Hypnosis a Powerful Tool in Complementary Cancer Care
Complementary therapies, while not given the attention that more traditional cancer therapies may receive, are perhaps equally important while undergoing treatment for certain types of cancer. Patients diagnosed with difficult to treat malignancies will often use these types of therapies in conjunction with traditional surgical, chemotherapeutic, or radiology techniques to form a more comprehensive and effective treatment regimen. Among the most important and effective alternative therapies utilized by those diagnosed with cancer is hypnotherapy.
Hypnotherapy has been used for many years in clinical settings. Hypnotherapy’s role in cancer management however, is relatively new and indications are that its utilization has not been fully maximized yet. Effective cancer treatment often depends on the patient’s ability to not only defeat the cancer through treatments but also to maintain their health and mental spirit throughout the painful side effects of cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation.
Often, the symptoms and effects of the cancer itself on the body are negligible compared to the pain and other side effects of chemotherapy and radiation. This is where acupuncture has been said to be most effective. Cancers such as peritoneal mesothelioma, which are often unable to be removed by surgical means, are often treated with some combination of chemotherapy and radiation. While these potent therapies can be effective in eliminating some of the tumor mass and growth, they also profoundly effect the health of the surrounding tissue. Symptoms of these effects including fever, nausea, and general pain have been dramatically reduced through the utilization of hypnosis. Patients, who are able to withstand these symptoms and recover quickly, will often be able to be more aggressively treated, increasing the efficacy of the treatment regimen as a whole. Some specific hypnotherapy techniques utilized in pain management include altering the neurophysical configuration of pain, control of anticipatory anxiety, and targeted imagery.
Hypnotherapy techniques may not be appropriate for all patient’s pain and individual symptoms but it’s certainly worth exploring as it can do very little harm in experimenting with integrative therapies. The goal with alternative therapies, as with traditional mesothelioma treatments, is always to increase the effectiveness of treatment as a whole. If hypnotherapy can assist in any way in helping patients recover or manage symptoms of chemotherapy or radiation, then it will have contributed to the treatment regimens overall efficacy and should certainly be utilized.
References: Erickson MH: Hypnosis in painful terminal illness, in Haley J (ed): Advanced Techniques of Hypnosis and Therapy: Selected Papers of Milton Erickson, MD. New York, Crune & Stratton, 1967.
Sunnen, Gerard M.D. , Hypnotic Approaches in the Cancer Patient Ozonics International, LLC
See link to support website under Hypnotherapy Website Links
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Hypnosis has 'REAL' Brain Effect Report from the BBC News
Hypnosis has a "very real" effect that can be picked up on brain scans, say Hull University researchers. An imaging study of hypnotised participants showed decreased activity in the parts of the brain linked with daydreaming or letting the mind wander. The same brain patterns were absent in people who had the tests but who were not susceptible to being hypnotised.
One psychologist said the study backed the theory that hypnosis "primes" the brain to be open to suggestion. Hypnosis is increasingly being used to help people stop smoking or lose weight and advisers recently recommended its use on the NHS to treat irritable bowel syndrome.
"This shows that the changes were due to hypnosis and not just simple relaxation", Dr William McGeown, study leader. It is not the first time researchers have tried to use imaging studies to monitor brain activity in people under hypnosis. But the Hull team said these had been done while people had been asked to carry out tasks, so it was not clear whether the changes in the brain were due to the act of doing the task or an effect of hypnosis.
In the latest study, the team first tested how people responded to hypnosis and selected 10 individuals who were "highly suggestible" and seven people who did not really respond to the technique other than becoming more relaxed. The participants were asked to do a task under hypnosis, such as listening to non-existent music, but unknown to them the brain activity was being monitored in the rest periods in between tasks, the team reported in the journal Consciousness and Cognition.
In the "highly suggestible" group there was decreased activity in the part of the brain involved in daydreaming or letting the mind wander - also known as the "default mode" network.
One suggestion of how hypnosis works, supported by the results, is that shutting off this activity leaves the brain free to concentrate on other tasks. Study leader Dr William McGeown, a lecturer in the department of psychology, said the results were unequivocal because they only occurred in the highly suggestible subjects. "This shows that the changes were due to hypnosis and not just simple relaxation. "Our study shows hypnosis is real."
