You are getting very sleepy ...
Sunday December 10, 2006
You are getting very sleepy ...
It’s not as miraculous as putting you under a spell and curing you, but hypnotherapy can alleviate a number of physical and psychological symptoms. This practice may have a role in complementing medical care, writes TEE SHIAO EEK.
Sheila Menon … ‘In hypnosis, you use the language of sensual imagery.’
YOU will now fall into a deep, deep sleep,” says the man looming over you, swinging a pendulum in front of your eyes.
“You will then take off your shirt and quack like a duck,” he intones in a hypnotising voice.
Many of us immediately conjure up this image when we think about hypnosis. It isn’t easy to shake off our preconceived notions of hypnosis, and its sleazy connotations.
But that’s exactly what clinical hypnosis is not, says hypnotherapist Bill Frost. “Clinical hypnosis is not stage hypnosis,” he stresses.
Clinical hypnosis or hypnotherapy is the use of hypnosis for therapeutic purposes. “There is nothing mystical involved in hypnosis,” says Peter Mabbutt, a hypnotherapist and founder Fellow of the British Association of Medical Hypnosis. “Hypnosis is a natural state of mind we all experience daily and a hypnotherapist simply guides a patient into it.”
Today, hypnotherapy is becoming widely accepted as a form of complementary medicine in the treatment of a whole range of conditions, from behavioural and emotional to medical conditions.
“For many years now, the British Medical Association (BMA) has recommended that an understanding of hypnotherapy be taught in all medical schools so that medics can make an informed decision as to whether a patient should be referred for treatment,” says Mabbutt.
Last year, the BMA also advised that hypnotherapy should be re-classified as integrative medicine, the old definition of alternative or complementary medicine no longer being accurate to describing this practice.
Using hypnosis in therapy
Open up your mind, people always say, and you will be open to change.
Bill Frost … ‘Hypnotherapy is a cooperative process, you can’t make them do anything.’
However, it is often the conscious mind that interferes with our ability to change. “We know we want to change, but consciously, we keep throwing up the ‘Yes, but...’ statements that prevent change from happening,” says Mabbutt.
“In the hypnotic state, the conscious mind is put to one side, allowing access to the unconscious mind where we can help a person make the changes they wish to make.”
“Hypnosis enables you to relax and therefore (allows) you to have a greater control over your emotions and fundamentally produces a general sense of well-being,” says Sheila Menon, a hypnotherapist and the principal of LCCH Malaysia, the local branch of the London College of Clinical Hypnosis.
Going into hypnosis is not a spell or a form of sleep. We go into hypnotic states all the time, such as when we are daydreaming, concentrating on something to the exclusion of everything else, or going on a journey we know well and arriving at the destination without being aware of the route we took (in “autopilot” mode). While reading this paper over breakfast or lunch, you probably went into one yourself, where you became so engrossed in it that you tuned out everything around you.
Some refer to this state as a “hypnotic trance”, while others simply call it a “deep state of relaxation”.
“There are certain changes that do take place when someone is in a hypnotic state,” Menon notes.
In Hypnotherapy for Dummies, written by Mabbutt and hypnotherapist Mike Bryant, it is stated that the body responds during hypnosis with the heart rate slowing down, the breathing rate slowing down, the muscles in the body becoming less tense, the blood being evenly distributed throughout the body, the digestive system working more efficiently and the thoughts becoming less concrete and more abstract (more image- and feeling-based).
“Hypnosis is not trickery, it’s making best use of given physiology to accelerate the process,” says Frost, who was recently in Kuala Lumpur to conduct some classes for LCCH Malaysia students.
Starting therapy
“Let the feeling of relaxation go all the way down, down to your fingers, your toes, all the while maintaining the awareness of the external world. Allowing yourself to relax more and more comfortably into the chair.”
A hypnotherapist will start by getting you to relax, using induction techniques like asking you to close your eyes, focus on a spot on the wall or imagine things that bring up feelings of safety or relaxation.
