Australian Broadcasting Corporation
17-12-2015
Source hyperlink

Medical hypnosis is used to treat a range of health conditions, but what’s the evidence it works?

Hypnosis may well conjure images of black-clad, eyeliner-embossed performers convincing seemingly innocent people to perform cringe-worthy acts.

But there’s more to hypnosis — or more specifically, medical hypnotherapy — than mere showmanship.

Clinical hypnotherapy is a combination of hypnosis and a psychological treatment. It involves getting you into a relaxed state where the therapist can communicate with the subconscious part of your mind and make suggestions relevant to your symptoms, says clinical hypnotherapist Simone Peters.

“For example, if somebody has diarrhoea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome, you might get them to imagine that their gastrointestinal tract is being represented by the flow of a river, and that they need to slow the flow of the river down in order to control the bowel movements,” said Ms Peters, PhD candidate at Monash University and therapist at Melbourne’s Shepherd Works clinic, which focuses on the treatment of people with gastro-intestinal conditions.

“Or with bloating, it’s this idea of blowing up a balloon and letting the pressure from the balloon go, or getting them to put their hands on their abdomen and imagine that soothing the gut.”

Online, there is no shortage of people who say it has helped them quit smoking or lose weight, or helped them manage medical conditions such as depression.

So is there any evidence to support these anecdotes and which conditions, if any, is hypnotherapy most effective in treating?

Irritable bowel syndrome
Perhaps the clearest evidence for a benefit from hypnotherapy is for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a condition that affects as many as one in five Australians.

People with IBS experience some pretty unpleasant digestive symptoms — abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhoea and constipation — that can have a significant impact on their quality of life.

Sometimes these symptoms go away by themselves, without treatment, but for some people, the symptoms are severe and no treatment — including the gold standard approach of the FODMAP diet — brings relief.

Several studies, including one from Australia, now point to hypnotherapy as a way to bring significant and lasting relief from symptoms, especially for those people who haven’t responded to other treatments.

Another Dutch study in children with abdominal pain and irritable bowel syndrome showed that 68 per cent of those treated with six sessions of medical hypnotherapy over three months were still in remission after at least four years, compared to 20 per cent of the group treated with standard medical treatment.

Ms Peters said a study at The Alfred hospital in Melbourne had shown similar results.

“They don’t just walk out of the first session and find that they’re completely symptom free; it usually takes a number of sessions, but after about four to six sessions they start to show improvement.”

Adolescent health specialist Professor Susan Sawyer says we do not quite understand how hypnotherapy works in irritable bowel syndrome, but the evidence shows it works better than any other form of conventional therapy for severe, intractable symptoms.

“If we think firstly about what is hypnotherapy, how does it work, it is defined as the ability to focus narrowly, intensify ones’ concentration and perception, while, if you like, you’re reciprocally diminishing awareness of all other stimuli,” Professor Sawyer said.

“During that focused state, therapeutic suggestions can be more readily accepted and incorporated into the subconscious mind with the individual being able to then modulate some of their physiological processes.”

Professor Sawyer said the process could be changing how people’s minds respond to and process pain, or could even be influencing gut function. It could also help by reducing stress.

If people are considering this hypnotherapy for IBS, they should ask their doctor for a referral to a clinical hypnotherapist with experience in treating IBS, and who is registered with organisations such as the Australian Society of Hypnotherapists.

Other studies have found that medical hypnotherapy can help relieve the nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy treatment, particularly in children.

Pain
There is also growing evidence that hypnotherapy can help you manage pain both chronic and acute.

Studies suggest that it may be more effective than other psychological treatments, such as supportive counselling, cognitive behavioural therapy alone, physical therapy or educational programs for cancer pain, low-back pain, arthritis pain and other chronic pain conditions.

There is some suggestion that hypnosis can reduce pain and distress when used in conjunction with sedation (hypnosedation), or before a general anaesthetic is given.

At this stage there are relatively few studies on this.

Quitting smoking
Many people quitting smoking turn to hypnotherapy to help them beat their addiction. But unfortunately, here the evidence isn’t quite as strong.

A 2010 Cochrane review of studies of hypnotherapy for smoking cessation failed to show that hypnotherapy was any better than any other quit smoking interventions, or even no treatments at all.

