We're on TV - Astro小太阳《你好奇的事 III》（第3 集：催眠治疗师）

催眠师究竟有什么魔力控制别人的行为呢？

姿姿想尝试催眠珠珠
姿姿从电视节目上看见，当某人被催眠师催眠后，他会依照催眠师的指示做出不同的动作。姿姿很好奇催眠师究竟有什么魔力控制别人的行为。于是她就依样葫芦，拿起怀表在珠珠面前摇晃，尝试催眠她。珠珠不想当姿姿的试验品，于是就带她到Spectrum Of Life保健中心寻找催眠师Mr Koo解答疑团。

  

催眠师并不能控制人的行为
Mr Koo 说，很多人以为催眠师能控制别人的行为，其实是被电视节目或电影的剧情影响。事实上，催眠师并没有控制别人思想或者行为的能力。被催眠的人虽然看起来是在睡眠状态，但他的头脑依然保持清醒和有意识的。催眠是一种心理治疗的方法，催眠师会通过特殊的技巧引导被催眠的人高度集中注意力，进入放松状态，唤醒人的潜意识。然后催眠师就会从人的潜意识上进行调整，从而改善他们的情绪和习惯等等。


  

催眠治疗能对人们带来怎样的帮助呢？

催眠能治疗某些疾病、心理障碍和坏习惯
对催眠有了初步了解后，姿姿和珠珠对催眠治疗更感兴趣了。她们很好奇到底催眠治疗能对人们带来什么帮助。Mr Koo解释说，催眠治疗的范围很广泛，一些疾病或心理障碍都能透过催眠治疗而痊愈。例如某些人在面对外人时会产生恐惧，而出现口吃、心悸、脸红等状况，他可以透过催眠治疗来克服恐惧，提高自信心，令口吃、心悸和脸红的问题不药而愈。除此之外，催眠治疗也能帮助人们摆脱创伤、焦虑、强迫症、紧张、冲动等情绪。催眠还能帮助人回溯过去，透过催眠疗法能让人对某件事的认知进行调整。


  


催眠治疗并无危险性
姿姿和珠珠都曾经在电视上看见一些被催眠的人情绪不稳定而失控大哭，她们很好奇为什么会出现那样的状况。她们也很想知道催眠治疗会不会有危险。为了找出答案，她们再次去请教Mr Koo。Mr Koo说，催眠治疗是非侵入性的疗法，而且被催眠的人本身也有危险意识，所以催眠治疗并没有危险性。可是在治疗的过程中，某些被催眠的人会因为被唤醒过去伤痛的回忆，而产生强烈的情绪反应例如哭泣、焦虑或身体的挣扎等等。


  
  

姿珠侠女介绍催眠注意事项
在分享重要讯息的单元里，姿姿和珠珠向观众讲解一些催眠必须注意的事项。例如：进行催眠时被催眠者应穿上舒服轻便的服饰，脱下皮带、眼镜、外套等等以摆脱束缚。催眠之前也要适度进食，避免吃太饱或饿肚子，否则会引起肚子不适而影响集中力。成人在进行催眠前不可饮酒，以免思绪混乱导致注意力无法集中。患有精神分裂症不适合接受催眠治疗。


  

资料来源： Astro 小太阳

此节目已经播放于10月5日（星期天）傍晚6.30pm。

Irritable bowel syndrome大腸激躁症

Definition
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common disorder that affects the large intestine (colon). Irritable bowel syndrome commonly causes cramping, abdominal pain, bloating, gas, diarrhea and constipation. IBS is a chronic condition that you will need to manage long term.

Only a small number of people with irritable bowel syndrome have severe signs and symptoms. Some people can control their symptoms by managing diet, lifestyle and stress. Others will need medication and counseling.


Symptoms

The signs and symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome can vary widely from person to person and often resemble those of other diseases. Among the most common are:

• Abdominal pain or cramping
• A bloated feeling
• Gas
• Diarrhea or constipation — sometimes alternating bouts of constipation and diarrhea
• Mucus in the stool

For most people, IBS is a chronic condition, although there will likely be times when the signs and symptoms are worse and times when they improve or even disappear completely.