Once you are in a state of hypnotic trance, the hypnotherapist proceeds to deepen your trance state. At this point, “the person is in an optimum state to be receptive to new ideas, as he/she has more easy access to imagination,” says Menon.
“You stop being concerned with what you can’t do, and you’re actually freed up to ? focus your attention on one thing very clearly, whilst remaining in a relaxed state.”
Now, actual therapy begins. The hypnotherapist will provide suggestions for your unconscious mind, using the specific language of hypnosis.
“You use the language of sensual imagery, meaning feeling, sound and imagination. You can also use memories of smell and taste, but they are more difficult to manipulate,” says Menon.
With these post-hypnotic suggestions, the hypnotherapist works to remove the negative associations that might have been there, and enables you to focus on what you want to achieve.
During one of his classes, Frost conducts an induction exercise for his students.
“Allow all the muscles around your eyes to relax. Breathing slowly, breathing in a wonderful sense of calm ? I would like you to know that within your unconscious mind, you have all the resources that you need to achieve your goals in life. Right now, direct some of those resources to help you,” he says in a soothing voice, making full use of intonation to highlight certain words.
His voice drops to a quiet, low timbre as he repeats the phrases over and over again, sometimes almost sighing the words out. “I would like you to know that as each day goes by, you’re going to become more mentally calm, think more clearly, see things more clearly, so that nothing and no one will ever be able to worry or upset you.”
Later, Frost explains that “therapy is a cooperative process. You’re not making them do anything, you’re helping them achieve their goals, and this is part of the process.”
“The way I do therapy is I work on the assumption that the body does know how to look after you. So once you get the person back in tune with the body, you then get the person’s mindset and behaviours to work in assistance with that. And it works really well,” says Menon.
After the therapeutic suggestions have been delivered, the next critical step for your hypnotherapist is awakening you from the trance state, usually by counting from one to ten and suggesting that you will feel more optimistic, energetic and happier.
“People come out of hypnosis sitting a little straighter, and their metabolism is a little bit buoyed up, and they will actually notice this,” Menon remarks.
You will stop smoking ...
“There is a wide body of evidence published in peer-reviewed scientific and medical journals to show that hypnotherapy is effective in the treatment of a whole range of symptoms,” says Mabbutt.
Hypnotherapy can help in some medical conditions, such as pain control, childbirth, depression, irritable bowel syndrome, cancer care, and certain skin disorders.
With behavioural problems, such as smoking, nail-biting, bed-wetting, phobias and addictions, hypnosis can help people to unlearn old habits and learn new ones.
Hypnotherapy also helps in emotional problems, by helping people to cope with grief, trauma or stress.
“Hypnosis also plays a role in performance enhancement. For people who want to be better at what they are doing, such as playing golf, learning or doing business, hypnosis helps them use the skills that they have and to imagine achieving that perfect goal,” Menon explains.
“Each condition has its own indicated techniques and we have protocols to deal with the vast proportion of psychological issues and conditions that are out there,” says Frost, who reminds that hypnosis therapies can vary between individuals as well.
Hypnotherapists also teach self-hypnosis, to help patients boost their confidence, enhance creativity, live healthier, control pain and enhance performance.
“I would teach anyone with a stress-related illness, such as irritable bowel syndrome, to do self-hypnosis. If they were to come back for therapy, that’s going to create a dependency on coming back into the consulting room. They need to be back (home), working with themselves. So you send them back, and you tell them to practise self-hypnosis, maybe three times a day,” says Menon.
However, serious problems are best dealt with in conjunction with a professional clinical hypnotherapist.
In Hypnotherapy for Dummies, there is a little “Reality Check” icon that says, “Hypnotherapy does not cure disease and should never be advertised as doing so ? Hypnotherapy does help to make changes to the way you think and feel, and the way your body responds in certain situations ... But any effects on a disease state are lucky by-products that may or may not be attributable to your therapy, and can never be guaranteed.”