So it’s difficult to make a blanket statement for or against hypnotherapy as a quit smoking aid because the programs are all so different, says QUIT Victoria director Dr Sarah White.

“All programs are not created equal, and it could be some of those programs contain elements of motivational interviewing or coaching, so it could be that which has an effect,” says White.

Some people also struggle to break the routines associated with smoking, White says.

“For some people, hypnotherapy might help them change that routine because it’s making them more aware that they get up and have a cigarette, but there’s no solid evidence of this.”

Weight loss
The few studies that have looked at the use of hypnosis for weight loss show that it only achieves a slight weight loss.

The advice from US-based Mayo Clinic is that hypnosis alone is unlikely to achieve significant weight loss.

Childbirth
Another area where hypnotherapy may show benefit is in helping women during childbirth.

A 2012 Cochrane review of seven studies of hypnotherapy in childbirth concluded that while the results across these studies were mixed, there was suggestion of benefits.

For example, some studies showed women who underwent hypnosis had a lower intensity of pain, shorter labour and shorter hospital stays compared to women who did not undergo hypnosis.

But on the question of whether hypnosis led to less pain medication being used, or a greater likelihood of a vaginal birth, the studies were too mixed to deliver a clear answer.

Depression
What about psychological problems? After all, if hypnotherapy is a psychological process, shouldn’t it be effective for the treatment of conditions such as depression?

According to Beyond Blue, there is not a whole lot of good clinical trial evidence examining the effectiveness of hypnotherapy for depression.

One study that combined hypnotherapy with another well-known therapeutic approach called cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) suggested that the combination might be more effective than CBT by itself, but the size of the effect was not huge.

The Guardian
12-10-2015
Source hyperlink

‘They all ended up dead’: anger lingers over students who died after hypnosis

Community of North Port, Florida, gathers to memorialise three students within weeks of each other after going to their high school principal seeking help

The fall ritual of homecoming is a memorable event on any school’s calendar, but it was especially poignant this year in North Port, a small town near the south-west Florida coast.

Old friends and classmates scattered at colleges and universities across the country returned to North Port high school to reminisce in the bleachers as their beloved Bobcats football team took on the rival Bayshore Bruins.

Marcus Freeman, a stand-out athlete once destined to star as the school’s starting quarterback until he was killed in a 2011 car accident at the age of 16, would likely have been a guest of honor. Also remembered this weekend were Wesley McKinley and Brittany Palumbo, two other teenage students who died in a series of tragedies that ripped the community apart.

All three died within weeks of each other – McKinley and Palumbo killed themselves after being hypnotised by George Kenney, the school’s disgraced former principal and self-appointed mind healer.

Kenney was an unlicensed amateur practitioner who ignored repeated orders from his bosses at the Sarasota school board to desist, yet was said to have hypnotised at least 75 students and staff over a five-year period.

Kenney was said to have hypnotised at least 75 students and staff over a five-year period
Under the floodlights on Friday, the treasured Bobcats emerged victorious, downing their opponents 21-12 in a bruising encounter. But in the stands much of the talk was of the once popular Kenney, and the $600,000 wrongful death settlement announced just days before the homecoming game that reopened old wounds and propelled the heartbreaking episode back into the school community’s conscience.

“It’s something they will never get over,” said Damian Mallard, the attorney who represented the families of the three victims.

“Probably the worst loss that can happen to a parent is to lose a child, especially needlessly because you had someone who decided to perform medical services on kids without a licence.

“He altered the underdeveloped brains of teenagers, and they all ended up dead because of it.”

What makes it worse, he said, is the fact that the man whose “extreme negligence” cost the children their lives escaped punishment.

Kenney served a year of probation in a 2012 plea deal on a misdemeanor charge of practicing hypnosis without a licence, but was allowed to retire from the school board on a full pension and now runs a small bed and breakfast close to the Smoky Mountains on the banks of Lake Junaluska.

“He never apologised, never admitted wrongdoing, and is now living comfortably in retirement in North Carolina with his pension,” Mallard told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

As an employee of the school board Kenney was exempt from individual action and as part of last week’s settlement, which headed off a trial that was set to begin on 11 October. The board accepted no liability for the teenagers’ deaths.