Symptoms that may indicate a more serious condition include:

• Rectal bleeding
• Abdominal pain that progresses or occurs at night
• Weight loss

MIND: Tailored Gut directed Hypnotherapy for IBS

Hypnosis has been shown to be an effective treatment for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in a number of clinical studies. Hypnotherapy for IBS involves progressive relaxation, and then suggestions of soothing imagery and sensations focused on the individual’s symptoms. Improvements in overall well-being, quality of life, abdominal pain, constipation, diarrhea, and bloating have been noted.

Contrary to many portrayals in fiction, a clinical hypnotherapist has no power over the hypnotized person. The person is typically aware of what happens both during and after the hypnosis session. The treatment is generally comfortable and also can be effective when people are treated in groups.

Research has found that hypnotherapy may help improve the primary symptoms of IBS. It may also help relieve other symptoms suffered by many people with IBS such as nausea, fatigue, backache, and urinary problems. Hypnotherapy appears to offer symptomatic, psychological, and physiological benefit.

However, hypnosis should not be regarded as a cure-all. Up to 25% of patients fail to respond. Even when people do improve, conventional approaches to treatment should not always be ignored. It is still important that lifestyle factors such as diet are also taken into account. In addition, some people may find that an occasional loperamide or laxative, depending on the bowel habit abnormality, may be required.


Do the effects of hypnotherapy last once a course of treatment has been completed? 
Research on the long-term follow up of patients who have benefited shows that after a period of between 1 and 5 years, most remain well with many requiring no further medication at all.

Hypnotherapy can be a time-consuming and costly approach in the short term. However, as a result of the sustained benefits of treatment, it has been calculated that it becomes cost effective within 2 years when compared to conventional approaches.

How to Select a Hypnotherapist?

1) Does this person have formal training and significant experience in clinical hypnosis and psychology field? Using hypnosis with good success requires considerable skill and knowledge. In general, 50 hours or more of certified workshop training in hypnosis would be good, although less is sometimes adequate.

2) Does this person know the details of successful hypnosis treatment protocols for IBS? Hypnosis in itself is probably not sufficient to treat IBS effectively. Specific gut-directed hypnotherapy method need to be included.


Summary
Hypnosis is just one of many in the treatment options for IBS. Other psychological methods, cognitive therapy in particular, are also effective options. Hypnosis may be especially suitable when severe chronic symptoms continue after standard medical management approaches have been tried. It has become clear that in such cases, hypnosis treatment can often produce major improvement that can last for years.



Research about how clinical hypnotherapy can help Irritable Bowel Syndrome:

The Efficacy of Hypnotherapy in the Treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Systematic Review and meta-analysis
This study provides clearer evidence that hypnotherapy has beneficial short-term effects in improving gastrointestinal symptoms of patients with IBS.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4015203/

Efficacy, tolerability, and safety of hypnosis in adult irritable bowel syndrome: systematic review and meta-analysis. 

This meta-analysis demonstrated that hypnosis was safe and provided long-term adequate symptom relief in 54% of patients with irritable bowel syndrome refractory to conventional therapy.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24901382

BRAIN Perspective: EEG biofeedback for IBS

Individuals who suffer from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) may experience a range of symptoms, from mild annoyance to severe, debilitating distress. Symptoms can range from chronic, mild dysregulation of gut motility to episodes of diarrhea or constipation that incapacitate the patient and cause loss of time at work, withdrawal from family activities, and even hospitalization. It is estimated that about 20% of North Americans suffer from IBS, with twice as many women than men diagnosed each year.

Research in neuroscience has revealed that the intestinal tract and the brain are intimately related in terms of hormonal activity and autonomic nervous system connections. This is referred to as the "Gut-Brain Connection." Individuals with IBS frequently present with evidence of abnormal high frequency brain wave activity in the frontal lobes where emotional regulation occurs.

These unbalanced brain waves can be altered with Neurofeedback training (see box on right) to correct the abnormal activity and either partially or completely relieve the symptoms of IBS.

Neurotherapy/EEG biofeedback training begins with a brain assessment procedure to locate the sources of unbalanced brain wave activity. Following this, training begins and may last for 10 to 15 sessions. Each session may last for 30-40 minutes. We use symptom checklists, clinical history and patient reports to assess the progress of treatment.

How it works?
EEG biofeedback training for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a way of learning how to control your brain's electrical activity in order to alleviate the distress of IBS. EEG biofeedback training can significantly reduce or even eliminate IBS symptoms and painful sensations in patients who have an underlying dysregulation of the Autonomic Nervous System ("Fight/Flight/Freeze" emotional response).