Mabbutt cautions that hypnotherapy won’t work for people who don’t really want to change. “You have to want to change. If you don’t really want to quit smoking, then your mind will reject the suggestions for you to quit.”
But if you accept it, then hypnotherapy will help you get in touch with your real self and help you imagine yourself achieving things that are important to you.
“Hypnosis gives a person a wonderful sense of well-being and inner harmony,” Menon concludes.
“In a few moments, I will wake you,” says Frost to his students, who are sitting still and silent in their hypnotic trances. “I will count from one to 10, by the count of eight, you will open your eyes, and by the count of 10, you’ll be fully wide awake. You’ll wake up feeling refreshed and more optimistic,” he says, his voice getting louder and more forceful.
“So ready, one, two, three, more and more wide awake .... four, five, six, more and more wide awake ... seven, eight, open your eyes ... nine, 10, wide awake,” he concludes, and the class springs to life again.
Related Stories:
Do Malaysians accept hypnotherapy?
Hypnotherapy in ...
You are getting very sleepy ...
It’s not as miraculous as putting you under a spell and curing you, but hypnotherapy can alleviate a number of physical and psychological symptoms. This practice may have a role in complementing medical care, writes TEE SHIAO EEK.
Sheila Menon … ‘In hypnosis, you use the language of sensual imagery.’
YOU will now fall into a deep, deep sleep,” says the man looming over you, swinging a pendulum in front of your eyes.
“You will then take off your shirt and quack like a duck,” he intones in a hypnotising voice.
Many of us immediately conjure up this image when we think about hypnosis. It isn’t easy to shake off our preconceived notions of hypnosis, and its sleazy connotations.
But that’s exactly what clinical hypnosis is not, says hypnotherapist Bill Frost. “Clinical hypnosis is not stage hypnosis,” he stresses.
Clinical hypnosis or hypnotherapy is the use of hypnosis for therapeutic purposes. “There is nothing mystical involved in hypnosis,” says Peter Mabbutt, a hypnotherapist and founder Fellow of the British Association of Medical Hypnosis. “Hypnosis is a natural state of mind we all experience daily and a hypnotherapist simply guides a patient into it.”
Today, hypnotherapy is becoming widely accepted as a form of complementary medicine in the treatment of a whole range of conditions, from behavioural and emotional to medical conditions.
“For many years now, the British Medical Association (BMA) has recommended that an understanding of hypnotherapy be taught in all medical schools so that medics can make an informed decision as to whether a patient should be referred for treatment,” says Mabbutt.
Last year, the BMA also advised that hypnotherapy should be re-classified as integrative medicine, the old definition of alternative or complementary medicine no longer being accurate to describing this practice.
Using hypnosis in therapy
Open up your mind, people always say, and you will be open to change.
Bill Frost … ‘Hypnotherapy is a cooperative process, you can’t make them do anything.’
However, it is often the conscious mind that interferes with our ability to change. “We know we want to change, but consciously, we keep throwing up the ‘Yes, but...’ statements that prevent change from happening,” says Mabbutt.
“In the hypnotic state, the conscious mind is put to one side, allowing access to the unconscious mind where we can help a person make the changes they wish to make.”
“Hypnosis enables you to relax and therefore (allows) you to have a greater control over your emotions and fundamentally produces a general sense of well-being,” says Sheila Menon, a hypnotherapist and the principal of LCCH Malaysia, the local branch of the London College of Clinical Hypnosis.
Going into hypnosis is not a spell or a form of sleep. We go into hypnotic states all the time, such as when we are daydreaming, concentrating on something to the exclusion of everything else, or going on a journey we know well and arriving at the destination without being aware of the route we took (in “autopilot” mode). While reading this paper over breakfast or lunch, you probably went into one yourself, where you became so engrossed in it that you tuned out everything around you.
Some refer to this state as a “hypnotic trance”, while others simply call it a “deep state of relaxation”.
“There are certain changes that do take place when someone is in a hypnotic state,” Menon notes.
