Tag Archives: Hypnosis

Using a Light & Sound Mind Machine to Access Visions

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I was using the Voyager Galaxy with a client who reported suffering from depression. I was adjusting the frequency of the lights when the client suddenly yelled out to me to stop at a certain frequency. The client was “seeing” recognizable imagery! What’s more, when I placed the glasses on myself, I saw clear recognizable imagery, too! All I could figure was that the frequency matched some physical brain structure that opened imagery to me (and my client).

visionsWhat I saw was clear and distinct as though I was looking out the window at an actual scene. The colors were as clear as broad daylight. What’s more, the scene changed in a logical order; that is, it proceeded like I was watching a movie. My client, too, saw a moving imagery that was spontaneous. I suspect that the frequency triggered spontaneous imagery related to deeper issues that were metaphorically represented.

Since then, I’ve experimented with the Galaxy on a number of clients and several have reported spontaneous imagery at frequencies of 12.3 to 12.8 hz. More imagery was reported at 12.7 hz unison (both lights flashing in unison) than at other frequencies in that range. In one instance, a person reported imagery that evoked strong emotion that we could work with using RET. Most other clients merely received insight or, in some cases, “gee whiz” information. As a hypnotherapist versed in metaphor, I could use their “gee whiz” imagery to draw useful information for the client’s sessions.

Not everyone who tries this process sees visions. Of the 25 clients with whom I’ve done this, 14 saw visions, 2 saw “something interesting”, and the rest saw lights flashing or unrecognizable patterns.

Eye Movement and the Hypnotic State

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When she entered hypnosis, her eyes became glazed and her blinking rate was significantly reduced.

When she entered hypnosis, her eyes became glazed and her blinking rate was significantly reduced.

A study by an international team of researchers focused on a healthy adult woman who is known to be highly susceptible to hypnosis. Specifically, her eye movements during hypnotic and waking state were measured with a special eye tracking device.

When she entered hypnosis, her eyes became glazed and her blinking rate was significantly reduced. Even more importantly, hypnosis induced dramatic reduction in eye movements that are beyond volitional control in healthy adults. None of thirty tested control subjects could mimic these changes in eye movement patterns.

Eyelid blinking and eye movement DO matter – and can be used to indicate levels of hypnotic induction. Further, it may be possible to induce the hypnotic state via eyelid blinking and eye movement (the reverse position).

Using the Placebo Effect for Successful Outcomes

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placebo.jpgIn the largest experiment of its kind to date, 1162 patients aged 18 to 86 years (mean ± SD age, 50 ± 15 years) with a history of chronic low back pain for a mean of 8 years were randomly assigned to receive acupuncture, sham acupuncture, or conventional therapy (a combination of drugs, physical therapy, and exercise) for their chronic back pain. Patients underwent ten 30-minute sessions, generally 2 sessions per week.

After six months, patients answered questions from the Von Korff Chronic Pain Grade Scale questionnaire and the back-specific portions of the Hanover Functional Ability Questionnaire to determine their chronic level of pain after treatment.

In the real acupuncture group, 47 percent of patients improved (defined as 33% improvement or better on the Von Korff Scale or 12% better on the Hanover Questionnaire). In the sham acupuncture group, 44 percent improved. In the conventional care group, 27 percent got relief.

Study Conclusion: Low back pain improved after acupuncture treatment for at least 6 months. Effectiveness of acupuncture, either real or sham, was almost twice that of conventional therapy.

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Increased Stress

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Stress can be easily managed by you from within you.

Stress can be easily managed by you from within you.

2009 “Perceptions of Stress in Adults”, a part of APA Study, Stress in America survey results show that adults continue to report high levels of stress and many report that their stress has increased over the past year. Additionally, many adults are reporting physical symptoms of stress.

75% of adults reported experiencing moderate to high levels of stress in the past month (24 % extreme, 51 % moderate) and 42 % reported that their stress has increased in the past year. 43 % of adults say they eat too much or eat unhealthy foods as a result of stress. 37% report skipping a meal because they were under stress.

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Gifts from Our Ancestors

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In the course of evolution, people with certain genes fared better than others – and because they survived, they passed on their genes, making the general population more like them. For example, Europeans who came into contact with and yet survived the great plague did so because they had a genetic advantage over their neighbors. Because more of them survived to pass on their genes, their descendants tend to show that same genetic factor.

Unfortunately, a genetic advantage in one era or age (like the Ice Age) may be a killer in another (like now). More body fat in an Ice Age man made him more likely to pass on his genes; whereas today it could prevent him from doing so.

What genetic factors are a problem in your life? Do you have a predisposition for certain diseases or conditions (physically and psychologically)? How can you know which conditions or diseases are genetically affecting you? How can you make a change that has a higher probability of success on a genetic level – if it is possible at all?

There is a fundamental interaction between genetics and how our brains process the genetic information. We create and maintain brain circuitry based on a genetic blueprint modified by experience/learning (environmental factors). It's a delicate balance between nature and nurture. Neither genetics nor conditioning completely rule our life experience – rather, we experience the result of an interweaving between the two – kind of like the weaving of DNA.

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Overhauling US Mental Health

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Time to overhaul US mental health

Time to overhaul US mental health to include alternative mental health methods.

Is it time to overhaul US mental health to include alternative mental health methods?

