Medical Hypnotherapy can be a powerful method to treat various mental health conditions. By creating a calm and controlled environment, it allows patients to focus on their deepest disruptions.
What is hypnosis treatment?
Medical hypnotherapy works through its ability to remove all distraction from the mind of the patient, and speak clearly and directly about personal habits that need their attention. It is often used to help change the behaviors of the patient, but does not rely on manipulation, coercion or compulsion to achieve a positive outcome.
Misconceptions about hypnosis treatment are commonplace, but its real utility as a treatment option comes from its clean approach (no drugs or chemicals are used) and its success in de-cluttering the mind of stresses and disruptions, thereby allowing the patient to focus completely on the task at hand.
Many patients benefit from hypnosis for anxiety and depression, while others use it to break free from phobias, eating disorders, burnout, or learned behaviors such as smoking. Sexual dysfunction and pain management are among the other frequent areas of focus for which hypnosis treatment can be useful.
Medical hypnotherapy is often used in conjunction with cognitive behavioral therapy – a treatment combination which has proven to be particularly effective in achieving improved patient health.
How does medical hypnotherapy work?
Medical hypnotherapy allows the patient to imagine in detail a source of anxiety while in a controlled setting. The patient is then encouraged to enter a state of deep 
relaxation, rather than allowing the anxiety to grow. This paired activity helps the brain to associate the potential anxiety trigger together with a calmer state of mind, allowing the brain to begin building new and healthier pathways of behavior and emotional response.
At the same time, the hypnotherapist provides calming suggestions for the patient under hypnosis, in an effort to show him or her a path toward healthier living. Included in these messages is an invitation to view the world in a more positive light, by embracing a generous outlook toward the surrounding environment.
During each hypnotherapy session, the patient remains awake and lucid, and in full control of every decision regarding whether or not to act upon the suggestions made by the hypnotherapist. The duration of treatment varies according to the condition being treated, as well as the mental state of the patient.
The treatment process
Hypnosis treatment begins in earnest when the hypnotherapist helps the patient achieve a trance-like state, in which external distractions are removed and the voice of the hypnotherapist is placed at the center of the patient’s consciousness.
Once in this state, the patient is encouraged to explore inner thoughts and feelings, which he or she is able to see with the type of rare clarity that is commonly associated with meditation. This newfound concentration lets patients use all of their inner resources to contemplate the issues that otherwise trouble them – whether alcohol, cigarettes or other drugs; traumatic events; or conditions which ordinarily cause stress for the patient.
The hypnotherapist acts as a guide for the patient during this period of exploration, suggesting a calm and observational approach to each distressing phenomenon, rather than an instinctive emotional reaction. After a period of contemplation, including mental encounters with the provocative stimuli, the hypnotherapist encourages the patient to enter a state of deep relaxation.
Through each successive treatment, the patient learns to cope with the reality of the thing feared, or the object of obsession – and then observe it from a detached space, before moving past it and into a state of tranquility. The lesson of detachment and balance becomes a learned skill, empowering the patient to deal with stressors in a healthier way in everyday life.
Key benefits of hypnosis for anxiety and depression
Hypnosis has a broad range of applications, due to its general ability to improve the power of concentration and suggestion. Common benefits of medical hypnotherapy include:
• Increased ability to focus on stressful objects and ideas while remaining emotionally balanced
• Increased ability to detach from obsessive behaviors and habits, including smoking
• Increased tolerance for pain under certain conditions
• A more positively oriented worldview
• Renewed feelings of self-control
• Reduced feelings of depression or anxiety, and recovery from burnout
By creating new conditions for personal empowerment, hypnosis gives patients the internal tools needed to overcome the unhelpful group of emotions and behaviors that caused them to seek treatment.
How successful is hypnosis treatment?
Natural human variability means that some people are more open to suggestibility and hypnosis than others. In general, however, it is effective to use hypnosis for anxiety and depression as part of a larger course of treatment.
In particular, studies show that cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) provides an effective complement to hypnosis treatment for conditions such as acute stress disorder.
A more general meta-analysis reveals widespread improvement in many areas due to the combination of hypnosis with CBT. The study also found sustained improvements after measuring patient outcomes long after the period of treatment had ended.
Though it does not promise a complete cure in all cases, it is clear that hypnosis, with its ability to clear away the noise of day-to-day life during therapy sessions, can have a significant, positive, and long-lasting effect on behavior modification.
If you or someone you know experiences mental health issues, it is important to seek help from a qualified professional.
By: Chris Jansen
Anxiety disorders affect 40 million Americans each year, which makes anxiety the most common mental illness in the United States.
