Former Bond girl Fiona Fullerton is eyeing hypnosis sessions to overcome her stage fright while she takes part on U.K. Tv show Strictly Come Dancing.

The A View to a Kill actress is among the star contestants lining up for this year's (13) season of the British ballroom dancing contest, but she is terrified that nerves will get the better of her at each live performance.

Fullerton confided in her competition partner Anton Du Beke, and he has advised her to get hypnotised to overcome her anxiety.

She tells Ok! magazine, "The live shows terrify me. I used to suffer from stage fright when I was an actress, so Anton will have to get me through that. He's suggested hypnosis and Champagne."

Hypnotherapy to encourage positive thinking could help people suffering from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

The new approach uses a technique often known as positive visualisation and it can involve patients imagining the digestive system as a river.

A study last year at Manchester University found three-quarters of  IBS patients experienced improvement in their symptoms after hypnotherapy, and the effects lasted for five years  or more.

But the researchers say many sufferers are being denied the treatment because of prejudice

‘Sadly many health professions are sceptical,’ says  Professor Peter Whorwell, who pioneered the treatment at Manchester.

He adds: ‘It works for people who are quite ill and who have not responded to other treatments.’

IBS, which is experienced by ten to  15 per cent of the population, affects the digestive system and can cause stomach cramps, bloating, constipation and diarrhoea.

Its cause is not known. Treatments include diet changes, laxatives and anti-depressants.

The hypnotherapy treatment involves weekly sessions for three months,  during which patients are given suggestions about how they can gain control over their gut.

 ‘They might be imagining their gut as a river, for example,’ says Prof Whorwell, ‘and modifying its flow according to  their needs – a fast-flowing stream being slowed down to a gently meandering river, or the reverse for someone suffering from constipation.’

Key to calm: Hypnotherapy using positive visualtisation has helped several patients with their IBS

One patient to have benefited is  Joanna Cowdrey, 31, a supermarket manager from Southampton, who began having bowel problems six years ago.

Joanna tried various kinds of medication, but none reduced the symptoms – until she was invited to have hypnotherapy at Manchester University.

She says: ‘There were no swinging watches like in films – you just feel half asleep then alert and invigorated afterwards. 


'I had 12 sessions but saw benefits after the third. It really has changed my life – my symptoms are far less intrusive and I feel great.'



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2420706/Full-stream-ahead-How-hypnotherapy-helping-patients-beat-IBS.html#ixzz2f3al4FZt 
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Patients with ulcerative colitis in remission were more likely to maintain remission if they underwent gut-directed hypnotherapy in a recent study.

Researchers randomly assigned 54 adult patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) in remission at enrollment to seven weekly, 40-minute sessions of gut-directed hypnotherapy (HYP; n=26) or attention control (n=28). All participants self-reported more than one flare per year, had documented flares within the previous 1.5 years and were receiving a stable dose of maintenance therapy for more than 1 month before the study.

Disease status and quality of life were measured at baseline and at 2, 20, 36 and 52 weeks after completing therapy. Patients provided sociodemographic and medical information, completed daily symptom diaries at baseline and during treatment, and responded to questionnaires assessing disease activity, physical and mental health and perceived stress levels.

“As a health psychologist, I would see patients who would loosen up on their self-care when they were in remission, and it seemed like having a pleasant, simple tool like hypnotherapy could help keep them in touch with their disease self-management,” researcher Laurie Keefer,PhD, associate professor and director of the Center for Psychological Research in GI at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, told Healio.com.

Flares occurred in eight patients in the HYP group and 15 among controls. HYP patients had a greater number of days to clinical relapse than controls on one-way Anova analysis (F=4.8, P=.03). More treated patients maintained remission for 1 year (68% vs. 40% of controls;P=.04) in chi-square analysis. Investigators calculated via Cox proportional hazards model that controls were at 2.11 times the risk for flares compared with HYP recipients (P=.09).

Quality of life and assessments of psychological factors, stress levels and medication adherence did not differ significantly between groups.

“Hypnotherapy works as an adjunct treatment in inflammatory bowel disease,” Keefer said. “It may help keep patients in remission a little longer, especially those patients who have frequent flares or who have functional symptoms on top of their IBD.”


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LAS VEGAS—Hypnosis can be an effective tool for relieving pain, even the extreme pain associated with burn wound debridement, says David R. Patterson, PhD, Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University Washington, Seattle.“It seems to address pain in a way that no other modalities can,” Dr. Patterson said. “Although it doesn't work with everyone, you can really get some pretty remarkable effects… It's as if you're able to communicate directly with the pain centers [of the brain].” Examples of hypnotic pain management suggestions include dimming pain, changing sensations, putting pain in a box, amnesia, and moving pain to the background.

