AIM’s Headquarters Committee/Board of Directors formally approved a new Logo to be used starting October 5, 2024 and all previous logos will be replaced.

The elements in the AIM Logo:

1. Caduceus in the center:
   This is the double serpent staff held by Hermes, the divine messenger of ancient Greek mythology, symbolizing communication, balance and duality. In the medical field, this symbol is often used to symbolize healing and health, although the more traditional medical symbol would be the single-snake staff. The two snakes are entwined in the center of the staff, which is topped with wings, representing speed and freedom. The combination of the two snakes and the wings also symbolizes the fusion of spirit and matter, the balance between body and soul.
2. The Yin Yang Symbol:
   The Yin Yang Symbol is derived from Taoist philosophy and symbolize the balance between opposing forces, such as light and darkness, yang and yin, male and female. This symbol represents the balance and harmony between all things and echoes the meaning of the double snake staff, emphasizing the concept of health and harmony and suggesting the integration of mind, body and spirit.
3. The letters “I AM”:
   Alphabet I from Caduceus and The Yin Yang Symbol
   These letters are arranged on the top and bottom of the pattern. Literally, “I AM” can represent the concept of self-affirmation and self-realization, and may symbolize the integration of body, mind and spirit. It is a strong statement of being and may be in line with the logo’s theme of health and balance.
4. Rounded frame:
   The entire logo is enclosed in a circular frame. The circle symbolizes wholeness and infinity, and is complemented by the yin and yang symbol, signifying the harmony and continuity of the universe.
5. Related to the U.S.:
   The Logo features several five-pointed stars at the top, and the horizontal lines at the bottom of the image which correspond to the stars and the red and white stripes found in the U.S. flag. The image uses deep blue, gold, and white as its primary colors. The deep blue is similar to the blue in the U.S. flag, representing justice, perseverance, and loyalty. The letters “A” and “M” on either side stand for “AMerican”.

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Congratulations to the Greater China Research Team 2024-2025 for its establishment!
The teammates include (in alphabetical order):
Charles Leung
Fong Wai Chun
Hui Chun Yu Patrick
Lau Ming Kit Canus
Liu Chun Yu Matt
Lui Wing Derby
Mabel Lau Mei Po
Un Hiu Tung
Yang Yan Kim Ning
YEUNG Ka Yiu

Yahoo Finance
12-06-2024
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Global Hypnotherapy Market Analysis Report 2024-2030, by Type (Body Healing, Mind Healing, Sensory Healing, External Energy), End-use (Offline, Online) and Region

Dublin, June 12, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The “Global Hypnotherapy Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report by Type (Body Healing, Mind Healing, Sensory Healing, External Energy), End-use (Offline, Online), Region, and Segment Forecasts, 2024-2030” report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com’s offering.

The global hypnotherapy market size is expected to reach USD 80.76 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 31.3% over the forecast period. The growing need for mental health care services and their rising demand in hospitals, clinics, and private practices are factors driving growth. According to an American Psychological Association study published in November 2022, after the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for depression & anxiety treatment increased continuously for 3 years. Moreover, the need for treatment of stressor-related disorders & trauma disorders has grown.

Approximately 80% of psychologists state that they have witnessed a surge in the number of patients suffering from anxiety issues since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and over 65% recorded a rise in the demand for depression treatments. The rising number of mental health awareness campaigns plays a vital role in informing the public about the advantages and functions of different therapies. Various mental health awareness campaigns conducted by companies and institutes help reduce misconceptions related to these treatments and promote them as authentic and effective solutions.

For instance, in April 2023, CHARGE Wellness & Hypnotherapy Center introduced a mental health awareness campaign that also launched a new method that involved combining this technique and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) in the therapy session to promote mental well-being. Furthermore, hypnotherapy is a class of alternative or complementary treatment that employs hypnosis to facilitate individuals in handling their pain. It has been shown to be effective in operating a variety of pain conditions, including chronic & acute pain, cancer pain, and pain associated with other medical procedures, including surgery.

Hypnotherapy Market Report Highlights

Mind healing dominated the type segment with around 40% share in 2023 owing to its rare ability to access the subconscious mind, facilitating behavioral change.

The sensory healing segment is expected to grow at the fastest CAGR over the forecast period.

