The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it.

Wise words. If you do not know if something is possible maybe you just have not found out yet how to do it!

I thought this might make you laugh

This short animation helps many people understand what depression is. Have a look worth watching.

Q: Is hypnotherapy effective for generalized anxiety and panic disorders?

A: Hypnosis is not just a parlor trick. When taken seriously, it is an effective relaxation technique. And some people say it helps manage their anxiety.

Here's how it works: You're invited to relax. You focus your attention inward. You use your imagination to alter your perceptions.

The hypnotherapist may make suggestions. But he or she cannot control you. You remain alert and in control of your own thoughts and actions.

The goal of hypnosis is to divert your attention. By turning your thoughts away from what's bothering you, you may find some relief.

Some people are more easily hypnotized than others. This trait is called "hypnotizability." About 10 percent of people are highly hypnotizable. About 10 percent can't be hypnotized at all. The vast majority of adults can enter at least a light hypnotic state.

Psychotherapy and anti-anxiety medications are still the most effective anxiety treatments. But hypnosis is worth trying, especially if you're motivated and reasonably able to be hypnotized.

Hypnosis rarely gets rid of all anxiety symptoms. Sometimes hypnosis can reduce the physical discomfort of anxiety disorders (muscle tension, trembling, unsettled stomach, or rapid breathing). By controlling physical symptoms, you prevent them from making you more anxious.

Panic anxiety symptoms are forceful and concentrated, so they're tough to manage with hypnosis. But hypnosis may help you master your fear of the things that trigger panic.

A hypnotherapist may be a psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker, or psychiatric nurse. Whoever you consult, that person should be licensed in their field.

Also, don't start hypnosis for anxiety unless you've seen someone who's trained to evaluate your anxiety symptoms first. That person should be able to provide or refer you for whatever anxiety treatment you may need.

(Michael Craig Miller, M.D., is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and an associate physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Mass. He is a Senior Medical Editor at Harvard Health Publications.)

(For additional consumer health information, please visit http://www.health.harvard.edu.)

ARCATA, Calif., December 12, 2013 – Hypnosis has provided safe, comfortable and natural sedation during medical and dental procedures since before chemical anesthesia existed. The well-documented benefits include less need for medication, shorter procedures, faster recovery and cost savings. Despite the long history and dramatic results, many people find this amazing or difficult to believe.

Certainly there are less extreme applications of hypnosis. For dental patients in particular, it is very common to have fear or anxiety about receiving treatment. Some people have a sensitive gag reflex that makes it difficult to accept a dentist’s instruments in their mouth. Others damage their teeth with the unconscious act of grinding or clenching (bruxism). And still more people smoke tobacco, bite their fingernails, suck their thumb or fail to follow oral hygiene regimens prescribed by their dentist.

In each of these examples, a well-trained clinical or medical hypnotist can help resolve the issue with complementary or adjunct care to the dental work. This benefits both the dental patient and the dentist.

Scott Sandland, C.Ht. is a Board member of the International Medical and Dental Hypnotherapy Association and has worked on staff providing hypnosis in Southern California dental offices for over a decade. He says “most dentists get introduced to information about hypnosis in dental school, but then never incorporate it in their practice because they don’t know it is available locally or they get used to other tools.” 

Hypnosis in dentistry is more common than it may seem. YouTube features many thousands of videos on the topic, including interviews with dentists who simultaneously perform hypnosis. 

In the first video, dentist and hypnotist Dr. David Grayson addresses many of the examples above. He also mentions the ability of patients to control their bleeding in response to hypnotic suggestion. He says of this phenomenon, “If I hadn’t done that myself I probably would be skeptical but I did it and I saw it so I know it’s possible and done.”


Recently I underwent a dental procedure called “scaling and root planing,” explained in this video. While not as severe as a root canal or tooth extraction, patients almost always receive chemical anesthesia. This time it was done with only hypnosis provided by Juan Acosta, C.Ht. of San Diego, Calif.

Two fascinating aspects of the experience warrant mention. First, anesthesia implies numbness, the absence of sensation. This is typically the result when chemicals are used and can often be accomplished with hypnosis as well. However, as the video above documents, this experience was more like analgesia where there was sensation but not pain.

Hypnotic pain relief is often said to work by the “gate control theory” involving an interruption of a neural signal before it reaches the pain center of the brain. This is more likely to create hypnotic anesthesia. In this case, “mindfulness” allowed perception of sensation but separated and eliminated any emotional response to it, resulting in hypnotic analgesia.

The second factor worth noting is Acosta’s point in the video about hypnosis working based on expectation. In all ways except one, the dental visit shown exactly met expectations. 

The night before the procedure, the magnitude of the impending experience seemed quite large to me. Reflecting on the after-effects of completing other big achievements, it seemed reasonable to expect a “big emotional drop” following the dental work. Interestingly, this did not occur.

Seeking to explain why not led to Wes Rocki, MD, PhD, a holistic physician practicing in Northern Virginia using hypnosis as the basic modality to treat pain and chronic diseases. He explains that “the post-procedure emotional drop did not occur because hypnosis prevented the emotional peak that otherwise would be created by the anticipation anxiety combined with acute stress related to the dental procedure.”

