RECENT BLOG POSTS
Hypnosis as sole anaesthesia for skin tumour
Research published in 2014 by the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland and carried out at the Department of Neurosciences University of Padua, and the Italian Center for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis in Turin Italy has demonstrated that clinical hypnosis can alter the perception of pain in surgery and help patients deal with surgical stress. The research recommends that in selected cases hypnosis can be as effective as anaesthetic drugs. A female patient with extreme sensitivity to chemicals who had experienced previous reactions to local anaesthetic was admitted for the removal of a thigh skin tumour using hypnosis as the sole means of anaesthesia. The hypnotic intervention included hypnotically focused analgesia utilising a pre-operative pain threshold test to measure sensitivity to pain. After the induction of hypnosis, a wide excision was performed, preserving the deep fascia and the tumour was removed. Throughout this time the patient’s heart rate and blood pressure did not fluctuate. After the patient was brought out of hypnosis she experienced no pain and was discharged. It is important that we look at when, and when not, to remove sensitivity to pain. Pain is a message that says, ‘please take care of this part of the
How to hypnotise a client with an arm levitation
One of the most classic hypnosis inductions is the Arm Levitation Induction. This class of induction has been used by most hypnotherapists over time and the idea is that as the client’s arm raises into the air (seemingly by itself) the client goes deeper into hypnosis. American psychiatrist Milton Erickson refined the technique by applying his “indirect” hypnotic skills and developed it into a utilisation approach, and it is Erickson’s approach that I have been teaching for the past 25 years. Previously, the therapist would suggest levitation in a direct and authoritarian manner. Unfortunately this gave the impression that the arm levitation was caused by the “power” of the hypnotist. Erickson’s approach allowed the client to experience the arm levitation happening from inside him/her self as if the response were the result of unconscious processes causes by the association of ideas. Erickson would often “seed” ideas and suggestions for hypnotic phenomena long before he asked for it to happen formally. By offering casual anecdotes, analogies and metaphors about lifting, lightness and levitation he would seed the idea of arm levitation so that the client’s unconscious mind picked up on the indirect suggestion for arm levitation to occur. Anticipation and
Aversion Therapy Hypnosis
This lesson from Stephen Brooks discusses the use of disgust in aversion therapy hypnosis and looks at how disgust can be a powerful motivator. Aversion Therapy Hypnosis - the power of disgust. Disgust enables us to move away from things we do not like towards things that we do like. It has been used in aversion therapy for many years and is even more powerful if applied in hypnosis. Although not used as often these days it is still sometimes used in smoking cessation and weight control as it can be a powerful motivator of human behaviour. Disgust motivates us because inherent within the experience of disgust is the implication of illness and disease and it is our survival mechanism that kicks in to motivate us away from the stimulus. Hypnosis magnifies our hard-wired response to disgust, which is why it is so effective in re-programming behaviour in hypnotherapy practice. Here is a little experiment you can try with a group of friends. Give each of your friends a glass of water and ask them to take a sip and then ask them to describe that experience. Next ask them to take a sip of water again but this time