What_Is_Hypnosis__Describe_the_Psychological_and_Physical_Aspects_of_Hypnosis_and_Discuss_the_Role_of_Relaxation_in_Hypnotherapy.

What is hypnosis' Describe the psychological and physical aspects of hypnosis and discuss the role of relaxation in hypnotherapy. “Hypnosis” is generally understood as a type of trance state that can be self-initiated, or more popularly, induced by one person over another. It has been used in some form and in many different cultures since ancient times but exactly what it is or what happens is still not fully understood; in fact it could be argued that “No-one really knows what hypnosis is”. To the general public it is usually associated with stage shows, where people apparently lose their own will, become completely under the control of the hypnotist and are then generally made to behave in foolish and amusing ways. It could be argued that these shows are faked and based on trickery and, whilst there must be an element of this with the hypnotist undoubtedly picking out the most compliant people, something that we don’t understand seems to be going on. This has given hypnosis a bad name in that it is popularly seen as one person’s mind being completely taken over by another and that anyone susceptible to hypnosis is weak-minded, to the extent that people often brag that they could never be hypnotised as they are too “strong”. In reality hypnotists are not evil manipulators who have the power to take over people’s minds “you cannot hypnotise someone if they have not at some level agreed to be hypnotised” and there is no “inequality of will between operator and subject” (quote). In fact hypnosis is actually a therapeutic tool that has helped countless people to overcome many different phobias, addictions and anxieties but even today there is much cynicism and ongoing disagreement about what happens during hypnosis. Historically this has always been so: It is generally accepted that in the West hypnosis as we know it started with Franz Mesmer who was born in 1734 and whose name has become part of our everyday language as we often talk about being mesmerised by something or someone. Mesmer believed that the magnetic power of the planets affected an invisible “fluid” in the body, and if this was out of alignment people could suffer from many differing problems from hysteria to blindness. He originally used magnets to realign the fluid and his treatments often produced convulsions before a trance like state and eventual “cure”. He had many doubters, and his theory was never totally accepted by the medical bodies of the time and by the late 8th century the idea of an invisible magnetic fluid in the body had become discredited. Followers of Mesmer such as Depysuger began to believe that it was the trance-like sleep that his clients went into when he was using Mesmer’s methods that was actually the healing tool rather than magnetism. Although still not accepted by mainstream medicine of the times, the these methods were used, usually beneficially and in ….. an Englishman called …. Brain first introduced the word “hypnosis” from the Greek to sleep and was also the first to put forward the theory of two separate states of consciousness; our awake selves and a subconscious that is only amenable through hypnosis. It was also proved by Charcut ….. that suggestions made to the subconscious mind through hypnosis were remembered and acted upon later, thus giving weight to the effectiveness of therapy through hypnosis, or hypnotherapy. This theory was famously taken up by Freud who originally used hypnosis to reach his patients’ subconscious, but who later refuted its necessity for use and once again discredited hypnosis as a mainstream therapeutic tool. However his work on the subconscious mind became widely accepted. The subconscious is the part of the brain that regulates our involuntary actions such as making our heart beat or keeping us breathing but also allows us to do very complicated actions such as walk or drive a car without “thinking” about it. From childhood our learned behaviours are stored in the subconscious, they are always there and our actions and behaviour are often governed by our unconscious mind. Freud found that many of his patients’ problems stemmed from experiences in childhood that were too painful for the conscious mind to deal with but that feelings manifested themselves in dreams. He grew to believe that the state of hypnosis allowed these repressed memories to be masked and that free association, or talking, was a more successful method of curing people of their psychological problems than the art of suggestion through hypnosis. Sometimes dealing with these repressed memories (or regression) was so painful that people would …… hysterical, vomit or have fits, which takes us right back to the results that Mesmer had in the 18th century. So through the centuries therapy through hypnosis has always been used, but never fully understood or validated. In more recent history two camps have formed, both acknowledging the usefulness of hypnosis as a therapeutic tool, but one group believing that there is a definite state of unconsciousness that is reached (“state theorists”) where the suggestions made by the therapist to a person’s subconscious can