Specifically addressing the body’s chemical response to anxiety and stress, Rocki adds, “hypnosis therefore may eliminate or lower the need for injectable anesthesia which commonly includes a numbing agent, novocaine (or derivatives), combined with a vasoconstrictor from the epinephrine family of chemicals. Since epinephrine is a stress hormone it may potentiate the anxiety and in some people may induce heart palpitations and a feeling of rush or heat in the chest and/or head. Since those stressors are commonly prevented by the use of hypnosis, the body did not need to react with the post procedure emotional drop.”  

As the video shows, hypnosis kept me calm, relaxed and unflinching throughout the dental work. Sandland points out, “this worked not because two hypnotists were involved but really due to just one. Many more are available to support dentists and make visiting them easier for dental patients.”

Eight days after filming this video, the same procedure was performed on the other half of my mouth, again without chemical anesthesia. At the conclusion of that visit, the hygienist observed my physical response was the same as the first time, a testament to both mindfulness and self-hypnosis.



Read more: http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/manifest-positivity/2013/dec/14/hypnosis-dentistry-long-history-and-new-insights/#ixzz2njWpUPvi 
Follow us: @wtcommunities on Twitter

Hypnosis for childbirth has garnered a lot of attention in recent years and even has a celebrity following with the likes of Kate Middleton and Kim Kardashian reportedly using the techniques to make their experiences easier.

If you’re pregnant and worried about giving birth, you might have wondered if the techniques would work for you.

Here, find out what hypnosis really is, how it works, and if it can really make labor pain-free.

Fear causes pain

Forget the image of a hypnotherapist waving a clock and taking control of your mind. “The definition of hypnosis is relaxation plus focus,” said Cynthia Overgard, founder of HypnoBirthing of Connecticut, a prenatal education center in Westport.  Just like yoga requires relaxation and deep breathing during a physically challenging moment, hypnosis can do the same for the pregnant mom.

HypnoBirthing, a specific hypnosis method and program, is based on the idea that fear and tension will cause pain. When a woman is in labor, oxytocin—an endorphin known as the feel-good, love hormone—not only produces contractions but can help the mother to have a safe, comfortable birth, according to Overgard.

“Where birth ends up getting complicated for humans is that women often don’t feel 100 percent safe, trusting and relaxed,” she said.

And when that happens, a woman’s body stops producing oxytocin.  Adrenaline starts to rise, and it redirects blood flow away from the cervix and the uterus into the arms and legs. The result is a flight or fight response, which can make a woman feel anxious, fearful, and even prevent her cervix from dilating and slow down labor.

“Adrenaline or fear, literally (and) physically, turns off labor,” Overgard said. “This goes way beyond just positive thinking. This really comes down to the chemical hormones. It’s a total, pure science.”

How hypnosis can help

HypnoBirthing uses tools like deep breathing, visualization and relaxation techniques that can help the woman maintain a calm body and mind.  During labor, she might dim the lights, keep the room quiet and play relaxing music.  

Another major component of the program is listening to guided relaxation, which is an intentional way to practice hypnosis and condition the mind and body to be calm and relaxed. Mothers also listen to birth affirmations which can make them feel confident in their ability to give birth.  

“Your subconscious mind is hearing messages that bypass the conscious mind, and they change the beliefs in your mind,” Overgard said.

Word choice is important

Another focus of hypnosis is on the words used before and during labor and delivery. “The words we say and the words we hear have a direct impact on the physiology of our body,” Overgard said. In fact, when reassuring words are used as women were administered a local anesthetic, they experienced less pain, according to a study in the journal Anesthesia & Analgesia.  

“There are subtle ways that you can change the words that are used that can really change that whole experience,” said Dr. William Camann, co-author of the study and director of obstetric anesthesia at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Mass. For example, in HypnoBirthing, “sensation” is used instead of “pain” and “surge” instead of “contraction.”

Colin Christopher, a clinical hypnotherapist who works with expecting mothers throughout their pregnancies, said his clients have experienced shorter labors and a significant reduction in pain. In addition to relaxation techniques and visualization, he uses the hypno-epidural technique to simulate what an epidural would feel like. And instead of using the word “pain,” “we talk about allowing your body to become focused, calm and relaxed,” he said.

Does it really work?

According to the HypnoBirthing Institute, mothers who used the method were less likely to have cesarean sections, interventions and pre-term babies. About 25 percent described their birth as painful and 10 percent as extremely painful.

Yet measuring how effective hypnosis is really depends on your goals, especially because childbirth can be so unpredictable. So if your hope is to use hypnosis to try to avoid an epidural but end up getting it anyway, “you could be very disappointed, because the expectations were not realistic,” according to Camann, who is also the author ofEasy Labor: Every Woman's Guide to Choosing Less Pain and More Joy During Childbirth.

Plus, if you use hypnosis, it doesn’t mean you can’t also have a doula or get an epidural. “Many of the different methods of labor pain relief are compatible with each other,” Camann said.

“The goal of HypnoBirthing is not natural birth,” Overgard said. “The goal is to be calm and in control.”