In the January 2011 issue of Perspectives on Psychological Science, several eminent scientists highlight important points that will need to be addressed before the mental health care system in the US can be overhauled, including:

  • Understanding what works and for whom: It won’t matter which treatments work unless we know who will benefit most. “In the absence of such knowledge, we risk treatment decisions guided by accessibility to resources rather than patient needs…”
  • Integrating several levels of care: “…only a comprehensive and integrated public health model can adequately address the pervasive societal problems that underlie our country’s mental health needs.” We must distribute resources equally from the prevention to intervention stages of the treatment process.
  • Identifying optimal methods of delivery: “methods that use less therapist time, less client time, minimize client transportation costs as well as brick-and-mortar space, and use less of other increasingly scarce and costly resources.”

I’d add one more – studying and integrating effective alternative therapies. Even traditional native therapies have their place in the right environment. Others, like hypnotherapy, have already been proven effective in more goal-oriented outcomes like academic improvement and smoking cessation and I feel should be included as options.

Sources: Association for Psychological Science (2011, September 15). “Revisiting Psychotherapy.”

Guided Imagery Enhances Healing

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According to the January issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter, research shows that guided imagery helps patients use the full range of the body’s healing capacity. Guided imagery is more than listening to relaxing sounds – it’s a learning process to listen to someone’s voice, relax the breathing and consciously direct the ability to imagine. The effect of guided vivid imagery sends a message to the emotional control center of the brain. From there, the message is passed along to the body’s endocrine, immune and autonomic nervous systems. These systems influence a wide range of bodily functions, including heart and breathing rates and blood pressure.

Guided imagery has been shown to benefit patients by:

– Reducing side effects from cancer treatment

– Reducing fear and anxiety prior to surgery. Mayo Clinic studies have shown that surgery patients who participated in two to four guided imagery sessions required less pain medication and left the hospital more quickly than those who hadn’t used imagery.

– Managing stress

– Managing headaches. Studies at the Mayo Clinic have shown that guided imagery may aid in reducing the frequency of migraine headaches as effectively as taking preventive medications.

On the Internet, www.hypnosis-oregon.com and www.rapideyetechnology.com offer information on providers experienced in this technique.

Mayo Clinic
200 First St. SW
Rochester, MN 55902
United States
www.mayoclinic.com

Tally Another Win for the Placebo Effect

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Researchers at the Karolinska Institutet and Linköping University in Sweden evaluated 277 cancer patients undergoing radiation treatments who were experiencing nausea. The patients were divided into three groups:

  1. Those receiving standard pharmaceutical treatment for nausea
  2. Those receiving acupuncture for nausea
  3. Those receiving simulated acupuncture for nausea

The results confirmed that acupuncture is indeed an effective method for treating nausea. It also showed that simulated acupuncture was just as effective as real acupuncture. And, both types of acupuncture treatments were far more (at least doubly) effective than the standard pharmaceutical treatment program.

It’s my old pal, Mr. Placebo. He’s gotten a bad name, I think – undeservedly.

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Using Scales to “Measure” Identity

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"On a scale of 0-5 with 5 being absolutely true, how true is your evaluation of such a person who believes/acts that way?"

“On a scale of 0-5 with 5 being absolutely true, how true is your evaluation of such a person who believes/acts that way?”

When someone has a belief about something they also have an underlying belief about themselves to support that belief. This is what we call identity – a deeply held belief about who the person is who holds such and such beliefs – which is then applied to “me.” To elicit this level of belief, all you have to do is ask for identity – “What kind of person would believe that?” – notice how I use the word “what” in this context. The word “what” in a question tends to elicit identity statements more often than “how” or “why” questions do.

Using a Validity of Cognition (VoC) scale you can start the releasing process – “On a scale of 0-5 with 5 being absolutely true, how true is your evaluation of such a person who believes/acts that way?” Adjust the question to suit your situation. The essence is to elicit how true their judgment of themselves is – a level of judgment – how strong/intense is their judgment?

Then it’s simply a matter of using a stress-reduction process like Rapid Eye Technology (RET) to diminish the level of belief to zero. I especially like the RET Release and Gather technique to deal with identity issues – actually, you are not releasing identity – you are releasing the intensity of judgments (perceptions) you have of your identity. True identity is never in danger of release.
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Non-pharmaceutical Fear Erasure?

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Fearful memories can be rewritten.

Fearful memories can be rewritten.

Researchers at New York University have demonstrated scientifically that a specific fearful memory can be rewritten in the brain without the use of drugs – purely behaviorally. Of course, alternative practitioners like hypnotherapists and Rapid Eye Technicians have seen this over and over and are sold on the fact that fearful memories can be rewritten (in NLP it’s called “Reframing”).

Basing their theories on mouse and rat subjects, the researchers, led by Elizabeth Phelps, Ph.D., and Joseph LeDoux, Ph.D., of NYU, grantees of the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), have demonstrated their training process on human subjects with positive results. The hope is to replace drug therapies with behavioral ones for anxiety and PTSD specifically – and perhaps others after some trials.

The research shows that there is a critical window of opportunity for change – within 6 hours of the recall of a traumatic memory. Once the “file” is open, specific behavioral techniques can be used to rewrite the memory back into the brain without the fear portion – with long-lasting results. The researchers also found that it was not necessary to recall specifics within a memory – just the emotional elements and the “gist” of the traumatic memory – in order to rewrite it. That’s the phenomenological findings of thousands of Rapid Eye Technicians, who basically tell their clients, “It’s not necessary to relive the events in order to release their energy and reframe [rewrite] those memories…”

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