{"id":500,"date":"2013-02-24T18:17:06","date_gmt":"2013-02-24T18:17:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/integrativemedicine.org\/go\/?p=500"},"modified":"2024-06-28T18:21:54","modified_gmt":"2024-06-28T18:21:54","slug":"hypnotherapy-explored-as-weight-loss-alternative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/integrativemedicine.org\/go\/hypnotherapy-explored-as-weight-loss-alternative\/","title":{"rendered":"Hypnotherapy explored as weight-loss alternative"},"content":{"rendered":"

Palo Alto Online
\n24-02-2013
\nSource hyperlink<\/a><\/p>\n

Hypnotherapy explored as weight-loss alternative<\/strong><\/p>\n

When the Weight Watchers diet didn\u2019t work for Ellyn Corey, she decided to try hypnotherapy to lose weight.<\/p>\n

She was a bit skeptical at first. But \u201cI began to see results right away,\u201d she said, adding that, after the first few sessions, she got \u201chooked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hypnotherapy not only helped her to give up Beard Papa\u2019s chocolate \u00e9clairs, but it also gave her an \u201coverall positive body image and mental outlook,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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 \u201csuper foods\u201d such as broccoli, spinach and soy, and use \u201cdetox\u201d foods to supplement their exercise regimes.<\/p>\n

His classes, he said, focus on helping people to visualize their goals and change their food habits.<\/p>\n

Hypnosis, by itself, might not be a \u201cmagic bullet\u201d to solve the complex problem of losing weight. As a supplement to a comprehensive weight-loss program, however, it can help people lose \u201csignificantly more weight,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Derived from the Greek word \u201chypnos\u201d meaning sleep, hypnosis guides people into a psychological state in which a person\u2019s awareness and concentration are heightened.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is something like looking through a telephoto lens in a camera,\u201d Spiegel said in an interview with the Weekly.<\/p>\n

Hypnotists use this \u201chyper-attentive\u201d state to get people to focus on a particular thought or memory, tap into their pain and anxiety, and work towards resolving them.<\/p>\n

Many experts regard hypnosis as a deeper form of daydreaming \u2014 a far cry from the image of magical mind-control created by Las Vegas stage-show performers.<\/p>\n

When people \u201close themselves\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

The practice of hypnosis dates back to Ancient Egyptian \u201csleep temples,\u201d more than 4000 years ago.<\/p>\n

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\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Despite its history, scientists are still trying to figure out how exactly hypnosis influences the brain.<\/p>\n

Most popular theories suggest that it works by \u201cswitching off\u201d the rational, decision-making part of the brain that focuses on day-to-day activities, in order to unlock the more creative, unrestrained part.<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 the part of the brain that may control imagination and impulse \u2014 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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,\u201d Spiegel explained. He added that hypnosis also appears to have an effect on the part of the brain that helps us process attention.<\/p>\n

Some people are more easily hypnotized than others.<\/p>\n

Children and adults who are \u201ceasily absorbed into activities such as reading, listening to music or daydreaming\u201d are thought to be more easily hypnotized, a University of Tennessee psychology professor wrote in a 2001 Scientific American article.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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

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.<\/p>\n

During her sessions, she guides them through a sort of \u201cdry-run\u201d of the surgery or treatment, focusing on positive thoughts so that they are well-prepared when the time comes.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Under hypnosis, patients learn to draw out their pain \u2014 essentially \u201cbringing it on,\u201d Spiegel said \u2014 and then learn to \u201ccontrol and separate their psychological response from their physical response.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Spiegel also used hypnosis on Palo Alto resident Kenneth Fitzhugh, who was charged in his wife\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

However, the application of hypnosis to forensics is still controversial and highly debated.<\/p>\n

Despite its use in medical settings, hypnosis still faces skepticism and is often dismissed as a \u201cpseudoscience,\u201d which is why hypnotherapists like Horngren strive to raise the level of respect for the practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is their fear of losing control,\u201d she said, explaining why people still have misconceptions about the practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cHypnosis is one of the safest procedures and has far fewer side effects that any other medication or procedure,\u201d Spiegel said. Bad experiences with unreliable or untrustworthy hypnotherapists could fuel this skepticism, he added, but the techniques themselves are well-established.<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 recognized by the Bureau of Private Postsecondary Education in California \u2014 that offer courses and certification in medical and clinical hypnotherapy.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is extremely important to establish a rapport between the hypnotist and the patient\/client \u2026 to remain above the board with them,\u201d Rosen said.<\/p>\n

Diana O\u2019Hagin, 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.<\/p>\n

Some people still question whether hypnosis can make a person do something they don\u2019t want to, but practitioners dispute that belief. While \u201cone\u2019s critical judgment is suspended,\u201d as Spiegel described it, hypnotherapists can only show someone how to achieve what they want, according to Rosen.<\/p>\n

Horngren echoed this sentiment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is all about helping people help themselves,\u201d she said, adding that she only acts as a facilitator, guiding them through the healing process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Palo Alto Online 24-02-2013 Source hyperlink Hypnotherapy explored as weight-loss alternative When the Weight Watchers diet didn\u2019t work for Ellyn Corey, she decided to try hypnotherapy to lose weight. She was a bit skeptical at first. But \u201cI began to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hypno"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/integrativemedicine.org\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/integrativemedicine.org\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/integrativemedicine.org\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/integrativemedicine.org\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/integrativemedicine.org\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/integrativemedicine.org\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":501,"href":"https:\/\/integrativemedicine.org\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500\/revisions\/501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/integrativemedicine.org\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/integrativemedicine.org\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/integrativemedicine.org\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}