Dr. Patterson informed PAINWeek attendees about the potential usefulness of hypnosis in pain management in a session title, “Medical Hypnosis for Chronic Pain.” Clinicians can learn the basics in just a weekend as long as they are trained in pain control, he said. Basic traditional hypnosis includes focused attention, relaxation, deepening, suggestion, and alerting, he said. He emphasized, though, that learning medical hypnosis does not entitle clinicians to treat any clinical problem. “Whoever is using hypnosis should be trained in the clinical problem that they're treating,” Dr. Patterson said.Medical hypnosis is better for acute rather than chronic pain, but “once you get into the chronic realm, it is in generally better for neuropathic rather than musculoskeletal pain.” With neuropathic pain, the goal is to reduce pain signals resulting from nerve damage. “With musculoskeletal pain, very often the goal is to increase activity and strengthen muscles and ligaments.”

Painful medical procedures are usually predictable and generate anxiety that is enhanced by environmental cues. Induction for painful medical procedures includes identifying the threat, determining absolute environmental cues, deep relaxation, and anchoring suggestions to threatening cues with posthypnotic suggestion. 

Literature supporting the efficacy of hypnosis for pain control, including a meta-analysis of 18 studies published in 2000 in the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, were reviewed. Of the 17 studies of controlled acute pain in which hypnosis was compared with standard control, hypnosis was better than control in eight studies, equaled control in three and, in 1, results were mixed. Of 12 studies in controlled chronic pain, hypnosis was superior to no treatment and equivalent to alternatives such as relaxation and autogenics, he concluded. According to the researchers, results showed “a moderate to large hypnoanalgesic effect, supporting the efficacy of hypnotic techniques for pain management.”

Two or three decades ago, almost no evidence from randomized, controlled trials was available to support the use of hypnosis for pain control. Today, the evidence is “pretty impressive, and it's somewhat paralleling the evidence that's coming out about how the brain processes pain,” said Dr. Patterson, who has been receiving funds for medical hypnosis research from the National Institutes of Health since 1989.

“Not only is this an effective treatment, but it really has science behind it,” he said.

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LAS VEGAS—The use of virtual reality and virtual reality hypnosis provides an analgesic effect, reducing pain and anxiety in patients with burns, for example, who describe pain during wound care as “severe to excruciating.”David R. Patterson, PhD, a Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University Washington, Seattle, provided an overview of virtual reality distraction, the combination of virtual reality distraction hypnosis, and virtual reality hypnosis in the management of patients with pain.

One study of 11 hospitalized patients at a major regional burn center who had their burn wounds debrided and dressed while partially submerged in a hydrotherapy tank found they reported significantly less pain when distracted with virtual reality. Each patient spent 3 minutes of wound care with no distraction and 3 minutes of wound care in virtual reality during a single wound care session. While they were wearing a virtual reality helmet, they had a reduction in time spent thinking about pain, a reduction in pain unpleasantness, a reduction in worse pain—and an increase in fun.

He explained the steps of virtual reality hypnosis. Following relaxation and instructions, patients appear to float down through a canyon, seeing the numbers 1 to 10. After appearing over a scenic lake, post-hypnotic suggestions are given and patients return up the canyon.

Studies have shown virtual reality hypnosis works for burn pain (n=1 and n=13), chronic neuropathic pain (n=13), and trauma pain. In a case series in patients with burn pain being treated for their wounds—92% of whom were male, 92% Caucasian, 46% with a burn to the face and mean age, 38 years—use of virtual reality hypnosis reduced all measures of pain and anxiety. Specifically, there was a 29% decrease in the amount of time that patients were thinking about their pain and an 11% decrease in the unpleasantness of their wound care. Worst pain scores dropped 20% and anxiety, 26%. The amount of opiates required for wound care dropped by half from baseline to day 3 in both the patients with burns and with trauma pain.

In a controlled study in 12 patients, virtual reality was also found to reduce pain during physical therapy for severe burns. One important question to ask, Dr. Patterson said, is whether virtual reality works when used over and over with the same patient; or, does the patient get bored with virtual reality?

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HE 27-year-old, who was left contemplating suicide in a bid to escape the attacks, says her life has been transformed thanks to hypnotherapy.

UNTIL recently, Heather McCartney suffered such severe panic attacks she thought she was having a heart attack.

For 10 years she has been plagued by such terrible anxiety that there have been times she hasn’t felt able to leave the house and, at one stage, listening to music made “her skin crawl”.

Self-harming became a release for the 27-year-old and, at her lowest points, she even contemplated suicide.

But Heather’s life has now been transformed thanks to hypnotherapy.

After just a handful of sessions, she is once more learning to lead a normal life – from going out to the cinema with friends to getting back behind the wheel of her car.

She is now even training to become a make-up artist.

These are everyday events for most people but were impossible for Heather just months ago.

She said: “My life has completely changed since I started hypnosis.

