I am a librarian, and like many in
my profession I am innately curious. If you are in the business of ferreting
out information, being naturally curious comes in handy. When I’m not at the
library putting my curiosity to work for others, I like to learn about learning
and behavior – or why we do what we do, and how we can do things better. As
such, I am an avid watcher of TED talks, those treasure troves of “ideas worth
spreading,” and the related TEDx events organized in communities around the
globe.
This summer I viewed one such
talk delivered by Kristin Rivas called “The life-changing power of words.”
Several years after her sister died in a car accident, she suddenly developed
pseudo-seizures and other disturbing symptoms. She was eventually diagnosed by
the Mayo Clinic with post-traumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder
and conversion disorder. Her doctors believed she was suffering from traumatic
grief, which her body was converting into psychosomatic symptoms. They
recommended drugs and intensive psychiatric care, but weren’t optimistic about
the prognosis. The Mayo Clinic also recommended one last alternative:
hypnotherapy. Desperate, she made an appointment with a specialist in trauma
resolution therapy. During one two-hour session she learned that her mind was
confusing memory with reality, and sending signals to address a perceived
situation. She was then offered a different way of perceiving her sister’s
death. The impact of the session was immediate and lasting; she was well.
Inspired by her story, I viewed several other TEDx talks on hypnosis. I also
recommend Danna Pycher’s talk, “Healing illness with the subconscious mind.”
Shortly after my TEDx marathon,
I learned the library would be hosting a four-part series on “Hypnosis and
Healing” to explore using the power of the mind to promote motivation, success
and well-being. Curious (as ever), I signed up. In our first session, we were
given an overview of hypnosis, which is simply a heightened state of
concentration in which people are more receptive to suggestion. The person
being treated is guided, using imagery and repetition, into a relaxed state,
but is still aware. In fact, people go into hypnotic states on their own
throughout the day, such as when we are driving somewhere and somehow end up at
our destination without recollecting how we got there. This makes the term
hypnosis – from “hypnos,” the Greek word for sleep – one of the bigger
misnomers out there. Unfortunately for me, a combination of the dark room,
soothing voice and sleep deprivation caused me to sleep through two of the four
sessions. I listened wistfully to the stories of my fellow workshop attendees
as they reported feeling more motivated and energetic. I was so disappointed to
have squandered my chance to experience the benefits of hypnosis that I ratted
myself out during the question-and-answer period one night to ask our presenter
if she had any tips for not falling asleep. She noted that if we had been in an
individual session, she would have done something like alter the volume of her
voice if she’d noticed me slipping off, but that working in a group didn’t
allow for that.
After one of the sessions in
which I was snoozing while others made positive transformations, I decided to
see what the library had to offer on the subject of hypnosis. I picked up an
informative read called The Inner
Source: Exploring Hypnosis with Dr. Herbert Spiegel by Donald Connery, which examines the practice of hypnosis and the
career of one of its chief proponents. Dr. Spiegel was a newly minted
psychiatrist who had learned hypnosis during his residency when he was sent
overseas to serve as a battalion surgeon. The power of hypnosis was revealed to
him through his work with soldiers grappling with combat stress. After leaving
the service, Dr. Spiegel continued to explore hypnosis in private practice, and
went on to teach a course in clinical hypnosis at Columbia University for over
twenty years. In Dr. Spiegel’s opinion, all hypnosis is self-hypnosis; a
hypnotist merely guides people to tap a natural ability to alter their
perception and influence their reactions. He recognized that some people are
more suggestible than others, and used different strategies to compensate for
this.
Hypnosis has been used for
everything from behavior modification (quitting smoking, losing weight, and
releasing phobias) to coping with post-traumatic stress disorder and pain
management on par with anesthesia. So my main wonderment is this: if hypnosis
is so useful, why is it viewed as a last resort? If a quick, easy and
side-effect-free method to improve our heath is available, why not add it to
the mix? I suspect that the checkered past of the practice, from stage
hypnotists to unscrupulous charlatans, prevents people from taking it
seriously, but the cynical side of me also wonders if our healthcare system
isn’t to blame. There is, after all, no money to be made from people who can
make themselves well.
My own research into hypnosis
continues. There are numerous resources out there for those who’d like to learn
more. Our network owns The Complete
Idiot’s Guide to Hypnosis, which offers an overview of the subject as well several appendices of
additional resources. Self-Hypnosis
for Dummies is similar, and available
as an eBook. Other audio and digital resources abound for help with specific
concerns such as insomnia, weight-loss, etc. For those who wish to consult a
professional, a searchable database of licensed healthcare workers providing
hypnotherapy is available through the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis at https://www.asch.net/.