The technique is simple and painless: Brainwave sensors are attached to the scalp at strategic locations and the information from the brain is processed digitally with sophisticated computer programs. Audio or visual displays give feedback to the patient about the frequency and amplitude of the brain activities that are implicated in IBS sensations. Music or video feedback allows the patient to become successful in changing the brain wave patterns and as a result, the IBS is greatly relieved or eliminated.

What is EEG biofeedback? 
EEG biofeedback training is a simple, painless learning technique that involves teaching your brain waves to become more functional and effective. The most comprehensive definition of EEG biofeedback comes to us from the International Society for Neurofeedback and Research (ISNR). Go to www.ISNR.net for more information.

EEG biofeedback does not involve either surgery or medication and is neither painful nor embarassing. When provided by a licensed professional with appropriate training, generally trainees do not experience negative side-effects. Typically trainees find NFT to be an interesting experience. EEG biofeedback training operates at a brain functional level and transcends the need to classify using existing diagnostic categories. It modulates the brain activity at the level of the neuronal dynamics of excitation and inhibition which underly the characteristic effects that are reported.

Research demonstrates that EEG biofeedback is an effective intervention for ADHD and Epilepsy. Ongoing research is investigating the effectiveness of EEG biofeedback for other disorders such as Autism, headaches, insomnia, anxiety, substance abuse, TBI and other pain disorders, and is promising.

大腸激躁症

腹脹、腹鳴、腹瀉、便秘、肚子疼痛不適，大概是所有人都曾經驗過的症狀，但許多人無論怎麼吃藥、看醫師，問題就是無法改善，每天都得面臨不斷跑廁所、或「大」不出來的痛苦，這些人都是大腸激躁症（Irritable Bowel Syndrome）的受害者。大腸激躁症，或稱為大腸急躁症、腸躁症、刺激性腸症候群、急躁性腸症候群、腸躁症候群，指的都是一種腸道的功能性異常；就和其五花八門的中文譯名一樣，這種疾病的症狀也相當複雜，有人易腹瀉、有人易便秘、有人則腹瀉與便秘交錯發生。

台北新光醫院胃腸肝膽科醫師劉玉華指出，在幽門螺旋桿菌可藉藥物治療後，以往腸胃科門診最常見的消化性潰瘍已減少，取而代之的是大腸激躁症，幾乎半數病患都因這種功能性障礙來求診；據估計，一到兩成的人口有此困擾；在國外，這更是僅次於感冒、最常造成職場請假的疾病。劉玉華表示，大腸激躁症的病因至今不明，幾乎所有找不到原因的腸胃功能障礙，都可歸到其名下。

但這種病症有幾個共通特點，一是會反覆發生、屬於慢性問題；第二，不會合併血便、黑便、發燒等其他症狀；三，不影響營養吸收，體重不會減輕。值得一提的是，這種病常有在特定情況下發作的特性，例如，有些人喝了酒、吃太飽、吃了麻辣鍋、甚至吃冰後就發作；有人吹了風、睡醒後、考試期間、工作時容易發作，有人出國旅行時症狀即消失，有人則在休假時症狀反加重。

醫師分析，雖然有些病人可能是體質所致、從小就有這種腸道功能障礙，但更多人可能是壓力所引起，因此正忙於打拼事業、照顧家庭的青壯年族群，最常見發病，且以女性為多，有些患者則有易憂鬱、易焦慮、愛鑽牛角尖、追求完美等人格特質。不過，大腸激躁症的患者雖多，調查卻發現，四分之三的病人都未就醫，可能是許多人認為，大號不通暢只小問題，忍一忍就過去，未予多注意。但另一方面，也有不少病患因症狀持續，四處就醫、接受各種檢查，耗費許多醫療資源，據統計，國內每年消化不良造成的健保花費達九十億元，可見大腸激躁症不僅是惱人的毛病，也是相當花錢的疾病。

