Many people with schizophrenia continue to experience symptoms despite conventional treatments being used. Alternative therapies such as hypnosis, in conjunction with conventional treatments, may be helpful. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the use of hypnosis for people with schizophrenia or schizophrenia-like illnesses compared with standard care and other interventions. SEARCH STRATEGY: We searched the Cochrane Schizophrenia Group's Register (October 2006), contacted the Cochrane Complementary Medicine Field for additional searching (January 2003), hand searched references of included or excluded studies and made personal contact with authors of relevant trials. SELECTION CRITERIA: We included all randomised or double blind controlled trials that compared hypnosis with other treatments or standard care for people with schizophrenia. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: We reliably selected studies, quality assessed them and extracted data. We excluded data where more than 50% of participants in any group were lost to follow up. For binary outcomes we calculated a fixed effects risk ratio (RR) and its 95% confidence interval (CI). MAIN RESULTS: We included three studies (total n=149). When hypnosis was compared with standard treatment no one left the studies between 1-8 weeks (n=70, 2 RCTs, Risk Difference 0.00 CI -0.09 to 0.09). Mental state scores were unaffected (n=60, 1 RCT, MD BPRS by one week -3.6 CI -12.05 to 4.8) as were measures of movement disorders and neurocognitive function. Compared with relaxation, hypnosis was also acceptable (n=106, 3 RCTs, RR leaving the study early 2.00 CI 0.2 to 2.15) and had no discernable effect on mental state (n=60, 1 RCT, MD BPRS by one week -3.4 CI -11.4 to 4.6), movement disorders or neurocognitive function. Hypnosis was as acceptable as music (Sibelius) by four weeks (n=36, RR leaving the study early 5.0, CI 0.3 to 97.4). AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: The studies in this field are few, small, poorly reported and outdated. Hypnosis could be helpful for people with schizophrenia. If we are to find this out, better designed, conducted and reported randomised studies are required. This current update has not revealed any new studies in this area since 2003.

Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2007 Oct 17;(4):CD004160. Izquierdo de Santiago A, Khan M.

by Steven R. Vazquez, Ph.D.

(This is an abstract from an article which appeared in Subtle Energies & Energy Medicine Volume Seventeen, Number Two)

New breakthroughs in the use of color as a healing agent for rapid recovery of trauma, depression, physical pain and spiritual blockages have elevated the power of color for healing. These historical, religious and neurophysiological contexts of color are reviewed herein. Then factors of length of viewing time, brightness, saturation, visual depth perception, angle of viewing, hue, strobic emission and the emotional state of the subject at the time of viewing are elaborated as critical issues that amplify therapeutic effects. When these factors are combines with the recent findings of interpersonal neurobiology to facilitate processes with color a new synthesis for rapid transformation is achieved.

Steven Vazquez 1241 Southridge Court, Suite 105. Hurst, TX 76053 srv@lightworkassociates.com

For more information visit www.LightWorkAssociated.com.

by Signe Klepp, O.T.

(This is an abstract from an article which appeared in Subtle Energies & Energy Medicine Volume Seventeen, Number Two)

Patients suffering from traumatic brain injury (TBI) lose the ability to structure their own life. Rehabilitation is expensive in time, money and effort. A noninvasive, patient-controlled method, binaural-beat auditory stimulation, may elicit changes in states if consciousness and mood. This study assesses the feasibility and efficacy of using this method to improve self-esteem, quality of life and function of daily living for persons suffering from old TBI.

Signe Klepp - amps@kleppconsult.no

Many people with schizophrenia continue to experience symptoms despite conventional treatments being used. Alternative therapies such as hypnosis, in conjunction with conventional treatments, may be helpful. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the use of hypnosis for people with schizophrenia or schizophrenia-like illnesses compared with standard care and other interventions. SEARCH STRATEGY: We searched the Cochrane Schizophrenia Group's Register (October 2006), contacted the Cochrane Complementary Medicine Field for additional searching (January 2003), hand searched references of included or excluded studies and made personal contact with authors of relevant trials. SELECTION CRITERIA: We included all randomised or double blind controlled trials that compared hypnosis with other treatments or standard care for people with schizophrenia. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: We reliably selected studies, quality assessed them and extracted data. We excluded data where more than 50% of participants in any group were lost to follow up. For binary outcomes we calculated a fixed effects risk ratio (RR) and its 95% confidence interval (CI). MAIN RESULTS: We included three studies (total n=149). When hypnosis was compared with standard treatment no one left the studies between 1-8 weeks (n=70, 2 RCTs, Risk Difference 0.00 CI -0.09 to 0.09). Mental state scores were unaffected (n=60, 1 RCT, MD BPRS by one week -3.6 CI -12.05 to 4.8) as were measures of movement disorders and neurocognitive function. Compared with relaxation, hypnosis was also acceptable (n=106, 3 RCTs, RR leaving the study early 2.00 CI 0.2 to 2.15) and had no discernable effect on mental state (n=60, 1 RCT, MD BPRS by one week -3.4 CI -11.4 to 4.6), movement disorders or neurocognitive function. Hypnosis was as acceptable as music (Sibelius) by four weeks (n=36, RR leaving the study early 5.0, CI 0.3 to 97.4). AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: The studies in this field are few, small, poorly reported and outdated. Hypnosis could be helpful for people with schizophrenia. If we are to find this out, better designed, conducted and reported randomised studies are required. This current update has not revealed any new studies in this area since 2003.

Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2007 Oct 17 Izquierdo de Santiago A, Khan M.

Severe forms of dissociation or conversion can lead to events clinically often described as pseudo-seizures. Borderline personality disorder is a clinical condition which is often accompanied by a high susceptibility for dissociation and dissociative states are characterized by memory disturbance and perceptual alterations. We report a case of a patient with a complete anaesthesia, paralysis and amnesia for about 1 h. Within this time period we measured a bispectrum EEG index called BIS. Deepest recorded BIS value was 47. The described pattern of short but deep BIS reductions is completely discongruent to the findings during physiological sleep, during general anaesthesia, but very similar (and even more pronounced) to those during self-hypnosis. This makes former assumptions plausible that hypnosis and severe forms of dissociation (or conversion) may share common aetiologies.

World J Biol Psychiatry. 2007 Sep 12;:1-3

Sartorius A, Schmahl C., Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany.

by Michelle Beaudry, CHt

Make The Change Happen How are you going to do it, my friend? You're all done feeling wretched all the time, you know forgive does not mean forget, you are soooo ready, but you need a plan. Read on, my friend, and find out how to get the benefits of forgiveness for yourself. Right now.

Guilt and Hatred Are Killers Ask any doctor. Stress is a killer. This is because your body and mind are a continuum. In other words, although they are not entirely the same, a great overlap exists that unites them. Relieve your mental stress and your body will be happier too. Nothing relieves mental stress like forgiveness. Guilt and hatred resolve nothing; they just sustain the negativity that continues to obstruct you from your goals. Forgiveness, on the other hand, undoes the stickiness that binds you to an unhappy past.

Does It Work? Absolutely - for you. Since the forgiveness experience will happen only for you, only you will receive its benefits. Your forgiveness may not influence a change in the behavior of others one bit. But it's not about them. It's about you. Forgiveness is about generating your own healing. You are the only player in your life over whom you have all the power. It's time to exercise your personal power, your right to choose to feel better about who you are, your right to process your past and move on with your life.

It's a Private Thing Since forgiving is all about you getting your own heart clear, it's best done in the privacy of your own mind. Afterwards you'll have the choice of telling others, if you like, but initially the process works best in solitude. Tell no one, just do the work. And watch how easy it is to feel better all day every day. Contrast this to the fact that all the pity parties in the world with your friends and relatives never made you feel better one bit. Those tactics don't work because they don't process emotions, they merely create a feedback loop that deepens the groove of the pain. Since you know that what you used to do didn't work, it's time to do what does.

Forgive in Steps Like a pyramid, forgiveness may seem overwhelming at first, but it's easily accomplished step by step. So begin by recognizing that there are three sections:

.forgiveness of others .self-forgiveness .receiving forgiveness from others

And these can be further broken down into nicely manageable chunks.

Forgiveness of Others When you forgive others in categories, it proceeds more easily. For example, you could choose to use the categories of Strangers, Friends, Family, The People who Hurt You The Most, and Anybody Else. You may include additional categories like Exlovers, Neighbors, Coworkers, Employees, etc., and some forgivers need to add the category of Humanity Itself. And you can start with the categories you find easiest. Once you notice how good it feels to forgive, this will inspire you to forgive everyone as much as possible, as fully as you can.

Self Forgiveness In this step, start with your earliest years and ascend: Newborn, three year old, five year old, ten year old, teenager, 20s, etc., and on up to your current age, forgiving yourself thoroughly for absolutely everything as you go. Once you get to your current age, forgive yourself for your whole life. Remember, all humans are flawed. No one is a perfect son or daughter, man or woman, husband or wife, student or teacher, worker or boss. You are allowed to make mistakes and learn from them. Forgiveness is an optimal method to process your learnings.