play a powerful part in affecting their future actions and feelings; and a second group (“non-state theorists”) who believe that there is no actual trance-like state but that the therapist is simply inducing a relaxed state and using people’s imagination together with role-play to effect such changes. As shown by the work of Solomon Asch and Stanley Milgram in the 1950s and 60s, human beings have a strong desire to conform. After Hitler’s charismatic control of a whole nation led to the evils of the holocaust, Stanley Milgram (a jew) wanted to understand what it was in human nature that allowed this to happen. For example, he found that the majority of the subjects in one of his experiment were happy to obey the command to give an electric shock to others (actors) if they answered questions incorrectly. It is argued that this innate desire to obey and comply with suggestions from a figure in authority is a large part of the reason that hypnosis seems to work. This ties in with the well known and accepted problem of “transference” the phenomenon of attraction by the subject to the therapist when the subject is therefore likely to want to do what is asked of them. However, with the huge developments in medical technology and the introduction of magnetic imaging in the late 20th century, it became possible to scan the brain and it was found that the brain does have different levels of consciousness. These levels are categorised by the level of “brain waves” or electrical impulses in the brain. There are four main categories: beta – a fully conscious state, alpha – a relaxed and creative state, theta – a light sleep /dreaming state and delta - fully asleep. So it is believed that under hypnosis the brain reaches alpha and theta levels; states that are amenable to suggestion and curative therapies. Even more recently PET scans have been used which studied 2 groups, one under hypnosis and the other a control group, both given the same task; only in the hypnotised group did the relevant part of the brain show increased activity. One of the impressive effects of hypnosis has been the suppression of pain - “inhibition of pain stems from the frontal and limbic areas of the brain, and is associated especially with the presence of theta brainwaves… theta brainwaves are produced in deep hypnosis” So it seems likely that during hypnosis there is a “trance-like” state, similar to what happens when we are driving on “automatic pilot” – we do not actually remember the journey although we have been driving alertly and safely. At such times if necessary we can “wake up” at any time and be aware of what is happening and our surroundings but we have been driving using our subconscious mind. During hypnosis we enter a similar state when the brain is using the subconscious rather than the conscious mind and at that time we become very amenable to suggestions that then stay in the subconscious and that can affect and alter our conscious behaviour and perceptions and possibly make physical changes such as altering blood flow. The psychological aspects of hypnosis are also controversial and much discussed. In the trance-like state a person becomes hypersuggestible, literally more likely to agree to suggestions made, and usually describes a feeling of time distortion – when brought back to an alert state a subject is often amazed that an hour (for example) has passed. Other phenomena are hypermnesia, where a subject recalls memories not known to the conscious mind, and amnesia – typically in a stage show subjects would be told to forget actions that they had done under hypnosis. Analgesia is another very important phenomena of hypnosis. Before the days of anaesthetics hypnosis was used in surgery, and today there is a widespread use of hypnotherapy in dentistry and for childbirth. Although it is possible to be hypnotised without relaxation, in order for hypnosis to be used therapeutically it is usual and preferable for a deep state of relaxation to be induced usually by progressive muscle relaxation. There are similarities between simple relaxation and hypnosis, both are a type of trance state that can be used to relax the body and quieten the mind and both can involve the use of suggestion for positive changes. However with hypnosis the therapist is using relaxation to specifically make suggestions to the unconscious mind that will have a long term effect, it is therefore using relaxation as a way of making changes and not simply for the beneficial effect of relaxation in these days of stressful living. Although often called a trance, as outlined above, hypnosis is usually a fully aware state, “a state of relaxation with diminished awareness of outer events and increased immersion in an inner world, with time distortion and partial amnesia; a dream-like illogicity and acceptance”. In conclusion hypnosis is widely and successfully used by many practitioners for many different problems but at the same time there remains much uncertainty and scepticism with regards to what is actually causing the beneficial effect. However “so long as each respects the needs of and demands placed upon the other, then there need be no great disagreement between theorist and practitioner, and their work may be mutually informative”.