Your Mind Is Key to Your Health

Hypnosis Helped Stanford/Packard Physicians Pinpoint Cause of Children's Seizures

STANFORD, Calif. — It was no way for an 11-year-old to live. For a month the boy had endured daily episodes of uncontrollable jerking and foaming at the mouth, and his physicians at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford were concerned that the boy had epilepsy. Before starting the boy on a lifetime of anti-seizure medications, though, they turned to an unconventional diagnostic tool: hypnosis.

Hypnosis For Children

Children are often better candidates for hypnosis than adults, says one clinical psychologist, and the process can help resolve such problems as pain, anxiety, bed wetting, and asthma.

Hypnosis 'eases cancer op pain'

Breast cancer patients need less anaesthetic during operations if they have been relaxed by hypnosis beforehand, US research suggests.

Patients in the study of 200 women by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine also reported less pain afterwards.

Hypnotism: It's all in the mind

Once regarded as a cheap stage trick, hypnotism is proven to be a powerful medical treatment - and now it's available on the NHS.
By Roger Dobson
Published: 30 January 2007

There's no magic, no swinging pendulums or swaying watches, and no one is counting backwards as they slump into unconsciousness. This is medical rather than stage or movie hypnotism, and it is increasingly being used to treat the symptoms of diseases and conditions as diverse as asthma, cystic fibrosis, snoring, migraines and warts.

All eyes on hypnosis treatment

By Nadia Jefferson-Brown

Excerpt:

A GROUND-breaking venture using hypnotherapy to tackle alcohol addiction in York has attracted the attention of drink and drug agencies around the UK.

Word has spread about how the hypnosis treatment at the York Alcohol Advice Service (YAAS) is helping problem drinkers beat the battle with the bottle.

Other organisations are now planning to visit and see how the unusual intervention works first-hand with a view to setting up their own project.

Mind over Medicine

Hypnosis as an alternative to sedation is making a comeback in the operating room. Here's how it works By SORA SONG
Sunday, Mar. 19, 2006

Excerpt:

Shelley Thomas, 53, was wheeled into an anteroom at London's Middlesex Hospital in preparation for pelvic surgery. A patient going into that operation is usually given a mix of painkilling narcotics and nerve-quelling tranquilizers. But not Thomas. Instead she rested on a gurney, alert and calm, taking deep breaths at her hypnotherapist's instruction. Thomas counted aloud, "One hundred, deep sleep; 99, deeper sleep; 98 ..."

"By the time I got to 95, the words and numbers had all gone," says Thomas. "It's quite peculiar. They all go."

Minutes later, thoroughly hypnotized, Thomas was rolled into the operating room. There she underwent a 30-min. procedure with no anesthetics and no discernible pain. Her hypnotherapist stayed by her side throughout, monitoring her trance state and refocusing her mind when it drifted.

Mind over menopause

By Susan Glairon
3/2/2006

Excerpt:

Across the country more hypnotherapists are treating women for menopause symptoms as women have become increasingly dissatisfied with traditional treatment options, such as hormone replacement therapy, says Bonnie Miller, director of clinical hypnotherapy for the New Orleans, La.-based, Methodist Health System Foundation Inc.

Medicine and Hypnosis. Hypnotherapy - Healing Emotionally and Physically from the Inside Out

February 23, 2006
by Linda Simmon

Excerpt:

More and more doctors now realize that hypnosis is powerful medicine. Why this is and how it happens is still something of a mystery, but science is proving that hypnosis can improve your health in amazing ways. It can help relieve pain, make breathing easier for people with respiratory illnesses, aid with gastrointestinal ailments and relieve depression just to name a few. The most astonishing evidence is coming from research on healing.

In a pilot study published in 1999, Harvard University psychologist Carol Ginandes, Ph.D., showed that hypnosis can help broken bones heal faster and, in a follow-up experiment published in 2000, Ginandes and her research team discovered that women who had breast reduction surgery recovered far more quickly after undergoing hypnosis.

Hypnotist re-energizes FTCC class

Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Rodger Mullen

Excerpt:

In case they were worried, Teresa del Giudice wanted to put the members of her audience at ease.

“There will be no animal noises,’’ del Giudice said. “There will be no chicken dancing. There will be no telling of secrets, nothing like that.’’