There are many well-known forms of treatment for anxiety disorders including:
- cognitive behavioral therapy
- exposure therapy
- medication
But some people choose to treat their anxiety with alternative treatments like hypnotherapy.
What is hypnotherapy?
Contrary to what you’ve seen in movies, hypnosis involves a lot more than traveling into a trance-like state after looking into someone’s eyes.
During a hypnosis session, you undergo a process that helps you relax and focus your mind. This state is similar to sleep, but your mind will be very focused and more able to respond to suggestion.
While in this relaxed state, it’s believed that you’re more willing to focus on your subconscious mind. This allows you to explore some of the deeper issues you’re dealing with.
Hypnotherapy sessions may be used to:
- explore repressed memories, such as abuse
- instill a desire for healthy habits that can lead to weight loss
- help to relax and reprogram an anxious brain
The practitioner, or therapist, is there to help guide this process. They aren’t there to control your mind.
What are the benefits of using hypnotherapy to treat anxiety?
Even though hypnotherapy isn’t as widely known as psychotherapy and medication for treating anxiety, researchers and scientists have been studying the effects it can have on mental health conditions such as anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and depression for several years.
In one 2016 study, researchers scanned the brains of people while they were undergoing guided hypnosis sessions. They found that a hypnotized brain experiences changes in the brain that give a person:
- focused attention
- greater physical and emotional control
- less self-consciousness
How is hypnotherapy used to treat anxiety?
Let’s say you have a fear of flying. During a hypnotherapy session, the therapist can give you what’s known as a “posthypnotic suggestion” while you’re in a state of trance.
In this dreamlike state, the mind becomes more open to suggestion. This allows the therapist to suggest to you how easily confident you will be the next time you sit on a plane.
Because of the relaxed state you’re in, it can be easier to avoid escalating any anxiety symptoms you may feel, such as:
- a feeling of impending doom
- shortness of breath
- increased heart rate
- muscle tension
- irritability
- nervous stomach
Hypnotherapy should be used as a complementary treatment to cognitive behavioral therapy.
However, if you only use hypnosis to treat your anxiety, it could have effects similar to those of meditation. A hypnotic induction would help put you into this relaxed state, just like meditation. You can then use this state to address anxieties and phobias.
So, if you’re trying to treat a fear of flying, you can visualize yourself going back to the first time you were scared of flying. You can use a technique called hypnoprojectives, where you visualize your past events as you would’ve liked to have seen them. Then you see yourself in the future, feeling calm and peaceful while on a plane.
What you need to know before trying hypnotherapy
As long as you’re seeing a licensed mental health professional who has extensive training in hypnosis, the use of hypnotherapy to treat anxiety is considered very safe.
The first thing to consider when choosing a hypnotist is the practitioner’s qualifications. Look for a licensed mental health care professional — such as a psychologist, psychotherapist, psychiatric nurse practitioner, counselor, social worker, or medical doctor — who is also a hypnotherapist.
An effective overall treatment plan should include several modalities (approaches), and hypnotherapy is just one of the many clinically effective tools known to help treat anxiety.
You can also ask if they’re affiliated with any professional associations, such as the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis.
If for example, a hypnotist uncovers trauma while doing hypnotherapy, they need to know how to treat trauma. In other words, having the education and training to diagnose and treat mental health conditions — which comes from being licensed — is a key component in the success of hypnotherapy.
Healthline.com
Irritable bowel syndrome is a chronic condition that affects many people across the world. Due to symptoms such as abdominal pain, this disorder can have a big impact on life quality. New research, however, reveals that hypnotherapy can improve life for those with the condition.
Can hypnotherapy truly relieve IBS symptoms?
People with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) can experience symptoms such as abdominal pain and abnormal bowel movements to various degrees of severity, and they can also face mental health problems, including anxiety and depression.
Some common approaches to managing IBS are by carefully controlling one’s diet, improving one’s lifestyle choices, and, if necessary, seeking mental health therapy.
In the past, some research has suggested that people with IBS may also benefit from hypnotherapy sessions. Now, specialists at the University Medical Center Utrecht and other institutions in the Netherlands have decided to delve deeper into the question of whether hypnotherapy can improve IBS symptoms — and if so, in what way. The researchers recently conducted a randomized controlled trial, the findings of which now appear in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology.
Improved symptom relief
The study assessed the efficacy of individual and group hypnotherapy in IBS. It is the largest study to date to look into this issue.
In the study, the researchers worked with 354 participants aged 18–65 with IBS.