Each family will collect $200,000, the most that could be awarded without the approval of the Florida legislature. But there is still plenty of anger directed at the board and Kenney himself.

“Kenney was known to be performing hypnosis and no one stopped him,” said McKinley’s parents, Charles and Margaret, in a statement.

“He was committing crimes by engaging in hypnosis. We hope the school board will change the way it operates to prevent these types of tragedies from occurring in the future. We will move forward with the hope our wonderful son’s legacy will be that the school board puts children’s physical and mental welfare first and foremost.”

Before the settlement headed off a trial, the Sarasota school board was preparing a defence that there was no link between the hypnotism and the teenagers’ deaths. The district’s lawyers hired a licensed hypnotherapist and psychotherapist, Dr Ellyn Gamberg, as an expert witness to testify that the families’ claims were unfounded, and that on the day of his death Freeman could not have hypnotised himself using knowledge gained from his sessions with Kenney, as the lawsuit alleged.

“I can go through some of the literature with you that says one of the hallmarks for putting yourself into self-hypnosis is to enter a very relaxed state of attention and focus, and I think that would be extremely impossible while driving a car,” she said, according to court documents obtained by the Herald-Tribune.

The three students had all sought out Kenney’s help with individual problems they were experiencing and agreed to subject themselves to hypnosis without knowing that it was against Florida law for anybody to perform it without a licence.

In depositions for the trial it emerged that Kenney, who had studied hypnotism online and who had been conducting sessions with numerous students and employees since 2006, was specifically told three times by the board’s director of high schools to stop.

He never apologised, never admitted wrongdoing, and is now living comfortably in North Carolina with his pension
Damian Mallard

Mallard, the attorney, spoke to other students who said they were hypnotised by Kenney in a hotel room during a school trip to Orlando in 2009.

“I was in this trance,” according to one unnamed student in a written deposition. “I was told I wouldn’t be able to find my room because all the room numbers would be changed to Chinese. I was lost for about 20 to 25 minutes walking around. I was seeing the Chinese lettering, the weird lines and all.”

He added: “He made a couple of the guys put lipstick on. Everybody thought it was funny because it was, you know, teenagers putting lipstick on.”

Less than two years later, three students were dead. The first was Freeman, a “humble yet confident” young man in the words of the school football team’s former head coach Matt Pryer, and an outstanding athlete who was also a two-time state BMX cycling champion.

Kenney taught Freeman to “self-hypnotise” to help him overcome pain during games, according to police reports, and lost control of his car in March 2011 driving home from a dentist appointment. His girlfriend, who was badly injured but survived, told police that Freeman “had a strange look on his face” moments before his car veered off an interstate.

“There’s nothing that can bring Marcus back, but we hope that this can bring us some closure,” said the boy’s mother, Dana Freeman, after last week’s settlement was announced.

Less than a month later, McKinley, 16, was found hanging from a tree outside his home. The talented guitar player was applying for a place at the respected Juilliard School of Music and agreed to be hypnotised because he was worried about an upcoming audition and wanted to improve his performance.

But on the day of his death, friends testified, McKinley was acting strange. One said McKinley asked him to punch him in the face as they got off the school bus together.

“We want Wesley’s friends to know they did not let him down in any way and his tragic death was the result of extreme negligence on the part of George Kenney,” his parents said.

Palumbo’s parents found their 17-year-old daughter Brittany, who they called “the light of our lives”, hanging in her bedroom closet three weeks later. The cat lover and keen mathematician was upset about some disappointing test scores and was hypnotised by Kenney for anxiety, her family said. When her scores did not improve she became despondent.

“What I believe happened is my daughter went into her room that night and blinked her eyes and she entered a calm and relaxed state that allowed her to go through what she went through,” Brittany’s mother Patricia said.

The $600,000 settlement was “a hollow victory”, the Palumbo family said in a statement.

Lawyers for the Sarasota school board would not discuss the case, announcing only that an out-of-court settlement was in everyone’s “best interests”.

Kenney, meanwhile, did not return calls seeking comment. But clues to his behaviour come in legal interviews conducted for the trial. Everything he did, he insisted, was in the best interests of the children he hypnotised.

“I don’t think I was unreasonable,” he said in a deposition obtained by the Herald-Tribune. “I took steps to get trained at an appropriate level. I could have performed it in private practice but I chose to do it for kids who asked me if I would help them.”

