Hypnosis Therapy Now an Accepted Treatment

Hypnosis therapy has been used in many areas of life to help people overcome emotional blocks and improve their health and performance. While many people think of hypnosis as something used in a theatrical setting by stage hypnotists or by the wild-eyed hypnotists in the movies, hypnosis therapy has been used by professionals in clinics and office settings for years. Research studies by major clinical researchers and by universities have shown that many people can benefit from hypnosis.

Here are just a few example of how hypnosis has been helpful to people in a variety of settings.

Hypnosis in sports has been used extensively in a variety of sports. And, it’s not only for professional players, but for anyone interested in a little performance boost. For example, a study demonstrated a hypnosis played a significant role in improving jump-shots, set-shooting, and overall cognitions for optimal performance in basketball. Another study showed that putting performance in golf improved and participants had an increase sense of confidence and focus. Hypnosis is one of the keys Tiger Woods uses to help him perform so effectively. Overall, hypnosis has been shown to significantly enhance performance imagery and effectiveness in many sports.

Hypnosis therapy has been shown to significantly improve smoking cessation. A recent study with hospital patients admitted for cardiopulmonary disease showed that 6 months after therapy significantly more patients were non-smokers in the hypnosis group then in the nicotine replacement therapy group. In a study at Texas A&M University, clinical patients who underwent hypnosis therapy reported an 81% quit rate after the therapy and 48% reported complete cessation after 6 months, an unusually high sustained quit rate.

Hypnosis in weight loss is a proven factor in reducing weight both in the short term and over extended periods. The weight problem affects two-thirds of the people in the United States. Fully one-third of the people are obese with another third simply overweight. Hypnosis in weight loss helps people think like thin people. It can help reduce or even eliminate many food cravings and help trim weight. One meta-analysis of several studies revealed the effectiveness of hypnosis in weight loss by stating that hypnosis groups lost an average of 97% more weight during the therapy and continued to lose 146% more weight over the next 6 months. Longitudinal studies show that those using hypnosis therapy for weight loss continued to lose significant weight after 8 and 24 months while those in the non-hypnosis treatment lost little or no additional weight.

Perhaps the most innovative application of hypnosis in weight loss is the virtual gastric band operation. In the real operation a band is placed around the stomach creating a small pouch that can receive only a limited amount of food at any particular meal. But here an overweight person undergoes hypnosis and is guided to experience the sights, sounds and smells of entering the hospital to have a gastric band operation. Upon awakening from the hypnosis session the “patient” actually thinks of themselves as having a much smaller stomach volume and thus eats much less. This results in a weight loss comparable to an actual operation but without the recovery time and high cost of the real operation.

Hypnosis has been accepted by medical professionals and has been extensively investigated by many researchers. Hypnosis therapy has been shown to be effective, often more effective, than other traditional interventions.