Using Hypnosis, NLP and Guided Imagery to Help Control Health Problems

It"s no secret that relaxation techniques such as hypnosis, NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) and guided imagery can be used to help control health problems such as weight, pain, stress, phobias and addictions. These techniques have been used for years in Eastern medicine but it"s only been relatively recently that Western medicine has begun to acknowledge them as an important part of holistic treatment for a variety of health concerns.

Researchers at the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine in London found that hypnosis, including self-hypnosis, mitigated stress substantially for medical students during exam periods, and that guided imagery improved both the immune system and the subject"s mood, causing a noticeable drop in viral infections. A further study done by the Imperial College showed that hypnosis and guided imagery reduced outbreaks of herpes simplex by 50%. In fact, the latter study showed that nonspecific guided imagery helped nearly as much as specific guided imagery targeted to the immune system. (Gruzelier, 2002)

A study performed at the Morton Prince Center for Hypnotherapy that lasted over 20 weeks, including 12 weeks of follow-up treatment using self-hypnosis, showed that hypnosis had a significant impact on nearly " of the study"s subjects; this group lost an average of 20.2 lbs in that period. (Andersen, 1985)

NLP, or neuro-linguistic programming, is a system of therapy based on the idea that teaching people to use certain positive phrases triggers long-term changes in their health and psychological outlook. NLP was developed at the University of Santa Cruz in 1979 by a team of therapists and linguists. NLP is a holistic process rather than a complex theory, and it incorporates techniques from other models of therapy, including family system therapy, in order to present a practical approach to helping clients. NLP practitioners have found that NLP combined with hypnosis can not only cure addictions like smoking, it can cause subjects to forget they ever smoked to begin with. (Bandler & Grinder, The Structure of Magic: A Book About Language and Therapy, 1975)

Guided imagery is another very successful therapy for anxiety, stress relief, and even pain management. A study performed at The University of Wisconsin School of Nursing showed that 2/3 of the patients were able to generate sustained positive mental images, and those that did experienced significant stress relief. This study postulates that guided imagery can be used with equal success for pain management, including cases where pain causes significant distress, such as in cancer patients. (Kwekkeboom, Huseby-Moore, Ward, 1997)

As mentioned above, hypnosis has been used as an effective technique for pain management in other parts of the world for decades if not centuries. According to the Russian Review, medical doctors and hospitals in Russia have been using hypnosis as a way to control or eliminate labor pains during childbirth since the 1940"s, and hypnosis is more cost effective, safe, readily available and successful than traditional anesthesia. In addition, in cases where anesthesia is necessary or warranted, such as Caesarian sections, hypnosis, guided imagery and other relaxation techniques increase the effectiveness of the drugs. (Podolsky, 1946)

One of the most well-researched areas regarding hypnosis, guided imagery and NLP is in the area of phobias. In the book Clinical Management of Anxiety by Johan A. den Boer (Informa Health Care, 1996), den Boer states that not only is hypnosis an integral part of treating generalized anxiety disorders and specific phobias such as being afraid of heights, it can also be very effective in treatment for much more severe problems, both mental and physical, including post-traumatic stress disorder, panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, social phobia, depression, substance abuse problems, personality disorders and agoraphobia.

The Clinic for Psychoneurology and Surgery in Finland performed a study on 51 patients who suffered from very severe social phobia, including patients who suffered from mental abuse, physical abuse, and paternal alcoholism as children. These patients had symptoms of severe social phobia that included sweating, heart palpitations, blushing, hand tremors, and generalized anxiety, and 88% of them reported that hypnosis and other similar relaxation techniques like guided imagery and NLP significantly reduced these symptoms to the point that they were satisfied with hypnosis as an alternative to conservative forms of therapy. (Teleranta, 1999)

As the above studies suggest, hypnosis and other relaxation techniques are even effective when the problem is complex, such as a combination of phobias and pain, or pain management and stress. In an article in the publication Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Vol. 7, No. 4, researchers from the Tavistock Clinic in the UK found that hypnosis was very effective in treating children with needle phobia, a problem they attributed to a combination of biological and psychological factors. (Willemsen, Chowdhury, Briscall, 2002)

It is therefore safe to conclude that when a variety of researchers, well-spaced out temporally, geographically, and in areas of expertise, have all found empirical evidence of constant benefits of hypnosis, guided imagery and NLP in treating health problems such as weight loss, pain management, stress, anxiety, phobias, addictions, and even ordinary infections such as herpes, hypnosis and other relaxation techniques should become a regular part of health care in the Western world, whether they are used to help cure or alleviate existing problems, or even better, are used as preventative measures. It is particularly reassuring to hear that self-hypnosis is equally effective as going to a practitioner, as long as the proper methods are used.