Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy

You want change. Can hypnotherapy help you?

Weight loss

Here is what the Feb 2004 issue of Consumer Reports says about using hypnosis for weight loss:

Studies have consistently shown that adding hypnosis to cognitive behavioral treatments for weight reduction increases the chances of short-term success. Over as many as 48 months, hypnotized patients lost more than double the amount of weight that patients lost in a program without a hypnosis component.

Pain should always be evaluated by a medical doctor. If you suffer from chronic pain and would like to explore hypnosis as a means of pain management, consider these findings published in the February 2006 edition of the Journal of Behavioral Medicine:

despite significant differences in the hypnotic interventions [...] hypnotic analgesia treatment for chronic pain results in significant reductions in perceived pain that maintain for at least several months, and possibly longer. Such changes in pain are not observed in patients who do not receive hypnosis treatment. Moreover, a few studies suggest that hypnotic analgesia treatment appears to be more effective, on average, than other treatments, such as medication management, physical therapy, or education.  (p. 122)

As with pain, medical reasons should be investigated for anxiety (e.g., hypoglycemia, hyperthyroidism, mitral valve prolapse, PMS and inner ear disturbances). Once a medical cause has been ruled out, there are many lifestyle and other changes that can help reduce anxiety (see the October 2008 newsletter and the December 2008 newsletter for tips on reducing anxiety).

The clinical use of hypnosis for a wide variety of anxieties is well documented. The Menninger Clinic writes:

As a person learns to manage anxiety through hypnosis, the experience of success with such self-regulation provides or heightens the feeling of being in greater control. Self-esteem can grow as the sense of helplessness fades, and confidence builds in the possibilities and realities of competent, autonomous functioning. Hypnosis is appealing to clinicians and patients alike, and clearly deserves even greater use than it now has.