That was good enough for the Fayetteville Technical Community College class of about a dozen. The class members were ready to be hypnotized without fear of being made to act foolish.

The Healing Power of Hypnosis

The latest research shows that it eases pain, speeds healing, increases fertility, even fights cancer.
Prevention.com
by Alexis Jetter

Excerpt:

A patient has only to try the technique to become a believer. That's what happened with Wendy, the skeptical nurse who used the therapy to conceive her first son. She had a second without incident, but when she and her husband decided to try for number three, once again her periods vanished. This time she didn't hesitate: She turned to hypnosis, imagining the waterfall and soft breeze that got her body back on track the first time around.

Hypnotherapy is an effective treatment for IBS.

Excerpt:

Former patient Sonia Pinnock said, "I suffered from IBS and was on medication for nearly 20 years, but could get little relief from my symptoms. Since visiting the clinic for 12 hypnotherapy sessions last year however they've disappeared completely - the difference it's made to my quality of life is indescribable."

Presurgery Anxiety? Hypnosis May Help

By Miranda Hitti
WebMD Medical News
October 25, 2005

Excerpt:

Doctors at Yale University's medical school reported the news at the American Society of Anesthesiologists' annual meeting.

They tested hypnosis on a small group of adults right before outpatient surgery.

Their finding: Hypnosis worked. After one hypnosis session, patients were less anxious about their operation than they had been just half an hour before.

Getting Hip To Hypnosis

Forbes
Susan Yara

Excerpt:

Two of the most common reasons that hypnotists are contacted are to help lose weight and stop smoking. But it can also be applied to improving study habits, stress reduction and raising self-esteem. To those in search of better physical or mental health, it's equally important that hypnotism is becoming increasingly accepted by the medical establishment and is certified as a treatment by the American Psychiatric Association.

Probing Question: Does hypnosis work?

Thursday, October 13, 2005
By Melissa Beattie-Moss
Research/Penn State

Excerpt:

"In the 1950s, reliable measures of hypnotizability were developed, which allowed this research field to gain validity. We've seen more than 6,000 articles on hypnosis published since then in medical and psychological journals. Today, there's general agreement that hypnosis can be an important part of treatment for some conditions, including phobias, addictions and chronic pain."

Look into my eyes... You won't feel a thing

Hypnotherapy is increasingly recognised as a safe and effective way of blocking out pain during operations and helping women in childbirth

London Telegraph
30/08/2005
Lucie Hoe

Excerpt:

Fearing pain in operations is understandable. So, would you believe it possible to undergo surgery without a general anaesthetic, and not feel a thing? A report in the New Scientist last week revealed how a patient at the Lister Hospital in London was hypnotised by a specially trained anaesthetist minutes before having breast surgery, and experienced no pain as the surgeon made incisions.

So powerful was her hypnotic trance that 46-year-old Pippa Plaisted claims: "The plastic surgeon was cutting and sewing inside me, but I couldn't feel any sensation at all."

Hypnosis spells relief

Long misunderstood, this technique gains respect as a tool to manage pain and help patients change behavior.

By Dennis O'Brien
Baltimore Sun Staff
August 19, 2005

Excerpt:

When Marija Trieschman gave birth to her daughter three years ago, she felt no pain. But it wasn't a drug that helped her cope. She credits hypnosis.

Trieschman, a horse trainer who uses herbal remedies and other alternative therapies, began attending twice-a-week hypnotism classes when she was three months pregnant. They were held at the home of a friend trained in a California-based practice known as "HypnoBirthing."

Hypnosis treats fertility trouble

August 15, 2005
By Dale Rodebaugh
Durango Herald Staff Writer

Excerpt:

The effectiveness of the mind-over-matter approach to solving problems is clearly evident in the use of hypnosis in treating women who have difficulty in becoming pregnant, according to a Durango hypnotherapist.

"Studies indicate that 'infertile' women utilizing mind-body techniques have a 42 percent to 55 percent conception rate compared to a 20 percent rate for those using in-vitro fertilization alone," Sonja Parker said in an interview. "Decreased levels of depression, anxiety and anger also were noted."