“I am still on anti-depressants and seeing a psychologist, both of which I am sure have played a part, but even after just one session of hypnosis I felt so much more relaxed and was even able to go to a restaurant with my parents afterwards.

“It wasn’t easy but I was able to do it and I wouldn’t have been able to do so before.

“It really has been amazing.”

Heather first started experiencing anxiety when sitting her Highers.

Despite being a good student, used to getting top marks, she began to worry uncontrollably about the exams.

She said: “I had never experienced anything like it before. I just found myself getting really stressed, far more so than people usually would about exams. I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to be the best.”

Nonetheless, with good grades secured, Heather went to Glasgow University to study Classical Civilization, French and Italian.

Sadly, though, her anxiety got worse.

Going to lectures was a daily endurance test for Heather and, at just 17, she found university life too much to cope with.

She said: “I felt like I was going into an exam every time I had a lecture. I felt really sick and nervous every day.

“Because of the course I had chosen, I also had a much more intense timetable than most first year students and I simply felt unprepared to cope with it.

“Looking back, I think I was quite young to be away from my family too, and, just before I started, I split up with a guy I had been seeing for a few years so I don’t think that helped either.”

It was at this point that Heather started to self-harm.

She said: “I know people think it is about attention-seeking but it really wasn’t for me.

“I did it out of frustration at myself.”

Living in a flat with other students, Heather wasn’t able to hide her problems for long.

She said: “I was hardly leaving the flat and wearing scarves tied round my wrists, so they looked quite fashionable but it wasn’t enough to hide what was going on.

“My flatmates eventually said to me that what was happening wasn’t right and I needed to get help.

“I have them to thank for making me tell someone how I was feeling.

“My family were really shocked and upset when they found out how bad I was, even though there had been times when they had come through to Glasgow to take me home because they knew from talking to me that I was having a bad time.”

Halfway through her second year, Heather, from Lanark, left university to return home.

She tried to go back to uni several times but struggled so badly that she finally gave up completely just months before graduation.

After a while, she started work for her dad’s insurance broker business, while DJ-ing at weekends, but this also became too much for her.

Heather said: “I think I was doing too much. It was as if I was trying to lead two lives.

“There was the sensible, responsible me who was working for my dad and then there was the other me who still wanted to go out and enjoy myself.”

Eventually, regular panic attacks – sometimes as many as two a day – forced Heather to stop all work. The attacks could be so severe that she felt as if she was dying.

She said: “I really can’t describe how awful they were, they really were the worst thing ever.

“I began to fear going anywhere or doing anything in case I got one.

“My mum became my comfort blanket because I would only go anywhere when I was with her.

“They came on at any time, even doing something as simple as going to the supermarket.

“I had some on trains, which is terrible because all you want to do is get off and you can’t.

“I also had one while I was driving, which was terrifying and put me off driving again.”

Unable to live a normal life, Heather became so low that she rarely left the house and, at points, she even contemplated suicide.

She said: “It was like there was no relief from feeling that bad and there was no enjoyment to be found in anything in life.

“I had become a shell of the person I had been. I found it hard to understand why I felt the way I did, as well.

“I don’t come from a broken home and we never had money worries – I had a really happy childhood and have good relationships with my parents and my brother.

“I lost both my grans in a space of 13 months when I was in my early 20s, which did set me back at the time, but otherwise I had a really happy, stable life.

“I think it just goes to show that mental health problems really can affect anyone.”

After hitting a really low point this spring, Heather decided to give hypnosis a try.

She had her first session at the end of May. Heather said: “In the first session, all you really do is go into a really deep relaxation but I could feel the difference right away.

“Each session since has helped me a little more and I really do feel now that I am beginning to come out of the other side.

“Don’t get me wrong, I still get bad days when I can feel anxious but I can cope with them so much better.”

While living at home, Heather had begun a blog to review beauty products, but earlier this year she decided to blog about her mental health problems instead, in the hope of helping others.

She said: “The response I had from people was just incredible and it really has been a huge support to me.

“That has given me strength but I also realised how important it is to talk about the problems I have been through so other people talk about them too.

“I feel it is really important to be open and honest about my problems so other people might realise they are not alone.

“And that there is hope.”



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A hospital patient whose day job is being a hypnotist has had his sixth operation without anaesthetic.

Alex Lenkei chose to forgo traditional anaesthetic and instead put himself in a trance for the ankle replacement surgery.

While it was not the 66-year-old's first foray into the world of operations under hypnosis - he has had six operations that way - it was the first time for orthopaedic surgeon Dominic Nielsen.

Mr Nielsen performed the two-hour operation, which involved saw cutting through Mr Lenkei's bone, at Epsom Hospital in Surrey.

"It certainly was a bit nerve-wracking making the first cut, not being sure whether he would be able to feel it, but once we got through that bit it became very much like doing any other ankle replacement," said Mr Nielsen.

