Hypnosis

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Hypnosis

• Ronald Schneeweiss, MBChB
• Professor, Family Medicine
• MHE 501 2008

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History (1)

• Primitive tribes have shamans, healing rituals,
  sleep cures
• Egyptians, ancient Greeks and Romans had sleep
  temples.
• Genesis 221-22 G-d caused a sleep to come over
  Adam and he removed a rib and created Eve.
• Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815) animal
  magnetism Bacquet glass harmonica.

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History (2)

• Esdaile (mid-1800s) 3000 surgeries, 300 were
  major, solely under hypnosis. Presented to the
  Royal Academy of Physicians---booed out of the
  room, accused of blasphemy.
• G-d intended for people to suffer.
• James Braid (1785-1860) coined termHypnosis in
  1841 ---later monoideism
• 1955 hypnosis accepted by the BMA and in 1958 by
  the AMA
• 1957 Dr. Erickson established the ASCH

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HYPNOSIS

• Term coined by Dr. James Braid in 1841 in
  Scotland. From the Greek word hypnos meaning
  sleep.
• BUT
• Hypnosis is not a state of sleep he then
• proposed the term monoideism

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HYPNOSIS (trance)

• Definition
• Hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness.
  (between sleeping and wakefulness). Relaxation
  and imagery are used to achieve a fixed narrow
  attention with a high degree of concentration. In
  this state of trance one is more open to
  suggestions.

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HYPNOSIS (trance)

• Characteristics of Hypnosis
• Narrow focused attention
• Dissociation
• Time distortion
• Primary process thinking (e.g., falling up,
  floating down, chased in slow motion)

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HYPNOSIS (trance)

• Hypnosis may act as the therapy itself (e.g.,
  pain control) or as a means to facilitate
  therapy.
• Practitioners should apply hypnosis within the
  boundaries of their clinical training.

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In the Matter of Mind over Matter

• The Power which a mans imagination has over his
  body to heal it or make it sick is a force which
  none of us is born without. Mark Twain
• A man is most likely to use the half (of the
  force) which invents imaginary ailments for him
  andscoff at the beneficent half of the force and
  deny its existence.
• Adapted from James C. Whorton. Nature Cures
  The History of Alternative Medicine in America,
  2002 Oxford University Press

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Process of Hypnosis

• 1. Prepare
• 2. Induction
• 3. Deepening
• 4. Therapeutic suggestions
• 5. Self-hypnosis (post-hypnotic suggestion)
• 6. Re-alerting(return to a state of awareness
• or wakefulness)

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SOME USES OF HYPNOSIS

• Obstetrics Gynecology
• - hyperemesis gravidarum
• - labor delivery
• - relaxation during gynecologic
• procedures
• Anxiety, panic attacks, phobias, insomnia
• Pain (e.g., headaches, back pain, cancer,
  treatment of burns)

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SOME USES OF HYPNOSIS (cont.)

• Smoking cessation
• Dermatologic conditions (e.g., pruritus, eczema,
  warts)
• Medical conditions with a high level of anxiety
  e.g. asthma, migraine headaches.
• Cancer anxiety, nausea vomiting, pain
  visualization for cancer regression
• To facilitate psychotherapy

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• Myths
• and
• Misconceptions