You're Getting Very Sleepy Hypnosis may help you control pain, addictions, even lovesickness — but only if you let it

Now Toronto
July 28 - August 3, 2005 | Vol. 24 No. 48
By Elizabeth Bromstein

Excerpt:

Holy cow, the human mind is fascinating. Don'tcha think? We've been studying that sucker for years, and it remains mostly unexplored and little understood territory.

Hypnotize your habit: Clinical hypnosis can help smokers with treatment

published March 22, 2005

Excerpt:

Deborah Fish, a hypnotherapist at Carleton University's Health and Counselling Services, explains that hypnosis can help you relieve stress, become more confident and even give up smoking.

The use of hypnosis dates back thousands of years, and in recent centuries it has been used effectively for medical, psychological and dental applications. Due to advances in neuroscience, this altered state of consciousness is now better understood.

Hypnosis can guide the subconscious toward positive changes

Tuesday, March 22, 2005
NorthJersey.com
By ABIGAIL LEICHMAN

Excerpt:

Hypnotherapy can banish subconscious thoughts that sabotage a genuine desire to lose weight, quit smoking or overcome fears. It can open a channel for healing for someone suffering from low self-esteem or post-traumatic stress. It can even anesthetize a woman in labor.

Doctors using hypnosis to treat illnesses

KCEN-TV STORY BY ANDI BACA February 24, 2005

Excerpt:

Like most people, Laura Jung didn't know much about hypnosis until she turned to it for help with her hot flashes.

"The worst was breaking out in a sweat, all over my face, like it's flushing up, my ears turn bright red, perspiration comes and then I feel like I have to fan myself,” she says.

Hypnosis helps kids undergoing difficult procedure, Stanford study

05 Jan 2005

Excerpt:

Elaine Miller desperately wanted to find a way to help her daughter, Hannah, endure an awkward and painful medical examination in which doctors insert a catheter into her bladder, inject a dye and ask her to urinate while being X-rayed.

The girl had been through the procedure four times by age 7, and she dreaded going through it again. So when researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine offered hypnosis, Miller welcomed the chance. "I had tried every angle I could to either avoid the test for my daughter or make it less traumatic," she said.

Unsure of a cure? Give this a trance

Edinburgh Evening News Monday, 17th January 2005
Ruth Armstrong

Excerpt:

Dr Dobbin said the results of his research, published recently in the Journal of the British Experimental Hypnosis Society, show that hypnosis could have a significant impact on treating mental health problems.

Although conditions like migraines and irritable bowel syndrome have physical symptoms, very often they are linked to mental state, therefore hypnotism often improved these illnesses.

Shall we trance?

By William Henderson/ Correspondent
Thursday, September 30, 2004

Excerpt:

Hypnosis, or "trance," as the Hypnosis for Positive Change clinical director prefers to call it, is one of the oldest and perhaps the original healing system. Native Americans used it to link thought to action. Some doctors even advocate it as a pain reducer or to help improve sleep.

Altered States

Hypnosis can help with problems from anxiety to pain. How it works, and what it does in the brain
Newsweek: Sept. 27 issue
By David Noonan

Excerpt:

Three years after that she went back again, this time to deal with her fear of flying. Could there be more hypnosis in her future? "If the need ever arises, you bet," says Beth, now 38.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy, hypnosis can help soothe irritable bowel syndrome

7/28/2004 4:22 PM
By: Dr. Olafur S. Palsson, UNC Health Care

Excerpt:

Many types of psychological treatment have been tested for IBS. The two that have been most consistently successful are cognitive-behavioral therapy and hypnosis. The majority of studies on both of these therapies have shown that they substantially improve all the central symptoms of IBS in up to 70-80 percent of treated patients and that the benefit often lasts for years after treatment.

The Mind-Skin-Health Connection

By Elaine Zablocki
WebMD Feature
updated July 20, 2004

Excerpt:

There's a connection between the mind and the skin, says Ted A. Grossbart, PhD, a psychologist at Harvard Medical School in Boston and author of Skin Deep: A Mind/Body Program for Healthy Skin.

Trauma, Cancer Patients Have Much in Common

Psychiatric News July 16, 2004
By Mark Moran

Excerpt:

"When people thought they were seeing color, their brain was acting as though it was seeing color," Spiegel said. "So we are actually altering perceptual processing, not just how people react to input."