The scientists randomly selected participants to take part in one of three interventions:
– individual 45 minute hypnotherapy sessions twice per week for 6 weeks (150 participants)
– group hypnotherapy sessions with the same timeframe (150 participants)
– dedicated educational supportive care sessions (54 participants)
For the delivery of the hypnotherapy sessions, the team recruited psychologists who had trained in hypnotherapy. During the sessions, the hypnotherapists applied techniques of positive visualization, providing suggestions about pain and discomfort management.
They also gave the participants CDs containing materials that would allow them to practice hypnosis techniques on their own for 15–20 minutes on a daily basis.
The researchers asked the participants to fill in questionnaires assessing various factors relevant to the study — including the severity of their IBS symptoms, their quality of life, how much they spent on healthcare, and how often they had to miss work due to the condition.
The assessments took place at baseline, at the 3-month mark, and at the 9-month mark. The team also evaluated to what extent participants experienced relief immediately after the intervention (at the 3-month mark) and then again 9 months later.
The scientists found that the people with IBS who had participated in hypnotherapy — whether individual or group-based — experienced the most satisfactory degree of symptom relief, compared with participants in the educational supportive care group.
Participants who underwent hypnotherapy were still enjoying the benefits 9 months after the treatment. However, the researchers claim that despite reporting satisfactory rates of symptom relief, the participants did not actually see a significant improvement in symptom severity as such.
“We do not know exactly how gut-directed hypnotherapy works,” says lead researcher Dr. Carla Flik, “but it may change patients’ mindset and internal coping mechanisms, enabling them to increase their control over autonomic body processes, such as how they process pain and modulate gut activity.”
Group sessions just as promising
Other than symptom relief, the tested-for factors — including quality of life, psychological problems, healthcare costs, and work absence — remained roughly the same among all the participants following the interventions.
The researchers also admit that their study faced a few limitations. For example, some participants — 22 (15 percent) of those in the individual hypnotherapy group, another 22 (15 percent) of those in the group hypnotherapy sessions, and 11 (20 percent) of those in the educational supportive care group — dropped out of the study.
Also, a significant number of participants did not manage to fill in all the questionnaires, which, the researchers say, may have impacted the findings. However, the researchers note that the results they recorded in the recent study may, in fact, have been an underestimation, since the hypnotherapists did not have previous experience in treating people with IBS, specifically. Also, the participants only received six hypnotherapy sessions, which is only half the number of sessions that a person would normally expect to receive.
“Our study indicates that hypnotherapy could be considered as a treatment option for patients with IBS, irrespective of symptom severity and IBS sub-type. It is also promising to see that group hypnotherapy is as effective as individual sessions, which may mean that more people could be treated with it at lower cost, should it be confirmed in further studies.”
“What’s striking about these findings is the extent to which patients’ perception of their illness has an effect on their suffering, and that their perception of symptoms appears to be as important as actual symptom severity,” adds Dr. Flik.
By: Maria Cohut
Jordan overcame life-long anxiety with hypnotherapy. [info]
According to thousands of years of tradition, Buddhists meditate to understand themselves and their connections to all beings. By doing so, they hope to be released from suffering and ultimately gain enlightenment.
In recent decades, researchers have been gaining insight into the benefits of practicing this ancient tradition. By studying more secular versions of mindfulness meditation, they’ve found that learning to pay attention to our current experiences and accept them without judgment might indeed help us to be happier.
Studies to date suggest that mindfulness affects many aspects of our psychological well-being—improving our mood, increasing positive emotions, and decreasing our anxiety, emotional reactivity, and job burnout.
Recently, researchers have been exploring this question—with some surprising results. While much of the early research on mindfulness relied on pilot studies with biased measures or limited groups of participants, more recent studies have been using less-biased physiological markers and randomly controlled experiments to get at the answer. Taken together, the studies suggest that mindfulness may impact our hearts, brains, immune systems, and more.
Though nothing suggests mindfulness is a standalone treatment for disease nor the most important ingredient for a healthy life, here are some of the ways that it appears to benefit us physically.
Mindfulness is good for our hearts
Heart disease is the leading killer in the United States, accounting for about 1 in 4 deaths every year. So, whatever decreases the risks or symptoms of heart disease would significantly impact society’s health. Mindfulness may help with that.
In one study, people with pre-hypertension were randomly assigned to augment their drug treatment with either a course in mindfulness meditation or a program that taught progressive muscle relaxation.
Those who learned mindfulness had significantly greater reductions in their systolic and diastolic blood pressure than those who learned progressive muscle relaxation, suggesting that mindfulness could help people 
at risk for heart disease by bringing blood pressure down.
In another study, people with heart disease were randomly assigned to either an online program to help them practice meditation or to a wait list for the program while undergoing normal treatment for heart disease. Those who took the mindfulness program showed significant improvements on the six-minute walking test (a measure of cardiovascular capacity) and slower heart rates than those in the wait list group.
