Davis, E., (2015), Literature review of the evidence-base for the effectiveness of hypnotherapy. Melbourne: PACFA.

Eileen Davis is Senior Lecturer and Academic Head, School of Counselling, Australian College of Applied Psychology.

Thank you to Leon Cowen for this link. Leon is a keen advocate of promoting hypnotherapy through evidence-based research. To become involved in his research program, contact Leon via his website at Contact Us

The goal of this literature review is to provide a contemporary review of research on the effectiveness of hypnotherapy. Ten studies have been reviewed on the application of hypnotherapy to two common conditions: chronic pain and anxiety. The review found that the studies provided evidence for the effectiveness of hypnotherapy as a treatment to assist in the reduction of pain and anxiety. A stronger evidence base for hypnotherapy has developed over the past decade, and the review provides some key recommendations for future research in this area.

Historically, hypnosis has had a somewhat checkered past. Its practice has been associated with witchcraft and hysteria, and its reputation and credibility have suffered at the hands of stage hypnotists. Hypnosis was formerly known as mesmerism, named after Franz Mesmer (1734-1815), a Viennese physician. Mesmerism was renamed as animal magnetism (1766) when it was thought that magnets assisted clients to go into trance. This was later dispelled, and in 1843 Braid coined the term hypnosis (as cited in Lynn & Kirsch, 2006) which remains current today. This review of hypnotherapy research and literature describes the characteristics, findings and conclusions of selected, rigorous studies on pain and anxiety. A comparison of studies and their findings is presented to determine their validity. Knowledge gaps in the literature are identified and recommendations made for future research. Read more >>

Science Daily (22 April 2016) Very relevant when you're dealing with sugar addiction. Fructose alters hundreds of brain genes, which can lead to a wide range of diseases Consuming fructose, a sugar that's common in the Western diet, alters hundreds of genes that may be linked to many diseases, life scientists report. However, they discovered good news as well: an important omega-3 fatty acid known as DHA seems to reverse the harmful changes produced by fructose. Read more >>

Research on naps, meditation, nature walks and the habits of exceptional artists and athletes reveals how mental breaks increase productivity, replenish attention, solidify memories and encourage creativity.

Every now and then during the day or night— everyone begins to feel a little tired, yet we fail to understand the meaning or the impact. Even beginning the day feeling OK, getting through the ever growing list of activities that need to be attended and respond to, sometimes becomes an ever growing mountain. There is so much more to do—so much work to be done—but the brain is telling you to stop. It's full and overflowing. It is suffering congestion and needs some downtime.

When we take a break from the daily grind we gradually allow the mind to sort through a backlog of unprocessed data and to empty itself of accumulated concerns. It’s like taking that well-earned holiday!!

When you go on a break from the normal routines, it allows the base level of mental tension and busyness to totally evaporate, it allows for everything to kind of settle down.

Even if you are not committed to meditation, hypnosis or any other form of relaxation. A survey of Australian workers revealed that the average employee spends more than half their workdays receiving and managing information rather than using it to do their jobs; half of the surveyed workers also confessed that they were reaching a breaking point after which they would not be able to accommodate the deluge of data. This is the reason why we need to take regular breaks during our busy days and to also take regular short holidays and schedule in at least one, two week break at some point during the busy year.

To summarize, our brains are preoccupied with work and other responsibilities much of the time, for the most we are devoted perpetual busyness but this does not in fact translate to greater productivity and is not particularly healthy. Our brain requires substantial downtime to remain industrious and generate its most innovative ideas?

Idleness is not just a vacation, an indulgence or a vice; it is as indispensable to the brain as vitamin D is to the body, and deprived of it we can become dysfunctional.

It allows us to stop and reflect, to reassess and to work out where we want to go and then move forward with greater clarity of mind.

