The first port of call for any sports person trying to raise their game would usually be a sports psychologist. But Tom, an American Football player and team captain was looking for a fresh approach. He knew what he needed was to find the motivation to keep on practicing, to be committed to his gym routine plus have more confidence in both himself and his game.

“I chose hypnotherapy because I like to consult a variety of sources to find solutions and I felt it could help me deal with any issues on a more conscious level.

“When I looked into it, I wasn’t necessarily set on it. I was actually quite sceptical that it would work.  But I decided it was worth an experiment, even for just the placebo effect.

“What hypnotherapy did for me was to make me more mindful of my own thoughts and give me the opportunity to look at the causes of the separate issues which were holding me back from my training regime.

“Hypnotherapy is a different learning style from sports psychology and allowed me to achieve small goals and make constructive changes in easy stages rather than be completely focused on the end goal.

“While it might be a bit early to say that hypnotherapy has dramatically transformed my life, I know that it has worked at some level and given me the power to think and feel more positively about my sport.

“The sessions start with a consultation to determine what specifically is affecting you, then Georgios will provide techniques to address these problems. This is so important as he gives you the tools to work on yourself which helps you understand how your mind thinks about things you hadn’t normally considered. After this, the therapist will make you feel very relaxed and affirm your goals and techniques with the spoken word.

“My advice is to give hypnotherapy a go, it has made me much more mindful of the things I used to do without thinking about. This has aided me in my goals and motivation.”

Hsiao Yu-ho, a Taiwanese hypnotherapist who went to Guangzhou in 2007 to expand her business, said that hypnotherapy is a form of psychological counseling and there is nothing mysterious about it. Hypnotherapy has gradually come to be accepted by Chinese consumers after the release of Inception, the 2010 Hollywood blockbuster that dealt with both hypnotism and dreams.

Hsiao's clients typically range between the ages of 20 and 40. Most of them are seeking psychological help for problems with work or with their love life.

"Most people have the misconception that hypnotherapy is a cure for insomnia, which is totally incorrect. Hypnotherapy can help a person relax, but it is different from sleeping. People also believe that it can erase memories, but this would be a serious violation of the ethics prescribed by the job. Every master of hypnotism warns their students never to erase people's memories," said Hsiao.

"Many female clients ask to erase their memories of their former boyfriends, which is very dangerous," Hsiao said.

When a hypnotherapist meets with a client, the first thing they have to do is to win their trust. Then they will attempt to discover the easiest way to hypnotize the client. When the client is in a state of hypnosis, the therapist will guide them in certain ways, including telling them to imagine a staircase with 10 steps, then telling them to walk down the steps one by one as the hypnotherapist counts from one to 10. Then when the client gets to the bottom, they are asked to open the door they see before them, open it and look into their subconscious. When the client wakes up, the hypnotherapist will analyze and "restructure" the mind of the clients, making them feel better.

A 20-something sought help from Hsiao because she was afraid of the dark and was too scared to do overtime in her office at night. Hsiao uncovered the memory that she had been locked in a dark room at the age of four. Another woman in her mid-thirties would shake with fear when she laid eyes on her female superiors. Hsiao found out that she had been frequently scolded by her mother from a very young age and associated her female supervisors with the image of her mother.



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Pop star Ke$Ha loves to go back in time under hypnosis and check out her past lives.

The Die Young singer has been trying out past-life regressions in a bid to get to grips with her "issues" and she admits she looks forward to each session.

During an appearance on U.S. show Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday (14Oct13), Ke$ha said, "I actually do it frequently... I've been a warrior princess and I've also been a dude many times... really cool ones.

"I've had a lot of different, weird past life regressions because I have issues and so I try to go back and figure out why I've (got) problems... It's cool. I love it."

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(ECNS) – An increasing number of urban white collar workers in Guangzhou are resorting to hypnosis to relieve pressure from work and life, according to xkb.com.cn.

The therapy can run from 600 yuan ($98) to 8,000 yuan ($1,311) per hour.

"As far as I know, the most expensive one in Guangzhou is 6,000 yuan ($983) per hour," said Xiao Yuhe, a hypnotist from Taiwan who runs a business in Guangzhou.

"Hypnosis is a kind of psychological counseling that helps people deal with stress."

On the Chinese mainland, psychological counseling and hypnotherapy have attracted attention in recent years, and most visitors are white collar workers aged between 20 to 40.

Xiao said the movie "Inception" has contributed to the trend: "Many people came to me after that movie was released."

Xiao added that many people have mistaken hypnosis for the treatment of insomnia, but "hypnosis is far different from normal sleep. Even though Hypnosis can help people relax and fall asleep, it can't be a special treatment for sleep problems."

Many girls have also come to Xiao, hoping to delete memories of their ex-boyfriends.

The original intention of hypnosis is to release a subject's subconscious, rather than hide rational awareness, Xiao explained.

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Although some health care providers may overlook alternative therapies when treating functional bowel disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome, University of Florida faculty members have found evidence that hypnosis and cognitive behavioral therapy may benefit patients suffering from these diseases.

Led by researchers Oliver Grundmann of the UF College of Pharmacy and Saunjoo “Sunny” Yoon of the UF College of Nursing, the study was published in the European Journal of Integrative Medicine, which highlighted it as the “Editors Choice” in its August issue.

“Our work being highlighted in this way indicates that we are able to raise awareness for the issue of a more integrative and holistic approach to medical care in the area of functional bowel disorders in the scientific community — a goal that both Dr. Yoon and I have been striving for in our professional endeavors for many years,” said Grundmann, a clinical assistant professor in the College of Pharmacy.

The researchers reviewed 19 recent clinical trials to examine the potential benefits of using four common mind-body therapies — yoga, hypnotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy and biofeedback — in the treatment of functional bowel disorders. In particular, the researchers found indications there were some benefits to hypnotherapy and cognitive behavioral therapy.

“It is still very hard to replicate some of the studies or generalize the findings,” said Yoon, an associate professor in the College of Nursing, adding there is a need for more studies. “Some of the research methodologies are not consistent from one study to another and some of the studies have a small sample size or the designs do not provide the rigor or obvious protocol.”

Functional bowel disorders occur when the stomach and bowels aren’t working properly and are typically accompanied by stomach pain, bloating and other intestinal symptoms. Treatments typically target these symptoms.

For about five years, Yoon and Grundmann have been studying and publishing material on complementary and alternative medicine, which includes treatments with dietary supplements, acupuncture and yoga.

Because functional bowel disorders are chronic conditions that come and go over time, patients sometimes develop negative attitudes that can affect treatments. Cognitive behavioral therapy is used in an attempt to help patients feel more positive. In one study the researchers examined, cognitive behavioral therapy worked as well as antidepressant medications.

Hypnosis, on the other hand, is used in an attempt to reduce pain. Some of the studies the researchers reviewed showed that hypnotherapy worked as well as medication to reduce pain in patients.

But although the results were promising, they were not conclusive, Yoon said.

“A lot of times we get contradictory results from the clinical trials, so it can be confusing for the readers or the clinicians when they read it,” Yoon said. “Our article can give them a better picture or better view about currently available clinical trials and the results of the trials.”

Yoon said doctors should not exclude complementary therapies when treating functional bowel disorders.

“We just need to have an open mind to the therapies that are not familiar in Western countries,” Yoon said.

The open-access version of the article can be found athttp://authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S1876382013000590.

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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—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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