Forbes
7-11-2014
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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
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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.

BBC
8-10-2013
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Fear of flying boy Joe Thompson flies home after hypnosis

A schoolboy who was trapped in the United Arab Emirates for 15 months due to a fear of flying has arrived home after being hypnotised.

Joe Thompson, 12, and his parents were supposed to move from Abu Dhabi to Weston-super-Mare in July 2012.

But when the time came to come home, Joe suffered such a severe panic attack he was unable to get on the plane.

His family spent £40,000 on cancelled flights, accommodation and phobia therapy during the unexpected stay.

The family had been living in the United Arab Emirates since 2009.

‘Absolutely amazed’
Joe said: “The most difficult bits have probably been the guilt of putting my family through all of this.

“My parents say it’s no worry, but I know that there’s a big worry in them. It’s very upsetting to see them like that.”

Cognitive behavioural hypnotherapist Russell Hemmings said Joe’s was the “most severe” case of a nervous flyer he had seen in 20 years.

“He was right off the radar,” Mr Hemmings said. “He went into full foetal position.

“He was shaking, his heart was racing, he was sweating, shivering – very frightened.

“The flight, once we got him settled down, went very smoothly.”

Joe’s father, Tony Thompson, said: “I was absolutely amazed [by the hypnotist’s methods].

“When Joe woke up on the plane about 20 minutes into the flight, opened his eyes and smiled and I realised it was all over.”

The Guardian
22-04-2013
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From the archive, 22 April 1955: The medical value of hypnotism

The British Medical Association reports on the medical use of hypnotism

The seal of respectability is conferred on the ancient art of hypnotism in a report on the medical use of hypnotism, issued by the British Medical Association to-day. After collecting evidence from doctors and dentists for nearly two years a committee of three psychiatrists and a family doctor recommend that all medical students should be instructed in the possibilities, limitations, and dangers in hypnotism as a form of therapy.

They also feel that tuition in the clinical uses of hypnosis should be given to all medical postgraduates training as specialists in psychological medicine, as well as, possibly, to trainee anaesthetists and obstetricians. Research into the phenomena involved in hypnotism they recommend should be organised by university departments and the research foundations.

These recommendations arise out of the conclusion that hypnotism has a definite, if small, place in orthodox medicine. A somewhat similar conclusion was reached by another committee of the B.M.A. some sixty years ago.

The committee agree that the practice is sometimes the treatment of choice in certain psychosomatic disorders. Itching conditions of the skin are a case in point. But in such cases hypnotism is best regarded as a useful adjunct to other forms of psychiatric treatment. As one of the committee observed at a press conference yesterday, “It is a champion abbreviator of treatment” enabling the psychiatrist quickly to uncover hidden motives and to “put his own ideas across.”

When one recalls that major surgical operations were being performed successfully a hundred years ago with hypnosis taking the place of an anaesthetic, it is not surprising to find the committee acknowledging that the method has some use in surgery and dentistry where there is reason to avoid anaesthetics. A member of the committee said that as women in the advanced stages of labour are especially suggestible, it is usually possible by hypnosis to rid a woman of all memory of her accouchement. The process, however, is prolonged and boring for the doctor as well as depriving the woman of a sense of achievement at bearing her child.

Learning how to hypnotise is apparently quite simple, but a decision about who is a suitable subject is another matter. This decision, it is felt, should be left to the psychiatrist because of the dangers involved. Practitioners of hypnosis claim that the hypnotist cannot make the subject do anything that he would not ordinarily do. But, say the committee, where the patient is predisposed, either constitutionally or through disease, to severe psychoneurotic reactions or anti-social behaviour there is a danger that hypnosis may bring out these qualities. For that reason the commission of crimes, involving even danger to life, is not entirely to be ruled out.

The committee point out that hypnotism may involve the rapid or immediate development of a relationship between the hypnotist and subject of the same order and intensity as the relationship produced more slowly in the course of psychotherapy. The trained psychotherapist, however, must be aware of this relationship as part of the therapeutic process and recognise its potentiality for harm as well as being able to deal with it. But the application of the hypnotic technique without such knowledge and experience provides no control of the powerful emotions which may be released.