大腸激躁症的症狀是什麼？

1.        腹部絞痛

2.        腹部脹氣、鼓脹

3.        腹瀉、便秘、或腹瀉與便秘交互出現

4.        常與情緒反應有關，如工作忙碌時、重大考試前都會加重症狀

5.        雖長期受腸胃症狀困擾，通常體重並不會減輕，也不會有嚴重的併發症

       大腸激躁症如何治療？

1.        要先就醫檢查，排除其他症狀相似的疾病，如：乳糖耐受不良、大腸癌等。

2.        調適心理、適應壓力，若是可能盡量避免給自己太過的壓力。

3.        正常的作息，規律的運動。

4.        避免刺激性的飲食，如：菸、酒、咖啡、茶葉等。

5.        攝取足量的高纖維性食物。

6.        若症狀仍持續，應考慮調整神經傳導物質，以恢復自律神經之正常生理功能。

大腸激躁症是腸胃科疾病嗎？

大腸激躁症不是『器質性腸胃科疾病』，而是屬於『功能性疾病』（ functional disorder ）之一』。---所有功能性疾病皆由『自律神經失調』所引起，自律神經系統分佈至各內臟器官，管理各內臟器官的功能運作，一旦自律神經失調，則其所調控的內臟出現其相關疾病（例如：大腸激躁症 ）。所以，大腸激躁症的治療不能從腸胃科取向去做，應從自律神經取向方能治本。

如何改善症狀？僅記以下數個原則：

1.        改變飲食習慣：不談公事、輕鬆進食、細嚼慢嚥。

2.        改變食譜：不吃乳製品、油脂食物、酒精、咖啡因的飲料。食物力求低脂、少糖、少鹽、適度的蛋白質、高纖維食物。

3.        生活減壓：壓力與腸子的蠕動有密切的關係。尤其每天在壓力鍋當中打滾的人們，更是有機會罹患大腸激躁症。每天工作八小時當中，找空檔舒緩身心。勤練肌肉鬆弛術、靜坐，平衡身心靈。

4.        天天運動：運動除了強身之外，更可以放鬆心情，消除鬱悶的情緒，強化腸胃的機能。

5.        正常的作息、充足的睡眠。

6.        改變個性：完美主義的人，容易給自己壓力，也常出現焦慮、憂鬱或身心症狀。所以改變對事物的看法與態度，降低標準，隨遇而安，腸胃自然沒承受太多的壓力。

7.        尋找適當的醫療：激躁性腸症並非一般拉肚子，幾天就可以康復的 。必須有耐心的就醫，配合腸胃科與精神科藥物方能奏效。

(Clinical Hypnotherapist Hiro Koo: 催眠在临床研究上，临床催眠对IBS大腸激躁症的疗效是受承认和备受肯定的。）

Source: 

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/irritable-bowel-syndrome/basics/definition/CON-20024578

http://www.cs.nthu.edu.tw/~dr824349/personal/article/IBS.html
http://norcalneurotherapy.com/neurofeedback-for-ibs.php
http://www.aboutibs.org/site/treatment/complementary-or-alternative-treatments/hypnosis

Hypnosis helped her lose 140 pounds

On a 2006 Hawaiian vacation with her husband Brian, Julie Evans dreaded wearing a bathing suit. It was then that she realized her weight was holding her back.


Evans began gastric bypass surgery hypnosis in late 2007, and began eating less the next day. By 2008, the weight was steadily coming off.


By 2009, two years after beginning the program, Evans had lost almost half of her body weight, weighing in at 150 pounds.


Once afraid to step into a gym, Evans now loves to exercise. 


Brian Evans says his wife's lifestyle change has had a big impact on the whole family, encouraging them to lead a more active and healthy life.


More than five years after she tried hypnosis gastric bypass surgery, Evans is happy and healthy. She's maintained her size 6 body for over three years.





(Message from Clinical Hypnotherapist Koo: We are licensed practitioners of Hypno-Band®. Using the mind/body connection we fit a “virtual gastric band” to your stomach. Contact us now and then be the next role model)


Source: (CNN News) http://edition.cnn.com/2014/08/18/health/weight-loss-julie-evans/

Our Services on Newspaper Headline (29 August 2014)

Nanyang Siang Pau Newspaper Headline 南洋商报头条新闻 (29 August 2014), 

旅游与文化部长纳兹里正坐在我的临床催眠疗法沙发上检查他的脑电波。

Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz was sitting on my clinical hypnotherapy chair and checking his brainwaves. 

China Press Newspaper  中国报(29 August 2014)

旅游与文化部长纳兹里正坐在我的临床催眠疗法沙发上检查他的脑电波。

Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz was sitting on my clinical hypnotherapy chair and checking his brainwaves. 

