Tania Lapointe is the happy mother of three young children. But when she recalls giving birth to her two boys, 5-year-old Guille and 2-year-old Philip, she is not exactly overcome by a warm, maternal glow of remembrance.
“I was in extreme pain — the kind of pain where I was almost convulsing, screaming ‘give me drugs, give me drugs,'” Lapointe said. For her baby Chole, born one month ago, Lapointe was determined it was going to be different, and it was. During labor, without any medication at all, she was calm, quiet, and peaceful, surrounded by her husband, her mid-wife and Maureen Saba, the woman who taught her how to perform self-hypnosis.
Saba, a hypno-birthing practitioner, has taught Lapointe and dozens of other women how to be self-hypnotized during birthing. The women use positive images and relaxation exercises to ease the pain of childbirth, and for many, the results have been outstanding, advocates say.
Summoning Serenity During Labor
“They are so focused, they are in such control. It’s incredible,” Saba said. Though self-hypnosis is not a new idea, it is a rising trend in natural childbirth. Many people think a hypnotist as someone waving a pocket watch in front of a person’s eyes to make them do things they would not normally do. But when it comes to clinical applications, hypnosis is nothing like what you may have seen on stage, or in movies.
Women are encouraged to think of birth pains as surges or pressure rather than “contractions.” They are asked to picture themselves in a serene location, such as the beach. The hypno-birthing practitioner encourages them to feel waves of relaxation moving through their body.
Some 1,000 instructors are certified through the HypnoBirthing Institute, based in Epsom, N.H. — and the demand for the instructors certainly exists. Lapointe cannot imagine giving birth without one.
“This was like heaven compared to the other two,” Lapointe said. Pregnant mothers or patients who choose to learn self-hypnosis as a way to ease pain during pregnancy or surgical procedures use a combination of techniques to achieve a state of hypnosis. “Some of the basics are learning how to breathe properly how to let the muscles completely relax,” Saba said. “It really must be practiced at home, self-hypnosis gets better with practice,” she said.
Saba has her students attend five classes of self-hypnosis instruction. When they’re done with the classes, they continue to practice at home using tapes and the techniques they learned in class.
Breezing Through Kidney Operation
Hypnosis is not just for the labor room. Robert Scott used hypnosis when he had his second kidney removed at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
His doctor, Elivira Lang, says hypnosis reduces the need for pain medication, which often leaves the patient confused and weakened. It worked for Scott, who said that with just a tiny bit of medication and hypnosis, his second kidney removal was a breeze compared to the last.
“This one I’m much more alert afterwards, much more awake,” Scott said. His experience is not unusual. Dr. Lang has published the results of a study with 241 patients who have undergone hypnosis while having radiological procedures. “We found three things: the procedures are more comfortable, safer and faster,” Lang said. ” I think it’s just a state of focused concentration like you’re watching TV, you’re reading a book.” Doctors in other disciplines also believe in the power of focused concentration.
Taking Sting Out of Burns
Toronto dentist Dr. Victor Rausch uses hypnosis in his practice, and when had his own molar extracted by a colleague, he hypnotized himself, and used no anesthesia. Clinicians have also used hypnosis to help patients through one of the most painful procedures in all of medicine — removing the bandages from a burn victim.
David Patterson, a professor of rehabilitation medicine at the University of Washington, used hypnosis to help electrical technician Ladd Richter, who suffered burns over 20 percent of his body after an electrical explosion. The process helped Richter through the twice-a-day ordeal of treating his wounds, and he felt energized when the hypnosis was done.
“I feel like a million bucks,” Richter said. “When you get up, you feel like you just slept. Like you had a good power nap. Full of energy.” And whether it’s a devastating experience like burns, or a joyous experience like giving birth, the benefits of hypnosis continue into recovery. “The huge difference was my recovery,” Lapointe said. “I was alert after the birth … and this time I was on my feet, right after the birth I was on my feet.”
Courtesy of ABC News
Think of hypnosis as meditation with intention. The word meditation comes from two Latin words: meditari, which means to exercise the mind or to think or dwell upon, and mederi, which means to heal. Meditation is the process of focusing within, becoming free of outer thoughts, creating a serene moment of inner stillness. Routine meditative/hypnosis practice establishes a lasting peaceful afterglow which positively enhances the overall quality of life.
