Hypnotherapy
Hypnosis has been known about and successfully practised for several thousand years. The ancient Egyptians had "sleep temples" where you could go and relax and go into trance and come out feeling better. "Hypnos" was the Greek god of sleep and they had similar temples where priests would make suggestions to aid healing.
Mesmer used magnets to clear "blockages" and heal certain medical conditions but subsequently developed the idea that it was magnetic energy from the person themselves that did the healing, so-called "animal magnetism". This treatment was, in reality, a form of hypnosis where people were influenced by suggestion - that the magnets would do the healing. This "mesmerism" just demonstrated the immense power of humans to bring about healthy change in themselves using their unconscious - or "back part" of the mind.
Dr John Elliottson, a physician, introduced mesmerism into his medical practice at University College Hospital in London. The medical profession of the 19th century were sceptical and frowned on this, but this did not deter Elliottson. James Esdaile was a Scottish surgeon who worked in India and operated on thousands of patients using hypnosis as the only anaesthetic. James Braid was also a surgeon and was the first person to use the term "hypnosis". He criticised Mesmer's ideas of animal magnetism and showed that you can induce a hypnotic trance by getting people to focus their eyes on a fixed point. We can only admire the persistence of these pioneers against the medical dogma of the day.
Early in the twentieth century, the use of hypnosis had declined markedly and some people regarded it as black magic. As the century progressed, people became more and more curious about how to explain hypnosis and it was increasingly recognised as a powerful tool that could help people create change in their lives. In 1933, Clark Hull, a behavioural psychologist wrote a serious scientific book called "Hypnosis and Suggestibility" and from about 1950 onwards there has been increasing scientific interest in hypnosis. A lot of research continues to be done at University College London under Professor David Oakley and hypnosis is now a mainstream scientific study.
Modern scientific research using brain imaging has demonstrated that certain parts of the brain are stimulated during a hypnosis session and this is proof enough that there is a definite response taking place. Lots of research has also shown that many medical conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome and migraine can be helped with hypnosis. The list of conditions that hypnosis can be used to treat is almost endless and can include a whole range of psychological conditions, including anxiety and phobias, extending to things such as exam nerves and fear of flying. Pain control is another area where it can be helpful.
Experts are still debating whether you "go into trance" and this is a special state or you simply respond to suggestions that the therapist makes and this can be considered an everyday phenomenon like getting absorbed in watching a favourite television programme and not hearing the door bell ring. From a therapy viewpoint it does not really matter because we know it works and we know it can achieve remarkable outcomes.
Learning to do self-hypnosis is probably one of the most useful things you can do. The principles are extremely simple and you can feel very relaxed and confident and use it to move towards the things you want to achieve in your life. It provides you with a "tool" that you can carry around with you and use whenever you wish. Self-hypnosis has also been shown to help treatments such as cognitive behaviour therapy to continue to maintain their benefit.
Hypnotherapy can help bring about transformation in your health and in how you view your life and your situation, but it is not a passive treatment where the therapist puts you into trance and "cures" you. Nothing happens without your involvement and you must commit yourself to wanting change. It can, however, dramatically accelerate change so that you may wonder why you didn't do it sooner!
John Elliott is a medical doctor who qualified from Edinburgh University and specialised in Psychiatry in his early career. He then worked as a General Practitioner in the NHS for 30 years and during that time has maintained a special interest in peoples' psychological concerns. He has used hypnosis in his care of patients regularly since the 1970s.
Dr John Elliott
MSc in Applied Hypnosis - University College London
Accredited Member of the National Council for Hypnotherapy
Member of the British Society of Experimental and Clinical Hypnosis
Member of the General Hypnotherapy Register and the General Hypnotherapy Standards Council
Southampton
UK