For this reason the committee believe that harm can be done by the application of hypnotism, especially when used by persons indifferent of the well being of the subject or ignorant of the morbid complications of the hypnotic state. They recommend, therefore, that the use of hypnotism in the treatment of physical and psychological disorders should be confined to persons subscribing to the recognised ethical code governing the doctor-patient relationship.

Rather surprisingly, however, they concede that this would not preclude the use of hypnotism by a suitably trained psychologist or medical auxiliary, of whose competence the medical practitioner was personally satisfied, and who would carry out, under medical direction, the treatment of patients selected by the physician.

Code of Ethics for Certified Hypnotherapists

1. Informed Consent for Therapy

1.1. When obtaining informed consent for therapy, hypnotherapists shall inform clients at the earliest feasible stage of the therapeutic relationship about the nature and expected course of therapy, fees, involvement of third parties, and limits of confidentiality. Ample opportunity shall be provided for clients to ask questions and receive answers.

1.2. When obtaining informed consent for treatments where established techniques and procedures are not widely recognized, hypnotherapists shall inform their clients about the developing nature of the treatment, potential risks involved, alternative treatment options that may be available, and the voluntary nature of their participation in the treatment. The primary consideration of hypnotherapists shall be the physical and mental well-being of each client. Hypnotherapists shall refrain from engaging in verbal, physical, or sexual abuse towards any client and shall not discriminate against clients based on race, religion, sexual orientation, age or gender identity.

1.3. Hypnotherapists shall strictly adhere to the boundaries of their training and expertise in the practice of hypnotism, ensuring compliance with all applicable local laws. Hypnotherapists shall not diagnose, treat, or prescribe for clients in matters pertaining to medical or mental health conditions. Their aim shall be to facilitate clients’ natural restorative and coping abilities, and refraining from making any therapeutic claims. Hypnotherapists shall abstain from providing hypnotic services to clients who exhibit behavior, appearance, or statements that warrant evaluation by a licensed healthcare professional. Services may only be rendered to such clients following evaluation and approval from the licensed healthcare professional.

2. Therapy Involving Couples or Families

2.1. When agreeing to provide services to multiple individuals with a relationship (such as spouses, significant others, or parents and children), hypnotherapists shall take reasonable steps to clarify, at the outset, (1) who among the individuals are clients and (2) the nature of the hypnotherapist’s relationship with each person. This clarification shall include the hypnotherapist’s role and the likely uses of the services provided or the information obtained.

2.2. If it becomes apparent that hypnotherapists may be required to assume potentially conflicting roles (such as serving as a witness for one party in divorce proceedings), they shall take reasonable steps to clarify, modify, or withdraw from such roles as appropriate.

3. Group Therapy

When providing services to multiple individuals in a group setting, hypnotherapists shall clearly describe, at the outset, the roles and responsibilities of all parties involved, as well as the limits of confidentiality.

4. Providing Therapy to Those Already Receiving Mental Health Services

When considering whether to offer or provide services to individuals already receiving mental health services elsewhere, hypnotherapists shall carefully assess treatment issues and the potential client’s welfare. These issues shall be discussed with the client or another legally authorized person on their behalf, in order to minimize the risk of confusion and conflict. Hypnotherapists shall consult with other service providers when appropriate and proceed with caution and sensitivity to the therapeutic concerns.

5. Sexual Intimacies with Current Therapy Clients/Patients

Hypnotherapists shall refrain from engaging in sexual intimacies with current therapy clients.

6. Sexual Intimacies with Relatives or Significant Others of Current Therapy Clients/Patients

Hypnotherapists shall avoid engaging in sexual intimacies with individuals they know to be close relatives, guardians, or significant others of current clients. Hypnotherapists shall not terminate therapy to circumvent this standard.

