Hypnosis: What It Is and What It Isn't
Posted by Cynthia Horacek at 5/21/2009 9:25 AM 
Categories: Therapy, Therapeutic Techniques, Hypnosis
Categories: Therapy, Therapeutic Techniques, Hypnosis
People have always been interested in hypnosis for one reason or another. Hypnosis was developed 1842 by a Scottish surgeon based on the work of Franz Mesmer, who performed what he called animal magnetism in the mid to late 1700's; hypnosis was originally called "mesmerism." It was physicians who used first hypnosis in the 1800's for anesthesia, and a neurologist named Jean-Martin Charcot used hypnosis to treat "hysterics" - patients who had psychosomatic ailments - in the second half of the 19th century. But it wasn't until the 1920's - 1930's that hypnosis was recognized as a normal state of the human mind. We all go into a trance at times - driving on the highway at night is a common example, when we are "mesmerized" by the monotony of the road and the dark.
A lot of people are simply curious about it, and it seems to have a air of mystery around it. Most people see examples of hypnosis on television shows or at stage shows. Pat Collins was someone who did stage shows, calling herself the "Hip Hypnotist." As a result of television shows and stage shows, people come away with a lot of misperceptions about hypnosis, about what it is and what it isn't. On television shows, characters are often in a hypnotic trance without them knowing it, and do things that they wouldn't otherwise do. This is not possible. No one will go into a deep trance without consenting to it, so they would have to know they are going to go into one, and no one, even in a very, very deep hypnotic trance would do anything they wouldn't normally do. In this way, stage shows and television give hypnosis a bad name.
In a therapeutic setting hypnosis can be a very useful tool. People will seek out a hypnotist - whether a lay (non-licensed) hypnotist or a therapist (licensed) who uses hypnosis for a variety of reasons, one of them being to help with habit control, the two most common being to lose weight or to stop smoking. What most people don't realize however, is there are many, many more situations in which hypnosis is helpful - and it is not a magic cure to stop smoking or lose weight.
Let me talk about smoking first. Cigarettes are addictive. They contain nicotine which is the addictive ingredient. Most people who smoke and are addicted to it started in their teens or even younger, and sometimes in their 20's. How does hypnosis work to help people stop smoking? First of all, the person has to be motivated to stop. As I said, it is not a magic cure, and a few sessions won't "make" someone stop if they are not ready to, and unconsciously (or even consciously) don't really want to. Most people who are trying to stop to please someone else - a spouse, a family member or even because their doctor told them to - will find it much harder, even with hypnosis. However, if someone truly wants to stop, and is motivated, hypnosis can help by giving the person positive imagery and suggestions that help them move towards their goal. Some people feel that it is helpful to go back to the root of why they started in the first place, but in my experience this isn't really as important as what keeps them smoking now. Is it that they won't know what to do with that first cup of coffee if they don't have a cigarette with it? Or what will they do with a drink? Or in social situations, while talking on the phone, when they are stressed? These are some of the things people tell me they are worried about when they think of stopping. That cigarette has become very, very important to them. I have had success helping people stop smoking by listening carefully to them in the intake session (I never do hypnosis in a first session) and using what they tell me to create a "script" that incorporates their triggers and their goals. The most effective hypnosis suggestions are ones that are personalized for the individual. (There are many, many books available with scripts and these can be useful, but most therapists will tweak them to make them better suited for each individual client.)
Hypnosis for weight loss is different, and more complicated. People who overeat do so for a reason, be it boredom, stress, trying to fill an emotional void - the list can go on and on. So when someone comes to me for hypnosis for weight loss, I have found that is most beneficial in the long run to find the reason for the overeating. Unlike smoking, which usually starts out as a rebellious thing to do because as a teenager they were told not to do it, or from peer pressure, or because everyone else in the family smoked, overeating as I said is often (but not always) an emotional issue. Some people overeat because they grew up in a home where everyone overate, and food = love. Some people are trying, unconsciously, to fill some void inside. So in using hypnosis for weight control, I almost always do regression therapy. This consists of inducing a trance state (for a definition of trance, please see the Hypnosis page on my website), and then regressing the client back to the age where they feel the issue the strongest. For one client who came to me for this problem, it turned out she was adopted and her adoptive parents would not share any information about her birth parents with her. When she would overeat the things she "knew were bad" for her, her thought was "I deserve this." In hypnosis, what came up for her was "I deserve to know where I came from." Once she made that link, she was able to control the urges to overeat and to stop eating sweets and was able to begin to lose weight.
Hypnosis is very helpful for people about to have surgery. Studies done at Harvard Medical School showed that people who had hypnosis prior to having surgery has less anxiety, less blood loss during surgery, needed less pain medication after surgery and left the hospital sooner (of course, now most surgery is same day so people go home right after... however, people still heal faster). When I have used hypnosis for people about to have surgery, I hear from them that the results listed above are what they experience. Some insurance companies are beginning to send hypnosis cd's to patients about to have surgery also.
For childbirth, hypnosis can be extremely helpful to remove the fear of pain during labor and can make the whole process relatively pain free for women who are open to the suggestions. Childbirth hypnosis takes several sessions, usually with the father (or labor coach or birth partner) present to help with giving suggestions during labor, and can serve as the "cue" to help the woman remember what she learned, and to go into, or stay in, a trance during the entire labor and delivery. Women who use hypnosis for childbirth often have a shorter labor and less bleeding during delivery and a quicker recovery because hypnosis can relieve the anxiety that is often associated with childbirth and helps them to stay relaxed during contractions instead of tightening up (which is a natural response to pain). A hypnotic labor and delivery can make it, as I said, a relatively pain free, pleasurable experience of welcoming the new life into this world, and a less stressful labor and delivery results in a happier baby!
Hypnosis has been used for chronic illnesses and for pain for some time. Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)is one such situation. A psychologist, Dr. Olafur Paalson, developed a specific protocol for IBS, and distributes it at no charge to licensed professionals only. A study done in Great Britain showed that people who used hypnosis to control their IBS symptoms were able to stay off of medication for over a year as opposed to people who did not undergo hypnosis and needed more medications. This hypnosis protocol is also useful with other bowel diseases, such as colitis and Crohn's Disease. For managing and coping with chronic pain, as a therapist I teach people self-hypnosis so that when the pain is getting in the way of daily activities, the client can avoid medication but still control and manage it. Some dentists use hypnosis and have even done root canal without Novocain!
Whatever the issue is, there are too many uses for hypnosis to list and explain them all here! For more information about hypnosis, please visit the website for American Society for Clinical Hypnosis (ASCH).
A lot of people are simply curious about it, and it seems to have a air of mystery around it. Most people see examples of hypnosis on television shows or at stage shows. Pat Collins was someone who did stage shows, calling herself the "Hip Hypnotist." As a result of television shows and stage shows, people come away with a lot of misperceptions about hypnosis, about what it is and what it isn't. On television shows, characters are often in a hypnotic trance without them knowing it, and do things that they wouldn't otherwise do. This is not possible. No one will go into a deep trance without consenting to it, so they would have to know they are going to go into one, and no one, even in a very, very deep hypnotic trance would do anything they wouldn't normally do. In this way, stage shows and television give hypnosis a bad name.
In a therapeutic setting hypnosis can be a very useful tool. People will seek out a hypnotist - whether a lay (non-licensed) hypnotist or a therapist (licensed) who uses hypnosis for a variety of reasons, one of them being to help with habit control, the two most common being to lose weight or to stop smoking. What most people don't realize however, is there are many, many more situations in which hypnosis is helpful - and it is not a magic cure to stop smoking or lose weight.
Let me talk about smoking first. Cigarettes are addictive. They contain nicotine which is the addictive ingredient. Most people who smoke and are addicted to it started in their teens or even younger, and sometimes in their 20's. How does hypnosis work to help people stop smoking? First of all, the person has to be motivated to stop. As I said, it is not a magic cure, and a few sessions won't "make" someone stop if they are not ready to, and unconsciously (or even consciously) don't really want to. Most people who are trying to stop to please someone else - a spouse, a family member or even because their doctor told them to - will find it much harder, even with hypnosis. However, if someone truly wants to stop, and is motivated, hypnosis can help by giving the person positive imagery and suggestions that help them move towards their goal. Some people feel that it is helpful to go back to the root of why they started in the first place, but in my experience this isn't really as important as what keeps them smoking now. Is it that they won't know what to do with that first cup of coffee if they don't have a cigarette with it? Or what will they do with a drink? Or in social situations, while talking on the phone, when they are stressed? These are some of the things people tell me they are worried about when they think of stopping. That cigarette has become very, very important to them. I have had success helping people stop smoking by listening carefully to them in the intake session (I never do hypnosis in a first session) and using what they tell me to create a "script" that incorporates their triggers and their goals. The most effective hypnosis suggestions are ones that are personalized for the individual. (There are many, many books available with scripts and these can be useful, but most therapists will tweak them to make them better suited for each individual client.)
Hypnosis for weight loss is different, and more complicated. People who overeat do so for a reason, be it boredom, stress, trying to fill an emotional void - the list can go on and on. So when someone comes to me for hypnosis for weight loss, I have found that is most beneficial in the long run to find the reason for the overeating. Unlike smoking, which usually starts out as a rebellious thing to do because as a teenager they were told not to do it, or from peer pressure, or because everyone else in the family smoked, overeating as I said is often (but not always) an emotional issue. Some people overeat because they grew up in a home where everyone overate, and food = love. Some people are trying, unconsciously, to fill some void inside. So in using hypnosis for weight control, I almost always do regression therapy. This consists of inducing a trance state (for a definition of trance, please see the Hypnosis page on my website), and then regressing the client back to the age where they feel the issue the strongest. For one client who came to me for this problem, it turned out she was adopted and her adoptive parents would not share any information about her birth parents with her. When she would overeat the things she "knew were bad" for her, her thought was "I deserve this." In hypnosis, what came up for her was "I deserve to know where I came from." Once she made that link, she was able to control the urges to overeat and to stop eating sweets and was able to begin to lose weight.
Hypnosis is very helpful for people about to have surgery. Studies done at Harvard Medical School showed that people who had hypnosis prior to having surgery has less anxiety, less blood loss during surgery, needed less pain medication after surgery and left the hospital sooner (of course, now most surgery is same day so people go home right after... however, people still heal faster). When I have used hypnosis for people about to have surgery, I hear from them that the results listed above are what they experience. Some insurance companies are beginning to send hypnosis cd's to patients about to have surgery also.
For childbirth, hypnosis can be extremely helpful to remove the fear of pain during labor and can make the whole process relatively pain free for women who are open to the suggestions. Childbirth hypnosis takes several sessions, usually with the father (or labor coach or birth partner) present to help with giving suggestions during labor, and can serve as the "cue" to help the woman remember what she learned, and to go into, or stay in, a trance during the entire labor and delivery. Women who use hypnosis for childbirth often have a shorter labor and less bleeding during delivery and a quicker recovery because hypnosis can relieve the anxiety that is often associated with childbirth and helps them to stay relaxed during contractions instead of tightening up (which is a natural response to pain). A hypnotic labor and delivery can make it, as I said, a relatively pain free, pleasurable experience of welcoming the new life into this world, and a less stressful labor and delivery results in a happier baby!
Hypnosis has been used for chronic illnesses and for pain for some time. Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)is one such situation. A psychologist, Dr. Olafur Paalson, developed a specific protocol for IBS, and distributes it at no charge to licensed professionals only. A study done in Great Britain showed that people who used hypnosis to control their IBS symptoms were able to stay off of medication for over a year as opposed to people who did not undergo hypnosis and needed more medications. This hypnosis protocol is also useful with other bowel diseases, such as colitis and Crohn's Disease. For managing and coping with chronic pain, as a therapist I teach people self-hypnosis so that when the pain is getting in the way of daily activities, the client can avoid medication but still control and manage it. Some dentists use hypnosis and have even done root canal without Novocain!
Whatever the issue is, there are too many uses for hypnosis to list and explain them all here! For more information about hypnosis, please visit the website for American Society for Clinical Hypnosis (ASCH).
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