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by-www.nzhypnosis.com
Hypnosis - An induced state
of trance.
Self-Hypnosis - A self-induced state of trance.
Hypnotherapy - Using a state of trance in conjunction
with suggestion to effect a modification or change in
attitude and/or actions in a willing person.
Hypnotherapist - A person trained to present therapeutic
suggestions to another willing person in whom a state
of trance has been induced.
Trance - An alterered state of awareness (between
waking & sleeping).
States of Awareness - Beta, Alpha, Theta, Delta.
The "Beta" state being the most aware and the Delta being
the least. i.e. Beta = wide awake. Alpha = light trance.
Theta = deep trance/light sleep. Delta = deep sleep.
Post-Hypnotic Suggestion - A suggestion given
during a state of trance that it is intended to be carried
out upon awakening from that trance.
What is hypnosis?
Hypnosis must be the only medical procedure ever to be
featured in nightclub acts. (Can you imagine audiences
applauding the Amazing Anesthesiologist or the Radiology
Wizard?) Depictions of hypnosis on stage and screen, in
fact, have contributed to a great deal of misunderstanding
about the technique. But a closer look reveals that it
can be a valuable and effective medical therapy.
Hypnosis isn't a form of mind control, as stage acts suggest,
and there's no evidence that it can be used to make someone
do anything to do anything against his or her will. If
you see a person who's been hypnotized clucking like a
chicken during a hypnotist's act, keep in mind that people
don't have to be in a trance to get people to do weird
things onstage. (Remember The Gong Show?) As psychologist
Clorinda Margolis recently explained in the medical journal
Primary Practice, "The biggest myth on the street ...
is that hypnotists are terribly powerful creatures and
their subjects terribly helpless."
Nor is hypnosis simple relaxation or deep sleep. Instead,
it's an altered state of consciousness that heightens
suggestibility and weakens critical judgment. For example,
someone who is hypnotized may have trouble telling fantasy
from reality, whether or not he or she is ordinarily susceptible
to fantasy. A person might become especially receptive
to suggestions from the hypnotist, or, in certain cases,
may forget things that happened during a session.
Partly because people are more open to suggestion under
hypnosis, the procedure is increasingly used as a healing
tool in both conventional and alternative medicine. Many
doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, and other health
professionals have integrated hypnosis into their practices
in order to help patients cope with chronic pain, lose
weight, deal with grief or anxiety, and stop smoking,
among other things.
How do people become hypnotized?
Hypnosis requires teamwork. If you don't want to be hypnotized,
perhaps out of fear or disbelief, no therapist in the
world can put you under. But when you trust the therapist
and are willing to give it a try, any of a number of different
techniques can generally induce a trance. Here's what
Margolis usually says to begin the process of hypnosis:
"Please choose a spot on the wall to focus your eyes on.
Keep looking at that spot. As I count backward from 300,
allow yourself to become increasingly relaxed.... Soon
your eyes will get very heavy from looking at that spot...
they will want to close.... And when I see that you are
becoming quiet and comfortable, I will stop counting and
will give you suggestions about feeling comfortable, even
more comfortable, and other suggestions that are in your
very best interests."
What is self-hypnosis?
Once you're accustomed to slipping into a hypnotic trance,
you can often learn to enter the state on your own. There
are many books and tapes that teach self-hypnosis (often
with promises to help you lose weight or quit smoking),
but self-hypnosis works best if it's reinforced by regular
contact with a therapist.
How effective is hypnosis?
Ever since Franz Mesmer first popularized hypnotism in
the 1700s, the technique has been touted as a cure for
almost every ailment imaginable. Some modern practitioners
even claim to be able to increase breast size through
hypnosis! And here's an actual pitch recently made by
an Illinois company: "Stop smoking in three hours flat!
Of those motivated smokers who join us, over 98 percent
will throw away their cigarettes.... I personally guarantee
it.... Eliminates your desire for cigarettes." (The Federal
Trade Commission ordered the business that ran the ad
to stick to claims it could actually back up.)
What these over inflated promises may do is obscure an
important fact: Hypnosis offers a lot to people suffering
from addictions, chronic pain, or certain other conditions.
Recent research indicates that it's also effective in
the treatment of psychological problems such as phobias
and anxiety. Here's a look at some of the most common
uses of hypnotic therapy:
o Smoking. Hypnosis can help some people kick
the habit, although it's not the surefire remedy so often
heralded in advertisements. Several carefully controlled
studies suggest that 20 to 35 percent of smokers who undergo
hypnosis conducted by highly trained therapists still
haven't picked up a cigarette a year later -- an impressive
success rate, even if it doesn't match some promises.
Smokers who are easily hypnotized and who have managed
to go at least a month without cigarettes in the past
have the best chance of kicking the habit through hypnosis.
o Pain. The mind can be a powerful painkiller.