There have been many new studies investigating: the habits of office workers and the daily routines of extraordinary musicians and athletes; the benefits of holidays, meditation, hypnotherapy or mindfulness, the time spent in parks, gardens and other peaceful outdoor spaces; and how napping, unwinding while awake and perhaps the mere act of blinking can sharpen the mind, even when we are relaxing or daydreaming, the brain does not really slow down or stop working. Downtime replenishes the brain’s stores of attention and motivation, encourages productivity and creativity, and is essential to both achieving our highest levels of performance and simply form stable memories in everyday life. A wandering mind unblocks us in time so that we can learn from the past and plan for the future. Moments of respite may even be necessary to keep one’s moral compass in working order and maintain a sense of self.

All in a Day’s Work:

Our learning and memory depend on both sleep and waking rest and may partially explain why some of the most exceptional artists and athletes among us fall into a daily routine of intense practice punctuated by breaks and followed by a lengthy period of recuperation.

Most people can engage in deliberate practice—which means pushing oneself beyond current limits—for only an hour without rest; that extremely talented people in many different disciplines—music, sports, writing—rarely practice more than four hours each day on average; and that many experts prefer to begin training early in the morning when mental and physical energy is readily available. “Unless the daily levels of practice are restricted, such that subsequent rest and night time sleep allow the individuals to restore - individuals often encounter over-training injuries and, eventually, incapacitating ‘burnout.’”

Psychologists have established that holidays have real benefits. Holidays revitalize the body and mind by distancing people from job-related stress; by immersing people in new places, cuisines and social circles, which in turn may lead to original ideas and insights; and by giving people the opportunity to get a good night’s sleep and to let their minds drift from one experience to the next, rather than forcing their brains to concentrate on a single task for hours at a time. Jessica de Bloom, now at the University of Tampere in Finland, demonstrates that these benefits generally fade within two to four weeks. In one of de Bloom’s own studies 96 Dutch workers reported feeling more energetic, happier, less tense and more satisfied with their lives than usual during a winter sports vacation between seven and nine days long. Within one week of returning to work, however, all the feelings of renewal dissipated. A second experiment on four and five days of respite came to essentially the same conclusion. A short holiday is like a cool shower on an oppressively muggy summer day—a refreshing yet fleeting escape.

The answer is energy, people are encouraged to get seven to eight hours of sleep every night, to use all their holidays, take power naps and many small breaks during the day, practice meditation, hypnotherapy or mindfulness, and tackle the most challenging task first thing in the morning so they can give it their full attention. "Many things are in some ways very simple and on some level are things people already know, but they are moving at such extraordinary speed that they have convinced themselves they are not capable of stopping and taking time out.

Put Your Mind At Rest:

Many recent studies have corroborated the idea that our mental resources are continuously depleted throughout the day and that various kinds of rest and downtime can both replenish those reserves and increase peoples capabilities. Consider, for instance, how even an incredibly brief midday nap enlivens the mind.

A 10, 20 and 30 minutes power-nap can improve greatly our efficiencies and coping ability regaining full alertness, renewing one's powers of concentration, downtime can in fact bulk up the muscle of attention—something that scientists have observed repeatedly in studies on meditation, hypnotherapy and mindfulness. It challenges people to sit in a quiet space, close their eyes and turn their attention away from the outside world toward their own minds.

Mindfulness training or hypnotherapy has become more popular than ever in the last decade as a strategy to relieve stress, anxiety and depression. Many researchers acknowledge that studies on the benefits of meditation, hypnotherapy or mindfulness often lack scientific grounding, however, at this point they have gathered enough evidence to conclude that meditation, hypnotherapy and mindfulness can indeed improve mental health, hone one’s ability to concentrate and strengthen memory. Studies comparing long-time expert meditators with novices or people who do not meditate often find that the former out-perform the latter on tests of mental awareness.