While one review of randomly controlled studies showed that mindfulness may have mixed effects on the physical symptoms of heart disease, a more recent review published by the American Heart Association concluded that, while research remains preliminary, there is enough evidence to suggest mindfulness as an adjunct treatment for coronary disease and its prevention.
Mindfulness may also be good for hearts that are already relatively healthy. Research suggests that meditating can increase respiratory sinus arrhythmia, the natural variations in heart rate that happen when we breathe that indicate better heart health and an increased chance of surviving a heart attack.
Mindfulness may decrease cognitive decline from aging or Alzheimer’s
People tend to lose some of their cognitive flexibility and short-term memory as they age. But mindfulness may be able to slow cognitive decline, even in people with Alzheimer’s disease. In a 2016 study, people with Alzheimer’s disease engaged in either mindfulness meditation, cognitive stimulation therapy, relaxation training, or no treatment, and were given cognitive tests over two years.
While cognitive stimulation and relaxation training seemed to be somewhat beneficial in comparison to no treatment, the mindfulness training group had much more robust improvements on cognitive scores than any other group.
Why might that be true? A 2017 study looking at brain function in healthy, older adults suggests meditation may increase attention. In this study, people 55 to 75 years old spent eight weeks practicing either focused breathing meditation or a control activity.
Then, they were given the Stroop test—a test that measures attention and emotional control—while having their brains monitored by electroencephalography.
Those undergoing breath training had significantly better attention on the Stroop test and more activation in an area of the brain associated with attention than those in the active control group.
While this research is preliminary, a systematic review of research to date suggests that mindfulness may mitigate cognitive decline, perhaps due to its effects on memory, attention, processing, and executive functioning.
Mindfulness may improve your immune response
When we encounter viruses and other disease-causing organisms, our bodies send out troops of immune cells that circulate in the blood. These cells, including pro- and anti-inflammatory proteins, neutrophils, T-cells,immunoglobulins, and natural killer cells, help us to fight disease and infection in various ways. Mindfulness, it turns out, may affect these disease-fighting cells.
In several studies, mindfulness meditation appeared to increase levels of T-cells or T-cell activity in patients with HIV or breast cancer. This suggests that mindfulness could play a role in fighting cancer and other diseases that call upon immune cells. Indeed, in people suffering from cancer, mindfulness appears to improve a variety of biomarkers that might indicate progression of the disease.
In another study, elderly participants were randomly assigned to an eight-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course or a moderate-intensity exercise program. At the end, participants who’d practiced mindfulness had higher levels of the protein interleukin-8 in their nasal secretions, suggesting improved immune function.
Another study found increases in interleukin-10 in colitis patients who took a mindfulness meditation course compared to a mind-body educational program, especially among patients whose colitis had flared up. Yet another study found that patients who had greater increases in mindfulness after an MBSR course also showed faster wound healing, a process regulated by the immune system.
Studies have found effects on markers of inflammation, too—like C-reactive protein, which in higher levels can harm physical health. Research shows that people with rheumatoid arthritis have reduced C-reactive protein levels after taking an MBSR course versus being on a waitlist for the course. Overall, these findings suggest that mindfulness meditation can have disease-fighting powers through our immune response.
Mindfulness may reduce cell aging
Cell aging occurs naturally as cells repeatedly divide over the lifespan and can also be increased by disease or stress. Proteins called telomeres, which are found at the end of chromosomes and serve to protect them from aging, seem to be impacted by mindfulness meditation.
Studies suggest that long-time meditators may have greater telomere lengths. In one experimental study, researchers found that breast cancer survivors who went through MBSR preserved the length of their telomeres better than those who were on a wait list.
However, this study also found that general supportive therapies impacted telomere length; so, there may not be something special about MBSR that impacts cell aging. On the other hand, another study with breast cancer survivors found no differences in telomere length after taking an MBSR course; but they did find differences in telomere activity, which is also related to cell aging.
In fact, a 2018 review of research ties mindfulness training to increased telomere activity, suggesting it indirectly affects the integrity of the telomeres in our cells. Perhaps that’s why scientists are at least optimistic about the positive effects of meditation on aging.
Mindfulness may help reduce psychological pain
Of course, while the above physiological benefits of mindfulness are compelling, we needn’t forget that mindfulness also impacts our psychological well-being, which, in turn, affects physical health. In fact, it’s quite likely that these changes have synergistic effects on one another.