7. Therapy with Former Sexual Partners

Hypnotherapists shall not accept individuals with whom they have engaged in sexual intimacies as therapy clients.

8. Sexual Intimacies with Former Therapy Clients

8.1. Hypnotherapists shall refrain from engaging in sexual intimacies with former clients for a minimum of two years after the cessation or termination of therapy.

8.2. Hypnotherapists shall not engage in sexual intimacies with former clients/patients even after a two-year interval, except in highly exceptional circumstances. If such activity occurs after the two-year period has elapsed and there has been no sexual contact with the former client/patient, hypnotherapists bear the burden of demonstrating that no exploitation has taken place. This assessment shall take into account all relevant factors, including (1) the duration of time since therapy ended, (2) the nature, duration, and intensity of the therapy, (3) the circumstances of termination, (4) the client’s personal history, (5) the client’s current mental status, (6) the potential adverse impact on the client, and (7) any statements or actions made by the therapist during therapy that may suggest or invite the possibility of a post-termination sexual or romantic relationship with the client.

9. Interruption of Therapy

When entering into employment or contractual relationships, hypnotherapists shall make reasonable efforts to provide an orderly and appropriate resolution for the continuity of client care in the event that the employment or contractual relationship ends. The welfare of the client shall be of paramount consideration.

10. Premature Termination of Therapy

10.1. Hypnotherapists shall terminate therapy when it becomes reasonably evident that the client no longer requires the service, is unlikely to benefit from it, or is being harmed by its continuation.

10.2. Hypnotherapists may terminate therapy when they are threatened or otherwise endangered by the client or by another person with whom the client has a relationship.

10.3. Unless precluded by the actions of clients or third-party payors, hypnotherapists shall provide pre-termination counseling or coaching, and suggest suitable alternative service providers prior to terminating the therapy.

11. Advertising

Hypnotherapists shall maintain honesty and truthfulness in all forms of advertising. They shall consistently provide accurate information regarding their titles and degrees when communicating with the general public, media, and within the scope of their profession.

We are migrating from our old website.  Welcome to the new AIM news and posts page!

Eric

Palo Alto Online
24-02-2013
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Hypnotherapy explored as weight-loss alternative

When the Weight Watchers diet didn’t work for Ellyn Corey, she decided to try hypnotherapy to lose weight.

She was a bit skeptical at first. But “I began to see results right away,” she said, adding that, after the first few sessions, she got “hooked.”

Hypnotherapy not only helped her to give up Beard Papa’s chocolate éclairs, but it also gave her an “overall positive body image and mental outlook,” she said.

In a country where more than one-third of adults are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control, Corey is among a growing number of people exploring hypnotherapy as an alternative to conventional weight-loss methods.

Her instructor, Eric Rosen, was educated at the Palo Alto School of Hypnotherapy and currently offers classes through the City of Palo Alto Recreation Department, as well as the cities of Los Altos, Menlo Park, Cupertino, Sunnyvale and Saratoga.

In his classes and private sessions, Rosen uses hypnosis to suggest to his students and clients that they make smart food choices, avoid binge-eating and be attentive during meals by jotting down their food consumption before and after. He gently encourages them to choose organic foods over processed ones, embrace “super foods” such as broccoli, spinach and soy, and use “detox” foods to supplement their exercise regimes.

His classes, he said, focus on helping people to visualize their goals and change their food habits.

Hypnosis, by itself, might not be a “magic bullet” to solve the complex problem of losing weight. As a supplement to a comprehensive weight-loss program, however, it can help people lose “significantly more weight,” according to a study by Dr. David Spiegel, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University and director of the Stanford Center for Integrative Medicine.

Weight loss is only one of many health problems that hypnotherapists are trying to tackle; others include controlling anxiety before and during medical procedures, headaches, smoking, pain, hot flashes in breast cancer survivors and irritable bowel syndrome, according to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Derived from the Greek word “hypnos” meaning sleep, hypnosis guides people into a psychological state in which a person’s awareness and concentration are heightened.

