Hypnotherapy
By Tom Wilson
Hypnotherapy
What it's best for : Pain and anxiety (especially during surgery and labour), as well as breaking bad habits.
May also help : Addiction, stomach problems, and headaches.
How it works: You will not fall asleep. You do not become a zombie. And chances are, you will remember everything the therapist said when it's over.
A stage hypnotist may put an audience member into a trance and convince him or her to bark like a dog; then the performer snaps his fingers and - presto! - the volunteer wakes up, unaware of why the crowd is laughing. But in a psychologist's office or a surgical suite, hypnotherapy is a much more powerful tool. While skeptics claim that hypnosis simply puts you to sleep, brain scans of people who have been "induced" show different patterns than those of someone who is dozing. Interesting, the part of the brain that shows the most activity during hypnosis is the one that governs vision. "That suggests that if you can imagine certain things in your mind, the body starts to respond as though they are really happening," says psychologist Marc Oster, PsyD, a spokesman for the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis.
In a typical 60 to 90 minute session, the therapist speaks softly to help you become deeply relaxed and focused, to the point of ignoring all distractions. Once you reach a state of hyperconcentration, the therapist makes suggestions, such as saying to a smoker, "Cigarette are poison for my body." These recommendations can alter the way you think and behave. For instance, an analysis of nearly 50 studies found that hypnosis helps smokers break the habit successfully in 36 percent of cases, while prescription medication helps just 17 percent of would-be quitters.
Most people can be hypnotized to some degree, though it helps if you have a vivid imagination and are the type who easily becomes absorbed in books or movies, says Elvira Lang, MD, of Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. As an interventional radiologist, which means she inserts catheters into blood vessels to correct blockages or starve tumors of blood, among other things, Lang frequently hypnotizes patients first by asking them to imagine floating in a safe, comfortable place. Those procedures can be nerve-wracking for patients, but in a study published n a medical journal The Lancet, Lang found that people who were hypnotized needed only half as much medication for pain and anxiety, had fewer complications, and recovered faster. Fan from feeling out of control, many of her patients say they're proud to have participated in their own treatment. "Patients often feel quite accomplished," she says.