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Fears and Phobias
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Healing with Hypnosis
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About Hypnosis
On this page you will find useful information
to understand hypnosis and it's uses. Please click on the links below to take
you to that section of this page.
What is hypnosis?
Hypnosis Facts
What is hypnotherapy?
About
Fears and Phobias (opens in new window)
What is hypnosis?
Hypnotic
or suggestive therapy is the oldest of all healing techniques. From the Sleep
Temples of Egypt through the histories of ancient Greece and Rome some form of
hypnosis has always been an intimate part of all cultures.
In the Middle Ages, healing through touch and prayer became the major way of
treating disease. In the 18th Century – when it was believed that illness was
caused by the magnetic influence of astral bodies – Franz Anton Mesmer would
induce people into a trance-like state by what he (erroneously) believed to be
Animal Magnetism. Although Mesmerism was soon discredited, it continued to be
used even after the death of Mesmer as it often produced 'miracle' cures. When
James Braid re-examined Mesmerism in the 19th Century he discovered that simple
suggestion was just as effective as Mesmerism or any other method to induce
trance-like states. He it was who coined the phrase Hypnosis and for a time
hypnosis became a scientific technique with scientific respectability.
In the early part of the 20th Century hypnosis was used almost exclusively by
stage hypnotists, thereby projecting a hopelessly distorted view of this very
powerful therapeutic tool. However, in 1955 the British Medical Association
endorsed the practice of hypnosis in medical school education, since when it has
become a valuable addition to conventional medical treatment.
The actual experience of being hypnotized is very difficult to describe, neither
asleep nor awake. All hypnotic states are characterized by a tremendously
pleasant state of relaxation, an altered state of consciousness into which
individuals allow themselves to enter so that desired, beneficial suggestions
may be given directly to the unconscious mind. Thus, hypnosis is a natural,
effective way of making contact with the inner (unconscious) self, a source of
many of our problems as well as a tremendous reservoir of unrecognized potential
strength and knowledge, i.e. the forgotten assets.
Nobody can ever be hypnotized against their will and, even when hypnotized,
people can still reject any of the suggestions given if they are not
appropriate.
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Hypnosis Facts
- Hypnosis does not involve mind control,
unconsciousness or sleep.
- You cannot be made to enter hypnosis against your
will.
- Hypnosis is a natural experience that happens to
most of us each day when we become absorbed in doing something like driving,
working, reading or watching TV.
- All your senses are awake and alert while you are in
a hypnotic state.
- You are in control at all times while in hypnosis.
- You only say and do in hypnosis what you would
normally say and do in a fully conscious state.
- You can return to full consciousness any time you
either want to or feel the need to.
- The subconscious mind makes up about 90% of your
total mind power and contains a “mental movie” of everything that has
happened in your life.
- As you enter into hypnosis, you bypass the conscious
mind and can then access information in the subconscious mind.
- The use of hypnosis gives you the opportunity to
make changes quickly and permanently.
- Hypnotherapy entails the use of trance and
suggestion to adjust habits of thought, feeling and behavior.
- Hypnotherapists use trance and suggestions to help
normal people cope with every-day problems of living, such as issues related
to jobs, hobbies and recreational activities.
- Hypnotherapy can also aid in general
self-improvement through strategies such as non-clinical stress management.
- Hypnotherapists work in complementary ways with
physicians and other health care providers to help optimize the care
patients receive.
- Hypnotherapeutic results can be restorative,
rehabilitative, curative and, seemingly, miraculous.
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What is hypnotherapy?
Hypnotherapy means the use of hypnosis for
the treatment and relief of a variety of somatic and psychological symptoms.
Hypnotherapy can be used to bring relief to existing conditions or to change
areas where there are issues. The list of situations where it can aid the
individual is endless and it is particularly effective for those who wish to
take greater control—or perhaps regain control—of some aspect of their life.