Receiving Forgiveness from Others In the privacy of your own mind, visualize then apologize to folks you've wronged, and let them accept your apology. It may surprise you to learn that others really want to forgive you. They do. So let them forgive you and receive the cleansing of that forgiveness. Afterwards, with some people, you may elect to actually apologize to them in person, but proceed carefully. There are a few folks in the world who can not accept apologies in real life, and this is why you process all of your apologies in your mind's eye thoroughly first, so that you get the emotional benefit of having apologized whether those apologies get accepted in real life or not.

Forgive by Percentages in Repeated Attempts Can you forgive the people who hurt you the most 10%? 20%? 80%? 99.9%? It's not all or nothing. Ease on up to higher and higher percentages, always aiming for 100% forgiveness, but being real with yourself. If the people who hurt you the most are not 100% forgiveable on your first attempt, continue forgiving them bit by bit till you get as close to full forgiveness as possible. Start with a realistic percentage, then increase your forgiveness on subsequent attempts, always aiming for 100%. Just do your best.

Forgiving People Versus Events It can be one thing to forgive individual people, and can yet be quite another thing to forgive the things those people did. What to do? Forgive the events and actions as they come to mind. As you think of instance after instance, forgive everyone involved as best you can for everything that happened.

For more information visit: www.BeaudryHypnosis.com

by Michelle Beaudry CHt

The past cannot be undone. What you change is how you feel about it.

How Are You Going To Do It? You're tired of being negative. You're ready to change. You need a plan. Read on, my friend, for this is the process of releasing negativity and restoring your spirit. Change is good.

Fear and Anger Are Killers Ask any doctor. The stress of feeling badly all the times can easily lead to medical disorders. Your body and mind are a continuum. In other words, although they are not exactly the same, a great overlap exists between your mind and body, uniting them. Relieve your mental stress and your body will be happier, too. It's time to unburden yourself of everything that has been blocking progress in your life by keeping you attached to an unhappy past.

Feeling Better Is a Process Negativity accumulates in our lives, in our souls, over time. The process of removing it optimally happens in layers. It's best to release as much of each stored neagtive emotion as you can during each sucessive attempt. And of course, you want a safe, private means of release that is as quiet and effective as possible. You can jettison all that old negativity easily and thoroughly by following simple instructions.

Visualization Sports teams have used visualization to improve their level of excellence for decades, visualizing themselves winning trophies, for example. This same technique that so wonderfully installs positive expectation can also be used to eliminate negativity. This means that you can literally let go of old stored feelings of anger, fear, abandonment, embarrassment, and so on, that have been accumulating inside of you all of your life.

Let a Higher Power Help You Do you prefer the word God, Source, Universe, Goddess, Higher Self, or do you have yet another name for that which is all that is? Let your choice reflect your tastes, and let your Higher Power help you. For once you release negative energy, your Higher Power can then transform it into something positive elsewhere in the Universe.

Humans Store Emotions Physically Your body is made of cells, the cells are made of molecules, the molecules are made of atoms, and those are made up of whirling bits of energy; ergo, your body is pure energy. We humans store old memories and emotions in our bodies. That's why the releasing of negativity is a physical, visceral feeling of expelling energy, because energy is what it is, what it all is, what we all are. Ask Einstein.

Examples of What To Release Fear, anger, rage, abandonment, rejection, guilt, shame, worry, blame, numbness, hurt, hatred, jealousy, and disgust are good places to begin. Your unique soul will know which feelings most need releasing, and in which order to do them. You may need to release some of the deepest ones several times to remove ever deeper layers.

What Does It Feel Like? Expelling negativity is not a negative experience, it is a relief. For example, when you let go of a deep layer of fear, you do not feel afraid, you feel relieved of fear. Letting go of rage does not mean that you'll be shouting and thrashing about. Rather, your feelings of rage simply pass out of you, and it is a relief. The old negative feelings are fully released and expelled outwards. Releasing negative emotions needn't involve experiencing the pain inherent in any individual emotion. You've already experienced way too much of that. Getting rid of them feels like what it is: a release. It's like taking a gorilla off of your back. It's removing old baggage that does not serve you anymore. It actually feels good. And you will feel progressively better afterwards each time.

Follow Instructions Through the Steps Get quiet and close your eyes. Be in a quiet, comfortable place without distractions. Vizualize that you are standing in a beautiful place with your arms up, way up, looking up at your Higher Power. Select the negative emotion you first wish to release, and make that happen. Feel it physically leaving your body, sailing up your arms, and then being jettisoned out into space, gone for good, released permanently. Repeat with all the rest of the stored emotions you wish to release. Another approach is to phrase it like this: "I release whatever is obstructing me from my goals," and let the stored emotions let you know what they are as they leave.

