Hypnotism: Is it all in your head?

By Nichole Nitschke, PCC 

Hypnosis has been used for centuries to treat diverse ills; it’s been used to allow surgery and dental work without anesthesia, and for pain-free childbirth without medication. However it went into relative decline with the rise of modern medicine, and in the last 200 years it's been more associated with stage magicians and movie villains than medicine.

Today people may typically relate the use of hypnosis to a stage show in which volunteers cluck like a chicken whenever a bell rings or using hypnosis to help a large group of people gathered together at a hospital or hotel to stop smoking or for weight loss. Hypnotherapy is often applied in order to modify a person’s behavior, emotional content, and attitudes, as well as a wide range of conditions including dysfunctional habits, stress related illness, pain management, and personal development.

A person who is hypnotized displays certain characteristics and tendencies, compared with a non-hypnotized person, most notably hyper-suggestibility. During hypnosis the person can concentrate intensely on a specific thought, memory, feeling or sensation while blocking out distractions.

Hypnosis is a natural state of mind and a very pleasant feeling of complete physical and mental relaxation. It is similar to the moment between knowing you are awake and going into a sleep state. During hypnosis the critical factor of the conscious mind has been bypassed accessing the subconscious mind. The conscious mind, the mind you are conscious of, is the critical part of the mind and only constitutes 15-20% of who you are. The subconscious mind is the part that directs your conduct through the habits and emotional desires from the influences of your environment, before you were old enough to reject harmful ideas and concepts. Through proper use of autosuggestion during the hypnotic state the subconscious mind is reprogrammed to make decisions favorable to your welfare; the presence of which will be evidenced at a later time through behaviors or beliefs.

Anyone with an open mind, reasonable intelligence and the ability to follow instructions can be hypnotized. Successful hypnotherapy depends heavily on two elements: willingness for change, and a constant belief that a constructive goal can be reached.

Once regarded as a cheap stage trick, hypnotism has proven to be a powerful mental and physical regulating treatment. Hypnotherapy is increasingly being used to treat the symptoms of diseases and conditions as diverse as asthma, cystic fibrosis, migraines, depression, anxiety and panic – and it is available at the Natural Health Center, 421 W. Main St., Woodville.

For more information or for personal growth and positive change call (419) 849-2414, hours by appointment only.