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Hypnosis - How Does "it" Work

By Jordan R. Masten


Well, that depends on what you want to use it for. This article will help you cut through the marketing hype and find out what the scientific evidence is for the effectiveness of the most commonly sought-out hypnosis treatments. The information in this article is based on a review of current mainstream scientific research.Is Weight Loss Hypnosis Effective? Yes, hypnotherapy does help long-term sustained weight loss.The study "Hypnotic Enhancement of Cognitive-Behavioral Weight Loss Treatments" investigated the effectiveness of adding weight loss hypnosis to cognitive-behavioral treatments. The study came to the conclusion that hypnosis improves the effectiveness of a weight loss program.Does Hypnosis Help Quitting Smoking? Yes, hypnotherapy does help long-term success in quitting smoking.
[How To Hypnotize Someone]


There are two viewpoints based on the works of Dave Elman and Milton Erickson. Followers of Milton Erickson believe that hypnosis is a process of communication with the "unconscious" mind. The suggestions which the client hears or sees get internalized within the unconscious mind which finds meanings from the past or present experiences and are acted upon unconsciously. Dave Elman taught about the "subconscious" mind as a part of the mind where suggestions work along with beliefs based on past experiences. Both describe what you could call models of learning that bypasses the conscious mind. Both models are useful for creating the change you want.

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?

More correctly, the human system is a "body-mind" connection rather than the "mind-body" connection. You are a body first and a mind second. So many highly intelligent people forget that. Why do we claim you have a body-mind connection? Your body controls your mind. As a quick test to prove this to yourself, just take a deep breath in and hold it. Hold it as long as you can. After a few minutes your body will override your conscious will to hold your breath and force you to exhale and take another breath.

Powerful Emotions.Naturally we all want to minimize harm and maximize health and vitality. Let's consider our emotions. Our emotions have both a biological and psychological basis. We can change our emotions by changing what we think about. Our emotions change as our bodies change during adolescence. Clearly our minds and bodies are part of the same system and what affects one inevitably affects the other. Any separation is artificial. So worry, fear, certain harmful automatic thoughts and habits will affect your health negatively. Also happiness, mental flexibility and variety along with helpful automatic thoughts and habits will improve your health.

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.

It only makes sense that our mind affects our body when we remember about the placebo effect, that is the fact people with a disease get better when taking sugar pills or injections of saline solutions. Pharmaceutical companies confirm this placebo effect with every study of a new drug. Their goal is to prove a drug is better than a placebo while their results show the placebo helps a surprising number and sometimes a substantial portion of the group who take it.Take note, we're not saying that placebos are better than pharmaceuticals, just that they work because the mind influences the body as part of the same system. The mind has much more to do with your physical health than you were probably taught. The reason for this lies in the power of the subconscious or unconscious mind. This inner conscious mind is in control of your heart rate, breathing, smooth muscles like those around our organs. You can think of it as the part of your mind that's below the surface.

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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