People having surgery done under local anaesthetic can benefit from hypnosis as a way of relaxing them. Many surgical procedures can be done using a local anaesthetic, rather than general anaesthesia. This might be better for the patient, but the prospect of being awake during an operation is troubling for many. Often a sedative drug…
Pop star Ke$Ha loves to go back in time under hypnosis and check out her past lives. The Die Young singer has been trying out past-life regressions in a bid to get to grips with her “issues” and she admits she looks forward to each session. During an appearance on U.S. show Jimmy Kimmel Live!…
Dave Berman (http://manifestpositivity.com) reports for the Washington Times Communities that scientists at Rutgers University have found that whether orgasms are stimulated by imagination or physical touch, the same pleasure centers of the brain are activated. Well worth the read . . . and well worth knowing . . . for the folks who ask if…
The Metro News reports on a British schoolboy from Somerset who was stranded in Abu Dhabi for 18 months because he had a crippling fear of air travel had to be hypnotised back on a plane in order to return home. Twelve-year-old Joe Thompson landed at London Heathrow Airport four years after his family moved…
Peter Halligan of Cardiff University discusses hypnosis and its use to delve into psychiatric disorders for insight. For well over a century, hypnosis has been used to treat a wide range of conditions including irritable bowel syndrome, post-traumatic stress and eating disorders. But now neuroscientists are using hypnosis to gain insight into medically unexplained paralysis…
A woman in Padua had surgery to remove a skin tumor by hypnosis instead of anesthesia in a groundbreaking anesthesiological method which updates 19th century techniques used for minor pathologies, a medical journal said Wednesday. The finding will reportedly enable other tumor patients who have had allergic reactions to anesthetic agents or are considered at…
From the news . . . a woman in Italy was successfully anaesthetised via hypnosis ahead of undergoing skin cancer surgery, in an operation hailed Thursday as a landmark by local media. The procedure was performed in Padua by Enrico Ferro, Professor of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care at the northern Italian town’s university. It took…
Jeremy Dean at PsyBlog discusses empathy . . . Without empathy, human beings are lonely, disconnected creatures. An old philosophical question asks: is there any such thing as a selfless act? Cynics answer no, because any apparently selfless act is always tacitly showing off what ‘good’ people we are. Even if no one else knows…
British actor Stephen Fry underwent hypnosis to help him keep time during a musical performance with his long-time collaborator Hugh Laurie. “We once sang a song together on live television and he actually had to undergo hypnosis to allow him to basically finish the song at the same time as the band finished.” House star…
Researchers have discovered that “hypnotic suggestions” – instructions that encourage a response from those under hypnosis – may trigger automatic cues, such as for how we perceive color. Researchers from Finland and Sweden conducted two studies revealing the brain’s oscillatory (repetitive variation) activity using EEGs in two participants under hypnosis. In the first study published…
Hypnotic relaxation therapy improves sexual health in postmenopausal women who have moderate to severe hot flashes, according to Baylor University researchers who presented their findings at the American Psychological Association’s recent annual meeting. The study, which examined sexual comfort, sexual satisfaction and sexual pleasure, is a first step toward a safe and effective alternative toward…
Regular readers here know I am a bit of a fan of the work of Wilhelm Reich and his theories on character analysis and the orgasm and that I’m a bit put off that those theories are often misrepresented and ridiculed for what they are not. Motherboard has a piece on how the US government…
As Hannah Osborne and others report, Kate Middleton Planning Hypno-Birth at St Mary’s Hospital in London. Kate Middleton is considering the use hypnotherapy to ease the pressure of labor when she gives birth in July. The Duchess of Cambridge has reportedly been looking into hypno-birthing techniques, which are based around the principle that fear and…
In a profile interview for New York Magazine, Carol Shaw, founder of Lorac – makers of beauty products – was asked how she dealt with her own severe case of acne and Shaw confided that hypnosis was a big part of her cure. What was it that ended up clearing up your own acne? The…
File this in the kind of a no brainer cabinet. Studies have shown that stress makes people unattractive to the opposite gender. We’ve known for a while that women are more attracted to men who are under less stress but a new study confirms that men find women who are under stress less attractive as…
Many hypnotists will tell you that simple affirmations don’t work and that folks need genuine hypnotic intervention with whatever pet process the hypnotist happens to support. However, recent studies are showing that this isn’t always the case and that sometimes just focusing and doing a few affirmations can be enough to make a difference. Reminding…
Even more research is drawing a clear link between mindfulness meditation and lowered stress. A new study in the journal Health Psychology shows an association between increased mindfulness and decreased levels of the stress hormone cortisol (here). “This is the first study to show a direct relation between resting cortisol and scores on any type…
I don’t know how many of you know that I will be presenting at a new hypnosis conference this year. Most of you have heard of HypnoThoughts.com, the completely free hypnosis resource with over 12,000 members. Did you know that HypnoThoughts is going to hold it’s first live event this summer in Las Vegas? It’s…
More corporations are bringing variations of meditation, focused trance, and hypnosis into the workplace as a means of lowering stress, increasing productivity, and lowering health costs . . . which affects their bottom lines. It’s not so much new age philosophy that’s got mindfulness and similar mind techniques exploding in the business world but simple…
One reason hypnotists like myself prefer to use rapid or speed hypnosis methods late in the day is that it’s very easy for folks to fall asleep at that time, particularly if you use any sort of relaxation based hypnotic induction or guided meditation. This is also why many meditation teachers suggest that folks not…
As part of her coverage of the preponderance of stress in the work place, Judy Martin provides some tips for breathing methods that actually help break stress on the job. The Breath as Fuel The breath is the sustaining force that keeps us in human form. It’s the fundamental transaction of life, the fuel to…
Essential to human survival early in life is the ability to form a secure bond in infancy. It has been said that babies who receive food, water, clothing, and all their basic physical requirements but lack human connection do not thrive. Why is attachment so intrinsic for people? Our species are a social bunch and…
How’s this for a bit of suckage beyond suck? Doctors in China have begun treating alcoholism and drug addiction via ablation of the brain . . . that is, they’re hacking away parts of the pleasure center of the brain so that patients no longer feel desire for their addictions . . . of course,…
As many of you know, I teach the first half of the Advanced Hypnosis Theory course at the Hypnosis Practitioner Training Institute – HPTI – (www.HPTI.org) with Scott Sandland who does the capstone portion of the course to finish out the program. Additionally, I also teach the Critical Thinking course for the same program. One…
Maria Sonnenberg discusses the use of hypnosis for managing chronic pain. Hypnosis has been proven effective in helping control chronic pain, one of the most common reasons for patients to seek medical care, yet many doctors and patients still fail to buy into this powerful healing tool. “A lot of people don’t understand hypnosis, and…