 Harian Metro (29 August 2014)

Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz was sitting on my clinical hypnotherapy chair and checking his brainwaves. 

Menopause-related hot flashes treatment in Malaysia

Hypnosis is an effective treatment for menopause-related hot flashes and night sweats, new research finds.

The alternative therapy reduced hot flashes by as much as 74% in the study conducted by researchers at Baylor University’s Mind-Body Medicine Research Laboratory and funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Only hormone therapy, which many women can’t take or want to avoid, is more effective for treating the most common symptom of menopause, says researcher Gary R. Elkins, PhD.

“If you compare this treatment with off-label use of antidepressants or other non-hormonal therapies, it works as well or better,” he says.

Hot Flashes, Night Sweats

Hot flashes are a sudden rush of heat, followed by facial flushing and sweating, often followed by chills and clamminess. The progression is familiar to most women of a certain age.

Hot flashes and night sweats are the most common symptoms of menopause, affecting some 80% of women.

They are linked to declining estrogen levels, but it remains unclear just why the sudden lack of estrogen sends the body into thermal mayhem, and why some women are more affected than others.

Hormone therapy is a very effective treatment for menopause-related hot flashes, but concerns about risks have limited its use among women.

“There is certainly a need for non-pharmacologic treatments for hot flashes and night sweats,” says North American Menopause Society (NAMS) Executive Director Margery Gass, MD.

Hypnosis and Hot Flashes

In an earlier study, Elkins and his Baylor colleagues showed that hypnosis dramatically reduced hot flash and night sweat frequency in breast cancer patients with treatment-related symptoms.

In the newly published study, they set out to determine if the alternative treatment would do the same in women whose symptoms were related to menopause.

A total of 187 postmenopausal women who reported having at least seven hot flashes a day, or 50 a week, were recruited for the trial.

Half the women were given self-hypnosis training that consisted of five, 45-minute weekly sessions.

During the sessions they received suggestions for mental imagery designed to minimize the intensity of their hot flashes, such as images of a cool place. The women were also given a recording of the hypnotic induction, and they were asked to practice self-hypnosis at home daily.

The rest of the women had an equal number of sessions with a clinician, but hypnosis training was not given.

Instead, clinicians talked to the women about their symptoms and gave them encouragement about how to deal with them. These women were also asked to listen to a recording each day at home, but their recording simply had information about hot flashes.

The study participants kept "hot flash frequency" diaries, and they also wore small sensors on their bodies that recorded their hot flashes.

Hot Flashes Less Frequent and Intense

After 12 weeks:

• Women in the hypnosis group reported 74% fewer hot flashes on average, compared with 17% fewer among the other women.
• The skin sensors showed a 57% reduction in hot flashes among the hypnosis group, compared to a 10% reduction in the non-hypnosis group.
• The women treated with hypnosis were far less likely than the other women to report that their hot flashes interfered with their daily lives and sleep.

“Many women do not want to take hormone therapy or any drug for hot flashes,” Elkins says. “This study shows that an alternative, non-drug treatment can be highly effective.”

Elkins recommends that women who want to try the treatment seek out a qualified practitioner affiliated with either the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis or the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis.

Gass says she would like to see Elkins’ findings duplicated, but she adds that hypnosis could prove to be a badly needed new treatment for hot flashes.

“This will certainly appeal to women who want to avoid drugs and who want a treatment that has few, if any, side effects,” she says.

The study, which was published this week in the journal Menopause, was funded by the NIH’s National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Source: http://www.webmd.com/menopause/news/20121025/hypnosis_halts_hot_flashes

Tinnitus Treatment Malaysia (Non Drug Approach)

It is important to keep in mind that tinnitus is a symptom, not a disease. As such, the optimal treatment strategy should be directed toward eliminating the disease, rather than simply alleviating the symptom. Also, because tinnitus may be symptomatic of a more serious disorder, it is important to try to find the medical cause before deciding on treatment.

Preventing and Minimizing Tinnitus

Here are a few things patients can do to help prevent and minimize tinnitus:

• Reduce exposure to extremely loud noise
• Avoid total silence
• Decrease salt intake
• Monitor one's blood pressure
• Avoid stimulants such as caffeine and nicotine
• Exercise
• Reduce fatigue
• Manage stress
• Educate yourself

While there is no known cure for most forms of tinnitus, there are many management options available and most tinnitus sufferers can find varying degrees of relief from one or a combination of the following.