Rather profound changes to the brain's structure and behavior likely underlie many of these improvements. Numerous studies have shown that meditation, hypnotherapy and mindfulness strengthens connections within the mind’s network and can help people learn to more effectively function. Meditation, Hypnotherapy and Mindfulness also appears to increase the volume and density of the hippocampus, a seahorse-shaped area of the brain that is absolutely crucial for memory; it thickens regions of the frontal cortex that we rely on to rein in our emotions; and it lessens the typical wilting of brain areas responsible for sustaining attention as we get older. Just how quickly meditation, hypnotherapy or mindfulness can noticeably change the brain and mind is not yet clear, however, experiments suggest that a couple weeks of meditation or hypnotherapy treatments or a mere 10 to 20 minutes of mindfulness a day can sharpen the mind—if people stick with it.

Perceived stress increases likelihood of amnestic mild cognitive impairment in older people

Feeling stressed out increases the likelihood that elderly people will develop mild cognitive impairment—often a prelude to full-blown Alzheimer's disease. In a new study, scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Health System found that highly stressed participants were more than twice as likely to become impaired than those who were not. Because stress is treatable, the results suggest that detecting and treating stress in older people might help delay or even prevent the onset of Alzheimer's. The findings were published online today in Alzheimer Disease & Associated Disorders.

Each year, approximately 470,000 Americans are diagnosed with Alzheimer's dementia. Many of them first experience mild cognitive impairment—a pre-dementia condition that significantly increases the risk of developing Alzheimer's in the following months or years. This study looked at the connection between chronic stress and "amnestic mild cognitive impairment" (aMCI), the most common type of MCI, which is primarily characterized by memory loss.

Our study provides strong evidence that perceived stress increases the likelihood that an older person will develop a MCI, said Richard Lipton, M.D.

Senior author of the study, vice chair of neurology at Einstein and Montefiore, and professor in the Saul R. Korey Department of Neurology and the Edwin S. Lowe Chair of Neurology at Einstein. "Fortunately, perceived stress is a modifiable risk factor for cognitive impairment, making it a potential target for treatment."

"Perceived stress reflects the daily hassles we all experience, as well as the way we appraise and cope with these events," said study first author, Mindy Katz, M.P.H., senior associate in the Saul R. Korey Department of Neurology at Einstein. "Perceived stress can be altered by mindfulness-based stress reduction, cognitive-behavioural therapies and stress-reducing drugs. These interventions may postpone or even prevent an individual's cognitive decline."

The researchers studied data collected from 507 people enrolled in the Einstein Aging Study (EAS), a community-based cohort of older adults. Since 1993, the EAS has systematically recruited adults 70 and over who live in Bronx County, NY. Participants undergo annual assessments that include clinical evaluations, a neuropsychological battery of tests, psychosocial measures, medical history, assessments of daily-living activities and reports (by participants and those close to them) of memory and other cognitive complaints.

Starting in 2005, the EAS began assessing stress using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). This widely used 14-item measure of psychological stress was designed to be sensitive to chronic stress (due to ongoing life circumstances, possible future events and other causes) perceived over the previous month. PSS scores range from 0 to 56, with higher scores indicating greater perceived stress.

The diagnosis of aMCI was based on standardized clinical criteria including the results of recall tests and reports of forgetfulness from the participants or from others. All 507 enrolees were free of aMCI or dementia at their initial PSS assessment and subsequently underwent at least one annual follow-up evaluation. They were followed for an average of 3.6 years.

Seventy-one of the 507 participants were diagnosed with aMCI during the study. The greater the participants' stress level, the greater their risk for developing aMCI: for every 5 point increase in their PSS scores, their risk of developing aMCI increased by 30 percent. Similar results were obtained when participants were divided into five groups (quintiles) based on their PSS scores. Participants in the highest-stress quintile (high stress) were nearly 2.5 times more likely to develop aMCI than were people in the remaining four quintiles combined (low stress). When comparing the two groups, participants in the high-stress group were more likely to be female and have less education and higher levels of depression.

