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| Medical Hypnosis |
Medical
hypnosis has quietly placed its foot inside the door of mainstream medicine and
is beginning to show what it has to offer. It's now perceived as a treatment
with the capacity to support a wide range of physical, emotional and
psychological concerns in the healthcare setting.
As
medical science pushes forward so does the need to explore complimentary
modalities of support. Today's clients face an overwhelming array of
technology. By also considering our own natural healing abilities and pursuing
health and wellness from within, we blend nature and science leading to better
understanding, empowered health and well-being.
What is hypnosis?
Hypnosis,
also called hypnotherapy or hypnotic suggestion, is basically a trance-like
state that leads to feelings of calmness and relaxation. That relaxed state
opens a person up to concentrate on a specific thought or feeling while
blocking out the distractions of daily life.
Those who
practice hypnosis use a person’s relaxed state to offers suggestions on ways to
modify perceptions, behaviors or emotions to improve health. Hypnotherapists
stress that while a person may be more open than usual to suggestion, patients
remain in control and do not give up their free will.
The biggest
misconception about hypnosis is that a hypnotist imposes himself or herself on
a patient and takes away their self control. Instead, he said, a hypnotherapist
spends a great deal of time talking with patients about their problems and
histories to learn how to talk to them when they are in a trance-like state.
“One thing
we do process at the first or second session is what are the expectations,
fears, anxieties; what do they hope to accomplish?” he said. “We clear the air
carefully at the beginning.”
“If you’ve ever had the experience of driving home and you
drive the same route every day, and you go right by your exit or your street,
you were in a light trance,” “Take that naturally occurring state you go in and
out of and teach you how to focus those trances and do what you’d like to do
more of and less of what you want to do less of.”
Hetal said in sports, that trance-like state is referred to
as “the zone.”
“Athletes talk about that all the time; where they’re in a
trance-like state where they couldn’t miss,” “This happens all the time; it’s
just learning how to use those times of subconscious to treat a condition.”
“Hypnosis is a form of very, very deep relaxation. It’s an
enhanced state of relaxation,”
“I’m making a
suggestion to the person based on what it is they want to attain.
“It’s not magic. It’s allowing the conscious mind to focus
on something other than what it typically focuses on.”
There
has been resurgence in the medical use of hypnosis as well as an increased
knowledge and sophistication with how it is used for both inpatient and
outpatient clinical applications. With better understanding the shift has going
from authoritarian to empowering clients to add their own healing touch to the
plan of care.
Clients
in an Intensive Care setting benefit from hypnosis with a deeper more quality
rest speeding up their recovery process. Cardiac clients are better able to
balance their blood pressure, regulate their breathing and heart rate.
Hypnosis
helps Oncology clients make immediate inroads with symptom management issues
such as reducing stress and anxiety, altering sensory perception, minimizing
pain or pressure, relieving nausea, vomiting, respiratory distress and even
preventing hair loss.
In
addition hypnosis offers clients increased confidence and self-image as well as
helping them look forward in time to either envision a healthy resolution,
accepting a chronic condition or even finding the inner peace and guidance to
manage end of life transition.
In
the Pediatric setting hypnosis can be very helpful. Children have amazing
imaginations and the process of hypnosis activates the subconscious mind where
our imagination lives. What better gift to offer a frightened child than
control during a time of crisis. It's a tremendous advantage to melt away fear
and explain procedures and treatments in identifiable terms when children are
relaxed, comfortable and able to learn and succeed.
Clients
in the Obstetric or Gynecology settings can benefit from hypnosis in the areas
of increased fertility, relieving heartburn related to pregnancy, lessening
pain, pressure, or premenstrual syndrome symptoms and supporting a comfortable
natural child birth.
Hypnosis
helps Internal Medicine clients reverse the effects of coronary artery disease,
improving immune response, diminish inflammation from arthritis and rheumatism,
relieve tension and migraine headaches, lose weight, raynauds disease, anorexia
nervosa, gastrointestinal disorders and stress related issues.
Hypnosis
supports Mental Health clients by relieving stress, anxiety, depression, fears,
phobias and addictions. Hypnosis puts the client in control. They play a big
role in their own recovery, which adds to increased fulfillment and long term
success.
Hypnosis
helps Dentistry clients as an effective analgesic adjunct, it relieves
anticipatory anxiety, distorts time perception speeding up the procedure,
minimizes bleeding, excessive salivation and gagging.
And
Dermatology clients can be helped with clearing up of warts, pruritis, herpes,
and pain relief from burns.
Does hypnosis work for everyone?
Hetal Desai said the conscious mind
has between 500,000 and 800,000 thoughts per day and does not want to focus on
anything. Hypnosis, he said, gives the mind something to focus on. She said 70
percent to 80 percent of people
are able to be hypnotized, although he admits it can be difficult to
hypnotize people with attention issues who have difficulty relaxing.
“People who aren’t able to just allow themselves to trust
what happens, they won’t be able to relax,” Hetal said. “Most people that come
to me are here because they want to be here, so I don’t usually have a
problem.”
Stroke and Alzheimer’s patients who have difficulty holding
onto thoughts also may not be good candidates for hypnosis because of the level
of concentration required. He also said if the pain is derived from a medical
issue, he will refer them to someone with the proper training.
As more people are exposed to complementary or alternative
therapies, more are finding their way to hypnosis professionals. Hetal Desai
said attitudes depend on what people have heard about alternative medicine.
“Nobody wants to bark like a dog,”she said, adding that
hypnosis is becoming more mainstream because it works. Yoga, she added, is a
light form of going into a trance, focusing on postures and breathing. “People
are beginning to understand more and more that it’s not hocus pocus. They are
learning how to use the power of their subconscious mind.”
What can hypnosis treat?
Hypnosis is considered an adjunct to treatment and therapy
to better help patients cope with a wide range of conditions, including:
Allergies
Asthma
Athletic
performance
Chemotherapy
side effects
Childbirth
Dental
procedures
Gastrointestinal
problems
Mental
health issues
Pain
control
Skin
conditions
Smoking
cessation
Stress
reduction
Surgery
Weight
loss
Hetal Desai said she’s always been interested in the
mind-body connection. She said the mind is a like a DVD imprinted by
environmental feedback and family and cultural interactions. The body, she
said, is the playback mechanism for the DVD and an “expression of the hypnotic
messages.”
Individuals in chronic pain or suffering from anxiety,
somehow have internal programming related to the disorder.
“Our job is to find out what that program is, and
investigate the “emotional brain” by talking to a patient’s subconscious mind
and making suggestions on how to move on from an issue.
By accessing the subconscious mind
and giving it suggestions, it believes anything you tell it because it relies
on the conscious mind to tell it things,” Hetal said. “You put the conscious
mind to sleep and the subconscious acts on anything you tell it to act on.
Ofcourse, a natural by-product of
any Hypnosis session is improved sleep, I always tell clients that an hour of
hypnosis is like eight hours of sleep because hypnotic trance takes them to REM
sleep. Most say the experience is the most relaxed they have been in a long
time. The body naturally heals faster when it is given enough rest.
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