It’s not a party trick performed by stage performers. Hypnosis has been known to help patients with everything from depression and weight loss to irritable bowel syndrome.
When Emily, a 28-year-old music teacher from Orlando, Florida, decided to try medical hypnosis, she had plenty of doubts – but she also had nothing to lose.
Shortly after giving birth to her first son, Emily (who declined to provide her last name), sank into a deep post-partum depression. Her new medication wasn’t helping; neither was therapy. After suicidal thoughts sent her to the psychiatric ward, she searched online and found a local therapist who was trained in hypnotherapy. She hoped he could help her deal with her sadness hands-on – and release the “emotional blockage” she felt was preventing her from bonding with her son.
“It was a ‘last resort’ kind of thing,” Emily recalls. “I figured things couldn’t get any worse.” After two sessions, Emily felt her depression beginning to lift. Several months later, she nearly felt like her old self again.
Today, Emily isn’t sure whether she can credit her recovery to hypnosis, a new medication regime or her therapist. But she’s able to clarify a few common misconceptions about the procedure – ones that experts say prevent many from seeking hypnosis for medical and psychological reasons ranging from depression to chronic pain to irritable bowel syndrome.
Myth No. 1: Hypnosis is a party trick performed by stage performers – not licensed medical professionals
Most people have encountered hypnosis, but chances are it wasn’t in a doctor’s office. From stage performers to party magicians, many think of hypnosis as an “act” – an exaggerated display that’s designed for an audience’s amusement.
However, the practice of medical hypnosis can be traced back thousands of years in cultures around the world. It was once used for pain management during surgery until doctors started using ether. Today, it’s commonly used as a tool by physicians, dentists, licensed social workers, psychologists and therapists. Hypnosis has been known to help patients with everything from depression and phobias to smoking cessation, weight loss, stress management and irritable bowel syndrome. Some hospitals even use it as a tool to reduce pain in individuals before, during and after surgery, as well as in patients with chronic conditions or diseases.
Hypnosis is a phenomenon in which one person – the “subject” – is prompted by a hypnotherapist to enter into a state of deep mental relaxation, says Dr. David Patterson, a professor of psychology in the departments of rehabilitation medicine, surgery and psychology at the University Of Washington School Of Medicine. Their critical judgment decreases, making them more responsive to outside suggestions or ideas. “It’s almost as if you’re talking directly to the centers of the brain that influence things,” Patterson says. “You’re able to adjust them.”
For every medical professional who practices hypnosis, there’s another who remains skeptical of it. Research suggests susceptibility toward hypnosis varies widely from person to person – and some are resistant to the procedure all together.
Bottom line? It’s hard to pinpoint the exact strength of its power, or define precisely what constitutes a “hypnotic state.” However, brain scans indicate that changes occur in brain activity during hypnosis. The “control mechanisms” that help an individual make critical decisions during a conflict are lowered, Patterson says, causing them to reach a more open state of consciousness. And randomized controlled clinical trials indicate that the end goal of hypnosis isn’t simply mental relaxation – it’s also effective for everything from pain reduction to irritable bowel syndrome relief.
Although hypnosis can be an effective medical tool, it isn’t closely regulated. Some states require mandatory licensure or registration, or have guidelines for its practice. But the majority of states have a hands-off approach – meaning that anyone from a psychology PhD candidate to a curious layperson can join a local hypnosis guild and learn it on their own.
Patterson says a lack of oversight, combined with misconceptions gleaned from stage performers, means many individuals who might benefit from hypnosis don’t take it seriously. Emily, herself, harbored doubts about whether it would work; she had previously dismissed hypnosis as the domain of charlatans. But after her therapist told her to search for an “ethical” and reputable professional, she made a specific point to locate a seasoned therapist who offered hypnosis. These individuals, Emily says, exist – and are the best bet if you’re considering hypnosis for medical reasons.
Long story short? When searching for someone who performs medical hypnosis, don’t just Google “hypnotist” and see what comes up, says Charlene Williams, a clinical and health psychologist at the University of California-Los Angeles who uses hypnosis as preparation for surgery. “A lay hypnotist has no medical or mental health training,” Williams says. “It’s not recommended, for safety and efficacy’s sake, to see them for health reasons. Even with panic and things like smoking cessation, there’s often anxiety involved. And you can’t treat anxiety if you don’t understand psychology and anxiety treatments. It’s very important to go to a hypnotist that’s, above all, a licensed medical professional. They’ll be more ethical in knowing the limits of their expertise.”