To confirm that stress was independently increasing risk for aMCI in this study, the researchers assessed whether depression—which increases the risk for stress as well as for cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease—might have influenced the results. They found that depression did not significantly affect the relationship observed between stress and the onset of aMCI. Similarly, stress's impact on cognitive status was unaffected if participants possessed at least one e4 allele of the APOE gene, which increases their risk for developing late-onset Alzheimer's.

Source: Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a chronic gastro-intestinal (GI) condition with no known cause or cure.  Symptoms include diarrohea, constipation, cramping, gas, pain or bloating.  Symptoms run in cycles lasting for days, months or years.  IBS can be disabling and force many sufferers to feel like prisoners in their own homes.

Traditional intervention includes high fibre diets, antispasmodic and anti-diarrohea medications, sedatives and antidepressants which offer relief only 25% of the time. Because IBS is not life threatening, is not a precursor to acute illness and is undetectable with diagnostic equipment, sufferers are usually told they have to live with it. Thankfully this is not the case. Hypnosis has been researched for over 20 years and stands alone as the most effective option for long-term IBS relief. Its success rate is consistently 70-95% and relief usually lasts at least two years. (Olafur S. Palsson)

IBS is an enormous problem affecting many Australians and 4 of 5 are women. It is more common than asthma, diabetes, acid reflux and depression combined.  IBS is responsible for 10% of all primary Doctor visits and is also the 2nd leading cause for employee absenteeism and costs the millions of dollars a year.

Diagnosing IBS is no simple task.  First the physician needs to rule out infections, parasites, lactose intolerance, Crohn’s disease, celiac and gallbladder disease, dumping syndrome, ulcerative colitis and inflammatory bowel disease before an IBS diagnosis can be made.

The onset of symptoms ranges between the ages of 20-29 in adults and 9-11 in children.  Some clients can trace the symptoms back to a traumatic event, illness or injury. Some begin having symptoms early in life for no apparent reason at all.  IBS is also known to be generational.  Many IBS sufferers go through life with no concept of what normal GI function is like.

Symptoms can be exacerbated by stress, chocolate, caffeine, alcohol, foods high in animal or vegetable fat, food dyes, artificial sweeteners, food or medication sensitivities or hormone fluctuation, but none are the cause.  Some research indicates that IBS sufferers may have an abundance of specialized cells in the intestinal tract making them more reactive and sensitive. (Melissa J. Roth)

The irregularity of the GI tract is what is responsible for all the problems  If it moves too quickly the body doesn’t absorb what it needs resulting in diarrohea.  If it moves too slowly the body absorbs too much resulting in constipation.  This erratic pattern can also dramatically affect how nutrients are absorbed and how well the colon absorbs waste out of the blood stream. 

Hypnosis has a long history cluttered with myths, misinformation and manipulation. Most people only know about stage hypnosis but there is also a serious minded clinical side that is quickly establishing a foothold as a viable compliment to mainstream medicine.

Hypnosis is the simple process of accessing subconscious thought which is where all of our habits, patterns, values and beliefs reside.  With hypnosis clients are empowered to embrace healthier patterns of nutrition, exercise and to release unhealthy patterns like smoking in favour of more positive ones.

The subconscious mind is also our body’s control centre which regulates our inner network of complicated mechanisms.  It regulates our heart and respiratory rate and controls the thousands of metabolic functions which occur automatically everyday of our lives.  With unique access to this immensely powerful place hypnosis can also positively redirect specific areas of GI function, dramatically reduce stress, improve compliance with medication and diet regimes and also help clients see themselves as healthy and whole again. It gives them the feeling of control.

Hypnosis is by no means a magic pill.  Success requires clients to be open to the process and motivated to assume responsibility for their recovery.  Hypnotherapy for IBS relief involves up to several months of treatment and reinforcement by the person involved.  There are, however, some who do not respond as well as others.

The steady accumulation of positive scientific research is the reason hypnosis has finally begun to gain acceptance.

 For over 20 years researchers like Olafur S. Palsson, Peter Whorwell, William Gonsalkorale and L.A. Houghton have been studying the benefits of hypnosis for IBS symptom relief.