“It is something like looking through a telephoto lens in a camera,” Spiegel said in an interview with the Weekly.

Hypnotists use this “hyper-attentive” state to get people to focus on a particular thought or memory, tap into their pain and anxiety, and work towards resolving them.

Many experts regard hypnosis as a deeper form of daydreaming — a far cry from the image of magical mind-control created by Las Vegas stage-show performers.

When people “lose themselves” in a book or a movie, or lose track of time while driving, they are essentially putting themselves in a hypnosis-like trance. Self-hypnosis can be a powerful tool to help the mind identify and solve its problems, practitioners say, and most hypnotherapists teach self-hypnosis to their patients during or after the first few sessions.

The practice of hypnosis dates back to Ancient Egyptian “sleep temples,” more than 4000 years ago.

Many websites describe how hypnosis moved initially from the realm of the irrational to that of the scientifically acceptable in the 19th century. Two surgeons’ work aided in the acceptance. One used hypnosis to anesthetize patients during surgery, and the other tried to establish a scientific explanation for the phenomenon.

In 1958 the American Medical Association approved and encouraged research on the medical uses of hypnosis, and two years later, the American Psychological Association endorsed hypnosis as a branch of psychology.

Despite its history, scientists are still trying to figure out how exactly hypnosis influences the brain.

Most popular theories suggest that it works by “switching off” the rational, decision-making part of the brain that focuses on day-to-day activities, in order to unlock the more creative, unrestrained part.

This idea has received some support from EEG studies of hypnotized subjects showing higher brain-wave activity typically associated with sleep and dreaming. Other studies conducted in the 1960s and 1970s had proposed that hypnosis is mediated by the right hemisphere — the part of the brain that may control imagination and impulse — perhaps explaining why people under hypnosis are more likely to act on foolish suggestions by stage-show hypnotists. These and other hypnosis-related studies were reviewed in a 2012 article by Professor John Kihlstrom, from the University of California, Berkeley, in the journal Cortex.

“We do know, for sure, that people in the trance state can alter their perceptions; sensory regions in the brain will literally turn down their response to pain input and change their perception of color, smell or hearing,” Spiegel explained. He added that hypnosis also appears to have an effect on the part of the brain that helps us process attention.

Some people are more easily hypnotized than others.

Children and adults who are “easily absorbed into activities such as reading, listening to music or daydreaming” are thought to be more easily hypnotized, a University of Tennessee psychology professor wrote in a 2001 Scientific American article.

Though the inner workings of hypnosis are still obscure, there are some established techniques that hypnotherapists employ to guide their patients into a hypnotic trance, few of which involve a swinging pocket watch or exotic crystals.

Most use progressive relaxation and guided imagery, which involve breathing techniques and invoking positive and calming images to help people enter the hypnotic trance.

Mary Horngren, another hypnotherapist educated at the Palo Alto School of Hypnotherapy, uses this technique to help cancer patients at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation and Breast Cancer Connections prepare for surgery and cope with their pain and anxiety.

During her sessions, she guides them through a sort of “dry-run” of the surgery or treatment, focusing on positive thoughts so that they are well-prepared when the time comes.

At the Stanford Center for Integrative Medicine, Spiegel uses hypnosis to help patients manage their pain. Hypnosis can reduce pain by half on the same amount of medication, he said.

Under hypnosis, patients learn to draw out their pain — essentially “bringing it on,” Spiegel said — and then learn to “control and separate their psychological response from their physical response.”

He said that he has also been able to help people quit smoking using hypnosis, with one out of four patients ending up not touching a cigarette after just one session of hypnosis.

Spiegel also used hypnosis on Palo Alto resident Kenneth Fitzhugh, who was charged in his wife’s murder and put on trial in 2000. Fitzhugh testified that the 50-minute hypnosis session unlocked repressed memories explaining his connection to pieces of physical evidence in his vehicle. Fitzhugh was later convicted of the crime.

However, the application of hypnosis to forensics is still controversial and highly debated.