The offline segment held the largest share of over 55% in 2023 owing to its core benefit that it facilitates development of personal connection between a therapist and the patient.

The online segment is estimated to witness the fastest growth over the forecast period as it offers higher accessibility to patients.

Europe dominated owing to increasing stress levels in people due to their daily lifestyle.

In March 2023, Mindset Health raised funding of USD 12.0 million to expand digital hypnotherapy applications & distribution. The company supports individuals with chronic conditions in handling their health using app-based audio, along with the help of health consultants and clinical research.

American Psychological Association
01-04-2024
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Uncovering the new science of clinical hypnosis

With decades of data and new research supporting its effectiveness, practitioners are embracing hypnosis to treat certain conditions

Years ago, as a psychology grad student, Amanda Barnier, PhD, did a pair of experiments in which she gave people a pile of stamped postcards and asked them to send her one each day for the next few months. She asked a group of people to mail the cards as a favor to her; for another group, she administered a posthypnotic suggestion to send the cards. Both groups were equally likely to mail the cards, day after day, until their stacks ran out. But their motivations and experiences, she found, were quite different (Psychological Science, Vol. 9, No. 4, 1998). The people she asked to do her a favor had an internal explanation for the action. “They felt they made a decision to comply with my social request,” said Barnier, now professor of cognitive science and pro vice-chancellor of research performance and development at Macquarie University in Australia. “The hypnotized people felt it was a compelling urge they had to meet. Hypnosis made the action feel more involuntary.”

That reduced sense of personal agency may be precisely what makes clinical hypnosis such a powerful tool in psychotherapy and behavior change, said Barnier, who has studied the power of hypnosis ever since. “By changing the person’s sense of authorship, the effort becomes external to them. Hypnosis kick-starts the process by making it easier to change.”

Hypnosis is as old as the field of psychotherapy itself, but today, advocates pointing to its evidence base say it deserves a fresh look—and a much wider audience. “Hypnosis has a certain historical mystique that can sometimes make it difficult for practitioners to understand its modern relevance,” said David Godot, PsyD, a clinical psychologist in Long Beach, California, and president of APA’s Division 30 (Society of Psychological Hypnosis). In fact, clinical hypnosis has clear benefits in psychotherapy, improving outcomes in areas such as pain management, anxiety, depression, sleep, and more. “Over the past few decades, there have been tremendous advances in understanding hypnosis and its benefit for research and practice,” Godot said.

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BBC News Online
23-12-2003
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Hypnosis for the people

All doctors should know how to perform hypnotherapy on their patients, according to a US expert.
Professor David Spiegel, of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences at Stanford University, said the therapy had been shown to help patients deal with pain, and could potentially be used in many other situations, such as helping people cope with long-term illnesses.

Professor Spiegel told BBC News Online: “We have more and more people living with these illnesses who need help coping with them, and hypnosis is a safe and effective way to teach people how to manage their own response, how to take the edge off their pain, how to think through their anxiety and not let it overwhelm them.”

The Stanford scientist made his comments at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston.

He teaches self-hypnosis to help people manage their symptoms themselves.

Different colours

“If they have pain, I’ll have them imagine they’re doing to the part of their body that hurts what they actually do in the real world when it hurts, whether it’s using a bag of ice cubes or applying heat.”

Professor Spiegel said studies had shown hypnosis did help patients. In a study of women with breast cancer his team is due to publish later this year, those given support plus self-hypnosis had half the pain of those not given that combination.

His team has also found evidence that the brain’s reaction can be changed under hypnosis.

A study of people classed as highly receptive to hypnosis looked at how colour was processed in their brains.

Real view

They were shown patterns, either in colour, or in shades of grey. But if they were hypnotised to see colour, when in fact they were looking at the grey pattern, they believed they were seeing colour and their brain reacted as if that were true.

Professor Spiegel said that studies showed hypnosis was a distinct psychological state, and it was not simply that the person under hypnosis was adopting a role suggested to them.

He added: “People who are hypnotised see what they believe. They don’t just tell you that’s what it is – it actually looks that way to them.”

He is still looking for a “brain signature” which will show what happens in the brain when people are hypnotised.

