Looking back through history, we can see that hypnosis has been in use for thousands of years. Back in 1400 BC Hypocrites was the first to record that there was a mind-body connection. Hypnosis's use can still be seen in some primitive peoples' religious and healing ceremonies. These ceremonies show us that the rhythmic chanting, the repetitive beating of drums, and the sparks rising from fires, all give village shaman, witchdoctors or priests the appearance of having magical and/or mystical powers. The village shaman, witchdoctors or priests are able to work miracles through what we today call ‘the power of suggestion in the trance state’. It was Dr. Franz Anton Mesmer who, in the late 18th century, brought hypnosis and hypnotherapy to the modern western world.
Sleep Temple or Dream Therapy?
Hypnosis used to be called 'suggestion therapy' and can be traced back over 4000 years to ancient Egypt to the Egyptian priest, Imhotep. The ancient Egyptians used to heal people in what they called "Sleep or Dream Temples." Inscriptions on the walls of these temples tell of miraculous cures. In these Sleep or Dream Temples, sick people were put into a trance like state, where under the influence hypnosis and through religious rituals, it was suggested that healing by the gods would take place. Then through this power of suggestion, the priests were able to appear to cast out bad spirits from the mind and body of the sick.
Even in Greece, in the 4th and 5th centuries BC, Sleep or
Dream Temples were renowned as places of great healing and were
dedicated to the healing god Ęsclepius. Again, healing would take place
whilst the person was in a deep trance like state. This trance
state would come about by the priest using various forms of chanting. A
person could be kept in this trance state for up to three days.
During this time the priests by using the power of suggestion would help
the person, to obtain a cure for their illness. The sole healing power
of the mind cured them.
On the other hand, the ancient Hebrews also used chanting, as well as
breathing exercises and fixation on the Hebrew letters that spelled
their word for God, to induce a state of what we would, today, call
self-hypnosis. Then again, people such as fire-walkers, or even
priests that use the religious practices of "the laying on of hands" to
make people faint onto the floor, all use the power of suggestion and
expectation or auto-hypnosis to bring about an altered state of
consciousness.
The Romans also adopted the use of healing sleep/Incubation Temples. The Romans dedicated their Sleep Temples to their god Apollo. Relics of Roman Sleep Temples can be found throughout what used to be seen as the Roman Empire. Even today people are able to see the remains of Roman Sleep Temples in some parts of Britain.
Science Is Starting To Alter It's Opinion
For many even though it is not true, the belief that hypnosis means being under someone else's control, still persists. This is why, even today, many people will still exhaust all forms of conventional means for the treatment of trauma, anxiety and phobia, as well as stress induced physical problems and addictions before they turn to the possibilities that hypnosis or hypnotherapy by a properly trained Hypnotherapist can offer.
However science is beginning catch up with ancient knowledge. A UK study has just been completed where scientists were able to measure the brain waves of people before during and after being in a hypnotic trance. The narrow band of theta and alpha activity was recorded over anterior and posterior sites in both high and low hypnotically susceptible subjects. The subjects in hypnosis accessed the "7 Hz alpha" frequency, not the "3 Hz theta" (sleep) frequency. These results indicated that, whereas the theta indexes relaxation, alpha indexes the hypnotic experience of susceptibility.
There are also a number of recent studies that have shown that
patients in hypnosis have experienced far less pain during treatments.
The studies showed that the experience of pain is subjective and that a
number of the brain's regions are associated with the experience of pain
and that people can’t feel pain at the 7 Hz alpha levels. The study also
provided evidence that hypnosis allows the dissociation of the
prefrontal cortex from other neural functions. Suggesting that hypnosis
can interfere with those regions of the brain that allow people to feel
pain.
On the other hand in a hospital study, in the UK, of 250 unselected
patients suffering from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), tests showed
that after only 12 sessions of hypnotherapy there was an 80% overall
improvement in both the patients' physical and psychological symptoms. A
follow-up some 12 months later, showed that the patients retained the
benefits provided by their hypnotherapy treatment. The hospital
concluded that hypnotherapy was the most cost effective way of treating
IBS and now has a team of Hypnotherapists who, along with the
doctors, deal with the IBS patients at the hospital.
Thus these studies are showing through modern techniques and scientific based evidence the potential benefits of hypnosis, something that Clinical Hypnotherapists in countries all over the world have known for thousands of years.
Closer To Home
In my own practice, an interesting example of the benefits of
hypnotherapy can be seen in a patient who after suffering a heart attack
and angioplasty treatment was then afflicted with arrhythmia, causing
his heartbeat to fluctuate between 30 beats per minute to 200 beats per
minute. The client had strongly been advised that he should have both a
pacemaker and a cardiac restrictor placed in his chest to control his
heartbeat. However not wishing to go through another life threatening
operation he decided to see if hypnosis could help. Through a number of
sessions of hypnosis, learning to take control of his breathing,
releasing past trauma and following the diet and exercise changes, plus
the taking of a minimal amount of medication recommended by his doctor,
today the patient feels that he has his heart problem 95% under control
without the assistance of any medical devices needed. That was 8 years
ago and he is still going strong.
The Australian Hypnotherapists’ Association is the oldest hypnotherapy
association in Australia and its members has been helping clients since
1949. Hippocrates hit the nail on the head when he called this mind-body
connection, “Vis medicatrix natural” (The healing power of nature).
Bruni Brewin is the president emeritus of the Australian Hypnotherapists’ Association. She has a thriving practice in Chipping Norton, NSW.
This article was submitted to the "Art of Healing" Magazine
References
Williams JD, Gruzelier JH. Int J Clin Exp Hypn. 2001 Jul,49(3):185-206
Croft RJ, Williams JD, Haenschel C, Gruzelier JH. Int J Psychophysiol. 2002
Gosline A. Nov;46(2):101-8, NewScientist.com;9-10-4
Liossi C, Hatira P. Int J Clin Exp Hypn. 1999 Apr;47(2):104-16
Liossi C, Hatira P. Int J Clin Exp Hypn. 2003 Jan;51(1):4-28
Mateo A. Spanish Society of Clinical Hypnosis
Gonsalkorale WM, Houghon LA, Whorell PJ. American Jnl of Gastroenterology, Vol..97, No.4, 2002

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