Thursday, September 12, 2013

Hypnosis - How Does "it" Work

By Natasha A. Unzueta


When you know that hypnosis works, you may start wondering how it works. As several hypnotists and hypnotherapists out there say about hypnosis, "There is no 'it.'" What does that mean? That simply means hypnosis is a natural state of mind people experience everyday several times a day. This state of mind is common. You experience it when you daydream or watch a movie. Then you're left to wonder how does hypnosis work.In Your Mind: What's Going On Here?

Everyone I hypnotize like this says one thing: "I knew I could do the opposite of what you were telling me but at the same time I couldn't". Which begs the question "does hypnosis work for everyone?". To be honest it does not work for everyone. There are some people these hypnosis demonstrations don't work on. In most cases you can see it begin to work and the person becomes stubborn and refuses to participate in what is going on. Just like some people felt like they could do the opposite of what I was saying and let themselves play along, these people feel that they can do the opposite of what I'm saying and try their hardest to do so.

You may know the saying, "As a man thinketh, so shall he be." or in modern language, "As one believes and thinks, so one will experience life." What you believe about the world and yourself determines the results you get.Mind-Body Connection.You can begin to understand how hypnosis works when you think of the mind-body connection. The subconscious mind interacts with the autonomic nervous system. Exactly how they do so is beyond the scope of this article. You can tell they do by the research and amazing results people like you and doctors talk about. The truth is there is no split. You are actually a body-mind, one thing.

How does the body and mind work together to achieve the remarkable effects we hear stories about? Just what magic occurs in our bodies and minds when we heal or accomplish seemingly miraculous feats? Scientists are still puzzling over these questions, yet they have shown that hypnosis, guided imagery, meditation/prayer and what we eat affects our immune systems, our resistance to cancer and our recovery from surgery. Other research shows how hypnosis activates the same brain centers that block our perception of pain. It is well known that hypnosis helps people change unwanted behaviors and establish new habits. How should we explain the placebo effect when inert ingredients and the power of suggestion cause recovery and cures? What about its opposite, the nocebo effect, when pessimistic expectations and pronouncements by professionals can result in ill health?

More correctly, the human system is a "body-mind" connection rather than the "mind-body" connection. You are a body first and a mind second. So many highly intelligent people forget that. Why do we claim you have a body-mind connection? Your body controls your mind. As a quick test to prove this to yourself, just take a deep breath in and hold it. Hold it as long as you can. After a few minutes your body will override your conscious will to hold your breath and force you to exhale and take another breath.

Can Hypnosis Treat Irritable Bowel Syndrome? Yes, hypnotherapy is highly effective for treating irritable bowel syndrome.The International Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, GUT, has reported that in patients under 50 hypnosis can have a 100% success rate in treating irritable bowel syndrome.If you already know how to do hypnosis then you are certainly excited to use it. You have this feeling that you can hypnotize absolutely anyone on the planet. You have this feeling that you are always in control. You feel that you can convince anyone to do what you please. Unfortunately, hypnosis does not work on everyone. Even if you know how to do hypnosis, you won't be able to use it on everyone.

Suppose that the mind and body are one system, and that what happens in the mind has a corresponding result in the body and vice versa. We can easily notice that what happens with the body affects the mind when we consider that our experience of the world is conducted through the five senses of the body. Our emotions and thoughts can change when we experience pleasurable or painful sensations.

It only makes sense that our mind affects our body when we remember about the placebo effect, that is the fact people with a disease get better when taking sugar pills or injections of saline solutions. Pharmaceutical companies confirm this placebo effect with every study of a new drug. Their goal is to prove a drug is better than a placebo while their results show the placebo helps a surprising number and sometimes a substantial portion of the group who take it.Take note, we're not saying that placebos are better than pharmaceuticals, just that they work because the mind influences the body as part of the same system. The mind has much more to do with your physical health than you were probably taught. The reason for this lies in the power of the subconscious or unconscious mind. This inner conscious mind is in control of your heart rate, breathing, smooth muscles like those around our organs. You can think of it as the part of your mind that's below the surface.

Hypnosis has actually been studied in great detail for at least 300 years. One of the major things people have tried to use hypnosis for is pain management. In a randomized trial on hypnosis to control the side effects on breast surgery patients(2007 Sep 5;99(17):1304-12) not only did "patients in the hypnosis group [require] less [pain medication]" but also "cost the institution $772.71 less per patient than those in the control group... mainly due to reduced surgical time."A study on the brain state of those under hypnosis(2002 Aug 15;14 (6):887-901) showed that hypnosis does effect the areas of the brain that regulate consciousness. This contributes to the idea that being under a hypnotic trance is a separate state the brain can be in.




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