First of all, a great deal of research suggests that mindfulness can help healthy people reduce their stress. And thanks to Jon-Kabat Zinn’s pioneering MBSR program, there’s now a large body of research showing that mindfulness can help people cope with the pain, anxiety, depression, and stress that might accompany illness, especially chronic conditions.
For example, drug addictions, at heart, come about because of physiological cravings for a substance that relieves people temporarily from their psychological suffering. Mindfulness can be a useful adjunct to addiction treatment by helping people better understand and tolerate their cravings, potentially helping them to avoid relapse after they’ve been safely weaned off of drugs or alcohol. The same is true for people struggling with overeating.
Fascinating though it is, we shouldn’t overplay meditation’s effects on physical health at the expense of its importance to emotional health. In fact, it may be difficult to separate out the two, as a key impact of mindfulness is stress reduction, and psychological stress has been tied to heart health, immune response, and telomere length.
This idea is further supported by the fact that other stress-reducing therapies also seem to impact physical health, as well. Still, it’s encouraging to know that something that can be taught and practiced can have an impact on our overall health—not just mental but also physical—more than 2,000 years after it was developed. That’s reason enough to give mindfulness meditation a try.
By: Jill Suttie
If you are feeling depressed, you may want to consider working with a professional who offers hypnosis, according to a recent study appearing in the American Journal of Clinical Hypnotherapy (AJCH).
For this investigation, researchers conducted a meta-analysis of previous studies to assess the impact of hypnotic interventions on people who were diagnosed with various forms of depression.
In all, 197 records were screened across ten studies and thirteen trials. The results showed that persons who were depressed and received some form of clinical hypnotherapy saw a 76% improvement of their symptoms when compared to those in control groups (meaning no hypnotic interventions).
Guy Counseling spoke to licensed psychotherapist Katie Ziskind in St. Niantic, CT about her use of hypnotherapy with depressed clients. Here is what she told us:
“Hypnotherapy is a wonderful way to complement traditional talk counseling. Hypnotherapy can help with addiction, anxiety, and depression,” she said.
“It is considered a complementary alternative medicine and a therapy that looks deep into your true self. Unfortunately, many would say that Western medicine treats the physical symptom where hypnotherapy treats the emotional source.
Hypnotherapy includes your mind, your body, and your spirit, and usually, sessions are a few hours and deep. You get to access your inner consciousness and work through very intense emotions from a calm, relaxed place,” adds Ziskind
How hypnotherapy is used for depression
The critical thing to bear in mind with hypnotherapy is that clinicians use it as an adjunct to therapy and not as a standalone treatment.
For example, some helping professionals use a cognitive hypnotherapy model where a combination of cognitive behavioral therapy, (CBT) is combined with hypnosis.
Using this approach, CBT and hypnosis are used to help you to feel more relaxed and boost self-esteem. Additionally, this approach encourages positive mindfulness to lift mood.
As part of therapy, unhealthy cognitions are explored and disrupted. Later, post-hypnotic suggestions are applied to reaffirm healthier ways of thinking.
Previous research on the use of hypnotherapy has demonstrated hypnotic interventions may be helpful in reducing pain and anxiety after surgery.
Other lines of research have shown hypnotherapy to be beneficial with reducing feelings of panic and fear, particularly for people with a specific phobia.
Investigators for the AJCH study state, “The findings of our meta-analysis show that hypnosis is a very effective treatment for reducing the symptoms of depression.” Additionally, they say, “Our results suggest that the efficacy of hypnosis in treating depression is comparable to that of other psychological interventions for the problem.”
The researchers encourage clinicians to give serious consideration to the use of hypnosis as part of a comprehensive approach when working with depressed clients.
Expectancy Theory
As with any study, there are limitations. Scientists for this investigation point out that some of the perceived benefits related to hypnosis may be linked to a phenomenon called the expectancy theory; a $10.00 term used to describe a dynamic where a person responds in affirmatively because they expect a benefit.
Here is an example
Let’s say you are feeling anxious. As a result, I give you a “magic glass of water” and tell you that drinking it will make you calmer. Moments later, you take a few sips and instantly feel a sense of peace.
According to the expectancy theory, because you believed drinking that water would be beneficial, you immediately felt better.
But here is the thing – does it really matter if the expectancy theory somehow influences the outcome? At the end of the day, if there is a reduction in symptoms, isn’t 
that what matters?
It’s important to point out that hypnosis doesn’t work for everyone (investigators state this in the study). Still, it does appear that for some folks, hypnotic interventions, when combined with other forms of therapy, can help to reduce feelings of sadness.
When you take away the “woo-woo” factor (thanks to misrepresentations in popular culture), hypnosis really is nothing more than a natural, mindful approach to wellness.
By: John D. Moore Men’s Blog
