Hypnosis as health care quietly gains ground
BY MSNBC.COM
The last decade has produced a number of studies suggesting benefits
My husband found this great article titled as if "THE" people in the know (whoever they are) are actually starting to take a look at the benefits of hypnosis.
I am all excited! Wooohhoooo! Finally! Myths are going to be busted and the western medical world is going to expose the truth about the health benefits of hypnosis!!!!....or are they?
Crawling up on my soap box about this.
These are MY opinions. You don't have to agree but I would just like for you to take a look from both sides.
Below is the link to the article that I am hoping you will take the time to read in it's entirity. It ALMOST admits to the wonderful health benefits to using hypnosis, but I've noticed every chance they get, they throw some half information in there and contradict themselves which leaves me wondering.
Here are a few sections of the article I find confusing.
In 1987, Marilyn Bellezzo was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a disorder that was, for her, debilitating.
"I was housebound," Bellezzo said. She spent hours curled up on the bathroom floor, suffering from abdominal pain and diarrhea. "I had to raise my children through the bathroom door," said the now 59-year-old resident of Glen Ellyn, Ill.
Over the next 12 years, Bellezzo tried medications and diets, to no avail. Then as a last resort, she started listening to audio tapes designed to treat IBS through hypnosis.
They made a difference. Now, she says her symptoms are virtually gone.
"I went from that level of severity to just having an occasional episodes lasting a few minutes," Bellezzo said.
Isn't that GREAT!? I actually have been one of those people laying on the bathroom floor in pain trying to drag myself to my feet to take care of children. I too have "cured" myself using hypnosis after doctors were unable to help me except to prescribe drugs that made me sicker than I started. This is one of the reasons I got interested in hypnosis to begin with.
According to a 2008 review article in the journal Nature, "there is an emerging body of evidence that hypnotherapy is clinically effective for the
treatment of IBS." Several well-designed studies have shown long-term benefits for patients, including reductions of abdominal pain, anxiety and depression, the researchers said.
Look- more good news! Well- designed studies showing long- term health benefits beyond just IBS.
Hypnosis is not magic — it alleviates symptoms, but doesn’t cure disease.
Wait...What? In the same article it says- yeah! People are getting better with hypnosis and the side effect is...GOOD HEALTH.
But that isn't a cure? Then....medicine doesn't cure anything either right? And medicine has negative side effects so long, commercials have to rent an extra minute of air time with a Guiness Book of World Records Fastest Talkers to list them all.
I'm not saying that hypnosis is magic- although sometimes it seems like it when you have been in pain for years and you find a way to relieve it or you can suddenly change a life long phobia into a new hobbie in less than an hour or create new thoughts that allow you to change your life in a whole new direction.
it alleviates symptoms, but doesn’t cure disease.
Well, just speaking for myself, alleviating painful chronic symptoms and learning how to stop them from coming back was worth it to me- even if that isn't considered a cure. And what the heck IS a "Cure" anyway?
And although not everyone can be hypnotized, (Another half truth)studies show 70 to 80 percent of chronic pain patients experience pain relief that lasts for hours, Jensen said.
Okay guys- which is it? 70-80% DO get relief or hypnosis Rarely eliminates their pain? Who is Jensen? Why do they quote her contradicting herself in the same article?
In 2007, Schnur and colleagues conducted a study of 200
breast cancer patientswho needed surgery. About half underwent a 15-minute hypnosis session before their surgery; the other half talked with a psychologist about their thoughts and feelings pre-surgery.
Patients who underwent hypnosis required less sedative during the surgery, and because they were more relaxed, their surgeries lasted10 fewer minutes on average. They experienced less pain, nausea, fatigue and emotional upset following the surgery, Schnur said. The researchers calculated the hospital could save about $770 per cancer patient by employing hypnosis before surgery.
Isn't that great? Saving money AND feeling better!
Do you know anyone who has been offered hypnosis as part of their surgery package? NO? When the doctors tell you about your anesthesia do the say-"by the way, over a hundred years ago, they did surgeries with hypnosis only and that there are some today that opt for chemical anesthesia as a back up to hypnosis"?
So, I guess my point is, that this article insinuates by it's title that they have found evidence that hypnosis IS helpful but it is written in a fashion to inject doubt into each positive.
I question whether this is an accident or a well planned ploy to actually discredit the benefits of hypnosis or is it the writer's way of protecting themselves from actually having an opinion.
Well, I guess by now you realize-
I don't have a problem giving my opinion on this subject.
There are thousands and thousands of people who will tell you that they have lost weight, quit smoking, eliminated phobias, insomnia & nail biting, lowered their blood pressure, relieved chronic symptoms and much more using hypnosis. The side effect of using hypnosis is Better Health mentally, physically and emotionally.
Standard Western medicine has it's place and hypnosis should be right along side.
But that's just my opinion.
