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BACKGROUND

It is easier to learn how to hypnotise that it is to learn how to drive a car!

Hundreds of thousands of people can drive cars but very few have the knowledge and experience to drive a racing car. And, in the same way as a car - incompetently driven - is a lethal physical weapon so hypnosis - in inexperienced or unscrupulous hands - is a lethal psychological weapon,

A true case in the unscrupulous use of hypnosis involved the, as then, Russian royal family.

Rasputin, a monk, used hypnosis to control the bleeding of a member of the royal family who was suffering from haemophilia. He then used his influence to control other members of the family and in the end had an overwhelming influence on their lives.

A fictional case was the topic of a book called "Trilby"; in the story a hypnotist conditioned a girl to be a famous singer and was very successful in doing so. He then used his power to bind the girl to him psychologically. In the end the hypnotist dies and it is discovered that the girl was an excellent singer anyway

Man has been using hypnosis for thousands of years.

The ancient Egyptians had 'Temples of sleep' where people could go for healing.

The Druids called it 'magic sleep' and through it could work wonders like curing warts and casting evil spells upon people.

Anton Mesmer is known as the father of hypnotism. (Hypnotism is still referred to as Mesmerism by some people).

His theory was that illnesses were caused by an imbalance of the magnetic fluids of the body. He used what he termed 'animal magnetism' to restore that balance.

His patients would gather round a tub that contained glass and iron filings, and the patients held onto rods that protruded from the tub.

When Mesmer entered the room the patients went into convulsions - and strangely as though it may seem - people were cured. Despite the cures, Mesmer was ridiculed. Due to his theories of 'animal magnetism', his work was lampooned and the image of quackery has lasted until this day.

About one hundred years ago James Braid (who coined the word hypnosis from the Greek word for sleep) made valiant efforts to make the practice of hypnotism respectable. Through his work hypnosis was accepted by the medical profession and was even used in major surgery. Due to the advent of chloroform and other anaesthetics, hypnosis fell into disuse, but even to-day operations under hypnosis are carried out on people who are allergic to anaesthetics.

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MISCONCEPTIONS

There are many misconceptions concerning hypnosis. The most common is that a person must be weak willed in order to be hypnotised. This is just not true; it is not a person's weak will that the hypnotist subdues it is the person's imagination that he releases.

Think for just one moment of the strong willed man suffering from insomnia. He grits his teeth hand wills himself to go to sleep - and fails miserably. Yet, if he were just to relax and imagine himself to be nice and quiet, relaxed and peaceful, he would, after a while, go to sleep.

A similar example could be cited of a person walking along a plank of wood, say, six inches wide. If the plank of wood is on the floor, he could walk along it easily. However, if the plank were raised to fifty feet above the floor very few people would be able to walk along it. Why: simply because they would imagine that they were going to fall, and fall they would.

Another misconception is that it is impossible to hypnotise a person against his will and force him to commit a criminal act. Although it applies to a very few people, it is possible to hypnotise them and condition them to carry out acts against their normal moral persuasions. Several years ago in Holland a man was hypnotised into carrying out a bank raid and in the raid he shot and killed a man.

He was convicted, but the hypnotist who was nowhere near the scene of the crime got the heavier sentence.

Conversely, hypnosis can be used to combat crime. In Los Angeles, the Police Department has about twenty people trained in what they term 'Investigative Hypnosis'. Hypnosis is used mainly in helping witnesses and victims to recall details of crimes in which they have been involved.

Under hypnosis they are able to be taken back in time to relive the incident and to give the police vital evidence such as car numbers, names of people, and street names and numbers. In 77% of cases where hypnosis has been used, evidence not available in the normal state was recalled and in 32 out of 200 cases, evidence obtained under hypnosis directly led to the conviction of the criminal.

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HYPNOSIS AND MEDICINE

During the evolution of medical science hypnotism has sometimes been hailed as 'the panacea for all ills', 'the magic elixir of life' and at other times been considered as just being a fraud. As with all things the truth is somewhere in the middle. Hypnosis can be used for healing purposes but unscrupulous and ignorant people can also abuse it.

Hypnosis, as practised by knowledgeable hypnotherapists, is used in a wide range of applications from performing major Surgery without anaesthetics, to the complete treatment of physical and mental disorders. Nevertheless, the main use of hypnosis, in conventional medical treatment, is in the relief of superficial pain and the treatment of minor psychological problems.

Medical hypnosis comes under the general umbrella term of 'hypnotherapy'. As said before the conventional use of hypnosis in the medical profession is in the relief of superficial pain and the treatment of minor psychological disorders.