Certain uses are well known such as for quitting smoking and for pain relief,
but did you know that hypnotherapy can also be used to overcome a fear of public
speaking, to improve performance on the playing field or even to prevent
blushing?
Some of the many conditions that can be treated through
hypnotherapy:
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Thanks to the On-line
Medical Dictionary for their descriptions of these conditions.
 Agoraphobia
- An unexplained fear of open spaces.
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- Anorexia
- The uncontrolled lack or loss of the appetite for
food.
(Note that Anorexia Nervosa is described as an eating disorder characterized
by a misperception of body image. Individuals with anorexia nervosa often
believe they are overweight even when they are grossly underweight.)
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- Anxiety
- It is a word that has a wide ranging description,
but technically it is the unpleasant emotional state consisting of
psychophysiological responses to anticipation of unreal or imagined danger,
ostensibly resulting from unrecognized intrapsychic conflict. (You asked!)
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- Arthritis
- An inflammatory condition that affects joints.
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- Assertiveness
- Assertiveness training is a form of therapy in which
a client learns to feel free to make legitimate demands and refusals in
situations which previously elicited inappropriate responses.
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- Asthma
- A disease process that is characterized by
paradoxical narrowing of the bronchi (lung passageways) making breathing
difficult.
Symptoms include wheezing, difficulty breathing (particularly exhaling air)
and tightness in the chest.
Factors which can exacerbate asthma include rapid changes in temperature or
humidity, allergies, upper respiratory infections, exercise, stress or smoke
(from cigarettes).
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- Bed-wetting
- Technically known as 'Nocturnal Enuresis', it is the
involuntary passage of urine at night-time in children. Most bed-wetting
stops by the age of three and is twice as common in boys as in girls.
Causes have been attributed to delay in bladder muscle development,
adjustment disorder (parents too controlling or aggressive), too early (and
too coercive) to toilet training, diabetes and spinal cord lesions (rare).
A urinary tract infection should be excluded in the cases of a sudden onset
of bed-wetting.
Treatment includes behavior modification (rewarding good behavior),
supportive and helpful attitude by parents, limiting fluids at bedtime and
alarm devices (a sleep pad that sets off an alarm when it gets wet).
Vasopressin nasal spray has been used successfully to treat this condition
in some children.
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- Blushing
- Involuntary reddening, especially of the face,
associated with feelings of embarrassment, confusion or shame.
As most sufferers will tell you, it is not the blushing that is the problem,
but the fear of blushing, hence the alternative name of 'Erythrophobia'. (Erythro-
is used to denote reddening, associated with red blood cells)
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- Bruxism
- Compulsive grinding or clenching of the teeth
especially at night.
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- Bulimia
- An eating disorder which is characterized by
self-induced vomiting after eating.
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- Compulsive
behavior
- The behavior of performing an act persistently and
repetitively without it leading to reward or pleasure. The act is usually a
small, circumscribed behavior, almost ritualistic, yet not pathologically
disturbing.
Examples of compulsive behavior include twirling of hair, checking something
constantly, not wanting pennies in change, straightening tilted pictures,
etc.
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- Creativity
enhancement
- Hypnotherapy can be beneficial in overcoming
writers' or artists' blocks, along with other situations where creativity is
useful, such as for problem solving.
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- Dentist
fears
- 'Dentist-phobia' leads to dental problems associated
with lack of dental hygiene and dental maintenance. The phobia should be
addressed before the dental situation becomes unpleasant.
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- Depression
- A mental state of depressed mood characterized by
feelings of sadness, despair and discouragement. Depression ranges from
normal feelings of the blues through dysthymia to major depression.
It in many ways resembles the grief and mourning that follow bereavement;
there are often feelings of low self-esteem, guilt and self-reproach,
withdrawal from interpersonal contact and somatic symptoms such as eating
and sleep disturbances.
