harder.”

All children can be hypnotized and about 70 percent of adults are candidates for hypnosis, Pfohl said.

But that doesn’t mean 70 percent of the adult population should hop on the hypnotherapy bandwagon, experts agreed.

Hypnotherapists and psychologists claim that before undergoing any type of therapy, a person should thoroughly check out the therapist and his background and make sure he’s comfortable with the type of therapy offered.

“I always encourage people when (they’re) going to get into therapy to ask (the therapist) many questions,” Schuster said.

Because hypnotherapy is not regulated in Kentucky, those looking for a hypnotherapist should verify that a potential therapist has at least 250 hours worth of training, as well as vast, successful experience working with clients, Blyton said.

“Because it’s unregulated, anyone with a computer can certify you,” he said.

That’s why Blyton has tried – unsuccessfully – to introduce legislation that would provide state certification for hypnotherapists using the title “state-certified hypnotist.”

With that wording, there would be no stepping on the toes of the Kentucky Psychological Association, Blyton said, and the legislation would make it easier for people to find competent hypnotherapists.

“Right now, if they were to pick up a phone book and call a hypnotherapist, they may get someone who swings crystal balls and chants,” Blyton said. “Or they could get someone who knows what they’re doing.”

While Blyton didn’t expect KPA to support the bill, he was surprised that many hypnotherapists also jilted it, he said. Some hypnotherapists opposed the bill because they didn’t want to lose the title “hypnotherapist,” he said.

“We had a lot of factions within our own group who split on the issue,” he said.

Despite the many issues surrounding hypnotherapy, Blyton hopes psychologists and hypnotherapists will be able to accept each other and work together to help people solve their problems, he said.

“A lot of people need this more than you can imagine,” he said.

But they need it within the context of psychotherapy, psychologists say.