Soldiers in the heat of battle and athletes caught up
in competition may suffer terrible wounds and feel only
a twinge. In much the same way, hypnosis can help people
use their minds to tune out pain. (If you're skeptical,
consider this: In 1840, a London physician reported that
he'd used "mesmeric sleep" as the sole anesthesia during
200 amputations of scrotal tumors.)
Therapists help patients block chronic pain by means of
hypnosis. Here's a typical example from the Comprehensive
Textbook of Psychiatry: A therapist may begin by telling
a hypnotized patient to hold all the pain in one fist
(remember, people under hypnosis are open to such fantasies).
The therapist then tells him or her to open the fist and
throw the pain away.
Studies suggest that sessions like this can reduce acute
pain by at least one-third in almost 70 percent of easily
hypnotized people. (Only about 10 percent of hard-to-hypnotize
people get similar relief.) Hypnosis can help ease many
types of chronic pain, including that caused by cancer;
some pain centers have used it in conjunction with other
techniques to treat severe chronic pain.
The writer Reynolds Price, for instance, who suffered
agonizing pain from spinal cancer and radiation treatments
and found relief in a combination of biofeedback, hypnosis
and self-hypnosis, and drug therapy. In his book A Whole
New Life, he recalls coming out of his first hypnosis
session: "Awake, I felt an immediate and almost scary
kind of physical relief, as if I'd snorted a sizable line
of some illegal drug more potent than any I'd known till
now. I wasn't addled or dizzy in the least; but I instantly
knew I was free in a way I'd never felt before in my life,
surely not for a moment of the past three years."
There are some caveats, however. According to the Comprehensive
Textbook of Psychiatry, hypnosis may not be a good choice
for long-lasting pain that doesn't have an obvious physical
cause (back pain often falls into this category). In such
cases, the technique may provide relief at first but quickly
loses its power.
o Anxiety. In the journal Primary Care, Margolis
reports that one or two sessions of hypnosis can often
help people overcome anxiety or phobias. Patients relax
while they're in a trance, and that relaxation can spill
over into the rest of their lives. They may gain more
control over their emotions, and some are able to face
things or situations that once terrified them.
o Weight loss. People who are struggling to lose
weight often turn to hypnosis as a last or close-to-last
resort. Unfortunately, the therapy isn't likely to offer
much help. After reviewing several studies from the 1980s,
Columbia University researchers concluded that hypnosis
seems to have little effect in the area of weight loss.
In 1998, researchers at Churchill Hospital in England
reported that the procedure did seem to help obese patients
shed a few extra pounds. Eighteen months after receiving
the therapy, hypnosis patients had kept an extra eight
pounds off, compared with patients who'd gotten only dietary
advice. The researchers concluded, though, that the extra
weight loss produced by hypnosis was too small to improve
the patients' health.
Who can I trust to give me hypnotic therapy?
Anyone on the street can quickly learn how to hypnotize
people, but not everyone can put the ability to good use.
If you want to try hypnosis, find a doctor, psychologist,
or other health professional that has been accredited
by one of the major hypnosis societies:
SELF-HYPNOSIS IN ONE EASY RELAXING LESSON
Take a deep breath. Relax. And get ready for a very
enjoyable adventure: your journey into self-hypnosis.
The first question most people ask is "can I really be
hypnotized?"
The answer is that there is no doubt about it. The ability
to enter hypnotic trance is a natural human attribute.
You already move in and out of various trances several
times each day.
Here are two everyday examples. One is the experience
of driving on a highway lost in daydreams when you suddenly
realize that you have driven past your exit as if on automatic
pilot. Where were you? How about lightly hypnotized? Another
is television viewing. You may never have thought of it
this way. But whenever you get deeply involved in a movie
you enter a light hypnotic trance. If you need convincing,
observe a five-year-old glued to the TV set any Saturday
morning. You'll see a slack jawed, alert-yet-relaxed,
future consumer with a vacant, "hypnotized" expression.
Are we adults that different when deeply engrossed in
a good movie? Of course not. We also "suspend disbelief"
when watching stories on video. Day-to-day problems fade
away. We are, in effect, very much in a trance.
In therapeutic hypnosis, we become entranced by a story
about our capabilities and ourselves. We enter a state
where we can access untapped mental resources to make
changes in thought, emotion or behavior that can seem
amazing, even miraculous.
Interested? I thought you might be. So, let's get down
to the technique itself. Basically, you have a choice
of two approaches. Let's call them "low- tech"
and "high-tech" self-hypnosis.
Both require a hypnotic script BEFORE you start. In the
"low tech" approach you mentally recite the script. The
only equipment is your mind. In the high-tech variation,
you tape record the script in your own voice. When you
listen to it you become your own hypnotist.
I find the high-tech approach preferable, especially for
beginners. Unless a professional hypnotist has trained
you in self-hypnosis, trying to be both hypnotist and
subject can get too confusing. Most people fail when they
work alone. With the high-tech approach, you cannot fail.