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- Eczema
- A pruritic papulovesicular dermatitis occurring as a
reaction to many endogenous and exogenous agents. It is characterized in the
acute stage by erythema, oedema associated with a serous exudate between the
cells of the epidermis (spongiosis) and an inflammatory infiltrate in the
dermis, oozing and vesiculation and crusting and scaling and in the more
chronic stages by lichenification or thickening or both, signs of
excoriations and hyperpigmentation or hypopigmentation or both. Atopic
dermatitis is the most common type of dermatitis
Once an organic cause has been ruled out, Eczema - as with most skin
conditions - responds very well to hypnotherapy.
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- Emotional
difficulties
- Many emotional difficulties can be relieved by
hypnotherapy either by enabling one to cope better with those emotions, or
by finding different, more appropriate emotions to replace those that are
causing difficulty.
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- Exam
nerves
- Hypnotherapy is excellent for those who suffer with
anxiety before examinations.
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- Fear
of flying
- Many sufferers only seek help for flying phobias
when they are have the prospect of a flight ahead, and they can't avoid it.
Hypnotherapy can help in the short term, to enable the sufferer to take that
flight, or in the long term, to dissolve the phobia completely.
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- Headaches
- Headaches come in many forms, and those related to
anxiety and stress are particularly amenable to hypnotherapeutic
intervention.
Note that headaches can be of organic origin so it is important to have a
medical check before seeking hypnotherapeutic treatment.
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- IBS
- A functional bowel disorder characterized by
recurrent crampy abdominal pain and diarrhoea. Invasive gastrointestinal
diagnostics are often unrevealing.
There is some feeling that IBS is primarily anxiety-based in origin, and it
is known to respond well to hypnotherapy.
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- Impotence
- Impotence is the inability to achieve or sustain a
penile erection, however there are many sexual conditions that can be
relieved by hypnotherapy, and the umbrella term for them is 'psychogenic
infertility'.
Note that this refers to the fact that there is no organic origin behind the
complaints. Any new sexual dysfunction should always be investigated by your
doctor first to rule out the possibility of an organic cause.
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- Interpersonal
skills
- In business, or in one's social life, the ability to
interact easily and efficiently with others is a boon. Self-confidence
issues can prevent this, and hypnotherapy can help individuals to find their
inner-confidence and overcome their fears of interpersonal interaction.
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- Interview
preparation
- For those who feel they get unduly nervous before an
interview, hypnotherapy can be used to great effect to bring out the
confidence and strengths that are present in other situations and use them
to overcome excessive fear.
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- Lack
of concentration
- The ability to concentrate depends on the ability to
focus on one thing and ignore distractions. By addressing the causes of the
lack of concentration, individuals can discover the ability to focus
intensely, with the advantage that this brings of greater retention and more
efficient learning.
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- Lack
of confidence
- The bread and butter of hypnotherapy - everyone goes
through periods and situations where they lack confidence, but when it is
sustained then hypnotherapy can help to bring it back in a positive way.
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- Low
self-esteem
- Low self-esteem can be the result of a lifetime of
events or from a single trauma. Either way, it can be debilitating. A
considered hypnotherapy program can enable one to rediscover their own
self-respect and start to live the life that they always knew they could.
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- Nail-biting
- This is a common form of habitual body manipulation
which is an expression of tension. It can often be successfully treated in
just one session.
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- Nightmares
- My search for an official definition found this: A
condition in sleep usually caused by improper eating or by digestive or
nervous troubles, and characterized by a sense of extreme uneasiness or
discomfort (as of weight on the chest or stomach, impossibility of motion or
speech, etc), or by frightful or oppressive dreams, from which one wakes
after extreme anxiety, in a troubled state of mind.
Peaceful sleep can be achieved through hypnotherapeutic intervention.
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- Over-eating
- Whether for weight control or to stop binging,
hypnotherapy is widely accepted as an excellent therapy to help control the
diet and to start to eat more healthily.