While some licensed medical professionals advertise hypnosis services, many don’t. Williams recommends individuals seek a qualified hypnotherapist through their therapists or primary care physicians, or contact organizations like the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis for more information.
Myth No. 2: You’re unconscious – and powerless – during hypnosis
Although you might be sitting or supine, with your body completely still and eyes closed, you’re still awake during hypnosis, Emily says. She recalls her hypnotist’s words and instructions during the hypnosis process.
“He asked me to identify any reason, event or thing in my subconscious that might be causing me to have trouble connecting with my son and the people in my life,” she says. She was also able to move her fingers at will – lifting one right-hand finger meant “yes;” a left-hand finger meant “no.”
Of course, everyone’s response varies. Some people have a clear memory of what happens during hypnosis, while another’s recollection might be fuzzier. Some might be able to move their head or lift a finger if they’re prompted, whereas others will remain impassive. However, you aren’t rendered unconscious, Patterson says – you’re simply in a deeply relaxed state.
“We usually first focus on slowing down breathing, and then there’s a stage of deepening,” Patterson says. “That’s often done by getting people seeing themselves walk down staircases or counting numbers. You go deeper and deeper into the subconscious until you reach the suggestion phase. Then, you give them whatever clinical suggestions you want to give.”
Although you’re receiving “suggestions” from the hypnotist, you aren’t at the practitioner’s mercy, says Sally Greer, a clinical therapist who practices in Alexandria, Virginia, and performs hypnotherapy for smoking cessation, weight control, phobic responses and stress reduction.
“Whatever you do under hypnosis, there is an underlying consent or compliance within you,” Greer says. If you’re trying to use hypnosis to, say, quit smoking, the hypnotist can’t force you to shed the habit if, deep down, you have no real desire to give up your Marlboros. Instead, you have to be receptive to the suggestions they give you. If you’re not, hypnosis won’t work on you.
Myth No. 3: Hypnosis will cure what ails you
“A common misconception is that hypnosis is a magic bullet, and the problem will be magically erased by the power of the hypnotist,” Williams says. Hypnosis can be highly successful in some, yet ineffective in others. Sometimes hypnosis works well in conjunction with other treatments – say, therapy if you’re depressed, medication if you’re physically hurting or exercise and diet if you’re attempting weight loss. Sometimes hypnosis works after one session; other times, it takes multiple appointments. But hypnosis alone is rarely the be-all, end-all solution to someone’s problems.
And although it’s a versatile tool that can be used for everything from pain to panic, experts caution it could worsen trauma or severe psychological disorders if the provider isn’t skilled and the patient is unstable. “Hypnosis can sometimes cause as many problems as it can help,” Patterson says.
And in many cases, experts say, it’s not even clear where the hypnosis ends and psychological or physical healing begins. All you know is that your body or mind is working again – even if you’re not sure whether or not the hypnosis did.
“I remember talking to my regular therapist after I started to get better,” Emily recalls. “I felt uncomfortable about not knowing why I got better. I didn’t know whether it was going on the right medication or whether it was the hypnotherapist. And she said, ‘Why don’t you just consider that it was a mix of everything?’ And I guess I kind of have to.”
By: Kirstin Fawcett
Sports hypnosis, as the name suggests, is simply hypnotism directed towards improving sports performance. It’s used by all levels of sportspeople, from amateurs to top level professionals, and it’s successfully used to get better results in just about every type of sport. But how does hypnosis, which is concerned with the mind, help with sport, which is all about the body?
The idea of mental factors being just as important as physical factors in sport is nothing new, and is probably as old as sport itself. In the 20th century, this idea was developed by the new science of psychology. The term “sports psychology” has been in use since at least the 1920s, and the Soviet Olympic squads of the 1950s famously employed teams of psychological coaches. Sports psychology began to be taught at universities, and it gradually became big business, as major league teams and players added sports psychologists to their staff. Sports hypnosis is part of this movement, and can be seen as a practical sports psychology tool.
The Concept of Mental Rehearsal or Visualization
Certain hypnotic principles make hypnosis particularly suited to sports improvement. First of all there is the concept of mental rehearsal or visualization. Any form of mental visualization is hypnotic, since it involves using the imagination to rehearse the future. This is something that we all do all of the time quite naturally; from imagining what we’re going to have for lunch to planning what we’re going to say at a forthcoming job interview.
Hypnosis provides a structure for this natural capacity, and sports hypnosis directs it towards improvements in a player’s game.
A tennis player, for example, might use sports hypnosis to vividly imagine returning their opponent’s serve. A golfer might hypnotically experience the perfect swing. Soccer players might use sports hypnosis to mentally rehearse taking penalties, or saving penalties if they’re the goalkeeper.
In all cases, mental rehearsal works in the same way. The mind cannot tell the difference between real and imagined events. The same neural pathways, muscles reactions and body chemistry are activated whether you imagine returning an opponent’s serve, or when you actually do so on the tennis court. Hypnotic mental rehearsal, then, is a way of getting in extra practice, with the added advantage that you can consistently rehearse success in your own imagination, which is not necessarily the case in real life practice.
Creating Positive Expectation
The second sports hypnosis principle, which follows on from mental rehearsal, is creating positive expectation. Expectation is a powerful force in human motivation and behavior. We’re all seeking to fulfill our expectations, good and bad, all of the time. For example, if you go into a meeting expecting it to be boring, it’s highly likely to be tedious beyond belief. If you go into the same meeting expecting to hear information that will be useful to you, you’ll probably find it more interesting. Expectation is like a picture frame that we’re constantly trying to fill with the right picture.
This has a significant physical effect, too. If you’ve ever been getting ready for a night out, only for it to be cancelled at the last minute, you’ll know just how physically uncomfortable and irritating it can feel. Expectation releases dopamine, the motivating hormone, and fulfilling that expectation releases serotonin, the satisfaction hormone. In sports terms, dopamine gets you running from midfield towards goal, and serotonin is the feeling you get when you score.
Sports hypnosis, then, is all about creating the right sort of expectation and channeling all of that dopamine in the right direction. For example, a sports player might use hypnosis to build expectation of doing well in a forthcoming tournament. The release of dopamine creates a mental and physical urge to seek satisfaction and completion, making them far more likely to live up to their own expectation and do well in the tournament.
The third sports hypnosis principle addresses the downside of the first two. It is, of course, quite possible to mentally rehearse failure and to build negative expectations! This might come about as the result of a bad experience, or it might be something that’s become established over time. This can become a vicious circle. Players perform badly because they expect to perform badly, which just reinforces their expectation of bad performance. Hypnosis is an effective way of breaking this vicious circle, because it deals directly with the part of the mind that keeps the unhelpful habit in place.
The Principle of the Mind-Body Connection
Finally, sports hypnosis works on the principle of the mind-body connection. Although Western science and thought has tended to treat the mind and body as two separate entities, advances in neuroscience and neuropsychology have shown that the two are inextricably linked. Mind and body are in constant communication, with a flow of neurotransmitters from the brain to the cells of the body and back again. The mind tells the body how to behave, but the body can tell the mind how to think and feel too.
This has profound implications for sports performance, of course, as hypnosis can be used to encourage the right sort of messages to be transmitted from the mind to the body – a more relaxed stance when taking a golf swing, for example, or an extra degree of determination that helps you overcome physical resistance in an athletics event.
The main theme of these sports hypnosis principles is that they all work with the unconscious mind. This is why hypnosis is so well suited to sport, which is all about unconscious, instinctive reactions. Indeed, it could be argued that sport itself is a hypnotic activity, since it fixes the players’ attention and lets the unconscious mind take control at least when it’s being played well. By improving the quality of unconscious responses, hypnosis provides sports players with an invaluable “secret weapon” that can dramatically improve performance.
SportsHypnosis.org
Many people have a fear of flying. While it is unclear whether this issue is truly a phobia or simply a reaction to certain events, it can be paralyzing and limiting to the person suffering from it. This article will outline methods to overcome a fear of flying.
Adjust the Mindset
Those who have a fear of flying most likely suffer from generalized anxiety that allows imagined scenarios to become bigger than reality. From a physical standpoint, anxiety increases the body’s production of oxytocin, which floods the amygdala of the brain and produces reactions of phobia and panic. To change this process, a person must learn to think of flying as a non-threatening situation.
Reduce Anxiety
There are a number of effective coping strategies that can be used to make flying less stressful. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America recommends taking the following steps on the day of a flight.
Stay focused on the destination. Anxiety is reduced when a person thinks of friends or loved ones waiting for them at the end point.
Meditate or practice yoga before boarding the plane. This provides an opportunity to replace negativity and fear with positive and calming thought patterns.
Avoid caffeine and alcohol. These beverages make anxiety worse. It is best to drink plenty of water and maintain healthy hydration.