In Hypnotherapy for Dummies, written by Mabbutt and hypnotherapist Mike Bryant, it is stated that the body responds during hypnosis with the heart rate slowing down, the breathing rate slowing down, the muscles in the body becoming less tense, the blood being evenly distributed throughout the body, the digestive system working more efficiently and the thoughts becoming less concrete and more abstract (more image- and feeling-based).
“Hypnosis is not trickery, it’s making best use of given physiology to accelerate the process,” says Frost, who was recently in Kuala Lumpur to conduct some classes for LCCH Malaysia students.
Starting therapy
“Let the feeling of relaxation go all the way down, down to your fingers, your toes, all the while maintaining the awareness of the external world. Allowing yourself to relax more and more comfortably into the chair.”
A hypnotherapist will start by getting you to relax, using induction techniques like asking you to close your eyes, focus on a spot on the wall or imagine things that bring up feelings of safety or relaxation.
Once you are in a state of hypnotic trance, the hypnotherapist proceeds to deepen your trance state. At this point, “the person is in an optimum state to be receptive to new ideas, as he/she has more easy access to imagination,” says Menon.
“You stop being concerned with what you can’t do, and you’re actually freed up to ? focus your attention on one thing very clearly, whilst remaining in a relaxed state.”
Now, actual therapy begins. The hypnotherapist will provide suggestions for your unconscious mind, using the specific language of hypnosis.
“You use the language of sensual imagery, meaning feeling, sound and imagination. You can also use memories of smell and taste, but they are more difficult to manipulate,” says Menon.
With these post-hypnotic suggestions, the hypnotherapist works to remove the negative associations that might have been there, and enables you to focus on what you want to achieve.
During one of his classes, Frost conducts an induction exercise for his students.
“Allow all the muscles around your eyes to relax. Breathing slowly, breathing in a wonderful sense of calm ? I would like you to know that within your unconscious mind, you have all the resources that you need to achieve your goals in life. Right now, direct some of those resources to help you,” he says in a soothing voice, making full use of intonation to highlight certain words.
His voice drops to a quiet, low timbre as he repeats the phrases over and over again, sometimes almost sighing the words out. “I would like you to know that as each day goes by, you’re going to become more mentally calm, think more clearly, see things more clearly, so that nothing and no one will ever be able to worry or upset you.”
Later, Frost explains that “therapy is a cooperative process. You’re not making them do anything, you’re helping them achieve their goals, and this is part of the process.”
“The way I do therapy is I work on the assumption that the body does know how to look after you. So once you get the person back in tune with the body, you then get the person’s mindset and behaviours to work in assistance with that. And it works really well,” says Menon.
After the therapeutic suggestions have been delivered, the next critical step for your hypnotherapist is awakening you from the trance state, usually by counting from one to ten and suggesting that you will feel more optimistic, energetic and happier.
“People come out of hypnosis sitting a little straighter, and their metabolism is a little bit buoyed up, and they will actually notice this,” Menon remarks.
You will stop smoking ...
“There is a wide body of evidence published in peer-reviewed scientific and medical journals to show that hypnotherapy is effective in the treatment of a whole range of symptoms,” says Mabbutt.
Hypnotherapy can help in some medical conditions, such as pain control, childbirth, depression, irritable bowel syndrome, cancer care, and certain skin disorders.
With behavioural problems, such as smoking, nail-biting, bed-wetting, phobias and addictions, hypnosis can help people to unlearn old habits and learn new ones.
Hypnotherapy also helps in emotional problems, by helping people to cope with grief, trauma or stress.
“Hypnosis also plays a role in performance enhancement. For people who want to be better at what they are doing, such as playing golf, learning or doing business, hypnosis helps them use the skills that they have and to imagine achieving that perfect goal,” Menon explains.
“Each condition has its own indicated techniques and we have protocols to deal with the vast proportion of psychological issues and conditions that are out there,” says Frost, who reminds that hypnosis therapies can vary between individuals as well.
Hypnotherapists also teach self-hypnosis, to help patients boost their confidence, enhance creativity, live healthier, control pain and enhance performance.
