When the Weight Watchers diet didn’t work for Ellyn Corey, she decided to try hypnotherapy for weight loss.
She was a little skeptical at first. But “I started to see results right away,” she said, adding that after the first few sessions she was “hooked”.
Hypnotherapy not only helped her let go of 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 a 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.
Its instructor, Eric Rosen, was educated at the Palo Alto School of Hypnosis and currently offers classes through the Recreation Department of the City of Palo Alto, as well as in the towns of Los Altos, Menlo. Park, Cupertino, Sunnyvale and Saratoga.
In her classes and private sessions, Rosen uses hypnosis to suggest to her students and clients to make smart food choices, to avoid binge eating, and to be mindful during meals by noting their food intake before and after. . He gently encourages them to choose organic rather than processed foods, to adopt “super foods” such as broccoli, spinach and soybeans, and to use “detox” foods to supplement their exercise regimes.
His classes, he said, aim to help people visualize their goals and change their eating habits.
Hypnosis, in and of itself, may not be a “magic bullet” to solving the complex problem of weight loss. As a supplement to a comprehensive weight loss program, however, it can help people lose “a lot more weight,” according to a study by Dr. David Spiegel, professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at Stanford University. and director of the Stanford Center for Integrative Medicine.
Weight loss is just one of the many health problems that hypnotherapists try 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” which means sleep, hypnosis guides people into a psychological state in which a person’s awareness and concentration is heightened.
“It’s something like looking through a telephoto lens into 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, harness their pain and anxiety, and work to resolve them.
Many experts consider hypnosis to be a deeper form of reverie – a far cry from the image of magical mind control created by performing artists in Las Vegas.
When people “get lost” in a book or movie, or lose track of time while driving, they essentially go into a hypnosis-like trance. Self-hypnosis can be a powerful tool in helping the mind identify and resolve problems, practitioners say, and most hypnotherapists teach their patients self-hypnosis during or after the first few sessions.
The practice of hypnosis dates back to the “temples of sleep” of ancient Egypt, over 4000 years ago.
Many websites describe how hypnosis initially moved from the irrational to the scientifically acceptable in the 19th century. The work of two surgeons helped with acceptance. One used hypnosis to numb patients during surgery, and the other attempted to establish a scientific explanation for the phenomenon.
In 1958, the American Medical Association approved and encouraged research into the medical uses of hypnosis, and two years later, the American Psychological Association approved hypnosis as a branch of psychology.
Despite its history, scientists are still trying to figure out how exactly hypnosis influences the brain.
The most popular theories suggest that it works by “cutting off” the rational, decision-making part of the brain that focuses on daily activities, in order to unlock the more creative and free 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 in the 1960s and 1970s had proposed that hypnosis was mediated by the right hemisphere – the part of the brain that can control imagination and impulse – perhaps explaining why people under hypnosis are more likely to act on silly suggestions by step – show hypnotists. These and other studies related to hypnosis were reviewed in a 2012 article by Professor John Kihlstrom, University of California, Berkeley, in the journal Cortex.
“We know, for sure, that people in a trance state can alter their perceptions; the sensory regions of the brain will literally decrease their pain response and alter their perception of color, smell or hearing. “, explained Spiegel. He added that hypnosis also seems 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 by 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 Scientific American article. from 2001.
While the inner workings of hypnosis are still obscure, there are established techniques that hypnotherapists use to guide their patients into a hypnotic trance, few of which involve a pocket watch or exotic crystals.
Most use progressive relaxation and guided imagery, which involve breathing techniques and invoke positive, calming images to help people enter hypnotic trance.
Mary Horngren, another hypnotherapist trained at the Palo Alto School of Hypnotherapy, uses this technique to help cancer patients at 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 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 cut pain in half with the same amount of medicine, he said.
Under hypnosis, patients learn to bring out their pain – essentially “bring it to life,” Spiegel said – and then learn to “control and separate their psychological response from their physical response.”
He said he has also been able to help people quit smoking using hypnosis, with one in four patients ending up not touching a cigarette after just one hypnosis session.
Spiegel also used hypnosis on Kenneth Fitzhugh, a resident of Palo Alto, who was charged with murdering his wife and tried in 2000. Fitzhugh said the 50-minute hypnosis session unlocked pent-up memories explaining his link to physical evidence in his vehicle. Fitzhugh was later convicted of the crime.
However, the application of hypnosis to forensics is still controversial and much debated.
Despite its use in medical settings, hypnosis is still the subject of skepticism and is often considered “pseudoscience,” which is why hypnotherapists like Horngren strive to raise the level of adherence to the practice.
“It’s 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 than any other drug or procedure,” said Spiegel. 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 authorizes or regulates the practice of hypnotherapy, although there are schools such as the Palo Alto School of Hypnotherapy – recognized by the Bureau of Private Post Secondary Education in California – that offer courses and certification in medicine and clinic. hypnotherapy.
Physicians 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 stay on top of the board with them,” said Rosen.
Diana O’Hagin, who used hypnosis decades ago to quit smoking, said Rosen recorded all of their sessions for reference and to keep her updated on her progress.
Some people still wonder if hypnosis can get a person to do something they don’t want, but practitioners dispute this belief. While “his critical judgment is on hold,” as Spiegel described it, hypnotherapists can only show someone how to achieve what they want, according to Rosen.
Horngren echoed that sentiment.
“It’s about helping people help themselves,” she said, adding that she was only acting as a facilitator, guiding them through the healing process.
Comments are closed.