We all carry around repressed issues and emotions of our day-to-day lives. Over time, this accumulation leads to chronic emotional and physical problems which we either do nothing about, or like so many, pursue relief in the form of drugs, food or alcohol.
One of the first questions I ask clients is if they have ever practiced any form of meditation or relaxation techniques. If they have, I explain the similarity between what they already know and hypnosis, which helps them more easily jump into the flow of hypnosis.
Clients often express frustration with meditation because they either weren’t given an adequate explanation of how to do it, or weren’t able to achieve the level of peacefulness they desired. Through the course of our work together, clients learn how to do self-hypnosis, which helps them become more proficient with their own meditative process.
My goal is for all of my clients to become self-practitioners. By learning how to independently create the feel-good comfort of hypnosis, they enhance the effectiveness of the formal sessions, which results in more lasting success. We are all hardwired with the ability to focus within. With a little instruction and practice this thoughtful journey can be a life changing experience. (more)
By: Paul Gustafson RN CH
Hypnosis is a great personal tool of empowerment. It is the gateway to the ever powerful subconscious mind which is the control center for all bodily function and can be used to maximize the physical and emotional response to a speedy recovery.
With extensive experience in acute care facilities as a Registered Nurse and through many years in private practice as a Clinical Hypnotherapist I can clearly see the many positive applications of hypnosis in the hospital setting:
Intensive Care: Clients can block out distractions and increase their level of comfort which improves their ability to get quality rest and speed up recovery time. Hypnosis reduces stress; safely balances blood pressure and heart rate which helps minimize complications. It can also be used to reduce secretions, bleeding, optimize immune response and also make procedures more tolerable.
Oncology: Hypnosis lessens anxiety, pain, nausea, vomiting and reduces respiratory distress. It increases confidence and self-image and also eases the acceptance of physical restrictions and managing end of life transition. A study of women with metastatic breast cancer showed that those receiving hypnosis over a one year period were able to reduce their pain experience by 50% and in a 10 year follow-up the treatment group had a survival rate of 36.6 months compared to 18.9 months for those who did not receive hypnosis. (Speigel and Bloom 1983)
Pediatrics: What better gift to give a frightened child than control during a time of crisis. Children have active imaginations and respond very quickly and positively to hypnosis. It melts away fear; increases relaxation and focus making it easier for them to understand instructions, procedures and treatments.
Mental Health: Hypnosis relieves symptoms of sadness, fear, phobias and addictions. It puts the client in control. They get to play an active role in their own recovery, which adds to an increased sense of involvement and ability to establish positive change. Everyone feels better about themselves after hypnosis.
Surgical: Pre-surgical hypnosis reduces anxiety, pain, stress and bleeding. It promotes rapid healing and improved immune response. These clients can better manage post-op pain and nausea, use less medication and avoid the side effects that go with it. Those who are positive and relaxed going into anesthesia are positive and relaxed coming out of it. (more)
By: Paul Gustafson RN CH
The fear of relinquishing free will while hypnotized is a very common misconception that couldn’t be further from the truth. Hypnosis actually helps individuals tap into powerful inner resources they never knew they had. If sessions are not in line with ones values and beliefs, clients will reject the experience out right. Not only does the hypnotist have to offer sessions of value but the phraseology and technique need to be just right for a positive connection to occur.
If someone is worried about giving up their free will a more relevant concern is the insidious manipulation of advertising. As previously mentioned, we all go into a light state of hypnotic trance everytime we stare at a television. With the conscious mind taking a break it is more likely that what we see can be subconsciously filed away, and considering the nature of advertising and the content of television programming in general, the actions we take as a result may not be in our best interest.
A.C. Nielsen says the average American watches more than 4 hours of television per day. In 65 years that adds up to 9 years of tube time. To that end, Time magazine study revealed that today’s children believe that fast food is healthier than a home cooked meal. (Time 2004)
By: Paul Gustafson RN CH
The one word best describing hypnosis is mindfulness. By routinely descending into blissful hypnotic thought for the purpose of positive change, ones cognitive abilities become greatly enhanced. Individuals become much more aware of priorities and begin to clearly visualize a new path to personal success.
Most of my clients also experience unexpected freedom, clarity, and relief in areas unrelated to primary objectives. Many describe feeling more consistently centered, and focused. They communicate, listen, and are more in tune with their world, which opens doors to opportunities which may have previously gone unnoticed.
By: Paul Gustafson RN CH