Have a sense of humor and be willing to give up control. There is very little in life that is completely under human control, and flying is one of those things. Talking and joking with the flight crew will keep things in perspective.
In the long term, a person who fears flying can address their anxiety by identifying triggers, getting educated about aviation safety and joining groups of other nervous flyers in order to not feel alone. Those who are dealing with PTSD or other more serious psychiatric issues will benefit from talking to a mental health professional who can help them overcome their fear.
Take a Flying Course
Both European and American airports offer courses to assist people in overcoming a fear of flying. Run by airline staff and cabin crews, the courses help people understand how flying works, explain misconceptions and introduce relaxation techniques to deal with turbulence and other in-flight situations.
No one has to be grounded because of a fear of flying. Education and therapy can help to alleviate anxiety and open the door to travel and fun.
By: Miami Helicopter
Meditation is not a mysterious other worldly experience only achieved by Tibetan monks, but rather a simple technique enabling us to visit the same peaceful state of mind we all naturally slide in and out of every day.
Think of meditation as a daydream-on-demand.
A daydream moment is when the subconscious stretches its legs, becoming a bit more active. Common everyday examples would be when we become engrossed in a good movie or zoning out during a long drive.
Meditation reduces stress, improves sleep quality and overall health, slows aging process, balances emotions, enhances our mood and makes us happier. My clients learn that hypnosis is goal-oriented meditation. Once guided into meditation they receive suggestions supporting positive change.
5 Steps to meditation:
- Sit comfortably in a quiet location
- Eyes closed take 6 deep breaths and focus on chest expanding and relaxing
- Then breathe normally and imagine inhaling relaxation for 6 more breaths
- For the next 6 breaths imagine the inhaled relaxation starts to accumulate
- Now with 6 exhaled breaths imagine releasing all stress, worry or concern
Once you have established this peaceful moment you can calmly plan out your day, work out challenging situations or simply enjoy the moment. People who routinely meditate are consistently more relaxed, grounded and less affected by the pace of day-to-day life.
By: Paul Gustafson RN CH
In a research study done with 60 college student volunteers (Spring of 2004 at Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona), using hypnosis with ego-enhancement suggestions showed “significantly dramatic effects” in brain-wave patterns, subjective sense of self-confidence, and test scores.
In an ongoing pilot study being done by University of Florida counseling psychologist Paul Schauble, preliminary results show hypnotized patients with hypertension are more easily able to make lifestyle improvements that can lower blood pressure.
Faymonville ME. Mambourg PH. Joris J. Vrijens B. Fissette J. Albert A. Lamy M. Psychological approaches during conscious sedation. Hypnosis versus stress reducing strategies. 1997; 73(3): 361-7. This study suggests that hypnosis provides better perioperative pain and anxiety relief, allows for significant reductions in alfentanil and midazolam requirements, and improves patient satisfaction and surgical conditions as compared with conventional stress reducing strategies support in patients receiving conscious sedation for plastic surgery.
Stanton HE Overcoming fear of public speaking with the diagnostic trance Australian Journal of Clinical & Experimental Hypnosis 1991 May; 19(1): 41-7. Subjects in both the experimental group of the 1st stage and the control group of the 2nd stage were able to reduce their fear of public speaking level significantly through use of the diagnostic trance procedure. Three months later, this improvement had been maintained.
Stanton HE Self-hypnosis: one path to reduced test anxiety Contemporary Hypnosis 1994; 11(1): 14-8. Results indicate a significant reduction of TASC scores in the experimental group, maintained over a 6-mo period, which was not matched by the control group.
Hammarstrand G. Berggren U. Hakeberg M. Psychophysiological therapy vs. hypnotherapy in the treatment of patients with dental phobia. European Journal of Oral Sciences 1995; 103(6): 399-404. The PP group reported a statistically significant decrease in dental fear as well as a rise in mood during dental situations, as opposed to the HT group. Treatments, became less fearful of dental care and were able to manage conventional dental care, including changing dentist.
Taylor DN. Effects of a behavioral stress-management program on anxiety, mood, self-esteem, and T-cell count in HIV positive men. Analysis showed that compared with the no-treatment group, the treatment group showed significant improvement on all the dependent measures, which was maintained at a 1-mo. follow-up. Since stress is known to compromise the immune system, these results suggest that stress management to reduce arousal of the nervous system and anxiety would be an appropriate component of a treatment regimen for HIV infection. Psychological Reports. 1995; 76(2): 451-7.