Frontiers in Psychology
12-12-2023
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Meta-analytic evidence on the efficacy of hypnosis for mental and somatic health issues: a 20-year perspective

Summary: Hypnosis has been documented and investigated for centuries, and its therapeutic use is endorsed by multiple medical associations. In this comprehensive overview, the authors conducted a systematic review of meta-analyses to examine the efficacy of hypnosis in evidence-based healthcare. They focused on patients with mental or somatic health problems and compared hypnosis interventions to control conditions. Here are the key findings:

1. Robust Evidence:

• Hypnosis is most effective in patients undergoing medical procedures and those experiencing pain.
• The largest effects were observed in populations of children and adolescents.
• Reported effect sizes ranged from small to large, indicating positive impacts on treatment outcomes.

2. Safety and Efficacy:

• Hypnosis reduces pain, emotional distress, duration of medical interventions, medication use, and symptoms related to irritable bowel syndrome.
• Future research should explore moderators of efficacy and compare hypnosis to established interventions.
• For more details, you can read the full article here.

This study highlights the potential of hypnosis as a psychological tool for treating various health issues, emphasizing its safety and positive impact on patient outcomes.

Dr. Eric Miller will be presenting on Bio-guided Music Therapy at the Andrews Lab for Music and Neuroscience, following up on topics he presented there in 2022 and 2019.

Forbes
22-5-2023
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What Is Hypnotherapy?

If you’re familiar with the terms “hypnotherapy” or “hypnosis,” much of what you know may come from its stereotypical portrayal in movies and television as a tool used to control someone, often for malicious intent. However, much of this portrayal is grounded in myths—in fact, experts have been using hypnosis to help treat medical conditions since the late 1700s.

Hypnotherapy is a mind-body therapy that uses hypnosis—a mental state of heightened attention, reduced awareness of the immediate environment and enhanced willingness to accept suggestions—to manage health issues like chronic pain, obesity, bedwetting and side effects of cancer treatments.

Here’s what you need to know about hypnotherapy.
Hypnotherapy Definition
Hypnotherapy is a therapy that uses hypnosis to help treat and manage psychological and physical health issues.

According to the American Psychological Association (APA), hypnosis is “a state of consciousness involving focused attention and reduced peripheral awareness characterized by an enhanced capacity for response to suggestion.”

Another way to think of hypnosis is “nothing more than a naturally focused state you may find yourself in several times a day,” explains Michael Pulman, a U.K.-based clinical hypnotherapist. “If you have found yourself daydreaming while driving or so engrossed in a book so that you can vividly see and almost hear the characters,” you’ve experienced hypnosis, continues Pulman.

Hypnotherapy can help certain people overcome mind and body-related issues, claims Pulman. While the mechanisms of action around hypnotherapy are still being studied, recent research points to a combination of biological, psychological and social factors that work together to create a helpful hypnotherapy session. A few variables that might facilitate a successful session include higher levels of theta bandwidth activity in the brain for the client (which are brain waves that experts think are important for learning, and which occur when we are sleeping, dreaming or in a very relaxed state), motivation of the client, rapport between the client and the hypnotherapist and the client’s expectations of the session[1].

During hypnotherapy, a hypnotherapist—a trained professional who is qualified to practice hypnosis—helps a person get into a state where they can focus, ignore distractions, listen and hopefully accept suggestions such as feeling comfort, relaxation, or numbness rather than pain. According to experts, these suggestions can help treat physical and mental health issues like stress, addiction, chronic pain and anxiety disorders.

People can also learn to put themselves under hypnosis with the guidance of their hypnotherapist.

What Can Hypnotherapy Help With?
A non-exhaustive list of health issues hypnotherapy may help, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), includes:

Obesity
Bedwetting
Side effects of cancer treatments
Irritable bowel syndrome
Skin conditions like warts and psoriasis
High blood pressure
Migraine headache
Pain
Insomnia
Depression
Eating disorders
Posttraumatic stress disorder
Unhealthy habits like smoking
While research is still ongoing around the benefits of hypnosis, a few recent studies do add credibility to the WHO’s list.

When it comes to anxiety, a 2019 abstract of a meta-analysis found that while a majority of individuals treated with hypnotherapy did seem to feel improvements around their anxiety, the method was more effective in reducing anxiety when used in combination with other psychological treatments than when used alone[2].

A 2018 review analyzing how helpful hypnotherapy might be when it comes to sleep outcomes found that 58% of the studies available indicated that hypnosis provided benefits to individuals dealing with sleep disturbances[3].