May Motivation and Sleep Become Allies in Everyone’s Daily Life
Stress management and sleep are like twin brothers—they can support each other or they can clash. There is a close connection between stress and insomnia. The “sleep-needing brain” deals with a large amount of information during the day, and prolonged high tension from daytime stress can significantly impact sleep quality. During sleep, the parasympathetic nervous system helps alleviate daytime stress. Poor sleep quality is often a result of stress, and insufficient sleep puts the body in a stressed state. In today’s fast-paced society, practical psychological interventions like hypnotherapy can comprehensively address both stress management and sleep issues.

Stress Relief Hypnotherapy

1. Stress and Sleep
2. Stress, the Frontal Lobe, and the Amygdala
3. DSM: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
4. Emotional Detection and Management
5. Stress, Anxiety, Depression, and Obsessiveness
6. Cognitive Restructuring and Exposure Hypnotherapy
7. Various Anti-Stress Breathing Techniques
8. Hypnotherapy for High-Stress Distress
   8.1. Anxiety, Stress, Fear, and Worry
   8.2. Psychological Stress Distress
   8.3. Life Stress Distress
   8.4. Work Stress Distress
   8.5. Interpersonal Stress Distress
   8.6. Psychogenic Pain
9. Techniques for Leading Stress Support Groups
10. Processes for Conducting Stress Relief Hypnosis Workshops

Insomnia Relief Hypnotherapy

1. Brain Fatigue and Rest
2. ICSD: International Classification of Sleep Disorders
3. Assessment of Drowsiness, Insomnia, and Sleep Quality
4. Precipitating, Perpetuating, and Predisposing Factors
5. Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment of Sleep Debt
6. Sleep Stages, Memory Consolidation, and Emotion
7. Sleep Cycles and Quality Recommendations
8. Biological Rhythms and Sleep Rhythms
9. Sleep Drive and Zeitgebers
10. Relationship Between Sleep Debt and Weight
11. Polyvagal Theory and the Parasympathetic Nervous System
12. Hypnotherapy for Insomnia
    12.1. Chronic Insomnia
    12.2. Short-Term Insomnia
    12.3. Other Types of Insomnia
13. Addressing Sleep Paralysis and Monday Blues
14. Techniques for Leading Sleep Support Groups

CNN
18-08-2015
Source hyperlink

Not just for TV: Hypnosis legit part of comprehensive treatment plan

When “Comedy Hypnotist” Chris Jones invited celebrity judge Howie Mandel on stage and hypnotized him on the competition show “America’s Got Talent,” the performance brought the audience to its feet and even inspired a social media hashtag, #HowieShakesHands.

Mandel, who struggles with obsessive compulsive disorder, followed Jones’ cues and for the first time in more than eight years, the germaphobe shook hands with his fellow judges. The seemingly instant transformation was so surprising, some viewers thought it was an act (Mandel said it was not).

But according to David Spiegel, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University, not only is hypnotherapy legitimate, it’s “literally the oldest Western conception of a psychotherapy.”

Moreover, Wesley Anderson, a practicing hypnotherapist for more than 20 years, said, “Most people experience some form of a hypnotic state every day.”

“If you’ve ever been lost in a daydream or zoned out and missed your turn while driving your usual route, you’ve experienced a form of hypnosis,” he said.

Does it really work?

Spiegel has been conducting studies about the benefits of hypnosis for more than 40 years and he said there is no doubt that hypnosis works as an effective therapeutic technique to manage pain and kick bad habits.

In 2000, Spiegel and his colleagues determined that patients using hypnosis as a part of a comprehensive treatment plan could significantly reduce drug use and procedure time.

“Lowering those two meant an average cost savings of approximately $338,” Spiegel said. A 2007 article in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute doubled that figure, finding that a hospital saved $772 per patient in the hypnosis group, mainly due to reduced surgical time. “Patients who received hypnosis reported less post-surgical pain, nausea, fatigue and discomfort,” according to a release from the American Psychological Association.

Hypnosis has its skeptics, partly because while studies seem to show it has tangible benefits, it’s most often used in tandem with other treatments; scientifically quantifying its success alone is difficult.