Then Restore Your Spirit Once the bad layers are released, it's best to fill up the spaces they left with something wonderfully positive. May I suggest that you begin the restoration of your spirit with Personal Power, Love, Acceptance, and Inner Peace. Personal Power restores your boundaries to normal settings, Love returns you to harmony with all that is, Acceptance assures you that you are wanted and welcomed in the world, and Inner Peace encloses you in a wonderful blanket of secure and peaceful feelings. Simply visualize each of these in turn, whatever they look like to you, and bring each inside of you, merging and bonding with it, soaking in its individual positive energy, then radiating its clarity and serenity everywhere throughout your person. Think of these as permanent upgrades to your soul.

For more information visit: www.BeaudryHypnosis.com

Stress. 2007 Sep;10(3):271-81.

Keresztes M, Rudisch T, Tajti J, Ocsovszki I, Gardi J. Medical Faculty, Institute of Biochemistry, University of Szeged. Szeged. Hungary.

Our aim was to study the possible relationship between psychological stress and granulocyte activation primarily in healthy students during an examination period (n = 11) and also in chronically anxious patients (n = 15). We employed cell surface markers: lactoferrin, l-selectin, alphaMbeta2-integrin and CD15s and flow cytometry to detect changes in the activation state of granulocytes, with the start of the stressed state in students at the beginning of an examination period, which was associated with elevated blood plasma cortisol level, and following relaxation hypnosis in both students, during their examination term, and patients. The ratios of all four types of marker-carrier granulocytes increased at the start of the examination period in students; an especially dramatic (ca. 5-fold) enhancement was observed in the proportion of lactoferrin-bearing cells relatively to the pre-examination term value. After hypnosis, the percentage of lactoferrin-exposing granulocytes decreased considerably both in students and in patients, by about half; a similar decrease was observed in the ratio of CD15s-carrier cells in patients. No significant alteration was observed during the study in state or trait anxiety levels, and in total or differential leukocyte counts. Thus, granulocyte activation could be associated with stress, while relaxation may facilitate reducing activation of these cells. In both groups of subjects, granulocyte surface lactoferrin appeared to be a sensitive "stress indicator". This needs further evaluation.

Research on the efficacy of hypnosis in the treatment of eating disorders has produced mixed findings. This is due in part to the interplay between the characteristics of people with eating disorders and the phenomena of hypnosis. In addition, several authors have noted that methodological limitations in hypnosis research often make evaluation of treatment efficacy difficult. Many of the studies extant provide insufficient information regarding the specifics of the hypnotic intervention(s) to facilitate replication and clinical implementation. Therefore, this paper only reviews literature with replicable methodological descriptions. It focuses on the three primary disorders of interest to clinicians: bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, and obesity. The implications for evaluating treatment efficacy are discussed.

Washington State University. Pullman, Washington. USA. Int J Clin Exp Hypn. 2007 Jul;55(3):318-35.

Hypnotherapy is claimed to be effective in treatment of psychosomatic disorders. A meta-analysis was conducted with 21 randomized, controlled clinical studies to evaluate efficacy of hypnosis in psychosomatic disorders. Studies compared patients exclusively treated with hypnotherapy to untreated controls. Studies providing adjunctive standard medical care in either treatment condition were also admitted. Hypnotherapy was categorized into classic (n = 9), mixed form (n = 5), and modern (n = 3). Results showed the weighted mean effect size for 21 studies was d(+) = .61 (p = .0000). ANOVA revealed significant differences between classic, mixed, and modern hypnosis. Regression of outcome on treatment dose failed to show a significant relationship. Numerical values for correlation between suggestibility and outcome were only reported in three studies (mean r = .31). The meta-analysis clearly indicates hypnotherapy is highly effective in treatment of psychosomatic disorders.

Flammer E, Alladin A. Constance University. Konstanz. Germany. Int J Clin Exp Hypn. 2007 Jul;55(3):251-74.

This article reviews the evidence for the use of hypnosis in the treatment of posttraumatic conditions including posttraumatic stress disorder and acute stress disorder. The review focuses on empirically supported principles and practices and suggests that hypnosis can be a useful adjunctive procedure in the treatment of posttraumatic conditions. Cognitive-behavioral and exposure-based interventions, which have the greatest empirical support, are highlighted, and an illustrative case study is presented.

