| The Excel Center - Alan R. Eastman, DCH |
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HYPNOSIS INTRODUCTION
I believe hypnotherapy is one of the better tools for producing therapeutic change in an individual. Hypnosis can be used to make changes in specific areas, such as stopping smoking, weight loss, eliminating anxiety and stress, and deep relaxation. Hypnosis has been scientifically studied and proven to be effective in many cases in producing the desired changes in individuals. Hypnosis has been recognized by the American Medical Association in 1958 as an approved therapeutic modality. Hypnosis has grown in popularity, because of its effectiveness and wide range of applicability. Hypnosis once shrouded by myth has emerged from being a maligned process into one of the most common forms of intervention today. Hypnosis as a therapeutic tool transcends doubt and fear and shows that it is a simple tool which we can all access if learned correctly and used for individual growth and change. In clinical hypnotherapy the client remains in total control at all times, should and will hear everything that is said, and will also remember all of the session as true and accurate to their own memory. With a ethical practitioner hypnosis can be of great value to the client in helping to produce the therapeutic changes which they desire.
Hypnosis is a powerful therapeutic tool. Hypnosis is considered by some to be one of the best tools to access, mobilize and actualize the potential of the human mind.
There are as many different definitions of hypnosis as there are researchers in the field. One definition that I like is the Krasner definition which comes from Dr. Krasner's book The Wizard Within, this definition states, hypnosis is:
"A process which produces relaxation, distraction of the conscious mind, heightened suggestibility and increased awareness; allowing access to the subconscious mind through the imagination. It also [hypnosis] produces the ability to experience thoughts and images as real." A.M. KrasnerFor hypnosis to be induced and to produce the desired effect two components must be present: Belief and expectation, you have the belief that you will and can be hypnotized and that hypnotism will work to produce the desired changes. You combine belief with the second component, expectation, you simply expect it to work for you. And so it will.
"Belief + Expectation = Hypnosis"
"HYPNOSIS WILL ONLY HELP YOU TO ACCOMPLISH THE GOALS YOU SET FOR YOURSELF"!
Hypnosis has a long, long history. The term hypnosis is fairly modern, however, hypnosis like states and trances have been used for millennia, as safe and effective treatments. The "sleep temples" of ancient Egyptions are depicted in hyroglyphs as early as 1000 B.C.. These temples were places where priests put worshippers to "sleep" and used many suggestions thay they will be cured, and inverialbly they usually were. Hypnotic induction in anchient Egyption times was used much as it is today. The Egyption success led to sleep temple introduction in Ancient Greece by the fourth century B.C., and then later on in the Roman Empire.
In the middle ages, suggestion based healing was considered more evil than benificial. This period is when many of the misconceptions about hypnosis were formed and unfortunaltly still exist. I spend a great deal of time in seminars and in my private clinic, dealing with the misconceptions about hypnosis. So, hopefully this information will go a long way to dispelling some of the misconceptions in regards to hypnosis.
Moving on, there was a man named, Franz Anton Mesmer, in France (1760 - 1842) and he developed a concept for healing called Animal Magnetism, or simply, Mesmerism. This treatment modality became popular with the French nobility at the time. Mesmer's Practice grew so large that he simply wasn't able to handle the lagre crowds of people who came to see him. His treatments involved the use of magnets and suggestions. Mesmerism was, in large part due to the power of suggestion. Upon hearing of Mesmers great successes, a group of envious physicians and their political friends formed a commission to investigate and discredit Mesmer. It is interesting to note that one of the persons on the commission was the American, Benjamin Franklin.
You see, Mesmer as an individual had an outrageous personality, and combined with his flamboyant nature, enraged the commission. The commission wrote a scathing report, Mesmer was discredited and this resulted in his inevitalble and disgraceful exile, from France. It is interesting also to note that, subsequently, Mesmers work has been studied by many and his theories have lived on to form the cornerstone for group psychotherapy, and imagery conditioning.
The first Physician to study Mesmer's work was the Englishman James Baird (1795 - 1860). Dr. Baird became interested in Mesmersism while watching a demonstration as part of a carnival show. Baird was convinced it was a fraud and set fourth to discredit Memerism once and for all, instead he became facinated by it. Dr. Baird studied the phenonmena and was actually the person to introduce the term hypnosis, for the first time. He derived the term hypnosis from the Greek word hypnos, which means sleep. By the time Baird realized that the term hypnosis was misleading and incorrect, it was already a word that had gained great popularity. Baird did a number of things for the science of hypnotism. First, Baird started the study of hypnosis into a more serious discipline; and second, he proved that the power of hypnosis lies not in the hypnotist, but in the power of the individual or client. And thus also developing the concept which is still true to this date that: all hypnois is self-hypnosis.
Baird had a friend, Dr. James Esdaile (1818 - 1859). Dr. Esdaile used hypnotic anesthesia while serving in the Medical Corps in India. His techniques of hypnotic anesthesia lowered his surgical mortality rate to about five percent, which was practically unheard of at the time. Esdaile thought that his methods would be well recieved in England, they were not. Why? To understand the answer we have to look at how healing was looked at in both the British Society and in the Indian Society. In india the custom is more towards higher state conditioning; while on the other hand, the English style healing methods rely more on outside techniques. The conflict was abated with the development of chemical anesthisia.
