Stephen Kurczy looks at An Ounce of Prevention: Hypnotherapist helps patients visualize better, healthier lives. Some useful material, but a bit on the fringe in application and philosophy. The points on emotional component to physical ailments are correct but the supposition of giving one primacy over the other is not . . . both treatment modalities are important:

Hypnotist Alan Holubesko may not cure your diseases, but he says he can put an end to what causes them. “Medication treats the effects, not the cause,” said Holubesko, a certified hypnotherapist operating out of Health and Harmony Wellness Center on Masons Island Road in Mystic. “What I do in hypnotherapy is the opposite. I treat the effect through the cause.” According to Holubesko, the cause of all our ailments, from asthma to cancer, is emotion. While drug therapy may address the ailment, it does not treat the cause. With the aid of hypnosis, Holubesko says he treats the emotional cause of his clients’ ailments. Brainwashing clients is not a part of the treatment, Holubesko explained. Hypnosis brings a person into a high state of relaxation so that their subconscious is free to speak, he said. Holubesko then assists the hypnotized person in visualizing a life without the ailment. Holubesko said he was first exposed to hypnosis in 1977 when he read “The Power of the Subconscious Mind” by Dr. Joseph Murphy. A sales manager for a national jewelry firm at the time, Holubesko used suggestions from the book to help workers visualize sales quotas. It worked, he said. Since then he has become a certified hypnotherapist and a member of the National Guild of Hypnotists. Diane Grella of Mystic Hypnosis, a full-time hypnotherapist for the past 10 years, instructed, certified and vouches for Holubesko’s ability. “I wouldn’t have certified him if I didn’t think he was ready,” Grella said. After practicing out of his home for a year, Holubesko transplanted to Mystic two months ago. Patients sometimes fall asleep during the therapy. “I give them a nudge to bring them back,” Holubesko said. “I’ve had people wake up and ask, ‘When are we going to start?’ But they know they’ve been treated when they leave here and feel the changes. Consciously a person might not remember, but the important thing is that she remembers it subconsciously.” Clients generally want to quit smoking, lose weight or relieve stress. For each, Holubesko uses hypnotherapy to assist in visualizing what it would be like to be a nonsmoker, or 15 pounds lighter, or stress-free. “If you can’t picture yourself being a nonsmoker, you won’t be,” he explained. Holubesko said he also uses hypnosis to help clients with sexual problems and achieve sales success. Visualization is integral in each case, as well as a healthy diet with distilled water, free of chlorine and chloride, and regular exercise. This establishes a proper metabolic rate, he said. “When the metabolic process is off, toxicity is not purged,” Holubesko said. Negative emotions — jealousy, hate and anger — cause toxins to be released into the body in the first place, Holubesko said. Unreleased toxin causes the immune system to break down. Holubesko said he addresses the negative emotions that create these toxins. “It’s your spiritual component,” Holubesko said, “and much more important than any physical component.” After four 60-minute sessions of hypnotherapy, Holubesko said that 50 percent of his patients walk away cured. If an ailment is not remedied, the fault lies in the clients’ unwillingness to visualize success and diet right, he said. “If you follow the instructions you will be cured,” he said. “There is a time and a place for drug therapy, but unfortunately the pendulum tends to swing in that direction every time. But drugs are not a cure. If they were then there would be no side effects. There are alternatives.” Holubesko said not all people are receptive to hypnotherapy and that drug therapy should not be abandoned, only used as a last alternative. Holubesko is combining hypnotherapy, which nears $100 a session, with the Raindrop Technique, which costs $85, a method of applying oils to the body for restoring electrical flow. “I’m no shaman,” Holubesko said. “I’m not that smart. I’m not that spiritual. It just works.”

Do note that in most localities, hypnotists do not “cure” medical issues. It is outside their scope of practice. However, hypnotists can offer care to supplement medical care and that can be very helpful indeed. Hypnosis isn’t going to work unless you actually want the change and follow the instructions explicity. When I work with folks for medical issues, I require a referral from a licensed competent medical practitioner. For non=medical issues, no referral is necessary. Often folks can find simple visualization to be very helpful. See other articles on this blog for more specific information.

All the best,
Brian