Psychology Department, Binghamton University, Binghamton, New York 13902, USA. slynn@binghamton.edu

Int J Clin Exp Hypn. 2007 Apr;55(2):167-88.

by Richard Kuhns, B.S.Ch.E.

This could well be the most important part of this article because it's about putting it all together and hopefully my personal experience with anxiety will give you a better understanding of how to do it and how the brain works.

Summary of previous parts of this article: Whenever you notice (observe) your body activating, your subconscious is telling you that there is something or someone from which you need to run--the fight/flight of the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS). Of course if you look 360 degrees (all around you), you will not find anything or anyone that is threatening your life physically. But, remember, that the GAS will activate any time your financial, social, or family status is threatened or if your ego (how you identify yourself) is threatened. For instance, you bought a Chevrolet, drive it, and like it. You're at a party and someone says, "Chevy's are ugly cars." Now if you own a Ford, you would feel nothing, but because you own a Chevrolet, if would normal for you to sense a bit of defensiveness and even anger. This is your subconscious preparing you to fight or run from the person who offended you. Yet, to punch this person in the nose is inappropriate--even silly--and to run away from the person is likewise silly, but that's exactly what your subconscious is preparing you to do.

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by Richard Kuhns, B.S.Ch.E.

Jane's homework was to practice observing various objects we chose at random--pen, drinking glass, table... At the beginning of the next session, I asked her to read me her written observations. Even with the focus on observation, she noticed how easy it was to still come to conclusions--table legs, clip... She was totally fascinated with the new world of "Observation" and found it relaxing to do.

I had her "on the path," to recovery and now I wanted to shift to the cause of the "alarm" reaction of the GAS. The goal was to refocus--have her unequivocally understand that anytime she experienced what in the past she called "anxiety" her subconscious merely wanted to "run away" from a disappointment or a reminder of a disappointment. To "take it home," I asked her to make a list of her disappointments. She told me I didn't have enough paper. She started describing the disappointing symptoms and how disappointing it is to always be in situations where she might feel them. I guided her away from these situational disappointments and onto her life's disappointments. She wrote and wrote and then started listing disappointments of which she was fearful in the future. She knew her husband loved her, yet she was fearful that he'd get fed up with her antics and divorce her.

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by Richard Kuhns, B.S.Ch.E.

How to shift Jane from her conditioned response of anxiety to freedom was my challenge.

From Clara Weaks' book, Healing Your Bad Nerves (out of print), I remembered that there were three phases to panic and an anxiety attack. First there's an alarm. This is also true of the general adaptation syndrome (GAS). The alarm is what takes us away from our homeostatic level. It is a stressor. The next phase is the reaction which is usually physical--activation of the fight/flight. At this point, muscles tighten, breathing quickens and becomes upper chest, extremities become cooler, heart rate quickens, blood pressure raises... preparing the individual to either fight or run.

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by Paul I. Mostman, Ph.D.

Since 1993 I have been using and teaching a new technique which I call Emotional Release Therapy©. This technique is a most effective method for assisting clients to remove old negative emotions and feelings without the necessity of the client having to remember or re-live any or all of the events which caused the negativity. I believe that It is probably one of the best techniques a hypnotist can use in his repertoire.

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by Richard Kuhns, B.S.Ch.E.

If you recall, in part I of this article, Jane, my client who dictated her treatment plan to be biofeedback and freaked out in her first biofeedback session with a full blown panic attack. After she left with her husband I thought I'd never see her again and hoped I wouldn't hear from her attorney in the form of a law suit. Actually as apologetic and embarrassed as she was, a law suit was a very remote possibility. But I wonder how many clients in similar situations might not be considering law suits against clinicians using inward focusing techniques that can bring on panic attacks. Then again, their personality is not that of a trouble maker and as long as they continue suffering from anxiety, they would never allow themselves to be in a court room for fear of having an anxiety attack and having to run away.

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by Richard Kuhns, B.S.Ch.E.

Very little progress is possible without addressing diet. In fact many professionals believe that addressing diet is the total cure for overcoming panic and anxiety. However, you'll find in the upcoming parts of the program that there are many factors that get intertwined. In future parts I'll be addressing those.

Let's begin with diet. I dislike being redundant, but let me again say, diet is the foundation of improvement and without it we can not expect any improvement.

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by Richard Kuhns, B.S.Ch.E.

