When they hear the word hypnosis, arthritis patients might think of a nightclub hypnotist in a worn tux making audience volunteers act like roosting chickens. As a result, many see hypnosis as contrived entertainment. But hypnosis is not hocus pocus, say health professionals who use it as a tool to treat pain of all kinds from arthritis to dental procedures.
Joseph Barber, PhD, a clinical professor of anesthesiology and rehabilitation at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, uses hypnosis to treat arthritis pain. One patient, a 73-year-old grandmother with severe pain from knee osteoarthritis, couldn’t tolerate anti-inflammatory drugs.
With just three hypnosis treatments – an unusually fast response – the pain in her knee decreased and she was able to return to normal daily activity. An analysis of 18 studies of hypnosis and pain in more than 900 people conducted by researchers at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York bears out this grandmother’s experience, showing substantial pain relief in 75 percent of participants.
A natural, yet altered state of mind, where the critical factor has been bypassed, selective thinking has been established and communication with the subconscious mind has been established.
The human being is always whole, but may through some emotionally traumatic event, stress, anxiety, or other issues, have manifested what we categorize as disease or illnesses.
Hypnotherapists believe that Symptoms are created by Emotions, and those emotions are caused by Beliefs. Hypnotherapy can change those underlying beliefs (roots of the cause) and resolve the symptoms.
Is Hypnotherapy a Panacea? Can it solve everyone's problems or can it resolve your problems in one session? No. All hypnotherapists wish that it could, but each person is different and so everyone will have different results.
Anyone can seek help from hypnotherapy. Please be sure that if you see a hypnotherapist, that they are certified by an organization such as the American Council of Hypnotist Examiners, the National Hypnotist Guild or other larger similar organizations. If hypnotists are performing Hypnotherapy in their home, I would advise a different hypnotherapist.
Be well.