Dr Michael Heap, a clinical forensic psychologist based in Sheffield, said the experiment was unique in showing brain patterns supporting the theory that hypnosis works by "priming" the subject to respond more effectively to suggestions. "Importantly the data confirm that relaxation is not a critical factor. The limited data from this experiment suggest that this pattern of activity then dissipates (at least to some extent) once the subjects start to engage in the suggestions that follow." But he said the small study, which needed repeating in other populations, did not prove that people being hypnotised were in an actual "trance".
Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/8359170.stmPublished: 2009/11/16 00:19:32 GMT
Hypnosis has a "very real" effect that can be picked up on brain scans, say Hull University researchers. An imaging study of hypnotised participants showed decreased activity in the parts of the brain linked with daydreaming or letting the mind wander. The same brain patterns were absent in people who had the tests but who were not susceptible to being hypnotised.
One psychologist said the study backed the theory that hypnosis "primes" the brain to be open to suggestion. Hypnosis is increasingly being used to help people stop smoking or lose weight and advisers recently recommended its use on the NHS to treat irritable bowel syndrome.
"This shows that the changes were due to hypnosis and not just simple relaxation", Dr William McGeown, study leader. It is not the first time researchers have tried to use imaging studies to monitor brain activity in people under hypnosis. But the Hull team said these had been done while people had been asked to carry out tasks, so it was not clear whether the changes in the brain were due to the act of doing the task or an effect of hypnosis.
In the latest study, the team first tested how people responded to hypnosis and selected 10 individuals who were "highly suggestible" and seven people who did not really respond to the technique other than becoming more relaxed. The participants were asked to do a task under hypnosis, such as listening to non-existent music, but unknown to them the brain activity was being monitored in the rest periods in between tasks, the team reported in the journal Consciousness and Cognition.
In the "highly suggestible" group there was decreased activity in the part of the brain involved in daydreaming or letting the mind wander - also known as the "default mode" network.
One suggestion of how hypnosis works, supported by the results, is that shutting off this activity leaves the brain free to concentrate on other tasks. Study leader Dr William McGeown, a lecturer in the department of psychology, said the results were unequivocal because they only occurred in the highly suggestible subjects. "This shows that the changes were due to hypnosis and not just simple relaxation. "Our study shows hypnosis is real."
Dr Michael Heap, a clinical forensic psychologist based in Sheffield, said the experiment was unique in showing brain patterns supporting the theory that hypnosis works by "priming" the subject to respond more effectively to suggestions. "Importantly the data confirm that relaxation is not a critical factor. The limited data from this experiment suggest that this pattern of activity then dissipates (at least to some extent) once the subjects start to engage in the suggestions that follow." But he said the small study, which needed repeating in other populations, did not prove that people being hypnotised were in an actual "trance".
Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/8359170.stmPublished: 2009/11/16 00:19:32 GMT
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Why Does Hypnosis Work
Hypnosis or Hypnotherapy works because literally your thoughts control your body, mind and spirit. Your thoughts control your world, everything from your health, your emotions, to your future. You are what you think you are. You are who you think you are.
" First , the science of Signal Transduction focuses upon the bio-chemical pathways by which cells respond to environmental cues. Environmental signals engage cytoplasmic processes that can alter gene expression and thereby control cell fate, influence cell movement, control cell survival, or even sentence a cell to death. Signal transduction science recognizes that the fate and behavior of an organism is directly linked to its perception of the environment. In simple terms, the character of your life is based upon how we perceive it.
Second, the new science of Epigenetics, which literally means 'control above the genes,' has completely upended our conventional understanding of genetics control. Epigenetics is the science of how environmental signals select, modify, and regulate gene activity. This new awareness reveals that our genes are constantly being remodeled in response to life experiences. Which again emphasizes that our perceptions of life shape our biology."
-The Biology of Belief- Bruce Lipton, PhD.
Hypnotherapy and hypnosis teach you how to shape and control your thoughts to better your health, your life, and attain the goals you set for yourself.
Hypnosis or Hypnotherapy works because literally your thoughts control your body, mind and spirit. Your thoughts control your world, everything from your health, your emotions, to your future. You are what you think you are. You are who you think you are.