This is the first of an ongoing series of articles for the effective treatment of anxiety and panic attacks and agoraphobia. The articles are based on a technique which demonstrated an 80% success rate in the participants with whom the technique was used. For the study and data that surveyed 84 clients, go to http://www.panicbusters.com/80%25%20Success%20Rate.htm

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To investigate the effectiveness of cognitive hypnotherapy (CH), hypnosis combined with cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), on depression, 84 depressives were randomly assigned to 16 weeks of treatment of either CH or CBT alone. At the end of treatment, patients from both groups significantly improved compared to baseline scores. However, the CH group produced significantly larger changes in Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Anxiety Inventory, and Beck Hopelessness Scale. Effect size calculations showed that the CH group produced 6%, 5%, and 8% greater reduction in depression, anxiety, and hopelessness, respectively, over and above the CBT group. The effect size was maintained at 6-month and 12-month follow-ups. This study represents the first controlled comparison of hypnotherapy with a well-established psychotherapy for depression, meeting the APA criteria for a "probably efficacious" treatment for depression.

Alladin A, Alibhai A. University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. assen.alladin@calgaryhealthregion.ca

Biological psychiatry favors drug treatment over non-pharmacological intervention and shapes the way clinicians both treat and understand Tourette's Syndrome (TS). However, drug treatments for TS involve side effects and are potentially toxic to the central nervous system. Moreover, current pharmacological treatments are largely ineffective and at best only provide a modest symptom reduction. In this paper, we describe how non-pharmacological treatments such as focused attention can modulate, reduce, or indeed entirely eliminate the symptoms of TS as well as elucidate the underlying neural mechanisms. Showing that the symptoms of TS are susceptible to self-regulatory interventions such as hypnosis, we propose that attentional training could be used to both treat the disorder and better understand it.

Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute. dramirraz@gmail.com

There is ample evidence that hypnosis enhances the effectiveness of psychotherapy and produces some astounding effects of its own. In this paper, the effective components and principles of hypnosis and hypnotherapy are analyzed. The "special" hypnotic and hypnotherapeutic effects are linked to the fact that the ecological requirements of therapeutic change are taken into account implicitly and/or explicitly when working with hypnotic trances in a therapeutic setting. The hypnotic situation is described--theoretically and in case examples--as a therapeutic modality that gratifies and aligns the basic emotional needs to feel autonomous, related, competent, and oriented. It is shown how the hypnotic relationship can help promote a sound ecological balance between these needs--a balance that is deemed to be a necessary prerequisite for salutogenesis. Practical implications for planning hypnotherapeutic interventions are discussed.

Mende M. Psychotherapy Center for Hypnosis, Behavior Therapy, and Biofeedback, Salzburg, Austria. mende@hypnose.co.at

Much research indicates that attempts to suppress thoughts lead to increased accessibility of those thoughts, especially when additional cognitive load is present. On the premise that hypnosis may permit more effective management of cognitive load, it was hypothesized that hypnosis may enhance more effective thought suppression. The present research examined whether the obstacle of cognitive load could be bypassed using hypnosis to facilitate successful thought suppression. Thirty-nine high and 40 low hypnotizable participants were hypnotized and received either a suppression instruction or no instruction for a memory of an embarrassing experience and subsequently completed a sentence-unscrambling task that indexed accessibility of embarrassing thoughts. Whereas lows instructed to suppress displayed a delayed increase in suppressed thoughts, highs did not. These findings support the proposition that hypnosis facilitates thought suppression.

Bryant RA, Wimalaweera S. School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. r.bryant@unsw.edu.au

by John Krukowski, C.H.

History:
The subject a physically fit athletic male 47 suffered a stroke while jogging when he was 41. The resulting paralysis was loss of use of left side. After 4 years of conventional therapy and some holistic therapy he regained a limited 25% use of his left side. It appeared the limits of this therapy for him had been reached with little or no improvement for the next 2.8 years.

Prior to hypnotherapy:
Visual observations; Subject's left foot turned out 45 degrees, Subject's left knee not flexing during walking with compensating movement transferred to hip. Subject's Left arm and hand had only about 3% usage with little more than the ability to make fingers move as a group and not independently. Also the left arm held to his chest with hand in a claw shape typical of many stroke sufferers. Visual muscle spasms in left leg. Subject's physical limitations in mobility were inability to negotiate steps higher that 8 inches(20 cm) or walking more that 150 feet (50 meters) without severe muscle spasms.