Despite its use in medical settings, hypnosis still faces skepticism and is often dismissed as a “pseudoscience,” which is why hypnotherapists like Horngren strive to raise the level of respect for the practice.

“It is their fear of losing control,” she said, explaining why people still have misconceptions about the practice.

“Hypnosis is one of the safest procedures and has far fewer side effects that any other medication or procedure,” Spiegel said. Bad experiences with unreliable or untrustworthy hypnotherapists could fuel this skepticism, he added, but the techniques themselves are well-established.

Currently, no specific agency or board licenses and regulates the practice of hypnotherapy, although there are schools such as the Palo Alto School of Hypnotherapy — recognized by the Bureau of Private Postsecondary Education in California — that offer courses and certification in medical and clinical hypnotherapy.

Doctors and psychiatrists belonging to professional organizations such as the American Psychiatric Association and the American Medical Association have strict standards and guidelines for the professional practice of hypnotherapy.

“It is extremely important to establish a rapport between the hypnotist and the patient/client … to remain above the board with them,” Rosen said.

Diana O’Hagin, who used hypnosis decades ago to give up smoking, said Rosen recorded all of their sessions for her reference and to keep her appraised of her progress.

Some people still question whether hypnosis can make a person do something they don’t want to, but practitioners dispute that belief. While “one’s critical judgment is suspended,” as Spiegel described it, hypnotherapists can only show someone how to achieve what they want, according to Rosen.

Horngren echoed this sentiment.

“It is all about helping people help themselves,” she said, adding that she only acts as a facilitator, guiding them through the healing process.

Empowering Parents to Address Children’s Psychological Concerns
Based on Erikson’s Eight Stages of Psychosocial Development, children of different ages have specific developmental tasks and growth characteristics. Paediatric hypnotherapy not only addresses immediate issues faced by children but also considers their long-term developmental needs. This approach aligns with parental guidance methods to ensure the comprehensive psychological growth of children.

Child Emotions

1. Fundamentals of Paediatric Hypnotherapy
2. Family of Origin and Parenting Styles
3. Children’s Behavior and the Subconscious
4. Brain Development and Hypnotherapy
5. Erikson’s Eight Stages of Psychosocial Development
6. Children’s Sleep and Hypnosis
7. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
8. Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)
9. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
10. Pediatric Hypnotherapy Coaching
11. Positive Parenting for Children and Adolescents
12. Satir Parenting Techniques
13. Paediatric Hypnotherapy Coaching Tools – Role Tree
14. Paediatric Hypnotherapy Coaching Tools – Jointed Doll Models and Emotion Dolls
15. Paediatric Hypnotherapy Coaching Tools – Story Cubes
16. Paediatric Hypnotherapy Coaching Tools – Seed Paper and Handprint Paper
17. Workshop Processes for Parents and Schools

Paediatric Hypnotherapy Techniques

1. Communication Tips with Parents and Home Support Strategies
2. Code of Conduct for Pediatric Hypnotherapists
3. Suggestions in a Waking State
4. Metaphorical Stories
5. Trust Building and Addressing Hypnosis Fears
6. Focus, Imagination Exercises, and Body Scanning
7. Special Sleep Induction Methods
8. Rocking Induction Method
9. Candy House Induction Method
10. Lights Out Induction Method
11. Puppet Induction Method
12. Weight Induction Method
13. Number Catching Induction Method
14. Actor Induction Method
15. Worry Tree and Managing Negative Emotions
16. Inner Ally and Positive Resources
17. Hero Friends and Overcoming Fears
18. Security and Puppet Communication
19. Happiness and Gratitude for What You Have
20. Attachment Theory and Managing Separation Anxiety
21. TV Rewind and Handling Negative Experiences
22. Future Time Machine and Growth Mindset
23. Brain Calculator and Cognitive Behavior
24. Visualization and Pain Reduction

Applications of Pediatric Hypnotherapy

• Behavior

1. Emotional Fluctuations
2. Separation Anxiety
3. Respect and Courtesy
4. Tardiness and Procrastination
5. Lying
6. Cheating and Stealing

