Hi everyone,
I am not a great writer but this paper needs to be turned in next week. Can I get some help?
Thanks!
With modern medicine moving along at a high velocity it seems like many of the tried and true methods of the past are being overlooked and passed by. The newest drug or the cutting edge laser therapy have replaced methods that were in practice since the beginning of time. Now the newest drugs will save many lives and the cutting edge laser therapy will raise the standard of living for many but there is just no substitute for some of the old ways. Hypnosis is a way for the mind and the body to get in sync and for a person to get deep inside of their subconscious to get to the root of the problem. It has come under fire because of a select few but has some real benefits to it. It is a technique that has been used to help people for many generations and needs to be looked at today by more people as an alternative method of healing and as a companion to traditional healing.
Hypnosis is a state of deep relaxation where a person is able get rid of distractions and get to the place in their mind where habits are formed, where fears come from, and where dark memories wait to be brought to the surface. It is not what you see in the movies and not what most people make it out to be. No one will ever waive a watch in front of your face and say, "you are getting sleepy." You are in complete control of yourself the entire time and the hypnotist is there to guide you into deep relaxation. They cannot make you do something that you don't want to do or disclose something that you do not want to. When people hear the word hypnotist they think of a stage show where someone runs around thinking they are a chicken or when they hear a bell they feel like they are a baby again. The media has put a spin on hypnosis like it is only an entertainment thing but the fact is that when you are in a state of hypnosis, with the right practitioner you can get more out of it than any other therapy out there. When you get hypnotized you go into an altered state of consciousness where you use different brain waves and are able to access deep parts of your brain that you cannot while in a normal waking state. One of the most important things when seeking out a hypnotherapist is making sure they have the credentials needed because any therapist can call themselves a hypnotherapist but when they are certified they must do so much more to get to that level.
Certified hypnotherapists are trained professionals who must go through many hours of schooling and training to get the proper certification. Finding a good hypnotist is just like finding a good doctor, you need to look at their schooling and accreditation to see what they did to get to where they are at. There are many imitators out there that are just trying to make a quick buck that have not mastered many of the techniques and these people are the ones that give hypnosis a bad name. There are many schools, groups and organizations that can give certifications that are known and accredited but at the same time there are "fly by night" organizations that will call someone a hypnotist after just a few basic online classes with not hands on training. Knowing the organization that gave the certification is imperative when finding someone because it could mean a world of difference in the type of care you would receive. The National Board for Certified Clinical Hypnotherapists is the best known and most widely respected organization that gives certifications. People looking to receive accreditation from from the NBCCH first need get a graduate level degree from an accredited university and medical practitioners must have a masters or doctorate degree. After that they need to do 60 contact hours in hypnosis training with at least 18 of those hours being in class, supervised practice with actual patients. Along with the 60 hours of hypnosis training, applicants need 30 hours of clinical hypnosis training from a school recognized by the NBCCH. The last requirement is that you must be a licensed or certified therapist in the state that you live in. After you become certified with the NBCCH then you can receive higher honors as you practice and get more hours with patients. There are also courses you can take that will help you treat specific conditions that hypnotherapists are sought after to treat.
Hypnosis has been used for thousands of years in either a healing or religious capacity. The earliest record is from 1500 B.C. and was found on a papyrus in a Egyptian tomb. In the 18th century a man named Frank Mezmer started using hypnosis to help people but he claimed it was a special power he had. He was quickly discredited, and it wasn't until 1840 that hypnosis started to get a positive light shown on it. Doctors began to use hypnosis as anesthesia during surgeries and psychologists began using it to help treat their patients mental health problems. Sigmund Freud even used hypnosis for a while until he got frustrated that not all of his patients could be hypnotized. Today hypnosis is used all over the world and in many different capacities. People use it to lose weight, to quit smoking, to heal faster, to get over trauma, and still to this day it is used as anesthesia. It has shown great success and great promise but it is still not widely used and accepted by the medical community even with all the proof out there.
Hypnotherapy has been successful in helping people break old habits and in helping people to make and stick to life changing decisions. It has been used for years in helping people quit smoking. "In a recent stop smoking study, where smokers attended individual hypnotherapy for stop smoking over three sessions, 81% had stopped smoking after the treatment ended, and at a 12 month follow-up nearly 50% remained smoke free. And 95% of the people were satisfied with their treatment." (Trancesolutions) Hypnosis is a way for the mind and the body to get closer in purpose and when you are trying to quit smoking the brain doesn't want to smoke but the body does. The hypnosis, if used along side other methods of quitting, will speed up the process and help the person reach their goal. People who are trying to lose weight have turned to hypnosis as a way to get extra help to mentally beat old habits of over eating and laziness. Again the hypnosis speeds up the process of the weight loss when paired correctly. Just getting hypnotized and making no other changes will not make you lose weight, although many people out there claim that it will.