From comedy performers such as Jones to Harvard educated psychiatrists such as Spiegel, anyone can learn to hypnotize and call themselves a “hypnotist,” which also gives doubters pause. Three states – Colorado, Connecticut and Washington – require mandatory licensing requirements from individuals wanting to practice hypnotherapy.

According to the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis, or ASCH, most insurance companies will cover 50% to 80% of the cost of individual therapy, but only if treated by licensed professionals. ASCH requires its members to be licensed health care workers and, at minimum, have a master’s degree. The National Board for Certified Clinical Hypnotherapists, on the other hand, requires applicants have a graduate-level degree as well as 50 hours of classroom instruction and 30 hours of clinical training.

How does it work?
The first thing Anderson does when meeting a new client is what anyone would do upon meeting a stranger: He gets to know them. “I try to establish a rapport and establish the client’s intentions for hypnosis,” Anderson said.

Using verbal and nonverbal cues, a hypnotherapist will help the client quiet their peripheral, conscious mind, the part that’s constantly stimulated by outside sources.

Clients will relax, their posture will adjust and they will usually become very still, Anderson said. “They’re halfway between being completely asleep and completely awake,” he explained.

In this trance-like state, the part of the brain responsible for the subconscious, nonlogical thoughts can become wide open to suggestions. “The normal adult filters and belief systems of what is and what isn’t will start to fade,” he said. “Clients become almost childlike. “Hypnotherapists can then begin to use imagery and suggestion to help them start thinking about their bad habits or their pain differently.

For radio host Jenn Hobby, who underwent hypnosis to help her kick her smoking habit, that meant tapping into her relationship with her goddaughter, who at the time of her session, was just a toddler. Her hypnotherapist told her to imagine her goddaughter playing outside and running around the playground.

“Then he said, ‘now imagine giving her a lit cigarette,’” Hobby remembers. “That really hit home, more than anything else.” When she left the office that day, she felt differently about cigarettes and smoking.

Helping clients manage pain, Anderson said, he often counsels them to turn down receptors that might cause them discomfort the same way a plumber might turn off water before working to repair a leak.

“The pain signals might be there, but they wouldn’t make it into awareness,” Anderson said.

Feeling ‘somewhat betrayed’
What’s vital to the process, Anderson and Spiegel said, is that both parties – hypnotherapist and client – agree to the intentions of the session beforehand. Mandel said he agreed to participate in the segment and said he knew what he was doing the entire time, but he never established a rapport with his hypnotist.

So while his “handshaking breakthrough” seemed like a positive thing, for Mandel, the former “Deal or No Deal” host said he felt “somewhat betrayed” after he watched the episode.

“I was upset about it and it’s hard for me to watch,” Mandel told NBC’s Savannah Guthrie.

Spiegel said Mandel’s reaction to his experience is understandable. “When entertainers with no knowledge or concern for clinical care take advantage of a real phenomenon, real people can feel exposed, tricked or humiliated,” he said.

Only one part of the puzzle
Despite the success of Hobby’s hypnosis experience – she’s only had a few cigarettes since – she said being hypnotized wasn’t the only thing that led to her quitting. “There’s no magic pill. You have to be really committed to change your behavior,” she said.

Spiegel agreed. Hypnosis, while valuable, is only one part of the comprehensive treatment puzzle. “Anything that can help a patient that much is worth looking into,” he said.

The New York Times
15-6-2015

Hypnotherapy: A Journey into the Mind’s Healing Potential

In recent years, hypnotherapy has emerged as a powerful tool for addressing various mental and physical health issues. Contrary to popular misconceptions, hypnosis is not about making people cluck like chickens on stage. Instead, it involves a deep state of relaxation, focus, and heightened suggestibility.

During hypnotherapy, a trained therapist guides clients into this altered mental state. Once there, the therapist uses hypnosis to help individuals overcome phobias, manage weight, reduce stress, and even alleviate chronic pain. The American Psychological Association recognizes hypnotherapy as a legitimate therapeutic approach.

Research has confirmed its effectiveness in treating conditions such as anxiety, irritable bowel syndrome, and chronic pain. Unlike opioids, which have led to a devastating addiction crisis, hypnosis offers a practical and side-effect-free approach to pain management.

