Women with breast cancer have used self-hypnosis to “significantly” reduce their pain. It has been found that pain control with self-hypnosis improves over time. Study: Self-hypnosis is powerful pain-fighting tool Women living with breast cancer -- and others dealing with pain caused by serious illness -- may find a fresh pathway to feeling better, thanks to new research by a social worker at the University at Buffalo. The path is an alternative, but promising, one: hypnosis. Combined with group psychotherapy sessions, self-hypnosis in breast cancer patients dealing with pain helped the women control their pain levels much better over time, the research showed. Their pain increased "significantly less," in fact. The study, led in part by Lisa D. Butler, an associate professor in UB's School of Social Work, showed that self-hypnosis sessions by women with metastatic breast cancer -- a serious form of the illness, in which the cancer has spread beyond its original site -- combined with the group psychotherapy helped the cancer patients control pain over a period of time, compared with women who did not use the technique. Self-hypnosis means a state of focused alertness, awareness and concentration, combined with relaxation.  The following news article is about the reactions of seniors who took basic self hypnosis training at the Wilton Senior Center. This news report covers some basic hypnosis myths and how anyone can use self-hypnosis for relaxation, weight loss, confidence, and much more. All you need is to focus your concentration on proper affirmations and positive thinking. (Image and news article is from here.) Seniors learn healthful benefits of self-hypnosis - Written by Joan Lownds Betty O’Shea always thought hypnosis was a theatrical trick that made people do things they didn’t want to. But the Wiltonian was pleasantly surprised after attending a seminar in hypnosis presented by the Wilton Senior Center. “It’s different and interesting,” Ms. O’Shea said. “Most people view hypnosis based on the stage hypnosis they see on TV,” said Sonia Katz, the seminar’s instructor. “What I teach is not like that at all. Self-hypnosis is really focused concentration and a positive step to improving the quality of your life.” Ms. Katz studied with Dr. Brian Weiss, author of “Many Lives, Many Masters,” and has taught the techniques for more than 40 years, she said. She provides both group and individual sessions. Her three-week workshop at the Senior Center, which ended last week, focused on the simple steps of self-hypnosis, aimed at “awakening the sleeping teacher inherent in all of us. It is a skill that can be easily understood and implemented into all aspects of your life,” Ms. Katz said. The process is aimed at achieving relaxation through “breathing techniques and guided meditation,” she said. Ms. Katz shows how to plant the proper suggestions in the mind in order to achieve goals. For example, she said self-hypnosis can be used to promote “relaxation, which boosts the immune system, or to help stop smoking or overeating.” First, calming breaths lead to a relaxed “alpha” state in which “suggestions can be planted,” according to Ms. Katz. To overcome destructive behaviors, positive alternatives must be visualized, she said. “When someone wants to lose weight and stop overeating, once they are relaxed, I tell them to picture two tables: one filled with desserts and one filled with fresh fruits. I tell them to choose the fruit,” she said. The emphasis is always positive, she said. “One of my favorite quotes is from Albert Einstein, who said, ‘Either live your life as if everything is a miracle, or as if nothing is a miracle.’” For the technique to be effective, “you have to really commit to it, and do it at the same time every day.” A former Florida Realtor, Ms. Katz said she became interested in hypnosis as a sleep-deprived young mother whose daughter never slept. “I would try to put myself into a relaxed state so I could get some sleep,” she said. She discovered the effectiveness of this technique and became intrigued by its resemblance to self-hypnosis. She is also trained in past life regression. “The mind is very powerful,” she said. “You just need the right tools Self-Talk and Self Hypnosis 12/25/2009
I’ve covered how hypnosis is a part of everyday reality. If you watch a movie it’s the equivalent of hypnosis as you are guided to experience the story. On the other hand if you are thinking a particular set of thoughts, such as angry or happy thoughts then you are doing self-hypnosis as your thoughts guide your emotional state. Now I’m going to focus on self-talk as self-hypnosis to put another perspective of how hypnosis works. In other words how you talk to yourself in your head – the thoughts you think – also create how you feel. In these instances you are doing self-hypnosis. If you do a lot of negative thinking then you will create a lot of negative feelings in yourself. If you do positive thinking then you will create positive feelings in yourself. You are basically doing self-hypnosis all the time. Suppose you encounter a problem and your thoughts are something like this: “Another problem! Why does this always happen to me. If people would just listen to me then these problems wouldn’t happen. It’s so irritating to have this problem interfering with my plans today” and so on. What you are doing in this case is negative self talk. In other words you are doing bad self-hypnosis. In the same way if a friend of yours is upset and tells you about their problem like this; “You know how when problems start and you feel helpless and you don’t know what to do and its as if everything is falling apart…” Then the friend’s negative conversation will create a negative effect on you (notice how saying ‘you know when’ makes you relate that other person’s negative experience to yourself). Of course it will only happen if you are following along and sympathizing with what you are being told. You will feel the negativity from your friend and you will feel bad. In the above situation your friend has unintentionally done bad or negative hypnosis on you. You probably get t he idea by now. Being in a negative environment, talking to yourself in negative terms (i.e. negative self talk) and having depressing conversation will all put you in a bad mood. In other words you become highly focused on a negative perspective. This is the same as being hypnotized in a negative manner. The reverse is also true. If you ever encounter a problem and think, “Oh a difficult situation! That’s OK. I can handle this like I’ve dealt with other negative situations in the past. I’ll just take a deep breath and imagine a peaceful scene, like a beautiful day at the beach. Now I am relaxed and ready to deal with the situation.” Notice how the focus of your mind is on a positive perspective. You become highly focused on a positive outlook to a problem you are faced with. In this case you are doing positive self-talk or positive self-hypnosis. Same applies to a conversation. If a person is upbeat and happy when talking to you and uses encouraging words, creating positive or empowering images – and you are following along. Then this conversation is effectively good hypnosis. Talking to a person is very similar to hypnosis. Some categorize it as conversational hypnosis. Learning how to talk in a way that both improves your own inner dialogue and how you talk with others makes you a good conversational hypnotist. If you are unaware of the power of words then you may do bad conversational hypnosis without even knowing it. Keeping all the ideas here in mind you realize how powerful your mind can be on your emotional states. Simply swithching the focus of your mind and your thoughts from negative to positive will change you entire outlook and thus your emotional state of being. In the last 2 articles I’ve shown you how hypnosis is simply a state of highly focused attention. Which is something we all experience in our everyday lives. The only difference is the words we use to describe our experiences. A hypnotist will use technical words that makes hypnosis sound mysterious and unusual. The history of hypnosis and the name of the system of therapy named after the Greek God of sleep also contributes to the image of hypnosis. With these concepts in mind we can begin to make an outline of our experience using the scientific terminology of hypnosis to take control of our minds so that we control our thoughts and emotional states. If we do this then we have more control over our lives and can be happier and more successful in our day to day live. When you have understood the processes of hypnosis and self-hypnosis and done some practice you will be able to do self-hypnosis anytime, anywhere providing you with greater control over your life and your interactions with others. |
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