I have been reading a wonderful biography of Herbert Spiegel, best known in hypnosis circles for developing the Spiegel Eye Role Suggestibility Test, part of his Hypnotic Induction Profile (HIP). So, as this piece has certainly piqued my interest in the man’s work, I did a search for more information about his HIP to see if perhaps I could work with it a bit (I have tested and developed various suggestibility performance test procedures) and found a reference to his son, David Spiegel, who also works with hypnosis, in an ABC News piece on Self-Hypnosis for Pain Relief that is rather favorable. Despite some recent bullshit programs denying the effectiveness of hypnosis in the US, there is a great deal of controlled study evidence that the mind-body connection is very very real and very much a powerful means of helping folks. Hypnosis for pain relief and to help speed recovery from surgery and disease is well documented. It is also much more widespread than folks might believe . . . particularly when we realize a number of processes are actually hypnotic or trance related without a formal induction.

Good stuff.