In this way, hypnosis can cause the brain to alter its perception of pain in the body. "There is evidence that hypnosis is a shortcut to access specific aspects of brain perceptual processing that can be used in a way that is clinically effective in helping people deal with stress," Spiegel said.

Hypnosis and NLP for Mind Management and Performance Enhancement in Sports and other Activities

Institute for Complementary Medicine
July, 2004

Excerpt:

Recently the media has been awash with reports of popular sporting celebrities using contemporary, cutting edge, psychological techniques such as hypnosis and NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) to expand their performance boundaries and also, in some cases, to manage personal issues and related challenges.

Hypnosis: An altered state of consciousness

By Mayo Clinic Staff May 16, 2004

Excerpt:

"Have you ever been totally absorbed while reading a book or cooking or watching a movie? Did you zone out to the point where you didn't notice what else was going on around you? If so, you have experienced a type of trancelike state or focused attention that's similar to what happens to you during hypnosis."

It's all in your mind

Indianapolis Star May 15, 2004
By Patricia Hagen

Excerpt:

"When Ring, a registered nurse, walked into the hypnotist's office in late February, 'I said I didn't believe in any of this.'

Ring left his first hypnosis session a believer. His pain was gone."

HypnoBirthing puts mind over pain

News 8 Austin 4/7/2004
By Emily Schmitz

Excerpt:

"I was at the point where I was recognizing everything that was happening, it was like textbook labor. But the pain was just not there. I would come out of contractions smiling," Vazquez said.

The fresh face of hypnosis: an old practice finds news uses.

By Debra Gordon.
Better Homes and Gardens. Feb 2004

Excerpt:

"For the vast majority of people, hypnosis can be an invaluable tool," says Dr. Ran D. Anbar, who uses it in his practice as a pediatric pulmonologist at State University of New York's Upstate Medical University in Syracuse.

For example, he helps many children control their allergies and asthma through hypnotherapy. He does so, in part, by training them in self-hypnosis techniques. "One of the beauties of hypnosis is that it's easy to teach, it can often work quickly and, for most people, it is a positive addition to their treatment," Anbar says.

There's Entrancing News About Hypnosis;

It's gaining credibility as a treatment for a multitude of troubles, from nicotine addiction to post-traumatic stress disorder

By Kate Murphy
Business Week
Feb 2, 2004. pg. 88

Excerpt:

Although still not well understood, hypnosis has gained credibility in the past five years because of research using the latest brain-imaging technology. PET, MRI, and EEG scans show that hypnotized subjects have altered sensory perception -- and they're not just pushovers, play-acting, or highly imaginative, as once thought. Studies show hypnosis can help treat a multitude of disorders from asthma to warts.

Hypnotic reach

Doctors find recovery is aided by helping patients into healing trances.

By Benedict Carey
LA Times Staff Writer

January 5, 2004

Excerpt:

Once mainly the province of entertainers, mystics and New Age healers, hypnosis is now gaining a foothold in mainstream medicine. At teaching hospitals such as those at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and Harvard Medical School, hypnotists work with some surgical patients to help speed recovery. Many of the country's 1,000 or so certified hypnotherapists now get referrals from physicians on cases ranging from irritable bowel syndrome and heart disease to managing the pain of childbirth and cancer. In some studies, 50% to 70% of people who have tried it say hypnosis has helped them to feel better or heal faster. Such reports have encouraged its use for everything from weight loss to smoking cessation, with varying results.

Using hypnosis to ease childbirth

Relaxing Into Trance-Like State May Cut Pain, Need For Drugs
By Michelle Guido
Mercury News

Posted on Mon, Dec. 08, 2003

Excerpt:

The perfect hypnobirth.

It's not the stuff of television maternity ward shows, where women are often screaming and begging for drugs.

Hypnobirthing, catching on among mainstream moms-to-be, is a wholly different way of approaching the later stages of pregnancy and birthing. Using hypnosis, deep breathing and communication with the fetus in the womb, those who have experienced hypnobirthing say they give birth with less pain and, often, no drugs.

Therapies: Hypnosis Can Be a Hit in the Gut

By ERIC NAGOURNEY
The New York Times

October 28, 2003

Excerpt:

Many patients suffering from irritable bowel syndrome, a painful disorder that does not generally respond well to conventional treatments, have found relief through hypnotherapy. Now British researchers say the benefits can last five years or longer.