The following are brief descriptions of some of their findings.

One study compared 25 severe IBS clients treated with hypnosis to 25 patients with similar symptoms treated with other methods. The hypnosis group showed that in addition to significant IBS symptom relief they had fewer MD visits, lost less work time and rated an improved quality of life. Hypnosis clients unable to work before treatment went back to work afterwards. The study shows the economic benefits and improved health-related quality of life. (Houghton LA)

Another study which is the largest to date followed 250 IBS clients who were treated with 12 hypnosis sessions over a 3-month period and they also listened to recorded sessions at home. The conclusions showed dramatic improvement in all IBS symptoms. The average reduction in symptoms was more than 50% as well as increased quality of life and relief from anxiety and depression. (Whorwell PJ).

Lastly, the longest study to date treated and followed 204 IBS clients for up to 6 years. 71% showed immediate improvement, and 81% of this group was still improved years later. Quality of life scores were also still significantly improved at follow-up. Patients had less MD visits and required less medication long-term after hypnotherapy. Results indicate that most hypnosis clients benefit for at least five years. (Gonsalkorale WM)

Hypnosis isn’t magic but can seem magical. Think of it as a daydream by design.  It is a wonderful escape into an inner peacefulness that not only feels good but can be extremely good for you. In addition to offering IBS symptom relief clients also become more relaxed, focused and centered in general and much less affected by the day-to-day distractions of life.

THE FOOD SOOTH

It sounds ridiculous, but I wait until everyone is either asleep or out and then I go down to the kitchen and I just eat.
I eat until I feel sick.
I don’t even know why I do it.
I don’t even taste the food.
I feel so bad after.

This is a common explanation I get from clients who binge-eat.

Food:

The only addiction that you can’t overcome by abstaining from it.  And yet it is still an addiction.  If you think about what an addiction is, it is using a behavior or a substance to either give you or help you escape from a feeling you can’t cope with.  

Those who have an addiction to food use it in the same way as people use alcohol.  Yet, as a society we deal with food addiction totally differently.  We label people who struggle with weight as lazy, unfit, and unhealthy.  We believe they should be able to choose to eat less, eat better, and move more.  As a result, they believe the same.  They believe they should be able to lose weight if they just make more of an effort.

We believe it is a conscious choice to be addicted to food, but we accept that addiction to drugs and alcohol can be the result of a difficult life.

On the one hand it is okay to have an emotional connection to what we eat, yet on the other hand food is just fuel and we should not see it as anything else.

I wonder why we regard it as taboo to accept that we can be addicted to food, but not taboo to accept that we can be addicted to other substances?  Maybe it’s because we all assume that other addictions contain a physical component which takes away our choice.  This is not necessarily true.  With smoking, your heart rate returns to normal roughly 20 minutes after a cigarette, and within 12 hours the carbon monoxide levels return to normal.  Within two to three days the physical nicotine craving will be gone.  From that point forward it is all mental.  But often when someone has tried to give up smoking, a week or so later, after the physical symptoms have returned to normal, they give in and start again.

You expect that.  You expect people to find it hard to give up smoking.  You don’t expect that people will find it hard to lose weight.  And because society doesn’t believe it should be difficult, you don’t believe it should be difficult.  You limit yourself with your beliefs based on the taboos society communicates both subtly and explicitly.  Taxing sugary foods implies if they were more expensive, you could choose not to have them.  It’s amusing really — if that theory were true, then surely a big sticker on the front of a cigarette packet reading “YOU WILL DIE IF YOU SMOKE THIS” would stop people smoking.  But it hasn’t though, not at all.

Consider this: There is a button on the wall in your house.  If you press that button you will instantly feel better.  The stresses and strains of the day will go away, to be replaced by a feeling of comfort and happiness.  Why would you not press the button?

You’d be irrational not to!

