701 Regent Avenue West, Winnipeg, Manitoba R2C 1S3, Canada
Clinical Hypnosis
Hypnosis is the equivalent in consciousness to what a telephoto lens is in a camera. What you see is with great detail but you are less aware of the context and it allows you to concentrate very intently but also to put aside other preoccupations, or questions, or doubts, that might keep you from fully engaging in the immediate experience. It is used commonly to treat problems like pain, stress, anxiety, phobia’s; it’s a great way of regulating mind body interactions, and thus can help a lot with people with irritable bowel syndrome, so it helps not only with subjective symptoms but with some, physiological symptoms as well.
Dr. Spiegal, Psychiatrist in his research through the use of functional MRI has show three things that happen when patients are hypnotised;
1. Turn down activity in part of the brain called the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, which is part of the salient network, that tells us what to worry about and what to ignore. You are thus likely to contrast and compare to worry about what else you might be doing.
2. There is higher functional connectivity between the executive control region in the brain the dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex and the Insula which is a part of the brain that is a pathway for mind body control and for pain perception and so you are enhancing your ability to connect your brain with your body.
3. There is inverse connectivity between that executive control region and what’s called the default mode network. The default mode network is a deep part of the brain that is active when you are ruminating thinking about yourself, wondering about yourself when you are not doing a task.
The essence of trauma is helplessness. It isn’t pain, it isn’t fear, its that for a certain period of time you lose control over what’s happening to your body, which is a terrifying thing. Hypnosis is helpful in dealing with the symptoms, and controlling the physiological reactions because often when we think of something arousing we get physically aroused, but in hypnosis you are able to dissociate your level of physical arousal from your level of mental arousal and than think about it from a new point of view by restructuring your memory and understanding of your beliefs.
Why it's done?
Hypnotherapy can be an effective method for coping with stress and anxiety. In particular, hypnosis can reduce stress and anxiety before a medical procedure, such as a breast biopsy.
Hypnosis has been studied for other conditions, including:
- Pain control. Hypnosis may help with pain due to burns, cancer, childbirth, irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, temporomandibular joint problems, dental procedures and headaches.
- Hot flashes. Hypnosis may relieve symptoms of hot flashes associated with menopause.
- Hypnosis has been used with some success in the treatment of insomnia, bed-wetting, smoking, and overeating.
- Cancer treatment side effects. Hypnosis has been used to ease side effects related to chemotherapy or radiation treatment.
- Mental health conditions. Hypnosis may help treat symptoms of anxiety, phobias and stress.
- Weight loss - A 2021 review considered 11 studies evaluating the potential benefits of hypnosis for weight loss. Nine of those studies found some evidence to suggest hypnosis or self-hypnosis could help promote weight loss.