• Habits

1. Bedwetting
2. Sleep Habits
3. Psychogenic Stuttering
4. Hair Twirling, Nail Biting, and Thumb Sucking
5. Preventing Drug Initiation

• Performance

1. Stress and Tension
2. Academic Performance

• Self-Image

1. Adolescent Breakup Distress
2. Bullying, Verbal, and Emotional Abuse
3. Parental Divorce
4. Social Skills
5. Excessive Attention to Appearance and Ugly Duckling Syndrome

Stanford Medicine
3-10-2012
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Not getting sleepy? Research explains why hypnosis doesn’t work for all

Not everyone is able to be hypnotized, and new research from the Stanford University School of Medicine shows how the brains of such people differ from those who can easily be.

The study, published in the October issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, uses data from functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging to identify how the areas of the brain associated with executive control and attention tend to have less activity in people who cannot be put into a hypnotic trance.

“There’s never been a brain signature of being hypnotized, and we’re on the verge of identifying one,” said David Spiegel, MD, the paper’s senior author and a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. Such an advance would enable scientists to understand better the mechanisms underlying hypnosis and how it can be used more widely and effectively in clinical settings, added Spiegel, who also directs the Stanford Center for Integrative Medicine.

Spiegel estimates that one-quarter of the patients he sees cannot be hypnotized, though a person’s hypnotizability is not linked with any specific personality trait. “There’s got to be something going on in the brain,” he said.

Hypnosis is described as a trance-like state during which a person has a heightened focus and concentration. It has been shown to help with brain control over sensation and behavior, and has been used clinically to help patients manage pain, control stress and anxiety and combat phobias.

Hypnosis works by modulating activity in brain regions associated with focused attention, and this study offers compelling new details regarding neural capacity for hypnosis.

“Our results provide novel evidence that altered functional connectivity in [the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex] and [the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex] may underlie hypnotizability,” the researchers wrote in their paper.

For the study, Spiegel and his Stanford colleagues performed functional and structural MRI scans of the brains of 12 adults with high hypnotizability and 12 adults with low hypnotizability.

The researchers looked at the activity of three different networks in the brain: the default-mode network, used when one’s brain is idle; the executive-control network, which is involved in making decisions; and the salience network, which is involved in deciding something is more important than something else.

The findings, Spiegel said, were clear: Both groups had an active default-mode network, but highly hypnotizable participants showed greater co-activation between components of the executive-control network and the salience network. More specifically, in the brains of the highly hypnotizable group the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, an executive-control region of the brain, appeared to be activated in tandem with the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, which is part of the salience network and plays a role in focusing of attention. By contrast, there was little functional connectivity between these two areas of the brain in those with low hypnotizability.

Spiegel said he was pleased that he and his team found something so clear. “The brain is complicated, people are complicated, and it was surprising we were able to get such a clear signature,” he explained.

Spiegel also said the work confirms that hypnotizability is less about personality variables and more about cognitive style. “Here we’re seeing a neural trait,” he said.

The authors’ next step is to further explore how these functional networks change during hypnosis. Spiegel and his team have recruited high- and low-hypnotizable patients for another study during which fMRI assessment will be done during hypnotic states. Funding for that work is being provided by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Funding for this study came from the Nissan Research Center, the Randolph H. Chase, MD Fund II, the Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

The study’s first-author is Fumiko Hoeft, MD, PhD, who was formerly an instructor at Stanford’s Center for Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences Research and is now an associate professor of psychiatry at UCSF. Other co-authors are John Gabrieli, PhD, a professor at MIT (then a professor of psychology at Stanford); Susan Whitfield-Gabrieli, a research scientist at MIT (then a science and engineering associate at Stanford); Brian Haas, PhD, an assistant professor at the University of Georgia (then a postdoctoral scholar in the Center for Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences Research at Stanford); Roland Bammer, PhD, associate professor of radiology; and Vinod Menon, PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences.