by Raggi on September 15, 2011
The hypnotist often gets a bad rap. People either laugh or feel unsettled when they hear that a loved one or a friend is seeing a hypnotherapist. The practice is gaining widespread acceptance in medical circles, but the general public still hasn’t warmed up to the idea that mind over matter is a real thing just yet. Truth be told, there is nothing hokey or scary about hypnosis at all.
The Setting
You’re listening to the sound of a soothing voice on a comfortable leather couch in a cozy room. It’s like being at a friend’s house.
The Process
You’ll be asked a few general questions about why you’ve come and what you hope to achieve. Next, you close your eyes and go through a series of guided breathing and relaxation techniques. You’ll be fully aware of everything that’s going on, but you will feel a bit like you’re in a dream. Everything the hypnotherapist tells you while you’re under will be positive reinforcement and very repetitive.
The Buzz
When you return to consciousness, an hour will have passed, but you’ll feel like it was just 10 minutes or so. You feel surprisingly well-rested and clear-minded — as though you’ve taken the most refreshing nap ever. You also feel extremely good – warm, empowered, exuberant. It’s as if you’ve just relived ten of your best moments in succession. You feel relaxed and totally at ease.
The Aftermath
Usually it takes a couple of sessions to really cement the new way of thinking into your mind. After all, no change occurs overnight. The idea is that, later in life, you will think back to your hypnosis session and remember the lessons learned there. For example, if you had been bitten and developed a fear of dogs, you might see a dog after your hypnosis phobia treatment and be filled with pleasant memories of playing with the family pet as a child, when dogs weren’t so scary to you. If you have self-confidence problems while playing tennis, you might take the “I can do this” attitude with you to your next match.
Give hypnosis a try. Call me for a consultation today.
by Raggi on September 8, 2011
It’s hard to imagine a martial artist being afraid of anything, really, let alone… bananas? Twenty-three-year-old Paula Ross of Kilmarnock, Ayrshire said she had been deathly afraid of bananas for as long as she could remember. Her parents forced her to eat one of those yellow monstrosities as a toddler and she’s developed a phobia of them ever since. The mere sight of a banana wrenched her stomach and the smell of one sent her running from the room. School bullies would chase her around the schoolyard with bananas as a kid, only cementing her irrational fear.
Thanks to hypnotist therapy, Paula was not only able to kick her fears once and for all – but she has been able to actually eat bananas for the first time in 20 years too! “This therapy has changed my life,” she told The Daily Mail. “It is absolutely fantastic.”
Her therapy included Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), a powerful hypnotherapy technique where the hypnotist talks to the patient about how to detach from negative memories and form new positive ones. During her sessions, she was taken back to happy, calm memories when her phobia didn’t exist and she was instructed to associate these pleasant feelings with the sight, smell or taste of a banana.
Paula studied bioscience in university, but she was astounded when her therapist handed her a banana at the end of the phobia treatment and she didn’t feel the slightest tinge of fear. She explains, “I can go for lunch with my friends and I don’t have to worry about being around if they have a banana. I am forever grateful.”
Do you have a fear you’d like to kick? Contact me for a consult.
by Raggi on August 25, 2011
Belgian researchers have discovered that hypnosis plus localized anesthesia can be substituted for certain surgeries that typically require the use of general anesthesia. They examined the use of hypnotherapy in patients undergoing surgical procedures for breast cancer and thyroid treatments, specifically. Furthermore, researchers found that hypnosis techniques:
- Sped up healing
- Shortened hospital time
- Reduced the need for post-surgery opioid drugs
- Decreased costs of the procedures
- Improved patient satisfaction and comfort levels
What Researchers Are Saying About Hypnosis Therapy:
There is still a lot of debate around the exact mechanism that allows hypnosis to reduce pain perception, but what is absolutely clear is that it does so.” – Fabienne Roelants, study author, professor and researcher Cliniques Universitaires St. Luc
Imagine you are driving your car. You suddenly realize how far you have driven, but for a long time your mind has been elsewhere. This is extremely common, and is nothing more, nor less, than a mild hypnotic trance, a modified state of consciousness, with a different perception of the world. The principle of hypnosis is to focus one’s attention on one particular point.” - Dr. Christine Watremez, study co-author, researcher at Cliniques Universitaires St. Luc
Who Can Be Hypnotized?
The authors found that neither age, nor gender, affected the successfulness of the treatment. What was most important was that the patients were willing to trust the doctors and undergo the process.
What Processes Can Be Helped By Clinical Hypnosis?
During the study, cancer patients were undergoing partial mastectomies, sentinel node biopsies, or lymph node removal through the armpit. Thyroid gland removal was the procedure for other patients. In all cases, hypnosis patients fared much better in terms of recovery. Researchers are also looking into applying their findings to: carotid artery surgery, egg retrieval for fertility, gynecological surgery, knee arthroscopy and plastic surgery.
Do you have more questions about hypnosis for pain management? I’d be happy to answer them.
The hypnotist often gets a bad rap. People either laugh or feel unsettled when they hear that a loved one or a friend is seeing a hypnotherapist. The practice is gaining widespread acceptance in medical circles, but the general public still hasn’t warmed up to the idea that mind over matter is a real thing just yet. Truth be told, there is nothing hokey or scary about hypnosis at all.
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