It’s becoming clear that
Americans are searching for complimentary
healthcare options and don’t mind paying
out-of-pocket if the treatment of choice is not
covered by insurance.
The Eisenberg studies of 1991 and 1997 uncovered
the startling fact that American’s spend as much
out-of-pocket for complimentary healthcare as
they do for inpatient hospitalizations.
Historically, the
model of western medicine has been
authoritarian, and we’ve been taught to
look outside of ourselves for healing. We
believe that health comes from others and that
the physician has all the answers. This approach
minimizes the importance or even the
consideration of our own self-healing abilities,
which leaves us dependent and powerless.
In spite of medical
advances there remains the persistent question
as to why some clients recover from their
illnesses or surgeries while others don’t. The
healthcare assembly line is rolling faster now
than ever, which justifies the growing concern
of the client’s emotional state, how they view
themselves as being ill and what expectations
they have for recovery.
How Hypnosis Works
We’ve all got a conscious and
subconscious mind. The conscious mind keeps us
in the here and now. It’s our short term memory
and gate keeper, it analyzes, critiques, judges,
accepts or denies information for storage in the
subconscious. To use a computer reference, our
conscious mind is the random access memory and
our subconscious mind is the hard drive, which
is where all the programming is.
The subconscious is our long
term memory; it’s the home of our imagination,
values, beliefs, habits and patterns. It’s
also our control center. It tells our heart when
to beat, our lungs when to breath and controls
every step we take every day of our life. It’s a
very powerful place.
Hypnosis isn’t magic it’s
nature. We all routinely go in and out of
hypnotic trance. It’s often referred to as
daydreaming or zoning out. The subconscious mind
becomes active during these moments, and the
normally active conscious mind takes a break.
How Hypnotherapy Works
Hypnotherapy
is the process of
enabling clients to access their subconscious
minds, adjusting the level of relaxation and
then offering positive suggestions, affirmations
and creative imagery supporting the desired
healthy change. With medical hypnotherapy the
suggestions are specific to the health concern
such as decreasing inflammation, minimizing pain
or reducing anxiety prior to a procedure for
example.
Hypnotherapy is not a
mystical power nor is it something administered
to you. It is the process that leads you to your
own natural ability and resources. A
hypnotherapist acts as the tour guide helping
you tap into your own self-healing mechanisms.
Our bodies routinely fight
off illness. We self-heal and repair in spite of
how we often disregard our own health. With
hypnotherapy we are able to enhance our natural
ability to return to improved health. We can
manage symptoms with less medication; control
our comfort and relaxation and use creative
imagery to look forward in time envisioning
positive resolution. What our mind conceives our
body achieves.
Clinical Applications
There has been growing
interest in the medical application of
hypnotherapy. Here are some examples of
how it can be useful in the clinical setting:
Clients in an Intensive
Care setting can benefit with deeper more
quality rest speeding up their recovery process.
Cardiac clients are better able to balance their
blood pressure, regulate their breathing and
heart rate. Secretions, bleeding and tolerating
procedures can be managed more effectively with
hypnotherapy.
It helps Oncology
clients to reduce stress and anxiety, altering
sensory perception to minimize pain, relieves
nausea, vomiting, respiratory distress and even
preventing hair loss. In addition, it can offer
increased confidence, self-image and to more
easily accept the restrictions of a chronic
condition, or to even help manage end of life
transition.
In the Pediatric
setting hypnotherapy can be very helpful.
Children have amazing imaginations. What better
gift to offer a frightened child than improved
control during a time of crisis. What a
tremendous advantage it is to be able to melt
away fear and explain procedures and treatments
in identifiable terms when the child is relaxed,
comfortable and able to learn and succeed.
Clients in the Obstetric
or Gynecology settings can benefit in the
areas of increased fertility, minimizing blood
loss, relieving heartburn related to pregnancy,
lessening back pain, premenstrual syndrome and
supporting a comfortable natural child birth.
Pre-Surgical
clients are able to reduce anxiety and stress.
Hypnotherapy reduces bleeding, promotes rapid
healing with an improved immune response and
also helps manage post-op pain and nausea
requiring less medication and the side effects
that go with it. It can also distort time so the
process of pre and post surgery goes by quickly.
It can give the surgical client control during a
time of vulnerability.
Hypnotherapy helps
Internal Medicine clients by improving
immune response, diminishing inflammation,
relieving tension and migraine headaches. It is
also helpful for weight loss, arthritis,
raynauds disease, anorexia nervosa,
gastrointestinal disorders and stress related
issues.
It can support Mental
Health clients by relieving stress, anxiety,
depression, fears, phobias and addictions. It
puts the client in control and they have the
opportunity to play an active role in their own
recovery, which adds to an increased sense
fulfillment ensuring long term success.
Hypnotherapy helps
Dentistry clients with pain, anticipatory
anxiety, distorting time perception speeding up
the procedure, minimizes bleeding, excessive
salivation and gagging.
Summary
As medical science pushes
forward so does the need to explore
complimentary modalities of support. Today’s
medical clients face an overwhelming array of
technology. By also considering our own natural
healing abilities and pursuing health and
wellness from within, we blend nature and
science with dramatically positive results.
Medical hypnotherapy has
quietly placed its foot inside the door of
mainstream medicine. More and more hypnotherapy
is perceived as a complimentary treatment with
the capacity to support a wide range of
physical, emotional and psychological concerns
by empowering the client with an effective
technique they can carry through life.