“I would teach anyone with a stress-related illness, such as irritable bowel syndrome, to do self-hypnosis. If they were to come back for therapy, that’s going to create a dependency on coming back into the consulting room. They need to be back (home), working with themselves. So you send them back, and you tell them to practise self-hypnosis, maybe three times a day,” says Menon.
However, serious problems are best dealt with in conjunction with a professional clinical hypnotherapist.
In Hypnotherapy for Dummies, there is a little “Reality Check” icon that says, “Hypnotherapy does not cure disease and should never be advertised as doing so ? Hypnotherapy does help to make changes to the way you think and feel, and the way your body responds in certain situations ... But any effects on a disease state are lucky by-products that may or may not be attributable to your therapy, and can never be guaranteed.”
Mabbutt cautions that hypnotherapy won’t work for people who don’t really want to change. “You have to want to change. If you don’t really want to quit smoking, then your mind will reject the suggestions for you to quit.”
But if you accept it, then hypnotherapy will help you get in touch with your real self and help you imagine yourself achieving things that are important to you.
“Hypnosis gives a person a wonderful sense of well-being and inner harmony,” Menon concludes.
“In a few moments, I will wake you,” says Frost to his students, who are sitting still and silent in their hypnotic trances. “I will count from one to 10, by the count of eight, you will open your eyes, and by the count of 10, you’ll be fully wide awake. You’ll wake up feeling refreshed and more optimistic,” he says, his voice getting louder and more forceful.
“So ready, one, two, three, more and more wide awake .... four, five, six, more and more wide awake ... seven, eight, open your eyes ... nine, 10, wide awake,” he concludes, and the class springs to life again.
Related Stories:
Do Malaysians accept hypnotherapy?
Hypnotherapy in ...
posted by SambalBelacan at
6:38 PM
4 Comments:
Can you use hypnosis and self hypnosis to improve your health?
Well in 1958 the American Psychological Association, the American Medical Association and The British Medical Association concluded that hypnosis was indeed a viable therapeutic tool and approved its medical use.
Although there are many theories, no-one really knows how or why hypnosis works. However, the benefits of its use are clear. It has been used successfully in all manner of treatments from IBS to pre-surgery relaxation and post-surgery pain relief.
Olympic athletes, footballers, basketball layers, golfers etc., have known about the power of the mind for some decades now (perhaps the elite knew even further back). It has been shown in medical studies that when you visualise yourself performing a task your muscles respond in exactly the same way as they would if you were actually doing the task. Sports psychologist have used this to their, and their clients, advantage for years now.
The power of the mind is becoming more evident to the medical establishment as well. Everyone knows about the beneficial effects of using a placebo. It seems that if the mind is convinced that something is true then it will make it true even if the situation appears to be the exact of opposite in the 'real world'!
It seems that the quickest way to get the mind to accept a new belief is through hypnosis and self hypnosis. Phobias can be eliminated in one session now and new beliefs planted in the same aount of time.
The use of hypnosis as a weight-loss tool is well written about as its effectiveness in quitting smoking! It has been used very effectively in non-surgical breast enhancement and treating erectile dysfunction. So it is not very hard to believe that it could be used to convince the mind that health is abundant or that a particular unhealthy situation is reversing itself.
Once the mind becomes convinced that an unhealthy situation no longer exists and that health is abundant then just like the visualiser who makes his/her muscles respond to a mental image the person in discomfort or dis-ease can make his/her body begin to repair itself. Makes sense right!
No-one can predict the scope of hypnosis for healing. However, everyone knows of miracle healings that have taken place when a sick person has visited a spiritual healer, bathed at Lourdes, prayed etc. If these healings can take place then I see no reason not to believe that hypnosis can have the same effect.
Unfortunately, no large scale studies have been undertaken, to my knowledge, that have tested the power of hypnosis to cure chronic or terminal illness but I do believe there is enough evidence to suggest it is a very beneficial tool in recovery. self hypnosis
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