" First , the science of Signal Transduction focuses upon the bio-chemical pathways by which cells respond to environmental cues. Environmental signals engage cytoplasmic processes that can alter gene expression and thereby control cell fate, influence cell movement, control cell survival, or even sentence a cell to death. Signal transduction science recognizes that the fate and behavior of an organism is directly linked to its perception of the environment. In simple terms, the character of your life is based upon how we perceive it.
Second, the new science of Epigenetics, which literally means 'control above the genes,' has completely upended our conventional understanding of genetics control. Epigenetics is the science of how environmental signals select, modify, and regulate gene activity. This new awareness reveals that our genes are constantly being remodeled in response to life experiences. Which again emphasizes that our perceptions of life shape our biology."
-The Biology of Belief- Bruce Lipton, PhD.
Hypnotherapy and hypnosis teach you how to shape and control your thoughts to better your health, your life, and attain the goals you set for yourself.
Friday, January 22, 2010
NFL Player & HYpnosis
NFL player acknowledges Hypnotherapy
in The Huffington Post
in The Huffington Post
"I must also mention the incredible women in my life, such as my mother Rita Sanford, Beverly Taylor (whose hypnotherapy tapes help me cope with surgery and life goals) and our team psychologist and fellow UCLA alum Janice Furst."
By Brendon Ayanbadejo, NFL Linebacker, three time Pro Bowl player, AFC Defensive Player of the Week. Quoted from article in The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brendon-ayanbadejo/the-raven-with-broken-win_b_316077.html?awesm=fbshare.me_B1l
Monday, November 9, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Emotional Coping Strategies
Journaling – Write about your thoughts and feelings in a notebook. Retell your experience of what you thought, felt and experienced about an event in the greatest detail. Give yourself the permission to express your opinion without censoring or concerns about what others would think about what you’ve written. This notebook is for your eyes only and to share only if you wish to.
Letter Writing – Write a letter to someone with the intention that the letter will never be sent to them. This allows you to express your thoughts and feelings very truthfully as you are injuring no one with your candid expressions of how you feel and what you think.
Positive Affirmations / Positive Self Talk – Use positive statements of your goals and desires. Statements that are stated in the first person, and present time, in a positive manner. These statements are stated in such a way as if the goal is already accomplished.
(Examples: I am a Non-smoker; I eat healthy foods; I enjoy daily excercise; I am calm and relaxed).
Assertiveness – Practice stating how you feel about an event or interaction with another person. Use the formula: 1. Name the behavior. 2. State how that makes you feel. 3.State how you want their behavior to change. (Example: When you speak to me in that tone of voice, it makes me feel angry and defensive. Please use a calm tone of voice when you need to tell me how to do something).
Take Time – Take time to respond to an emotional situation. You do not have to respond to situations immediately. Taking time gives you a chance to sort out your feelings and make a choice about how you respond and what you choose to say to someone. Even if it takes a month or a year to sort out your feelings regarding an incident. It is never to late to return to the subject and process it, telling someone how you feel about it and the effect it had on you.
Amelia Hasenohrl, LPC, CHt. August 26, 2009
Licensed Professional Counselor
Journaling – Write about your thoughts and feelings in a notebook. Retell your experience of what you thought, felt and experienced about an event in the greatest detail. Give yourself the permission to express your opinion without censoring or concerns about what others would think about what you’ve written. This notebook is for your eyes only and to share only if you wish to.
Letter Writing – Write a letter to someone with the intention that the letter will never be sent to them. This allows you to express your thoughts and feelings very truthfully as you are injuring no one with your candid expressions of how you feel and what you think.
Positive Affirmations / Positive Self Talk – Use positive statements of your goals and desires. Statements that are stated in the first person, and present time, in a positive manner. These statements are stated in such a way as if the goal is already accomplished.
(Examples: I am a Non-smoker; I eat healthy foods; I enjoy daily excercise; I am calm and relaxed).
Assertiveness – Practice stating how you feel about an event or interaction with another person. Use the formula: 1. Name the behavior. 2. State how that makes you feel. 3.State how you want their behavior to change. (Example: When you speak to me in that tone of voice, it makes me feel angry and defensive. Please use a calm tone of voice when you need to tell me how to do something).
Take Time – Take time to respond to an emotional situation. You do not have to respond to situations immediately. Taking time gives you a chance to sort out your feelings and make a choice about how you respond and what you choose to say to someone. Even if it takes a month or a year to sort out your feelings regarding an incident. It is never to late to return to the subject and process it, telling someone how you feel about it and the effect it had on you.
