Hypnosis is a unique medicinal aid in that it can be used to help a variety of problems, whether physical, psychological or emotional.
Hypnosis in itself is not a science; its phenomena, though, have proven to be highly amenable to experimental research employing the methodology and procedures of scientific enquiry.
Hypnosis is a state of restful alertness during which a person uses deeply focused concentration. The person can be relatively unaware of, but not completely blind to, her or his surroundings, and may be more open to suggestion. It is considered to be a type of complementary therapy.
Hypnosis is the induction of a deeply relaxed state, with increased suggestibility and suspension of critical faculties. Once in this state, sometimes called a hypnotic trance, patients are given therapeutic suggestions to encourage changes in behaviors or relief of symptoms. For example, in a treatment to stop smoking a hypnosis practitioner might suggest that the patient will no longer find smoking pleasurable or necessary. Hypnosis for a patient with arthritis might include a suggestion that the pain can be turned down like the volume of a radio.
Hypnosis has a long and rich history, dating from the late 18th Century in Paris. The history of hypnosis has something important to say about the scientific endeavor in general. Hypnosis has been used in Western medicine for more than 150 years to treat everything from anxiety to pain, from easing the nausea of cancer chemotherapy to enhancing sports performance,”
Misuse of hypnosis can have dire consequences, and may be especially harmful in the treatment of people who were sexually abused as children. Care should always be taken when hypnosis is to be employed and patients should be ‘brought out’ of the hypnotic trance before they leave the clinic. hypnosis should be undertaken only by appropriately trained, experienced, and regulated practitioners. It should be avoided in established or borderline psychosis and personality disorders.