The operation took two hours and involved sawing the bone "He did amazingly well with the whole thing.

"To be honest, it was just like doing any other operation.

"Alex went through the process, which took a very short period of time, and he told us he was ready to go ahead ... It sort of went out of my mind that he was awake and able to correspond.

"He made a couple of comments during the operation which obviously reminded us that it was a strange experience.

"He commented at one point on the noise of the saws and was just asking how it was going. It was very strange."

An anaesthetist was on hand in case anything went wrong during the July 8 operation, but he was not needed.

Mr Lenkei, from Worthing, West Sussex, said: "I'm not averse to anaesthetic - it's just that my pain control is a hell of a lot better than the medical profession's and I heal a lot quicker because my body doesn't have to get rid of all of the chemicals.

"Most doctors are scared because obviously it is not something that they come across in the medical profession, as such.

"The brain is a very sophisticated computer and if you press the right buttons it will do amazing things - if you press the right buttons it will switch certain things off."

Mr Lenkei, who suffers from osteoarthritis, six operations without general anaesthesia include surgery on his hand, a hernia removal and freeing a trapped nerve near his elbow.

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Giuliana Rancic's hoarding was a central theme on the latest episode of "Giuiana & Bill." It had become a huge issue of concern for virtually everyone in her life. Her husband, Bill, saw her stockpile unused strollers at home in their garage. Their nanny saw Giuliana refuse to donate any clothes that baby Duke had grown out of. And her office at work was filled with cardboard boxes full of stuff.

So, Giuliana's friend Robbie organized a rather unique sort of pseudo-intervention. Rather than surround Giuliana with loved ones who could voice their concern and get her to face her problem, he brought in a hypnotist named Tom to "cure" her.

“The more you can remove the clutter, the more freedom you have to lead a simpler life," Tom said during her session.

Giuliana certainly seemed to feel that the hypnosis netted a positive result. "Oh my gosh. I am so excited right now. This whole hypnosis thing was amazing," she said. "I feel like I can go in there and get rid of some stuff.”

If she did clean things up, that would be a great relief to Bill. He told Larry King earlier this summer that Giuliana's hoarding was his biggest pet peeve. "“She’s messy as hell ... I call her car the dirty diaper. It’s not normal, Larry. She collects things. She has 12 strollers. She’s on the borderline of being a hoarder."

Giuliana repeated on Twitter that she thinks the hypnosis did work. She also denied having a problem, saying that she was a "collector" and not a "hoarder."

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We all know that exercise is good for you. Exercise doesn't really mean going to the gym, it is anything that moves your body. Cycling is easier than running for those who are not fit enough yet and it can save you money in commuting. You can also have a nice day out with the family. 

Here are some nice posters we found.

We do not just use hypnosis and hypnotherapy to help people, we help people in a holistic way!

Method used on allergic patient dates back to 19th century
(By Elisa Cecchi). Padua, August 21 - A woman in Padua had surgery to remove a skin tumor by hypnosis instead of anesthesia in a groundbreaking anesthesiological method which updates 19th century techniques used for minor pathologies, a medical journal said Wednesday. The finding will reportedly enable other tumor patients who have had allergic reactions to anesthetic agents or are considered at risk of an anaphylactic shock to go under the knife by hypnosis The patient in Padua is reportedly allergic to a number of chemicals and had a previous anaphylactic shock under local anesthesia. Her case is described by Enrico Facco, an anesthesiologist and professor at the neuroscience department of the University of Padua, in the September issue of medical journal Anaesthesia. "The patient, a 42-year-old woman, had several allergies to chemical substances and previous anaphylactic reactions to local anesthesia," Facco said. "She had a skin tumor removed from her right thigh with hypnosis alone as a form of anesthesia. "The hypnosis was induced by making her close her eyes while at the same time giving verbal suggestions to achieve a relaxed state and sense of well being", the anesthesiologist said. The hypnosis was continued by "immersing the patient in the image of a pleasant landscape, a tropical beach, and by creating an hypnotic analgesia focused on the location where surgery was taking place according to hypnosis protocols already used for orthodontic sedation". The operation reportedly lasted 20 minutes during which the patient's blood pressure and heart rate remained stable. She did not feel any pain as the tumor was removed with an incision of 6x3 cm, Facco said. After being replaced by pharmacological anesthesia, hypnosis could now be used again in specific cases to control anxiety and raise the threshold of pain, the doctor noted, adding that hypnosis can be used alone or together with medication for a more effective treatment. "This case confirms that hypnosis is effective as the only anesthetic method in selected cases by preserving the patient from pain and surgical stress on the same level as commonly used anesthetics", said Facco, citing James Esdaile's 1846 work 'Mesmerism in India and its practical applications in surgery and medicine' which described over 300 cases of patients who had surgery by hypnosis.

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