There are many psychological applications that hypnosis is used to help treat. Hypnosis is used to help people overcome fears and anxieties relating to a dramatic life event or issue from the past. They say the three sessions with a good hypnotherapist can equal the same amount of healing as a year in regular therapy. People battling with depression use hypnosis to help them get to a better place in their life. Phobias can be treated with the help of a hypnosis and either taken away or lessened. This next story was taken from the Ladies Home Journal and is about a woman who was about to get over a major fear with hypnosis.
"After being rear-ended hard I kept freaking out whenever another car got too close. A friend recommended hypnosis and I thought, "I've tried weirder things." During our four sessions the hypnotherapist would give me suggestions such as, "Every time you see red taillights you will f eel calm." It didn't change things overnight but my fear lessened each session. He made me a CD, which I downloaded onto my iPod. Now I'm very relaxed when I drive. In fact, when a car suddenly stopped in front of me one day, I stayed totally calm. My fear had vanished." (Ladies' Home Journal)
She was able to get over that fear because she got in sync with herself and was able to relax in the situation that would normally get her "freaking out." Stress and hypertension can be dealt with using hypnosis because of the calming and and relaxing effects it has.
Hypnosis has many medical application as well that have helped many people dealing with medical problems and could help many more if they were more widely know and accepted. Chronic pain and fibromyalgia are both treatable with hypnosis and the treatment has shown successful in many cases. Patients going in for surgery have used hypnosis instead of anesthesia. Many people are allergic to anesthetics and so hypnosis has helped them relax and get through major surgeries. Hypnosis is also effective for childbirth. When the mind is involved with what the body is doing and can help control things not normally in control during labor then the labor is shorter and less painful. Post surgery and recovery patients that used hypnosis recovered faster and had less pain. In a recent study patients that had the exact same surgery and use hypnosis along with other therapy were back to normal about two weeks faster than those not treated with hypnosis. The nervous, respiratory, circulatory, and digestive systems all have issues that hypnosis can treat.
An assortment of other conditions can be treated by hypnosis. Warts can be cured with a simple hypnotic suggestion. Healing warts is one of the oldest physical problems that hypnosis has been used to treat. In 1952 Dr. Albert Mason was working with a surgeon named Dr. Moore on a boy who had warts covering his entire body. Dr. Moore was upset that a skin graft he did was not successful, and "...Mason, whom had previously cured smaller cases of warts with hypnosis, suggested to the surgeon, "Why don't you treat him with hypnotism?" The doctor looked at him pityingly, and said, "Why don't you." Those 3 words, and this 15yr old boy would forever change Albert Mason's life. The very next day, Mason said to the boy while under hypnosis, "The warts will fall off your right arm, and new skin will grow which will be soft and normal". When the boy returned the next week, the hypnosis had worked. In fact, the change was startling. Mason simply smiled, because he knew the hypnosis was going to work, and maybe wanting to gloat a bit, decided to take the boy to see Dr. Moore who was at the time, performing surgery. They stood behind the glass partition of the operating room, and held up the boys arms so Moore could have a look. The doctor did look, and according to Mason, "His eyes became like saucers". He handed his knife over to his assistant and came out to see the boy closer. His only words were "Good God". Not seeing what the big deal was, Mason told him, "See, I told you hypnosis can cure warts". Dr. Moore replied, in shock, "Warts? This isn't warts. This boy has Congenital Ichthyosis. He was born with it. It's incurable!" (Magic of Believing) The power of suggestion cured an incurable disease that doctors had been battling for years. The possibilities of it are endless but the word is just not out on it.
The scientific evidence is there to support these claims but the medical community scrutinizes the field so much it is hard to get claims out there without someone attacking them. Not everyone can be hypnotized so the participants need to be prescreened and many people in the the medical community see that as fixing the results of the experiments. When there are claims made that people who went through surgery got better faster because of hypnosis it has been accredited to the extra attention that they get from the hypnotist. There are claims about hypnosis that are just so out there that it is impossible to believe. When this happens the hypnotherapists end up hurting the field by claiming that it will work 100% of the time for every person no matter what.
Hypnosis is not an instant cure all that requires no effort on the part of the individual seeking the help. Hypnosis has gotten a lot of flack because sometimes it is advertised incorrectly and people have misconceptions about how it should work. This is another case where the hypnotist needs to be verified as legitimate. Many hypnotists want to sell a product and will make all sorts of claims to get people to their office. "Although many of these apparent quacks claim to have worked at prestigious universities, the consumer must acknowledge that this fact cannot be easily verified and even if true does not guarantee credibility." (Haray) Consumers must also realize that hypnosis is not they only means to get to the end result they want and not the only things that needs to be done. If they are trying to lose weight then they need to follow up with diet and exercise. If they are trying to quit smoking then they need to follow the plan they set for themselves and use hypnosis as an extra help.
Hypnosis is a way to help someone by showing them how to go deep into their subconscious mind, find the root of the problem, and then fix it. When hypnosis is paired with work by the individual, doctor care, and the right frame of mind then it can help with any problem. The consumer needs to make sure they see the right hypnotist, that they have the proper certifications and credentials, and that after the sessions they work towards their goal. When the proper expectations are set and work is done on everyones part hypnosis can be an amazing companion to any fix, or rehabilitation.
