By William Blank
If
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you're still struggling hard trying to quit smoking or lose those 25 pounds you've accumulated since high school
- you've got an overpowering, irrational fear of flying or getting up to speak front of a group
- you're prone to wake up at 3:00 AM and you're hopelessly tossing and turning until the 6:45 alarm goes off
then you might want to think about hypnosis.
Forget those old Svengali stereotypes about swinging watches and going out of control.
Modern hypnotherapy is a safe, simple, easy procedure, be helpful in any situation where the familiar mind-over-matter battle is waged.
Contemporary hypnosis began with Count Antoin Mesmer around the end of the 18th century. Sigmund Freud started his work with hypnosis but he eventually abandoned it.
Our term "hypnosis" was coined in the 19th century from the name of the Greek god of sleep. However, precursors of hypnosis have been part and parcel of the ancient healing techniques practiced by priests, shamans, and medicine men and women since the dawn of time.
Hypnosis is a tool for entering altered states of consciousness. The altered state of consciousness we're all most familiar with is the dream state. Every so often we all awaken from a dream with the strong feeling of "Whew! it was only a dream!" (or maybe it was, "Oh damn! it was only a dream!") In hypnosis, the alterations of consciousness are less extreme, but still significant.
While in hypnosis, most people will experience alterations in their perceptions of smell and taste, heat/cold, and - most usefully - experience of pain. Dozens of clinical trials testify that surgery can be done with hypnosis as the only anesthetic.
The experience of hypnosis is more familiar than most people might first guess.
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Anyone who has ever seen a child so deeply immersed in a TV show that they had to yell his name 15 times before he responded has seen someone in hypnosis.
- Anyone who has ever sat spellbound to a fabulous speaker for an hour and a half and then described it by saying, "I don't know what she said but it was utterly fantastic!" has experienced some hypnotic trance.
- Anyone who has ever coached a mate through a natural childbirth class has been an amateur hypnotist.
Entering hypnosis begins with physical relaxation. You are guided to breathe slowly and deeply and to relax every part of your body. While the body is relaxing, the mind is coached to slow down as well.
Going into hypnosis is an extremely pleasant experience. It feels like that last moment before falling asleep, where you're kind of walking a tightrope between wakefulness and sleep.
Most people emerge from hypnosis and say something like, "I've never been so relaxed in my life." After being led into hypnosis with a guide a few times, most people learn to enter the hypnotic state almost at will, thus ending the 3:00 AM sleeplessness.
Contrary to popular misconception, hypnosis is not about controlling another person. Hypnosis actually empowers an individual to better use the active powers of mind. There has never been a documented case of anyone doing anything harmful to self or others due to hypnotic induction.
Why does hypnosis help people change? Not because you cannot resist the hypnotic suggestion. Rather, through hypnosis you become aware of your own true inner power. "Will power" we sometimes call it. But "will power" suggests some sort of struggle against something terribly difficult. On the contrary, by tuning inward, you find the strength to change those harmful, habitual behaviors, like smoking or overeating.
In addition, hypnosis provides access to very deep memories. Often very painful, traumatic events cause their victim to block their memory. Unfortunately, often other aspects of the person - like joy and spontaneity - become locked up as well. Combat veterans frequently display these syndromes. Child abuse, long denied by our culture, is finally becoming acknowledged as a not-so-rare traumatic event.
Often a session or two of hypnosis can unearth the original cause of a long held habit or fear, the first giant step towards releasing it.
Does anyone still doubt that visualization can be an important adjunct in the healing of serious diseases or in the mastery of certain skills? What Norman Cousins first brought to our attention 30 years ago is no longer so radical. Imagine your tumors shrinking and they will shrink. Imagine your basketball swishing through the hoop enough times and your shooting percentage will improve. Unfortunately, not everyone can mentally imagine tumors shrinking or basketballs swishing terribly vividly. Hypnosis is a tool for developing the imagination.
According to a report in Harvard Medical School's Harvard Mental Health Newsletter (Vol. 7, No. 10, April, 1991), "hypnotic imagery has been used to treat asthma and gastrointestinal disorders. It alters the secretion of stomach acid, reduces tics and other involuntary movements, and even slows bleeding in hemophiliacs. It has also been used to relieve side effects of radiation and chemotherapy and to reduce the pain, depression and anxiety of dying patients....(and) in the treatment of sexual disorders."
If hypnosis is so powerful, if it has some many uses, why isn't it part of the standard medical arsenal?
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It is too slow (hypnosis sessions take 40 minutes to an hour)
- Chemicals are easier (but with side effects)
- Few physicians, nurses, or even mainstream mental health professionals are trained to use it.
In the history of healing, diverse mavericks have had significant impacts by developing what narrow orthodoxies reject. Witness the emerging acceptance of acupuncture in just the last decade. Whether hypnotherapy follows a similar path to general acceptance remains to be seen. But the prognosis is most favorable.