A novel approach to treating children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder could help them navigate their world by teaching them to turn their symptoms into strengths.


In the article "Symptoms as Solutions: Hypnosis and Biofeedback for Autonomic Regulation in Autism Spectrum Disorders," published in the winter edition of theAmerican Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, Dr. Laurence Sugarman, a pediatrician and researcher at Rochester Institute of Technology, details a treatment method that teaches affected children how to control their psychophysiology and behavior using computerized biofeedback and clinical hypnosis.

The article coincides with the publication of the second edition of Sugarman's textbook, Therapeutic Hypnosis with Children and Adolescents, Crown House Publishing, 2013, written with William Wester.

Sugarman's model is tied to learning to self-regulate the autonomic nervous system—including the fight or flight mechanism—that, for many people with autism, is an engine idling on high.

"Teaching kids with autism spectrum disorder skills in turning down their fight or flight response and turning up the opposite may fundamentally allow them to be more socially engaging, decrease some of the need for cognitive rigidity and repetitive behaviors and, more importantly, allow them to feel better," says Sugarman, director of RIT's Center for Applied Psychophysiology and Self-regulation in the Institute for Health Sciences and Technology.

His treatment model underlies three ongoing projects at the center involving different age groups: teaching coping skills to RIT students with anxiety or autism; developing a computer-based role-playing game using autonomous biofeedback for teenagers; and creating a new service and research program for family members with autism for AutismUp (formerly Upstate New York Families for Effective Autism Treatment). The latter, called the Parent Effectiveness Program, began this fall and will repeat in the spring. The study trains parents of young children diagnosed with autism and measures results of their training on the behaviors of their affected children.

Sugarman developed his method in response to the rise in autism spectrum disordershe has witnessed in his 30 years working with children in primary care and, then, in developmental behavioral pediatrics at the Easter Seals Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Rochester. Instead of trying to change the symptoms associated with autism, his approach recognizes the symptoms as an effort to self-regulate inner turmoil.

The treatment integrates autonomic biofeedback and clinical hypnosis into his therapy. Sensors attached to his patients measure respiration, perspiration, heart rate and variation, and blood flow/circulation. Children with autism learn to correlate the signals and visual representations displayed on the computer screen (the "Dynamic Feedback Signal Set") with their emotions. During therapy sessions, the children practice changing their feedback response and learn to manipulate their own internal wiring. Sugarman uses clinical hypnosis to generalize and internalize feedback techniques—discerning situations and controlling their responses—into their daily lives.

Sugarman is a proponent of clinical hypnosis. He is the past-president of the American Board of Medical Hypnosis, the credentialing body for competency in clinical hypnosis for physicians in the United States. He also has a long association with the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis as an approved consultant, fellow in clinical hypnosis, past vice president and past co-director of education for the society.

"Hypnosis is a 250-year-old Western study of how social influence and internal physiology can be changed," he says. "Mindfulness is a slice of this."

Sugarman teaches pediatric hypnosis workshops around the world. This fall, he presented at the Regional Center for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in Oslo, Norway, and the Milton Erickson Geselleschaft in Heidelberg, Germany. In Heidelberg, Sugarman also presented his treatment model and research using biofeedback and hypnosis with children with autism receiving "very affirmative responses."

"We think we can make a big difference for young people with autism spectrum disorder," Sugarman says. "The need is there."



If you would like to find more about how Birmingham Hypnotherapy Clinic can help you for problems such as anxiety, confidence, low self esteem, hypnobirth, gastric band hypnosis, sports performance hypnosis, weight loss hypnosis, sexual problems contact Birmingham Hypnotherapy Clinic.

A NORTH-EAST hospital is offering classes in HypnoBirthing to expectant mothers and their partners.

The five-week classes run by the North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust are being held on a Saturday morning to help women to have a more relaxing, comfortable birth by using self-hypnosis, relaxation and breathing techniques.

The course is being run by accredited HypnoBirthing practitioner Vicki Brown, who qualified as a midwife nine years ago and has seven years experience providing HypnoBirthing classes privately.

Each course includes a two and a half-hour class every week for five weeks. As they are not funded by the NHS there is a charge of 25, which includes a book and CD. The sessions cover the practical aspects of birth such as antenatal education as well as the HypnoBirthing techniques.

Partners learn what their role is and how they can help, such as using massage techniques and also breathing and relaxation techniques along with the women. There will be a maximum of six couples per course.

Ms Brown said: "Women who use HypnoBirthing experience less pain and therefore need less pain relief. It helps the mind's messages which are sent to the brain to be much more positive, which helps women to relax and remain calm."

Teacher, Rachael Hooker, 27, from Stockton, gave birth to her son eight-month-old Sebastian at the University Hospital of North Tees.

She said: "I decided to do the programme with my husband, and we had such a good experience with it. "My husband Chris was a bit daunted, but after the classes, he knew what to expect.

"He had a role and helped me through it. It is fantastic that this is now available at a local NHS trust."

Tamera Foster, the latest contestant to be voted off the X Factor, says she had hypnotherapy to help remember her words after struggling in previous performances.