Contrary to popular belief 95% of the population can be hypnotised deeply enough for medical purposes. The experience of people under hypnosis is extremely varied ranging from complete amnesia to total recall of everything that occurs while under hypnosis. The degree of amnesia appears to have no direct relationship to the depth of trance.

Indeed experience shows that quite remarkable improvement in both physical and mental illness can be achieved in using the light trance state. There is a technique called 'waking' hypnosis that does not even use the word 'sleep' and patients do not appear to be in a hypnotic state at all,

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STAGE HYPNOSIS

Stage hypnosis consists of inducing a sometimes light, sometimes deep state of hypnosis and getting the subjects to do amusing acts that they would not normally do and experience unusual physical and mental sensations. In skilled hands, stage hypnosis need not be harmful in any way. The sad fact is that many stage hypnotists pander to the lowest tastes of their audiences and abuse the trust of their subjects. Sometimes, in the speed and intensity of their act, they miss important reactions of their subjects, which later can give rise to ill effects.

TECHNIQUES OF HYPNOTHERAPY

Relaxation Therapy

Although simple in concept, the principles underlying this type of therapy are extremely powerful in practice. Many physical and mental disorders are caused by the pain/tension/pain syndrome - a vicious circle. By placing the patient in a relaxed state, the circle is broken and cures achieved.

Pain Relief Therapy

As with relaxation therapy, pain relief therapy is used to break the pain/tension/pain syndrome. Sometimes the pain caused by an illness can be so great that relaxation is impossible to achieve and direct pain relief is the only means of attacking the problem.

Some people are allergic to anaesthetics and are unable to have drug induced pain relief even for dental work. Hypnotically induced pain relief is used here.

 A by-product of using hypnosis in dental and body surgery is the reduction in the effects of shock. Under hypnosis body fluid loss is less and the healing process more rapid.

Symptom Relief Therapy

Treatment by hypnosis is often criticised because it allegedly only treats the symptoms and not the cause of illnesses. Although this criticism does not stand up to unbiased investigation; hypnosis can be, and is, used just for symptom relief.

Allergies such as hay fever and some forms of asthma and illnesses such as migraine cause very distressing symptoms yet the bodily changes that occur during the attacks are insignificant.

Removing the symptoms of these conditions is quite acceptable in that the body is unlikely to suffer by leaving the cause untreated.

Nevertheless, treatment under 'Conditioning Therapy' is a necessary follow-up treatment in most cases.

Aversion Therapy

The technique used in this manner usually has no long-term benefits and can cause a deepening of the problem that is underlying the symptoms.

The symptoms also very often take on another form such as nail biting, rashes etc.

Aversion therapy can be very effective in some intransigent psychological disorders such as compulsions. It also has a part to play in reversing normally occurring disabling aversions that a patient may have such as a fear of spiders or agoraphobia.

Regression and Abreaction Therapy

This is one of the lesser-used therapies. It is based on the premise that if a person can relive an incident that has caused the disorder, it is possible for him to see the incident in a different light, and thus re-adjust to it.

Regression therapy depends upon a very sympathetic and understanding relationship between the therapist and patient. The abreaction caused by

The reliving of unpleasant experiences can be very traumatic and distressing to the patient. Some patients try to escape into an hysterical condition when faced with regression and much skill is required in ensuring that the hysteria does not become permanent or cause long term mental instability.

Conditioning Therapy

"It's all in the mind", they say. However, what does this really mean? Is it possible to imagine that you have no pain after suffering for many years? Moreover, even if it is possible, is it wrong?

 The truth is in the saying; 'It's all in the mind'. The brain and its associated autonomic nervous system control the way we behave and perceive.

When the body or the mind is unwell, changes - minor changes, occur to the chemical make up of the body (including the brain).

Under hypnosis, the mind is able to control organs that it cannot normally do. The pulse rate can be slowed down1 digestion affected, temperature raised or lowered and many other bodily functions controlled.

Many illnesses occur because the body either secretes the wrong chemical; or too much or too little of the correct chemicals.

Conditioning therapy utilises the ability of the body to produce chemicals within itself to cause healing to take place. An indication of how the body can produce its own chemicals is shown by a recent investigation into the use of placebos (harmless tablets of sugar and milk powder), used as controls in tests of drugs.

Fifteen tests were carried out involving over a thousand people. One third of the people treated with the placebos showed the same recovery rate as those who were given the active drug'. Can we assume that the people given the placebos produced their own healing chemicals?