Amelia Hasenohrl, LPC, CHt. August 26, 2009
Licensed Professional Counselor
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Many Ways of Healing© by Okka
What if there were as many different approaches to healing and well-being as there are roads leading to Rome, and yet all healing would be self-healing?
Let us for a moment, think about health as a state of balance and illness or disease as a state of imbalance. And let us further assume that our body is capable of maintaining a state of balance. And even when we feel sick or are challenged with a disease, even then most of our billions and billions of cells are functioning properly and healthy. Our body somehow knows how to maintain a balance while constantly and simultaneously millions of inter- and intracellular processes take place. The simple fact that tears cried due to happiness have quite a different chemical consistence than tears cried from pain or grief shows us how amazingly differentiated our bodily responses are and how much inner wisdom our body has. And it is ours to access.
Now, when health is a state of balance and disease is a state of imbalance, and then healing is the process of re-turning to a balanced state. This means the body is working to re-establish harmony while using all available sources to reach this goal. Would it therefore be appropriate - and in a sense, be respectful toward ourselves, to see all healing as self-healing?
What would it be like when we were to change our point of view and intentionally utilize the healing powers within; while using the various forms of treatments and approaches as possibilities to assist us on the road of self-healing?
Through a study done by the Institute of Heart Math it was discovered that the DNA changes it shape according to feelings felt by the researchers. When gratitude, love, and appreciation were felt, the DNA responded by relaxing, the strands unwound and the DNA became longer. When the researchers felt anger, fear, frustration, or stress, the DNA responded by tightening up, becoming shorter and even switching off some of the DNA codes. This effect was reversed and the codes were switched on again when feelings of love, joy, and appreciation were felt by the researchers.
What have these results to do with healing and self-healing? Each cell in our body has a strand of DNA, within which - among many other things - the information of a healthy, properly functioning cell is located. And since we are in charge of what to think or feel, we can support our healing process by learning to relax - regardless of the environment - and use all our senses and abilities to envision and feel the perfect outcome.
By: Okka Holthuis / http://us.mc827.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=okka@luxmani.com http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=PBKyx&m=1fPVFLgAKVjnxj&b=LbnXJqlyiM_HbpLMy0G1ZA
What if there were as many different approaches to healing and well-being as there are roads leading to Rome, and yet all healing would be self-healing?
Let us for a moment, think about health as a state of balance and illness or disease as a state of imbalance. And let us further assume that our body is capable of maintaining a state of balance. And even when we feel sick or are challenged with a disease, even then most of our billions and billions of cells are functioning properly and healthy. Our body somehow knows how to maintain a balance while constantly and simultaneously millions of inter- and intracellular processes take place. The simple fact that tears cried due to happiness have quite a different chemical consistence than tears cried from pain or grief shows us how amazingly differentiated our bodily responses are and how much inner wisdom our body has. And it is ours to access.
Now, when health is a state of balance and disease is a state of imbalance, and then healing is the process of re-turning to a balanced state. This means the body is working to re-establish harmony while using all available sources to reach this goal. Would it therefore be appropriate - and in a sense, be respectful toward ourselves, to see all healing as self-healing?
What would it be like when we were to change our point of view and intentionally utilize the healing powers within; while using the various forms of treatments and approaches as possibilities to assist us on the road of self-healing?
Through a study done by the Institute of Heart Math it was discovered that the DNA changes it shape according to feelings felt by the researchers. When gratitude, love, and appreciation were felt, the DNA responded by relaxing, the strands unwound and the DNA became longer. When the researchers felt anger, fear, frustration, or stress, the DNA responded by tightening up, becoming shorter and even switching off some of the DNA codes. This effect was reversed and the codes were switched on again when feelings of love, joy, and appreciation were felt by the researchers.
What have these results to do with healing and self-healing? Each cell in our body has a strand of DNA, within which - among many other things - the information of a healthy, properly functioning cell is located. And since we are in charge of what to think or feel, we can support our healing process by learning to relax - regardless of the environment - and use all our senses and abilities to envision and feel the perfect outcome.
By: Okka Holthuis / http://us.mc827.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=okka@luxmani.com http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=PBKyx&m=1fPVFLgAKVjnxj&b=LbnXJqlyiM_HbpLMy0G1ZA
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