Medications

There is no single medication that works on all tinnitus patients. 

Counseling or Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

Regardless of the cause of tinnitus, if a person is not bothered by the tinnitus, it ceases to be a problem. Psychological intervention aimed at successfully reducing the stress, distress and distraction associated with the tinnitus can be very productive and often produces the most attainable goals.

Stress Management

The very high correlation between stress and tinnitus disturbance underscores the need to maintain one's composure and logic when trying to cope with tinnitus. Relaxation, guided imagery and self-hypnosis are examples of self-help methods used to help combat the stress, anxiety and sleep disturbances associated with tinnitus.

Other Treatment Options

Other options that may help patients with tinnitus include:

• Support Groups — Local peer support groups offer emotional support to patients and a place to discuss and share treatment techniques.
• Dental Treatment — Jaw joint disorders, called temporomandibular (TMD), may exacerbate tinnitus. Splints and exercises may relieve these problems.
• Nutritional Counseling — All tinnitus patients should maintain a balanced diet.
• Biofeedback Training— Biofeedback is a technique of making unconscious or involuntary bodily processes detectable by the senses in order to manipulate them by conscious mental control. Biofeedback with counseling can help relieve stress patterns that can worsen the perception of tinnitus.
• Alternate Approaches — Although there is no scientific data showing consistent benefit from approaches such as hypnosis, acupuncture, naturopathy, chiropractic care and many herbal preparations, some patients do perceive a benefit.

Reviewed by health care specialists at UCSF Medical Center.

Research study: How EEG biofeedback training can help for Tinnitus
 
Biofeedback-based behavioral treatment for chronic tinnitus: 
results of a randomized controlled trial. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/19045972/

The effects of neurofeedback on oscillatory processes related to tinnitus. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/23700271
 
EEG biofeedback for subjective tinnitus patients. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/21592701

EEG biofeedback for treating tinnitus. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/17956812/
 
Tuning the tinnitus percept by modification of synchronous brain activity. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/17943012/


Chronic tinnitus: which kind of patients benefit 
from an outpatient psychotherapy ? http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/19623511/


Research study: How hypnotherapy can help for Tinnitus

Role of hypnotherapy in the treatment of debilitating tinnitus. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/22533067

Effectiveness of Ericksonian hypnosis in tinnitus therapy: preliminary results. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/22545384/

Effectiveness of combined counseling and low-level laser 
stimulation in the treatment of disturbing chronic tinnitus. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/19205171

Ericksonian hypnosis in tinnitus therapy. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/18225612
 
Effects of relaxation therapy as group and individual 
treatment of chronic tinnitus. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/8657857
 
Hypnosis for Tinnitus. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P...j00777-0039.pdf
 

10 Ways Hypnosis Can Help You Lose Weight—For Good

Close your eyes. Imagine your food cravings floating away. Imagine a day of eating only what's good for you. Imagine hypnosis actually helping you lose weight—because the news is: It does. Harvard Medical School psychotherapist Jean Fain gives you ten hypnotic suggestions to try right now.

By Jean Fain

When I tell people how I make much of my living—as a psychotherapist hypnotizing people slim—they inevitably ask: Does it work? My answer usually brightens their eyes with something between excitement and incredulity.

Most people, including my colleagues at Harvard Medical School, where I teach hypnosis, don't realize that adding trance to your weight loss efforts can help you lose more weight and keep it off longer.

Hypnosis predates carb and calorie counting by a few centuries, but this age-old attention-focusing technique has yet to be embraced wholeheartedly as an effective weight loss strategy.

Until recently, there has been scant scientific evidence to support the legitimate claims of respected hypnotherapists, and a glut of pie-in-the-sky promises from their problem cousins, stage hypnotists, hasn't helped.

Even after a persuasive mid-nineties reanalysis of 18 hypnotic studies showed that psychotherapy clients who learned self-hypnosis lost twice as much weight as those who didn't (and, in one study, kept it off two years after treatment ended), hypnotherapy has remained a well-kept weight loss secret.

Unless hypnosis has happily compelled you or someone you know to buy a new, smaller wardrobe, it may be hard to believe that this mind-over-body approach could help you get a handle on eating.

Seeing is definitely believing.