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GROUP THERAPY

Because of the time required to treat a person under hypnosis, the associated costs are high.

To combat this Group Therapy is used.

 The initial counselling and relaxation techniques used for most cases are very similar. It is therefore possible, without detracting from the efficiency of the treatment to use Group Therapy.

 The sessions are 1 to 1+ hours long; the first half being devoted to Group Therapy and the second half to individual therapy.

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NATUROTHERAPY

There are many misconceptions about hypnotherapy and these are usually associated with stage hypnosis, films, and books.

Clinical hypnotherapy bears very little resemblance to stage hypnosis. The unique techniques described here have very little in common with those used in conventional hypnotherapy.

Conventional hypnotherapy techniques are stress inducing. Bright lights; whirling discs, metronomes, and a loud voice are used. Tests are also given to check the depth of hypnosis and aversion techniques are used. For example suggestions such as, 'Each time you go to eat you will feel sick' or 'Each time you go to smoke the cigarettes will taste awful' are given. About 1 in 4 people will be affected by this type of therapy, but even then, the long-term benefits are doubtful.

Even when treating aversions and other psychological problems some conventional hypnotherapists use straight suggestions like 'You will not be afraid of wasps' or ' You will not be frightened of open spaces'. Again, the short-term results can be impressive. However, in the long term this type of approach can be ineffective and sometimes dangerous. This type of therapy generally only relieves the symptoms and does not cure the basic problem.

As mentioned earlier the unique techniques described here are non-stress inducing, No gadgets are used other than a CD player. A normal voice is used with soothing music in the background. The patient sits or lies on a comfortable reclining chair in a dimly lit room. He closes his eyes and just lets the voice and the music wash over him. No concentration is needed, and indeed the therapy is more effective if the CD is ignored.

Only about 1 in 100 people actually 'go to sleep' and can't remember what is on the CD. Most people just experience a feeling of deep relaxation and well being and remember most of what is on the CD. The mental condition induced in this type of therapy is called the hypnoidal state.

It is like a reverie. It is similar to the feelings experienced when you watch television or listen to music. You seem to half drift away and thoughts just float through your mind and yet you can still hear the music or follow the picture. You are neither asleep nor awake.

There are no problems if the patient drifts off to sleep during therapy. The subconscious is very much awake and hearing what is on the CD. Anything the patient needs to be aware of consciously is told to him before the therapy. In contrast to only 1 in 4 people being helped by conventional hypnotherapy, 9 out of 10 people can be helped using these techniques.

The whole basis of the therapy is that when the subconscious is in this hypnoidal or reverie state it can control parts of the body that it cannot normally do. In fact the mind can produce many chemicals, and control most parts of the body to ensure good physical and mental health.

Try this experiment. Just imagine that I have a juicy lemon in my hand. I place the lemon on a table. I take a knife and cut the lemon in half. The juice oozes out of the lemon onto the table. I take half of the lemon and suck the lemon. The juice runs down my chin. Now - if you are like the majority of people you will feel saliva coming into your mouth as your mouth waters at the thought of me sucking a lemon. Some people are not effected by this word picture. However, most people are. And in that simple example lies the key to a miracle. Words, thoughts, can cause one of your glands - the saliva gland - to work.

If words can make one gland work then it is sensible to assume that words can control other glands. And this is what happens during therapy. While the patient is in the reverie state - ideas are given to his subconscious that it will cause the body to produce the chemicals that are necessary for good mental and bodily health.

GENERAL THERAPY

Many patients go to a hypnotherapist to get help in overcoming some psychological or medical problem. It may be the inability to relax or to sleep, anxiety, depression, or phobias. It could be a breathing problem, a skin problem, a speech problem - or any one of the many other problems from which people suffer.

In all cases, the therapy works from one base, and that is first to treat the whole person and not just the disabling symptoms. In most cases, general therapy cures the problem. Where specific therapy is required, this is given. General therapy aims at conditioning the mind to produce all the chemicals necessary for good physical and mental health. Specific therapy aims at conditioning the mind to focus its attention on those parts of the body that require healing.

Therapy consists of treatment given in consulting rooms, and, if necessary, a CD is given so that therapy may continue at home. Most psychological problems are helped by the subconscious thinking over problems while a person is asleep. Suggestions are given that the subconscious will analyse any dreams and thus solve the problem.

With all problems, a trigger signal or key word is given for the patient to say in order to help with his problem. It takes the form of saying relax and then saying their name. Anxiety, fear, and depression will then just disappear or his breathing, speech etc., will improve.