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Postpartum depression is experienced by 10-15% of women who give birth (Bloch, Rolenberg, Koren, & Klein, 2006). This disorder causes maternal distress and has been significantly associated with infant and child developmental problems (Carter, Garrity-Rokous, Chazan-Cohen, Little, & Briggs-Gowan, 2001). Once believed to be contraindicated (Crasilneck & Hall, 1985), hypnosis for depressive disorders has been advocated as an effective intervention strategy (Yapko, 2001). Addressing specific symptoms and skill development has been promoted as an effectual hypnotic strategy for depression (Yapko, 2001); however, little empirical evidence of the efficacy of hypnotherapy for postpartum depression or effective hypnotic strategies exists. The present article is a report of a single case in which hypnotherapy was successfully utilized in the treatment of Postpartum Depression by attending to the specific problems presented by the client and developing client skills to resolve existing problems and prevent their recurrence.

Yexley MJ. Human Service Agency. 123 19th St. NE, Watertown, SD 57201, USA. lynyexley@msn.com

The present study investigates the effectiveness of hypnosis in reducing mild essential hypertension. Thirty participants were randomly assigned to hypnosis (standardized, individual 8-session hypnosis treatment) or to a control group (no treatment). Results show that hypnosis is effective in reducing blood pressure in the short term but also in the middle and long terms. We did not find any relationship between the practice of self-hypnosis and the evolution of blood pressure or between anxiety, personality factors, and therapeutic results. The implications of the results of the psychological treatment of hypertension are discussed.

University of Paris 10, France.

The cognitive characteristics of highly hypnotizable subjects (Highs) allow them to easily modify their cognitive and autonomic state. Under hypnosis, Highs receiving cognitive, fear-like stimulation exhibit the cardiovascular changes typical of fear/stress, but also show an EEG pattern indicating a balance between fear-induced arousal and hypnotic relaxation. Indeed, hypnosis is effective in the attenuation of both emotional experience and behaviour (emotional numbing). The aim of the present experiment was to investigate the possible different role of relaxation and suggestion in hypnotic emotional numbing. Tonic skin conductance, respirogram, heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure were recorded in 3 groups of hypnotized subjects: Group 1 received a fearful guided imagery associated with threat suggestions (Threat) followed by the same fearful suggestion associated with numbing instructions (relaxation and "No-Threat"); Group 2 received the same instructions in the opposite order of presentation; Group 3 received the fearful suggestion with threat instructions twice. The numbing suggestion reduced fear-related emotional experience and autonomic responses; if No-Threat preceded Threat, the heart rate, heart rate variability and blood pressure were also reduced during Threat, in spite of self reports of high negative emotion. Thus, 1) the subjective experience and the autonomic response to fear can be dissociated; 2) the efficacy of numbing suggestion is extended to a subsequent Threat stimulation; 3) habituation does not contribute to the numbing effect. The results indicate that the specific numbing suggestion is the main factor in hypnotic modulation of the experience of fear.

Department of Physiology and Biochemistry, University of Pisa, Via San Zeno 31, 56127 Pisa, Italy.

In an investigation of the role of cognitive effort in hypnotic responding, high and low hypnotizable participants produced emotionally neutral imagery in response to effortful versus effortless hypnotic suggestions. Heart-rate increase served as an objective index of cognitive effort, and subjective ratings of imagery vividness, absorption, effort, and control were collected. Compared to lows, high hypnotizable participants experienced their imagery as more vivid and absorbing, yet their heart rates indicated no higher level of cognitive effort than lows. Compared to effortless wording, effortful wording of suggestions increased cognitive effort in lows, as indexed by heart-rate increase, but had no effect on the effort expended by highs. Ratings of subjective control were strongly correlated with subjective effort for lows but unrelated for highs. These results support the dissociated-control theory of hypnosis rather than the dissociated-experience or social-cognitive theories.

Department of Psychology, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. psadler@wlu.ca

The long-term benefits of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) for trauma survivors with acute stress disorder were investigated by assessing patients 3 years after treatment. Civilian trauma survivors (n=87) were randomly allocated to six sessions of CBT, CBT combined with hypnosis, or supportive counselling (SC), 69 completed treatment, and 53 were assessed 2 years post-treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale. In terms of treatment completers, 2 CBT patients (10%), 4 CBT/hypnosis patients (22%), and 10 SC patients (63%) met PTSD criteria at 2-years follow-up. Intent-to-treat analyses indicated that 12 CBT patients (36%), 14 CBT/hypnosis patients (46%), and 16 SC patients (67%) met PTSD criteria at 2-year follow-up. Patients who received CBT and CBT/hypnosis reported less re-experiencing and less avoidance symptoms than patients who received SC. These findings point to the long-term benefits of early provision of CBT in the initial month after trauma.