Chemical anesthesia was invented/discovered in the mid - 1800's. Now everyone wanted to use clorophorm for the presurgical inductions. As the operation progressed, with the client still anethestized, more and more of the clorophorm was added. At the time there was little knowledge of the human bodies tolerance for these substances. Now it seemed that people were dying from the anesthesia, as opposed to anything else in particular.
Then came Freud and the development of psychotherapy. In the late 1800's Freud became interested in hypnosis, but only for a short while, and did not give it much credit.
Moving on to the 1900's, there were a group of physicians and therapists who were reporting that the next ninety years would be hypnotherapies golden years. However, nothing could be furter from the truth. There were very few researchers, or money to study hypnosis. A few very dedicated therapists did manage to publish research and to keep the interest going at least somewhat.
As we move further into the 1900's we see that hypnosis was used somewhat in WWI for pain control, and surgeries when the chemical anesthesia ran out. Hypnosis was also used in Korea and during World War II, hypnosis was mainly used for pain control and for those who were suffering from shell shock.
During the 1950's there was an increasing interest in the medical usage of hypnosis, the research and those dedicated to using hypnosis grew. In 1958, the American Medical Association approved the therapeutic use of the hypnosis modality, and ever since there has been steady forward growth in the research and development of hypnotic techniques as a therapeutic treatment modality.
The mind has the capasity to change, in fact it must change in order for us to function as human beings. Our minds are made up of input and output, this leads to the inner beliefs we call our programming. Through hypnosis we can change the programming to change our lives. For instance, a child will believe everything they are told, until the age of about five or six, the child then develops a critical factor, this is called the ability to reason. This is also the critical filter which is often refered to in the hypnosis literature, this is the filter between the consciuos mind and the subconsious mind. For information to reach the subscious mind it must by pass the critical factor or filter.
You see, our behaviors are programmed, they have to be or else we would have to think about each and every small action we want to take. We can reprogram these behaviors if we want to, one of the best techniques I have found to do this reprogramming is hypnosis.
For hypnosis to work you must have a vision of something you would like to change, and a vision of how your life will improve when you have changed a certain behavior. Hypnosis works because it allows suggestions to enter the subconsious mind, and to be acted on litterally. The subconscious accepts suggestions as true when we allow the suggestions to enter our subconscious mind for our own well-being.
A word about will-power, since this term often comes up in reference to hypnosis. You may hear the statement "no will-power involved", in regards to hypnosis, let me explain. Sometimes when we utlize hypnosis in therapy, there is no will power involved, the suggestions simply reach the subconsious and then are acted upon. Will power is simply the conscious mind asserting it self as a behavior. The subconscious mind is the imagination. The subsconscious (imagination) accounts for 90% of our minds capasity, the other 10% is the conscious (will-power) part of our mind. When there is a struggle between will-power and imagination, imagination will win every time. Sometimes in hypnotherapy which produces changes, a persons will-power might be necessary. Will power is the the force of the conscious mind; while on the other hand, imagination is the force of the subconscious mind. If we combine will-power and imagination we get a greater effectiveness of therapy. When we combine both a persons strong will power with the power of the subconsious mind the force of the two working together allows each to multiply the power of the other.
I always refer to hypnosis as the state of hypnosis. I believe hypnosis is a specific state of mind measurable by brain wave activity, as shown in the chart below. There are various states of mind, or brain wave patterns, which occur in your brain each and every day. They are:
Hypnosis has a long and varied past, it has been around as a healing tool for thousands of years. The hystory of hypnosis is varied, there has been good moments and those that were not so good. We are in the age now where we are truly beginning to see hypnosis for what it really is a natural, self-induced state of relaxation in which we utilize the minds own capasity to change and to heal our bodies and minds. Man has no other aspiration other than to live, experience, and grow. I believe that self-hypnosis and clinical hypnotherapy offer valuable tools to anyone interested in personal growth. Please read on to discover the actual tools involved in faciltitating hypnosis.
Applied Hypnosis in a Therapeutic Setting
Hypnosis is used to facilitate the individuals concentration and focus. Hypnosis is a state of increased mental alertness. During a hypnotherapy session relaxation and guided imagery is used to allow suggestions to reach the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind accepts and understands information literally. The power of the mind is used to easily and effortlessly achieve positive change.
Changes in an individual are achieved through three main communication styles:
We have covered three of the basic transformational techniques used in clinical hypnotherapy, there are many more techniques which can be used in conjunction with hypnosis to facilitate change. I will be providing more information on the topic of hypnosis in the near future, stay in touch, and thank you for your interest.
Phobias, Assertiveness, Fear of Public Speaking, Panic Attacks, Relationship Difficulties.
Stopping Smoking, Weight Loss, Alcohol, Drugs, Food.
Depression, Seasonal Affective Disorder, Listlessness, Aggression, Self-Esteem, Concentration.
Tension, Headaches, Deep Relaxation.
Controlling Manageable Pain (these treatments may require the referral from a physician when the pain stems from a medical condition, check with your Doctor, and Hypnotherapist).
Martial Arts, Running, Concentration and Focus.
Learning self-hypnosis and guided imagery for reinforcement of your improvements.
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