Dr. Jane Mitchell, a leading hypnotherapist, explains, “Hypnotherapy is like a bridge between mind and body. It taps into our innate ability to heal and harnesses the power of suggestion to create positive changes.”

As awareness grows, more people are seeking hypnotherapy services. Whether pursued as a profession or for personal well-being, hypnosis provides benefits like increased self-awareness, relaxation, and improved memory. It’s time to recognize hypnotherapy as a valuable resource for holistic health.

LinkedIn
05-12-2014
Source hyperlink

Dropped from the news for telling the truth

“Shopkeeper robber by Hypnotist – Thief uses hypnosis to put victim in a trance”
What a great headline that is !

As a Clinical Hypnotherapist and a man who spent many years at the BBC as a broadcaster I am used to seeing sensational headlines and I can spot when the story is being manipulated to make it more interesting but in this case I found myself dragged into the story myself and then pushed back out again because I wanted to tell the truth…here is what happened this afternoon.

When I saw this story appear on twitter it caught my eye. Often stories of hypnosis in the news rely on the fact that people perceive what I do as mind control when nothing could be further from the truth. I watched the video that came with the story and and it was clear to me that the man was a pickpocket and stealing from a shopkeeper who was clearly embarrassed by what had happened. The story appeared on Crimewatch with no suggestion of hypnosis but the papers picked up on the shopkeepers story about being hypnotised by a criminal mastermind.

I wrote a blog about the story and if you would like to read it, there is also video of the incident included to: http://www.markpowlett.co.uk/myblog/read_122037/hypnotist-thief-robs-shopkeeper-although-he-doesnt-really-hypnotise-his-victim.html

Whilst I was writing about it I received a call from a junior researcher from a news organisation asking if I would be prepared to talk about the incident from the point of view of a hypnotherapist. I said that I would be delighted to do so and put the record straight. They scheduled a time and then I was called by the producer who briefed me on what they wanted. When I explained that I didn’t think this was story about hypnosis but actually just a pickpocket she sounded a little shocked, then suggested that I may want to talk about it as if he did use hypnosis. I said that I couldn’t do that because I don’t believe that is what happened. She asked me to wait and then suggested that she call me back. Then I was called by the junior again who apologised and said they wouldn’t be able to use me. Sure enough they managed to find a hypnotherapist who said that it could be done and implied that was what had happened !

What a shame that rather than go with an opinion which they disagreed with they actually sought out someone who wanted to fulfil their agenda!

Now you know what they mean by…making the news ( UP is silent)

It’s not the first time I have been dropped for not wanting to sensationalise and I doubt it will be the last, but as a hypnotherapist who is proud of the work I do and lectures medical students as well as dentists and other health professionals I know that hypnotherapy isn’t showbiz.

If you are asked to comment on a story for the media I hope you will be true to yourself rather than the news agenda. I feel much happier not appearing than appearing and saying things that I don’t feel comfortable with…or lies as I call them!

Forbes
7-11-2014
Source hyperlink

Using Hypnosis To Be Better At Business

Entrepreneurs and executives use many tools and rituals to stay focused and get ahead. Jack Dorsey assigns business themes to each day of his workweek, Winston Churchill worked from his bed each morning, and President Harry Truman would down a shot of bourbon after a brisk walk each morning before his days toiling in the oval office. But some leaders follow slightly more mysterious regimens to hone their psychological prowess.

“It’s remarkable just how many celebrities use hypnosis—how many CEOs and heads of production companies,” says Dr. Steve G. Jones, a hypnotherapist based in Savannah, Georgia, who charges $25,000 for two hour sessions with top executives, actors, directors and producers. “…It’s sort of a secret weapon for a lot of very successful, very wealthy people.”

Jones spends the first hour of his sessions simply speaking with his clients to get to know them and understand the goals they wish to achieve through hypnotherapy. “I’m looking for what it is that’s getting in their way,” he says. “Sometimes it’s just a life event—divorce, someone died, some sort of illness, they got fired.” Jones also searches for his clients’ strengths, or a hero they have that’s real or imagined that he can use to inspire their subconscious selves.

As far as goals are concerned, mostly it comes down to money. “Usually they say, ‘I want to make X amount of money per year,” says Jones. “That’s not really a juicy enough goal. It’s got to be something that there’s passion about.” Instead, he zeros in on what his client could create that’s positive that might result in a large payday.

