Sleeping pills are effective in getting you off to sleep but as we know, it isn’t always the quantity of sleep that is important, but the quality.  The state of relaxation you can achieve during hypnosis enables a more natural sleep pattern to establish itself and for the body to experience the deep restorative phase of sleep which is vital to a good night’s sleep.  Because pills simply ‘knock you out’ and may produce other side effects, hypnotherapy can be the best long-term solution for sleep problems.

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."



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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—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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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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A new review of the scientific literature studying hypnosis, in the journal Nature Reviews Neuroscience, by Oakley and Halligan, discusses the potential for hypnosis to provide insights into brain mechanisms involved in attention, motor control, pain perception, beliefs and volition and also to produce informative analogues of clinical conditions. This is a critical discussion as hypnosis is used as a psychological treatments and, recently, as an investigative tool in cognitive neuroscience.

An iconic vision of the menacing magician involves placing a hapless person from the audience into a hypnotic trance. Svengali. You are getting sleeeepy. A scam, right? Not so fast. According to to this new review, as well as our colleagues who study the brains of people who are prone to trancelike states, hypnosis is not necessarily hocus-pocus. The age-old practice profoundly alters neural circuits involved in perception and decision making, changing what people see, hear, feel, and believe to be true. Recent experiments led people who were hypnotized to “see” colors where there were none. Others lost the ability to make simple decisions. Some people looked at common English words and thought they were gibberish.

Some of the critical experiments were led by Amir Raz, a cognitive neuroscientist at McGill University in Montreal, who is an amateur magician. Raz wanted to do something really impressive that other neuroscientists could not ignore. So he hypnotized people and gave them the Stroop test. In this classic paradigm, you are shown words in block letters that are colored red, blue, green, or yellow. But here’s the rub. Sometimes the word “red” is colored green. Or the word “yellow” is shown in blue. You have to press a button stating the correct color. Reading is so deeply engrained in our brains that it will take you a little bit longer to override the automatic reading of a word like “red” and press a button that says “green.”*

Sixteen people, half of them highly hypnotizable and half of them resistant, came into Raz’s lab. (The purpose of the study, they were told, was to investigate the effects of suggestion on cognitive performance.) After each person underwent a hypnotic induction, Raz gave them these instructions:

Very soon you will be playing a computer game inside a brain scanner. Every time you hear my voice over the intercom, you will immediately realize that meaningless symbols are going to appear in the middle of the screen. They will feel like characters in a foreign language that you do not know, and you will not attempt to attribute any meaning to them. This gibberish will be printed in one of four ink colors: red, blue, green, or yellow. Although you will only attend to color, you will see all the scrambled signs crisply. Your job is to quickly and accurately depress the key that corresponds to the color shown. You can play this game effortlessly. As soon as the scanning noise stops, you will relax back to your regular reading self.

Raz then ended the hypnosis session, leaving each person with what is called a posthypnotic suggestion—an instruction to carry out an action while not hypnotized. Days later, they entered the brain scanner.

In highly hypnotizables, when the instruction came over the intercom, the Stroop effect was obliterated, Raz said. They saw English words as gibberish and named colors instantly. But those who were resistant to hypnosis could not override the conflict, he said. The Stroop effect prevailed, rendering them significantly slower in naming the colors. When the brain scans of the two groups were compared, a distinct pattern appeared. In the hypnotizables, Raz found, the visual area of the brain that usually decodes written words did not become active. And a region in the front of the brain that usually detects conflict was similarly dampened. Top-down processes overrode circuits devoted to reading and detecting conflict. Most of the time people see what they expect to see and believe what they already believe—unless hypnosis trips up their brain circuitry. Most of the time, bottom-up information matches top-down expectation, but hypnosis creates a mismatch. You imagine something different, so it is different.

The top-down nature of human cognition goes far to explain not only hypnosis but also the extraordinary powers of placebos (a sugar pill will make you feel better), nocebos (a witch doctor can make you ill), talk therapy, meditation, and magical stagecraft. We are not saying that hypnosis can cure your cancer, but these effects all demonstrate that suggestion can physically alter brain function.

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