Monday, January 14, 2013

Hypnosis as a Therapy


Hypnosis is one of the oldest forms of therapy in the world and one of the least understood.  Though it has always been linked with the mystic arts and magic’s or vaudeville performers, it is by truth a form of self hypnosis.  No one can be hypnotized against their own will.
There are different forms of hypnosis which combine relaxation with imagery.  There are people who may go into a trance which is like a daydream or deep meditation and is actually self hypnosis, a state of intense concentration.  The object is to focus the mind and rid yourself of distractions and become open to suggestions which may help in isolating the problems being treated for such as for Mental Illness and various other physical ailments.
In the late 1950’s the American Medical Association approved hypnosis as a form of therapy and the American Psychiatric Association approved hypnosis as a therapy in the early 1960’s.  Hypnosis can be used to alleviate the pain in chronic headaches and migraine headaches as well.
For Mental illness such as Depression, Schizophrenia, Smoking and Over Eating, hypnosis was not conclusive in the healing process and there was a fear that psychosis could be induced especially in schizophrenic clients.  The cost of seeing a hypnotist is unsure to me though in order to find a qualified hypnotist, you first have to find a licensed hypnotist.  You can search through the offices of the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis which is one of two recognized organizations for licensed hypnotist in this country.  There are several kinds of hypnosis which was first coined as “suggestion” and has since been known as hypnotic induction.  There are different forms of “suggestion” in our society which include, direct verbal suggestion, voice intonality and physical manipulation.  Hypnosis or suggestion is seen as a form of communicating with a subject’s conscious mind, though some people think this is a way to communicate with the unconscious or subconscious mind.  These are concepts which were brought about by Sigmund Freud and others during the 19th century.  There is a cognitive behavioral approach to hypnosis in that cognitive behaviorism overlap and hypnosis influence one another as they share similar concepts and terminology. 

Written by Donald S

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