Hour two of Jones’ sessions consists of the actual hypnosis. “I get them focused on the success they’ve had in the past and anchor them to that so they can move through that in the future,” he says. If clients have not had tremendous successes, he has them imagine what success might feel like – or to grasp onto their strengths or personal hero – and connects them to those emotions to boost their confidence. Though it’s difficult to calculate – and all patients are different – Jones claims the effects of his sessions last an average of six months.

Hour two of Jones’ sessions consists of the actual hypnosis. “I get them focused on the success they’ve had in the past and anchor them to that so they can move through that in the future,” he says. If clients have not had tremendous successes, he has them imagine what success might feel like – or to grasp onto their strengths or personal hero – and connects them to those emotions to boost their confidence. Though it’s difficult to calculate – and all patients are different – Jones claims the effects of his sessions last an average of six months.

Cramer soon found that the clients she gravitated to more profoundly were those in need of help overcoming obstacles in the entrepreneurial and business realm. Not surprising since she’s a bit of a serial entrepreneur herself, running a small marketing firm and soon to launch an online security company called Tokinu.

Today Cramer works primarily with clients focused on maximizing their effectiveness in business, operating entirely through internet connection from her home in Wausau, Wisconsin. “If somebody is terrified of public speaking and they need to have that skill to further their business or their career, hypnosis is a really effective technique,” she says. “But I also attract a lot of clients that just have extreme stress and anxiety.”

Hypnotherapy encouraged FORBES contributor Vanessa Loder to leave a decade-long career in finance and private equity that she loathed. “I knew that I wanted to quit my job and do something entrepreneurial but I didn’t know what I wanted to do and I felt scared.”

Loder says that while hypnotized she relived moments of a past life in which she was a troubled troubadour who died before her time and never realized her potential—a singer who never got to sing. “I just started crying—it was as if something in me was unlocked,” Loder remembers. “That was one of the moments when I realized that I would never be happy in finance, that I needed to quit my job.” Today she is an inspirational speaker, writer and executive coach with her own company, Akoya. She’s also a hypnotherapist herself now.

NLP

Another tool entrepreneurs, businesspeople and leaders can use to communicate more effectively is neuro-linguistic programming (NLP). The practice focuses on the use of body language to express emotion, send messages to others and command the attention of those with whom you’re speaking. FORBES spoke with Rachel Hott, of the NLP Center of New York , to learn more about how it can be used by the career-oriented. According to Hott, NLP can be most simply described as “an awareness of communication both non-verbally and verbally.”

In addition to placing emphasis on making sure your body language matches your message, NLP encourages its practitioners to watch how others speak, sit or behave. By matching them and understanding how they communicate, one is more able to achieve their trust and connect with them. “Entrepreneurs have to sell their ideas,” says Hott. “They have to meet with investors or meet with potential customers.” Dressing, behaving and even speaking – voice, tone and tempo – strengthens the connection and builds rapport. “That approximation of nonverbally saying ‘we’re the same.’”

Hott says she’s worked with business owners who were toiling to get startups off the ground. In those cases, unlocking their belief in themselves was key. “They really needed to feel ready to meet with investors and a lot of the work was about how to connect with their level of confidence and competence.”

Entrepreneurs can also use NLP on themselves. Says Hott: “What do you need to say to yourself to get the next task done? What do you need to see yourself in your successful moment? We explore how you talk to yourself, how you visualize, what you imagine you would feel like—we set up more outcome-oriented statements to help others.”

Conspiracy theorist have pinned President Barack Obama as a practitioner of NLP, claiming that his use of rhythm and tone in speeches is part of a subliminal form of hypnotism used to influence the masses. Crazy-talk aside, leaders and ambitious figures have used body-language, verbal cadence, mild hypnosis, expressions of emotion and symbolism to stoke the fervor of groups of people for generations, from the steps of the Athenian acropolis to the locker rooms of high school football teams. Might mass inspiration be the product of a form of hypnotism? Perhaps. Either way, entrepreneurs across the spectrum would do well to further develop their grasp of the psychological arts.

