With Christmas fast approaching, many smokers are mentally gearing themselves up to quit – once the festivities have finished, of course – determined to make sure that this year the New Years resolution will stick.
Certainly, as hypnotherapists, we see a marked increase in the numbers of clients wanting help to stop smoking around the end of February, once the “season-of-good-will-power” has ended.
An article in the New York Times highlights recent brain studies which indicate that when people are acting under hypnotic suggestions, their brains show profound changes in how they process information. The suggestions, researchers report, literally change what people see, hear, feel and believe to be true.
New research from the American Society of Anesthesiologists indicates that Hypnosis could help soothe anxiety before surgery. They found that after one hypnosis session, patients were less anxious about their operation than they had been just half an hour before.
Hypnosis gains support as medical tool for dealing with pain, recovery, stress. Teaching hospitals such as Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and Harvard Medical School are studying and using hypnosis to speed surgical recoveries and manage pain. Stanford University School of Medicine and the Mayo Clinic are studying its effectiveness for treating anxiety, stress and overeating.
(Arizona Republic – 11th October 2005)
A few clients have asked if there are any differences between various types of Hypnotherapists, and in particular the difference between Cognitive Hypnotherapy and Clinical Hypnotherapy. This article will attempt to clarify the main terms used in the profession and clear up this potentially confusing distinction.
Hypnosis.org.uk is a UK directory of hypnosis and hypnotherapy resources. If you are visiting our site, but are not in our area, or just want to find other hypnotherapists to compare us with, this site can help you.
Medics at The University of Manchester have discovered a way to treat Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) using hypnotherapy…. With a success-rate of about 70% Professor Whorwell believes that, although labour-intensive, hypnotherapy could be an extremely effective treatment for the condition; and a less expensive alternative to new, costly drugs coming onto the market.
The University of Manchester (27th September 2005)
Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) a team of neuroscientists at the University of Pittsburgh have seen hypnosis actually working on the brain. In a study to be published this year, a group of patients with the painful rheumatic condition fibromyalgia were hypnotised to imagine a dial controlling their pain levels and the brain activity monitored by the scan.
(The Times – 12th September 2005)
The idea that hypnosis alone can be powerful enough to block out the pain of surgery may seem far-fetched. But research has provided clear indications that hypnosis can alter the brain?s perception of pain.
(The Times – 10th September 2005)
Hypnotherapy is increasingly recognised as a safe and effective way of blocking out pain during operations and helping women in childbirth. Lucie Hoe reports
(Daily Telegraph – 30th August 2005)
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