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- Pain
control
- Hypnosis has been used for pain control (and
documented) - up to and including surgery - for over 100 years. It is
excellent for the pain associated with arthritis, phantom limb pain and for
anesthesia in many predictably painful situations (e.g. for dental work)
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- Panic
disorders
- Symptoms of a panic attack usually begin abruptly
and include rapid heartbeat, chest sensations, shortness of breath,
dizziness, tingling, and anxiety.
Hypnotherapy can help identify the root cause of the anxiety and can provide
tools to be used to stop a panic attack. Just knowing that you will be able
to handle an attack when it happens, can greatly reduce the impact of the
event.
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- Performance
anxiety
- Many people experience acute anxiety before they
have to 'perform', whether it be on a stage, a sports field, in front of an
audience, or even in bed.
In all situations, the underlying causes have some similarity and some
uniqueness. Investigation via hypnotherapy can lead to resolution and
dissolution of the problem.
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- Pre-operative
fears
- It is natural to become nervous before any
significant event, but when this leads to avoidance, and that avoidance is
harmful, then hypnotherapy can help to bring out the confidence and calmness
required to deal with the situation.
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- Post-operative
recovery
- Recovery from an operation can be hastened, scarring
and bruising reduced, and pain and discomfort relieved if hypnotherapy, and
- once taught - self-hypnosis are used.
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- Psoriasis
- A common chronic, squamous dermatosis, marked by
exacerbations and remissions and having a polygenic inheritance pattern. The
most distinctive histological findings in well developed psoriasis are Munro
microabscesses and spongiform pustules.
It is characterized clinically by the presence of rounded, circumscribed,
erythematous, dry scaling patches of various sizes, covered by grayish white
or silvery white, umbilicated and lamellar scales, which have a predilection
for the extensor surfaces, nails, scalp, genitalia and lumbosacral region.
Central clearing and coalescence of the lesions produce a wide variety of
clinical configurations, including annular or circinate, discoid or
nummular, figurate and gyrate arrangements.
Like all skin conditions, if there is no organic cause, then stress-related
factors are the likely culprit, and hypnotherapy can produce relief from
symptoms.
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- Sleeping
problems
- Insomnia, early waking, disturbed sleep, snoring...
when you are asleep your unconscious mind is still at work looking after
you, and it can take care of many of the things that bother us - if only we
could access it more directly. With hypnotherapy, we can do just that.
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- Smoking
- Perhaps the most widely known and accepted use of
hypnotherapy is to help stop smoking. It is effective, there are no negative
side-effects (there are many positive ones) and it can normally be achieved
in one session. All that is required is the motivation to become a
non-smoker.
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- Snoring
- The act of respiring through the open mouth so that
the currents of inspired and expired air cause a vibration of the uvula and
soft palate, thus giving rise to a sound more or less harsh.
Once any suggestion of an organic condition has been ruled out by a doctor,
hypnotherapy can be utilized to help the sufferer to find their own way of
sleeping peacefully and quietly.
Or, if the sufferer is not the snorer, but the snorer's partner, then it is
the partner who can be helped - by learning to appreciate and enjoy the deep
relaxation that the snorer is demonstrating.
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- Speech
impediments
- Stammering, stuttering, mumbling... many such
conditions can be aided by behavioral training whilst in hypnosis.
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- Tics
- Spasmodic muscular contractions most commonly
involving the face, mouth, eyes, head, neck or shoulder muscles. The
movement often appears purposeful but is involuntary.
As such activity is often exacerbated by stress, great relief can be
achieved when the stress can be dealt with in an appropriate fashion.
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- Weight
control
- After 'stop smoking' treatments, this is perhaps the
most well known use for hypnotherapy. You can achieve the weight that you
desire - you already know how to do it.
Hypnotherapy can help you to bring out the strengths and resources within
you to make it happen, and more importantly, to adjust to the new life that
you will have, so that you maintain it.
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