"This study confirms that the benefits of HT are long lasting, with continued improvement in symptoms," the researchers write in the current issue of the journal Gut.

HEALTH: Hypnosis gaining respectability among doctors, patients

BY MICHAEL WALDHOLZ
Wall Street Journal

Sun, Oct. 12, 2003

Excerpt:

Hypnosis, often misunderstood and almost always controversial, is increasingly being employed in mainstream medicine.

Numerous scientific studies have emerged in recent years showing that the hypnotized mind can exert a real and powerful effect on the body. The new findings are leading major hospitals to try hypnosis to help relieve pain and speed recovery in a variety of illnesses.

At the University of North Carolina, hypnosis is transforming the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome, an often-intractable gastro-intestinal disorder, by helping patients to use their mind to quiet an unruly gut.

Doctors at the University of Washington's regional burn center in Seattle regularly use it to help patients alleviate excruciating pain.

Several hospitals affiliated with Harvard Medical School are employing hypnosis to speed up postsurgical recovery time. In one of the most persuasive studies yet, a Harvard researcher reports that hypnosis quickened the typical healing time of bone fractures by several weeks.

Hypnosis swings into mainstream of medicine

Diane Evans
Beacon Journal, Tue, Oct. 14, 2003

Excerpt:

The Cleveland Clinic Foundation recently sponsored a presentation on hypnosis, intended for doctors and others in medicine, so they would better understand when hypnosis might help patients.

If this tells you anything, it's how much hypnosis has become part of the mainstream.

Last year, the Harvard Mental Health Letter devoted a two-part report to hypnosis. In August, the Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter reported on findings that hypnosis may provide relief from chronic indigestion.

Hypnotism gaining respect in medicine as a useful tool.

Danek S. Kaus
2002 American City Business Journals Inc.

Excerpt:

People who have experienced medical hypnosis tend to be able to cope better with their treatment. They often have fewer, milder side effects, such as the nausea caused by chemotherapy and radiation for cancer, according to Ms. Fournier.

The Center for Integrative Medicine uses hypnosis, biofeedback and acupuncture in conjunction with regular medical treatment — not as a substitute, says Thomas Nagy, a staff psychologist. He says hypnosis is a natural state, one we all go into many times a day, but without labeling it as such.

Hypnosis May Prevent Weakened Immune Status, Improve Health

Written by Earle Holland
October, 2001

Excerpt:

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Researchers here have determined that hypnosis and related relaxation techniques can actually prevent the weakening of the immune response that often follows periods of acute stress.

A new study suggests that hypnosis may even slightly enhance the immune status in some people compared to similar individuals who don't use these interventions. If true, the findings could have important health implications for patients facing surgeries.

Hypnosis gains acceptance in health care

By Clyde Noel / Town Crier Staff Writer
Published on 07/21/1997

Excerpt:

During those 20 years she has specialized in pain control and preparation for pre- and post-surgical procedures at El Camino and Stanford hospitals. Hadley is the director of the California Institute for Medical Hypnosis.

"Hypnosis can be a powerful tool for surgical procedures in the pre-operative, intra- (during surgery) and postoperative phases," Hadley said. "Learning self-hypnosis can help surmount periods of private distress and motivate a patient to actively participate in his or her own recovery."

Hypnotist saves heart attack victim

By Elizabeth St. Philip, February 7, 1997

Excerpt:

You're trapped in an airplane, 35,000 ft above ground, when you start to feel a crushing pain in your chest, the early signs of a heart attack. Appeals for a doctor go unanswered as your pulse races erratically. Sound like your worst nightmare? It actually happened to a 46-year-old woman on board a holiday flight from Barbados to Gatwick.

One and a half hours into the flight, Ros Tye developed shooting pains in her chest and down her back and legs. When her angina medication offered no relief the captain appealed to passengers for medical assistance.
It came in an unlikely form: 48-year-old Rose Orders, a newly-trained hypnotherapist.

Orders fell to her knees and placed the distressed woman into a calming trance by asking her to count backwards from 10.

Resolving Stress, Compulsions, and Emotion-Based Health Issues with
Time Line Therapy®, Neuro-Linguistic Programming,
Emotional Freedom Techniques®, and Hypnotherapy

Print this page

Click here to email this page to a friend.