So see for yourself. You don't have to be entranced to learn some of the invaluable lessons that hypnosis has to teach about weight loss. The ten mini-concepts that follow contain some of the diet-altering suggestions my weight management clients receive in group and individual hypnotherapy.

1. The answer lies within. Hypnotherapists believe you have everything you need to succeed. You don't really need another crash diet or the latest appetite suppressant. Slimming is about trusting your innate abilities, as you do when you ride a bicycle. You may not remember how scary it was the first time you tried to bike, but you kept practicing until you could ride automatically, without thought or effort. Losing weight may seem similarly beyond you, but it's just a matter of finding your balance.

2. Believing is seeing. People tend to achieve what they think they can achieve. That even applies to hypnosis. Subjects tricked into believing they could be hypnotized (for example, as the hypnotist suggested they'd see red, he flipped the switch on a hidden red bulb) demonstrated increased hypnotic responsiveness. The expectation of being helped is essential. Let me suggest that you expect your weight loss plan to work.

3. Accentuate the positive. Negative, or aversive, suggestions, like "Doughnuts will sicken you," work for a while, but if you want lasting change, you'll want to think positive. The most popular positive hypnotic suggestion was devised by doctors Herbert Spiegel and David Spiegel, a father- son hypnotherapy team: "For my body, too much food is damaging. I need my body to live. I owe my body respect and protection." I encourage clients to write their own upbeat mantras. One 50-year-old mother who lost 50-plus pounds repeats daily: "Unnecessary food is a burden on my body. I'm going to shed what I don't need."

4. If you imagine it, it will come. Like athletes preparing for competition, visualizing victory readies you for a victorious reality. Imagining a day of healthy eating helps you envision the necessary steps to becoming that healthy eater. Too tough to picture? Find an old photograph of yourself at a comfortable weight and remember what you were doing differently then; imagine resurrecting those routines. Or visualize getting advice from a future older, wiser self after she's reached her desired weight.

5. Send food cravings flying. Hypnotherapists routinely harness the power of symbolic imagery, inviting subjects to put food cravings on fluffy white clouds or in hot air balloons and send them up, up, and away. If McDonald's golden arches have the power to steer you off your diet, hypnotists understand that a counter symbol can steer you back. Invite your mind to flip through its Rolodex of images until one emerges as a symbol for casting out cravings. Heave-ho.

6. Two strategies are better than one. When it comes to losing weight and keeping it off, a winning combination is hypnosis and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), which helps revamp counterproductive thoughts and behaviors. Clients who learn both lose twice as much weight without falling into the dieter's lose-some, regain-more trap. You've already tried CBT if you've ever kept a food diary. Before my clients learn hypnosis, they keep track of everything that passes their lips for a week or two. Raising awareness, every good hypnotherapist knows, is a key baby step toward lasting change.

7. Modify, modify, modify. The late hypnosis innovator Milton Erickson, MD, emphasized the importance of using existing patterns. To alter one client's lose-regain, lose-regain pattern, Erickson suggested she first gain weight before losing it—a hard sell nowadays, unless you're Charlize Theron. Easier to swallow: Modify your highest- calorie craving. Instead of a pint of ice cream, how about a cup of frozen yogurt?

8. Like it or not, it's survival of the fattest. No suggestion is powerful enough to override the survival instinct. Much as we like to think it's survival of the fittest, we're still programmed, in case of famine, for survival of the fattest. Case in point: a personal trainer on a starvation diet who wanted me to suggest away her gummy bear addiction. I tried to explain that her body believed her life depended on the chewy candies and wouldn't give them up until she got enough calories from more nutritious foods. No, she insisted, a suggestion was all she needed. I wasn't surprised when she dropped out.

9. Practice makes perfect. One Pilates class does not produce washboard abs, and one hypnosis session cannot shape up your diet. But silently repeating a positive suggestion 15 to 20 minutes daily can transform your eating, especially when combined with slow, natural breaths, the cornerstone of any behavioral-change program.

10. Congrats—it's a relapse. When clients find themselves, against their healthiest intentions, overindulging, I congratulate them. Hypnosis views a relapse as an opportunity, not a travesty. If you can learn from a real or imagined relapse— why it happened, how to handle it differently—you'll be better prepared for life's inevitable temptations. 

Source: http://www.oprah.com/health/Hypnosis-for-Weight-Loss-Can-Hypnosis-Help-You-Lose-Weight