School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, NSW 2052, Sydney, Australia. r.bryant@unsw.edu.au

A conceptual replication of the link between self-reported dissociative alterations in body-image under experimental conditions and the reporting of prior out-of-body experiences in a recent data set was undertaken. Also examined was whether this relationship would hold for experiences reported during the experimental context and whether it is independent of self-reported New Age belief. Data from mostly undergraduates (N= 40; M age = 33.5, SD = 12.5; 27 women) in a mirror-gazing study were retrospectively analyzed. The 9 individuals who reported prior out-of-body experiences, relative to those 31 who did not, exhibited significantly greater self-reported dissociative alterations in body-image during the mirror-gazing task, even when the influence of scores on New Age belief was controlled for statistically. The same differential relationship was not found between 6 individuals who did and 34 who did not report out-of-body experiences during the task.

Division of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine, 85 East Newton St., Suite M918E, Boston, MA 02118, USA. devin.terhune@gmail.com

by Katherine Zimmerman CHT

Darcy, an attractive woman in her mid-30s, came to me to overcome her fear of public speaking, specifically in her French class. She reported that even though she knew the proper words her mind would go blank, she would cry, feel flustered, and her face became red.

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by Bryan M. Knight. MSW, PhD.

Hypnosis, self-hypnosis and hypnotherapy can heal you from the harm inflicted on you by a woman when you were a child.

You Can Heal The Rage

Anyone can become enraged once in a while. But if you feel rage boiling within almost constantly, or rage erupts from you frequently, you may have an organic illness.

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by Richard Kuhns B.S.Ch.E.

Treatment of Panic/Anxiety Attacks with Wakened Hypnosis.

Part I

This is the first of an ongoing series of articles for the effective treatment of anxiety and panic attacks for the professional. This technique is based on a stress management model. Let me clarify. It is often assumed that a stress management model is synonymous with body awareness techniques utilizing inward focus. Even though for a majority of treatment modalities this is true, it is only one of two basic techniques. The other technique is outward focus--far less often used--but initially recognized by a psychologist by the name of Lacy, is the one most effective for all anxiety/panic attacks. It likewise is effective for all other maladies, but because it is less defined, it is generally only used in more advanced training and left out of the protocols for initial training sessions.

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In a small but intriguing pilot study, Page, Levine, Sisto and Johnston of the Kessler Medical Rehabilitation Research and Education Corporation, randomly assigned 13 stroke patients with stable motor deficits in their affected upper limbs to either standard care (one hour of therapy three times a week for six weeks, administered by the same physical and occupational therapists) or standard care plus a 10-minute guided imagery session after each regular therapy session.

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Hypnosis is associated with the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for two reasons: (1) the similarity between hypnotic phenomena and the symptoms of PTSD, and (2) the utility of hypnosis as a tool in treatment. Physical trauma produces a sudden discontinuity in cognitive and emotional experience that often persists after the trauma is over.

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by Kevin Gaspard and Anne Teachworth

In hypnosis it is commonly accepted that "your body is your subconscious mind"; but in "The Psychogenetics System" (TPS), it is emphasized that "Your Parents are your subconscious mind". Teachworth has developed a comprehensive approach which utilizes in part hypnotheraputic techniques in the identification of both inherited "nature and nurture" patterns from the family of origin as well as guided imagery techniques referred to as "reimprinting" to redesign your subconscious programs and create the happy childhood you deserve.

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Norwegian researchers from Sogn og Fjordane University looked at eleven studies on the impact of music therapy on children and adolescents with various forms of psychopathology and mental health problems. There was special interest in how the type of pathology, the child's age and the kind of music therapy approach influenced the outcome.

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Hypnosis can profoundly alter sensory awareness and cognitive processing. While the cognitive and behavioral phenomena associated with hypnosis have long been thought to relate to attentional processes, the neural mechanisms underlying susceptibility to hypnotic induction and the hypnotic condition are poorly understood.

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The Department of Hygiene and Public Health (EBM Center) at the School of Medicine,Teikyo University, in Tokyo, Japan published a meta-analysis of 22 randomized, controlled studies investigating the efficacy of biofeedback for reducing hypertension. The 22 studies were published between 1966 and 2001, and involved a total of 905 hypertensive patients.

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A 1995 study published in the Journal of Holistic Nursing (vol.13: pp255-267) showed that postpartum depression in new mothers is alleviated by guided imagery. The research with 60 first-time mothers showed that those who practiced guided imagery during the first 4 weeks after giving birth had less anxiety and depression and more self-esteem and confidence than their counterparts who did not use guided imagery.

In a 1997 pilot study by McKinney, Antoni, Kumar, Tims and McCabe, 28 randomly selected adults were studied to see if the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) had an effect on mood and cortisol levels.

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