Does Hypnosis Work? Personal Experience

By Aniek van Wordragen


As a hypnotist and hypnotherapist I am regularly asked the question does hypnosis work? I have a series of simple hypnotic demonstrations I always use when people ask: making someone fall backwards just with the sound of my voice, preventing them from being able to lift up a light object, preventing someone from being able to move and making someone's face go numb. They are neat tricks that can be done in almost any environment and are a far cry from large scale demonstration of making people comply to more outrageous instructions.

Everyone I hypnotize like this says one thing: "I knew I could do the opposite of what you were telling me but at the same time I couldn't". Which begs the question "does hypnosis work for everyone?". To be honest it does not work for everyone. There are some people these hypnosis demonstrations don't work on. In most cases you can see it begin to work and the person becomes stubborn and refuses to participate in what is going on. Just like some people felt like they could do the opposite of what I was saying and let themselves play along, these people feel that they can do the opposite of what I'm saying and try their hardest to do so.

You may know the saying, "As a man thinketh, so shall he be." or in modern language, "As one believes and thinks, so one will experience life." What you believe about the world and yourself determines the results you get.Mind-Body Connection.You can begin to understand how hypnosis works when you think of the mind-body connection. The subconscious mind interacts with the autonomic nervous system. Exactly how they do so is beyond the scope of this article. You can tell they do by the research and amazing results people like you and doctors talk about. The truth is there is no split. You are actually a body-mind, one thing.

We have all seen enough hypnotists performing stage shows that we can at the very least say it appears to work. Generally when people ask me the question, "does hypnosis work?" what they really want to know is does hypnotherapy work. It's all well and good to get someone into a trance and tell them about making some great change in their lives, but does it actually do anything? And finally are the effects of hypnosis permanent?

How Can Hypnosis Benefit Cancer Patients? Hypnotherapy helps with pain management and with reducing chemotherapy side effects.There have been many studies designed to address the use of hypnosis with cancer patients. Most of these studies have addressed pain management and reducing the adverse side effects of chemotherapy. The evidence is overwhelmingly positive.Does Hypnosis Work for Pain Management? Yes, hypnotherapy can significantly reduce pain.A review of 18 studies that investigated hypnotherapy for pain management found that it is effective in reducing pain. The review was published in the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis in 2000 and concluded by recommending broader application of hypnosis for pain management.

Can Hypnosis Treat Irritable Bowel Syndrome? Yes, hypnotherapy is highly effective for treating irritable bowel syndrome.The International Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, GUT, has reported that in patients under 50 hypnosis can have a 100% success rate in treating irritable bowel syndrome.If you already know how to do hypnosis then you are certainly excited to use it. You have this feeling that you can hypnotize absolutely anyone on the planet. You have this feeling that you are always in control. You feel that you can convince anyone to do what you please. Unfortunately, hypnosis does not work on everyone. Even if you know how to do hypnosis, you won't be able to use it on everyone.

Someone has to go into the hypnosis session actually wanting to quit and they have to carry that positive energy with them beyond the hypnosis session. One of the phrases I use when hypnotizing someone to stop smoking is "feel how you have now become a non-smoker". It's a phrase I repeat throughout the session and I want them to leave the session realising that it has become true. So if they are at the bus stop and bored they can say "no I won't smoke, I am a non-smoker now". It's this willingness to change in combination with regular reinforcement from the hypnotherapist that can lead to powerful effects.

A second type of person where hypnosis won't work is on people with concentration difficulties. These are the A.D.D. type of personalities. Those with attention deficit disorders or hyperactivity disorders will find it difficult or even impossible to be hypnotized. The ability to concentrate is crucial for hypnosis so if the candidate has difficulty concentrating then say goodbye already. You are hitting a brick wall if you try to hypnotize someone with concentration disorders.A third type of person where hypnosis will be ineffective is with the skeptics. This can be anyone in the world. A skeptic is one who refuses to believe in the power of hypnosis. This means that this person will continue to shun the fact that hypnosis works while he or she is being hypnotized. Hypnosis involves concentration and it also involves immersing oneself into a trance state. Without the full participation of an individual, hypnosis will be impossible. Since skeptics do not believe in the power of hypnosis from the very beginning then trying to hypnotize them will simply be a waste of time.

Hypnosis has actually been studied in great detail for at least 300 years. One of the major things people have tried to use hypnosis for is pain management. In a randomized trial on hypnosis to control the side effects on breast surgery patients(2007 Sep 5;99(17):1304-12) not only did "patients in the hypnosis group [require] less [pain medication]" but also "cost the institution $772.71 less per patient than those in the control group... mainly due to reduced surgical time."A study on the brain state of those under hypnosis(2002 Aug 15;14 (6):887-901) showed that hypnosis does effect the areas of the brain that regulate consciousness. This contributes to the idea that being under a hypnotic trance is a separate state the brain can be in.




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