May We All Learn to Befriend the Members of Our Inner Family
Every individual possesses various “parts” of sub-personalities within their inner self. Some of these parts are innate, while others are formed through experiences. Each part originally intends to protect us, but sometimes this protective effort becomes excessive, leading to distress. Becoming an Internal Family Systems (IFS) Hypnotherapist involves acting as an inner mediator, helping clients reconcile internal conflicts, accept the inner child and family system parts, and embark on a renewed path.

Parts Psychology

1. Internal Family Systems Therapy
   1.1. Understanding Protectors
   1.2. Requesting Protectors to Allow Clients to Address Exiles
   1.3. Understanding Exiles
   1.4. Exploring and Listening to Childhood Experiences and Origins
   1.5. Reparenting
   1.6. Rescuing Exiles
   1.7. Unburdening Exiles
   1.8. Transforming Protectors
2. Children’s Internal Family Systems
3. Couples’ Internal Family Systems
4. Family of Origin and Childhood Experiences
5. Negative Experiences and Internal Rationality
6. Child, Adult, and Parent States
7. Sunlit Child and Shadow Child
8. Inner Critic and Inner Supporter
9. Essence of Security, Freedom, Value, Meaning, and Intimacy
10. Forgiveness, Acceptance, and Self-Love
11. Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions

Applications of Internal Family Systems Hypnotherapy

1. Various Inner Children
2. Inner Parents
3. Inner Self-Hypnotherapy
4. Transforming Value Conflicts
5. Addressing Weight Loss Conflicts
6. Addressing Smoking Cessation Conflicts
7. Addressing Habits That Impact Daily Life
   7.1. Addressing Binge Eating Symptoms
   7.2. Habit of Overworking
   7.3. Habit of Being a Perpetual People-Pleaser
   7.4. Habit of Internet Addiction
   7.5. Habit of Shopping Addiction
   7.6. Habit of Saying Hurtful Things When Angry
8. Addressing Inner Emotions and Distress
   8.1. Lack of Confidence in Studying or Working
   8.2. Inferiority Complex About Appearance
   8.3. Fear of Conflict, Criticism, or Rejection
   8.4. Fear of Loneliness
   8.5. Fear of Abandonment
   8.6. Over-Focusing on Others’ Demands or Disapproval
   8.7. Avoidance of Social or Intimate Interactions
   8.8. Rejection of Being Loved
   8.9. Persistent Self-Doubt
   8.10. Persistent Self-Sabotage
   8.11. Addressing Internal Emotional Blackmail
9. Processes for Conducting Inner Child Hypnosis Workshops

Complementary Therapies in Medicine
02-2014
Source hyperlink

Hypnotherapy is more effective than nicotine replacement therapy for smoking cessation: Results of a randomized controlled trial

Summary:

Background
The efficacy of pharmacotherapy for smoking cessation is well documented. However, due to relapse rates and side effects, hypnotherapy is gaining attention as an alternative treatment option. The aim of this one-center randomized study was to compare the efficacy of hypnotherapy alone, as well as hypnotherapy with nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), to conventional NRT in patients hospitalized with a cardiac or pulmonary illness.

Methods
We evaluated self-reported and biochemically verified 7-day prevalence smoking abstinence rates at 12 and 26 weeks post-hospitalization. Patients (n = 164) were randomized into one of three counseling-based treatment groups: NRT for 30 days (NRT; n = 41), a 90-min hypnotherapy session (H; n = 39), and NRT with hypnotherapy (HNRT; n = 37). Treatment groups were compared to a “self-quit” group of 35 patients who refused intervention.

Results
Hypnotherapy patients were more likely than NRT patients to be nonsmokers at 12 weeks (43.9% vs. 28.2%; p = 0.14) and 26 weeks after hospitalization (36.6% vs. 18.0%; p = 0.06). Smoking abstinence rates in the HNRT group were similar to the H group. There was no difference in smoking abstinence rates at 26 weeks between “self quit” and participants in any of the treatment groups. In multivariable regression analysis adjusting for diagnosis and demographic characteristics, H and HNRT were over three times more likely than NRT participants to abstain at 26-weeks post-discharge (RR = 3.6; p = 0.03 and RR = 3.2; p = 0.04, respectively).

Conclusion
Hypnotherapy is more effective than NRT in improving smoking abstinence in patients hospitalized for a smoking-related illness, and could be an asset to post-discharge smoking cessation programs.