When we hear the word ‘hypnotist’, it conjures up images of Matt Lucas’s obnoxious, charmless character Kenny Craig in Little Britain. You know the one, ‘look into my eyes, the eyes, the eyes, not around the eyes, don’t look around my eyes…’
To some, hypnotists sit at the same table as astrologers and mediums, essentially charlatans and scammers preying on the weak-minded and gullible but this week I read an article by Sarah Klein on the Huffington Post website about the scientifically-backed health benefits of hypnosis.
The first thing my clients need to understand is that I’m not a pocket-watch-waving chancer. I studied Hypnotherapy and specifically Hypno-CBT, the combined use of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Hypnosis at the UK College of Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy.
That notwithstanding, I have a resolute belief in how you can harness the power of your mind to affect real, lasting and positive change.
The article lists a selection of science-backed benefits of hypnosis:
Hypnosis can help you to improve deep sleep
In a recent study by Swiss researchers at the University of Zurich, they measured the effects of hypnosis by monitoring brain activity in healthy young women during a 90-minute sleep after listening to a recording of hypnotic suggestion. Those deemed the most susceptible to hypnosis spent 80% more time in slow-wave sleep (the deep, restorative phase of the sleep cycle) after listening to the recording than they did after listening to a neutral spoken text.
Lead researcher Maren Cordi said ‘in contrast to many sleep-inducing drugs, hypnosis has no adverse side effects.’
Hypnosis can ease symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
In a 2003 study published by Gut, a leading international peer-reviewed medical journal on gastroenterology and hepatology, 145 out of 204 IBS patients reported improved symptoms after 12, one hour hypnosis sessions and 81% of those felt better up to six years after the end of the research study. A 2012 study reported that 85% who reported similar improvements still felt better over seven years later.
Researcher Magnus Simrén said that ‘hypnosis therefore belongs in the arsenal of treatments for IBS.’
Hypnosis can quell hot flashes
In a study conducted in 2013 amongst postmenopausal women who reported at least fifty hot flashes every week, five weekly one-hour hypnosis sessions cut hot flashes by 74% up to three months later. Another group who had weekly sessions with a clinician experienced a drop, on average, of just 17%.
Hypnosis can calm nerves
Hypnosis harnesses the power of the mind and as such, it’s used to relieve stress and anxiety related to other medical procedures, including but not exclusively giving birth and surgery. It needs to be noted that like all branches of medical science, research is fluid and ongoing but in a 2012 Wall Street Journal article written by Melinda Beck, she states that ‘the mechanism may be similar to the placebo effect – in which patients’ expectations play a major role in how they feel and hypnosis, in turn, can help patients adjust those expectations to minimize pain, fear and disability.’
Here at Behavioural Freedom I use hypnosis combined with Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to free you from the unwanted behaviours that prevent you from living your life how you want to.
Please contact me today and I will set you back on the path to behavioural freedom.