Hypnotherapy
Contrary to old perceptions of hypnosis as the province of stage magicians, hypnotherapy today is used to teach people how to master their own states of awareness. Hypnotherapy works by putting people into a state of deep relaxation and an altered state of awareness. This allows them to alter their own physical and psychological responses.
Hypnotherapy has been used throughout history, usually by shamans during rituals, but in modern times was first popularized by a doctor in Austria named Franz Anton Mesmer. During the 1700s, Mesmer hypnotized patients using magnets, and while he cured a number of people of ailments such as headaches, joint pain, and blindness, Mesmer was called a fraud by the medical establishment of his day. After that, hypnotherapy disappeared for a couple of centuries.
It was brought back in the middle of the twentieth century by Milton H. Erickson, a psychiatrist who used hypnotherapy in his sessions with patients. Today, hypnotherapy is recognized by the National Institutes of Health as a valid therapy for curing chronic pain, anxiety, and various addictions.
Far from being a mysterious state of mind, all of us routinely fall into hypnotic trances every day, when we daydream, or while waiting at a red light, or while completely absorbed in some task. There is no definite boundary between a normal waking state and a hypnotized state.
While hypnotized, someone is not asleep, and in fact may not even have their eyes closed and may be walking around. While in a hypnotic state, your mind is extremely focused and your attention will be much more concentrated than usual. Some people are disappointed afterwards, expecting being hypnotized to be a strange, mystical experience. Despite feeling that nothing special has happened, within a few days the target symptoms often show improvement.
Some of the problems that hypnotherapy can help address include chronic pain, anxiety, smoking, various addictions, and nausea. You can even be taught to hypnotize yourself, giving yourself a booster between hypnotherapy sessions and gaining more control over your healing process. There are hypnotherapy tapes commercially available that can help put you into a trance when you feel the need.
Free Hypnotherapy Video for Deep Relaxation
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