This is what your subconscious is doing:
All through childhood your subconscious is making connections. You experience 7,363,228 minutes before you are 15 years old.  Any one of those minutes could be taken as significant by your subconscious.  A significant moment is one where you need to learn something that will help you avoid getting hurt as an adult.  Unfortunately, these lessons are assimilated by a primitive and emotional part of your brain when you are too young to truly understand what is going on.  The rules your subconscious follows could also use an upgrade; they are based on the caveman rules of survival, when being hurt equalled death by some means of destruction.  Being hurt would mean you died.  Your subconscious is in charge at least 90% of the time and is responsible for keeping you safe from harm.  It is important for it to learn what might hurt you while you are still a child, so it can help you survive as an adult.

Let me give you a couple of client case studies:

Caveman Rule Number 2: If your parents don’t love you, you will die.
Lisa’s parents divorced when she 13 years old.  Although they both remained in her life, she felt she had done something wrong and that was why they split.  She was always a bit of a fussy eater and soon realized that she could use dinner time to get extra attention from her parents. She stopped eating most things.  The less she ate the more attention she got.  Her brain learned the rule, “When you are fussy with food your parents give you more attention, which means they love you more.”  By the time Lisa came to see me, her parents had both died and yet she still had the problem with food.  She was still following the rule.

Caveman Rule Number 3: If you are not part of a pack, you will die.
Susan was bullied at school.  She always remembered being fat.  Her mother was always obsessed with her own weight and used to take her daughter with her to Weight Watchers meetings from the age of 10.  She had been on a diet her whole life.  Whenever she got pocket money she used to stop at the local shop and buy chocolate.  For a short while she could eat the chocolate and forget how miserable she felt.  Her brain learned the rule, “You are the weakest person in the pack because you are fat and that hurts.  Eating the chocolate stops you from hurting.”  She came to see me as a happily married mother of three, who’d never managed to give up the chocolate.  She would sneak through to the kitchen at night and steal her children’s snacks and then replace them when she went shopping the next day.  She felt so bad about what she was doing that no one knew, not even her husband.  She didn’t tell anyone that she was coming to see me. 

All of us have a rule book.  All of us have a subconscious that is driving our behavior, about 90% of the time, using that rulebook.  It’s only when that behavior begins to get in the way of your life that you notice it.  Even then, society and all our experience of therapy dictates that the only way to get over anything is to do hard cognitive work until you overcome it.

I don’t believe that.  I believe if you find the rule in the rulebook, the miscalculation, and get rid of it, then you get rid of the behavior or the need for the addiction.  Get rid of the “thing” that is triggering the behavior in the subconscious, and as a consequence the behavior will go.  It won’t come back either.  We are reprogramming your brain, not teaching you coping mechanisms.  If we put you under an MRI scanner while I worked with you, you would see lines growing and moving in your brain.  This ability to rework and restructure your brain is called neuroplasticity.

This is why I don’t believe it’s your fault that you eat too much or binge-eat in secret.  I don’t believe it’s your fault if you drink.  I don’t believe it’s your fault if you smoke.  All behavior serves a positive purpose, and if your subconscious believes that eating, drinking, smoking, or whatever will stop you feeling hurt, then you will always ‘do’ that behavior.

If we can clear that connection out of the subconscious, then those behaviors become meaningless and you have the freedom to act on the conscious thoughts that have been there all along.

What is wrong with me? The chocolate doesn’t even taste nice and I feel so bad after.

I hate it when I drink. I can’t remember anything I have done the morning after.

I do not believe it’s true that you have to be stuck battling something for the rest of your life.  I help clients change it so there is no battle. You are free to make the choices that are right for you.  The thoughts have been there all along, you have just not been able to listen to them.  I believe, if we clear the trigger out of the subconscious, then you can be truly free to listen to your rational voice and make the choices that are right for you.

Hypnosis is simply an altered state of conscious awareness. It's a light trance like state with varying degrees of consciousness - the levels range from a state of alertness to a sleep like state. It may be described as a narrowing of the focus of the mind, an experience that may be compared to day dreaming.