What is hypnotherapy?
The term "hypnosis" comes from the Greek word hypnos, meaning "sleep." Hypnotherapists use exercises that bring about deep relaxation and an altered state of consciousness, also known as a trance. A person in a deeply focused state is unusually responsive to an idea or image, but this does not mean that a hypnotist can control the person's mind and free will. On the contrary, hypnosis can actually teach people how to master their own states of awareness. By doing so they can affect their own bodily functions and psychological responses.
What illnesses or conditions respond well to hypnosis?
Hypnosis is used in a variety of settings -- from emergency rooms to dental offices to outpatient clinics. Clinical studies suggest that hypnosis may improve immune function, increase relaxation, decrease stress, and ease pain and feelings of anxiety.
Hypnotherapy can reduce the fear and anxiety that some people feel before medical or dental procedures. For example, hypnosis may improve recovery time and reduce anxiety as well as pain following surgery. Clinical trials on burn patients suggest that hypnosis decreases pain (enough to replace pain medication) and speeds healing. Generally, clinical studies show that using hypnosis may reduce your need for medication, improve your mental and physical condition before an operation, and reduce the time it takes to recover. Dentists also use hypnotherapy to control gagging and bleeding.
A hypnotherapist can teach you self-regulation skills. For instance, someone with arthritis may learn to turn down pain like the volume on a radio. Hypnotherapy can also be used to help manage chronic illness. Self-hypnosis can enhance a sense of control, which is often lacking when someone has a chronic illness.
Clinical studies on children in emergency treatment centers show that hypnotherapy reduces fear, anxiety, and discomfort.
Other problems or conditions that may respond to hypnotherapy include:
•Irritable bowel syndrome
•Tension headaches
•Alopecia areata
•Asthma
•Phobias
•Insomnia
•Addictions
•Bedwetting
•Fibromyalgia
•Phobias
•Labor and delivery
•Skin disorders [such as acne, psoriasis, and eczema (atopic dermatitis)]
•Stress
•Tinnitus (ringing in the ears)
•Cancer-related pain
•Weight loss
•Eating disorders
•Warts
•Indigestion (dyspepsia)
Isabelle Dinoire, born 1967, was the first person to undergo a partial face transplant, after her Labrador dog mauled her in May 2005. Prior to the operation, she could barely eat or speak, but after the operation, she can do both. Dinoire's dog "chewed her face after she passed out from an overdose of sleeping pills." Some reports following the initial surgery claim that her daughter said that the black Labrador cross (named Tania) was "frantically" trying to wake Dinoire after she took sleeping pills in a suicide attempt, and Dinoire wrote about her suicidal feelings in her own memoir. Dinoire's injuries affected her nose, lips, chin, and cheeks. She wore a surgical mask to cover the injuries on the lower part of her face, as the upper face was not affected. Doctors and the media debated whether the donor and/or the recipient had attempted suicide, with reports stating that the donor had hanged herself. The Sunday Times, a British newspaper, stated that Di
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