Studies around obesity and hypnotherapy remain scarce, but according to a review from 2021, there is evidence that hypnotherapy may be useful in promoting weight reduction, improving eating habits and even increasing physical activity—although researchers caution that further research needs to be done before any conclusions can be made.

Can Anyone Be Hypnotized?
Anyone can be hypnotized, according to Keylee Miracle, a double-board certified hypnotherapist based in New York City and creator of the NeuroIntuitive Method. “We all have a parasympathetic nervous system and when we sleep deeply, we access this part of ourselves. Any good hypnotherapist or hypnotist relies on consent, so willingness matters, but mechanics-wise, absolutely. Treatment resistance can happen but has always been overcome in my experience,” she explains.

However, research shows that the idea of universal susceptibility may be less accurate, according to Daryl Appleton, M.Ed., a psychotherapist, executive coach and host of the Feelings & Other F Words podcast. based in New York and New England. In fact, some studies suggest only about 10% to 15% percent of the population is highly hypnotizable[5], which means they respond easily to hypnotic suggestion, she adds.

Generally, “the efficacy of hypnotherapy depends on the participant, with some people being more prone or open to suggestion than others,” says Alex Dimitriu, M.D., double board-certified physician in psychiatry and sleep medicine, and founder of Menlo Park Psychiatry and Sleep Medicine and BrainfoodMD. Around 80% of people, Dr. Dimitriu explains, are ‘medium’ for hypnotizability—meaning they’re somewhere between highly hypnotizable and not hypnotizable at all—and this tends to remain constant over their lifetime.

Does Hypnotherapy Work?
Hypnotherapy is a powerful and effective method to help people overcome mind and body-related issues, says Pulman. And it does have a long history, as it was utilized as early as the 1700s to assist in the treatment of various medical conditions.

One of the main reasons for its success is that unlike other forms of therapy such as counseling and psychotherapy, hypnotherapy works directly with the subconscious part of the mind,” claims Pulman.

However, “like most therapies, hypnotherapy is not a one size fits all approach,” Pulman continues, explaining that in his practice, clients who find hypnotherapy useful tend to:

Display an open mind towards each session
Shows a belief in their ability to be successful at hypnosis
Commit and take action to change
While the successfulness of hypnotherapy seems to be at least partially connected to how open a participant is to its benefits, a 2022 study on pediatric patients in a children’s hospital found that hypnotherapy appeared to help create “an overall improvement in symptoms” in 76% of more than 200 individuals with complex symptom disorders[6]. However, as authors of the study point out, hypnotherapy was “an add-on treatment” in addition to other clinical treatments, which means that the results may not be due solely or primarily to the effects of hypnotherapy.

How to Find a Hypnotherapist
If you’re interested in trying hypnotherapy for yourself, there are a few things experts say you should keep in mind when seeking out a hypnotherapist, who could charge anywhere from $50 to more than $200 depending on location and practitioner.

Check Their Qualifications
It’s important to look for trained professionals with qualifications from respected educational institutions, says Pulman. Two examples of education institutions include the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis and The American College of Hypnotherapy. Also, find out if hypnotherapist candidates have regular, continuing professional development and are a member of a reputable regulating body, such as the The National Hypnotherapy Society.

Because hypnosis and hypnotherapy are not heavily regulated, when an individual has accreditations from respected institutions, “you know that they’ve been through a fairly rigorous process; they’ve taken courses and submitted a certain number of testimonials and client case studies to get accredited by these institutions,” explains U.K. based hypnotherapist Robert Brennan.

Consider Trusted Testimonials
Reviews and testimonials from people you know and trust are a big deal because of the popularity of hypnotherapy, says Miracle. Asking around your social circle is one way to find out if anyone has worked with a trusted practitioner.

Interview Possible Hypnotherapists
It’s always a good idea to talk to a hypnotherapist candidate to see if you feel good about them and can have a positive rapport, says Pulman.

Having conversations about pricing and refund policies are also a good idea, explains Brennan. What happens if you don’t like the services provided or feel like it’s not helping you?

“As with all working relationships, do not be afraid to interview several therapists before settling on the right one,” advises Dr. Dimitriu. “It’s essential to feel comfortable and understood and to have faith in the relationship.”

Stacey Litam, Ph.D. also contributed to this article.