Even if you don't think you are "hypnotized," you will
relax and spend time reviewing your goals. That alone
has benefit. Plus, you can listen to your tapes over and
over again adding the power of repetition.
When should you use self-hypnosis? Just about anytime
a more positive attitude could make a difference. Use
it to increase confidence or concentration, improve memory,
and reduce stress or pump-up motivation for your exercise
program. Like any skill, the more experience you have,
the better you become. Eventually you may want to tackle
more complex issues. But it is best to start simple. Hypnosis
is generally recognized as a VERY SAFE practice. However,
if you try to use it for the wrong purpose, you could
aggravate existing conditions: at the least you'll be
ignoring proper medical treatment. So, please don't try
to be your own psychotherapist or physician. By the way,
mixing recreational drugs and self-hypnosis is never a
good idea.
You can use the script I provide in this article to get
started. Or write your own. Read it into a tape recorder
in a slow, confident style. Play it back and listen with
the intention of experiencing hypnosis. At first you may
have to "pretend" to go into trance. Soon you will feel
a shift as you enter a true hypnotic state. Be patient.
Sometimes benefits come quickly. But just as often they
build over time.
The Self-Hypnosis Script
A hypnotic script consists of three parts. First is the
induction. This is the "patter" that guides the subject
(you in this case) into trance. The treatment section
follows as you program the new ideas, beliefs, emotions
and possibilities you wish to acquire. Express your suggestions
in a simple, positive statement. "I now enjoy eating healthy
foods" is far preferable to "Donuts will make me want
to vomit." Then emergence. This is a fancy term for "wake
yourself up." And, emerging from hypnosis is as easy as
deciding you have had enough of a TV show and using the
clicker to turn the box off.
Here is a simple script to start you off. Record it in
a slow, confident voice. Then get yourself comfortable.
Sit or lie down. Turn off the phone. Make sure you will
be undisturbed for 20 minutes or so. Put on headphones.
And listen to the sound of your voice…
Induction: Fix your eyes on a spot a little
higher than eye level. And let yourself relax. As I count
from 100 downwards I want and expect my body to become
very relaxed and my eyes very, very heavy. Because as
I count backwards I will open my eyes on even numbers
like 100 and close them on odd numbers like 99. This makes
my eyes very tired and soon I don't feel like opening
them anymore. This occurs by the time I get to 80 or sooner.
I then fall into a very deep trance and envision lying
on a beautiful beach on a perfect beach day.
(MENTALLY COUNT VERY SLOWLY REPEATING "RELAX JUST
RELAX" AFTER EACH NUMBER: 100, 99, 98,97,96, 95,
94, 93, 92, 91, 90, 89, 88, 87, 86, 85, 84, 83, 82, 81,
80).
Now I close my eyes and keep them closed. I imagine I
am at a beautiful beach. It is a sunny day. I am by the
water lying near the surf. I continue counting backwards.
When I reach 60 I imagine myself walking to the edge of
the water writing DEEP ASLEEP in the sand. Then
I see the surf come in and wash the words away. When they
are gone, I imagine myself deeply hypnotized, my mind
open to new positive ideas, behaviors and emotions. 60
I am writing DEEP ASLEEP in the moist sand. The words
are gone and I am deep asleep, yet alert to the sounds
of my own voice.
(MENTALLY COUNT VERY SLOWLY REPEATING "RELAX EVEN
DEEPER" AFTER EACH NUMBER 79, 78, 77, 76, 75,
74, 73, 72, 71, 70, 69, 68, 67, 66, 65, 64, 63, 62, 61,
60.THEN PAUSE FOR 60 SECONDS)
Treatment (REPEAT SEVERAL TIMES) I am now open
to change. I give myself the command that I am able to
enter hypnosis more easily and deeply listening to this
tape each time I hear it. (FOR FUTURE TAPES YOU'LL WANT
TO INSERT OTHER COMMANDS HERE SUCH AS "I ENJOY HEALTHY
FOODS." OR "I NOW LOVE TO EXERCISE").
Emergence: As I count up from 1 to 5, I awaken
alert and refreshed. 1 Easily, and Slowly Returning, 2
Feeling Wonderful, 3 Alert, Refreshed, 4. Knowing I am
getting better and better everyday, 5 I open my eyes and
return to normal consciousness FEELING GREAT.
That's it. No magick other than the limitless marvel known
as the human mind. You might ask why spend money on a
professional hypnotherapist? The short answer is that
when you see a professional hypnotherapist you get the
benefit of his or her insight, experience, knowledge of
the hypnotic state and treatment options. You can expect
a much deeper, more powerful experience resulting in faster
improvement and superior results. Compared to the cost
of other healing modalities, hypnotherapy is a very affordable
way to make significant changes
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