Pain and Hypnosis (in the dental chair)

Hypnosis as a Focusing Tool

Hypnosis is an effective means to focus on a task, or set of tasks, through relaxation and facilitated guided imagery. This is what we help people do at the San Antonio Hypnosis Center. Initially, I used to help people with concrete tasks such as smoking, weight loss, or test-taking, among others; however, I have found that a mindset can be altered through hypnotic suggestions--as long as the subject wants the change to occur. There may be resistances to those changes, as we all have some sort of mental or attitudinal resistance(s) to change, but that's what the therapist can help with.

The Dallas Hypnosis Convention--Afterthoughts

The Dallas Hypnosis Convention was a three-day-information-center of presentations provided by a diverse range of practitioners of hypnosis. I am booked for next year's Hypnosis Convention and would encourage anyone who is in the beginning, middle, and advanced stages of hypnotic practice to put this convention on your yearly calendar as it provides techniques, attitudes, and insights you won't get in many other places. Scott Sandland presented a variety of techniques used in pain management for patients in varieties of settings ranging from dental clinics to alcohol and other drug rehabilitation treatment centers. William Mitchell was informative and breaks up his presentation with humorous comments. I missed John Cerbone who probably talked about speed-trance but I'm not sure; I spent a couple days last year in a presentation on speed-trance with him and Richard Nongard. By the way, Richard Nongard's talk about the future of hypnosis was inspiring and exciting. I spoke about the integration of rhythmic breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and guided imagery in the use of hypnosis. I missed the third day there, which was unfortunate, but had obligations in San Antonio waiting for me.

Hypnosis (Part 1) Rhythmic Breathing

In the hypnotic process that I facilitate with a client who wants to change a specific behavior, or target a specific goal they want to accomplish, I turn to three components of hypnosis to help them change: 1) rhythymic breathing; 2) progress muscle group relaxation; 3) guided imagery. Rhythmic breathing allows a person to focus on themselves in an inward directed manner, and it is associated with a phenomenally high level of mental concentration. I’m going to discuss in this part some of the ways that I use rhythmic breathing as an integral part of my hypnotic sessions. When the client is relaxed, sitting in an upright position, legs uncrossed, hands to the side, and any variation they want to make of that, I invite them to breathe in and out a couple of times, just to set the pace, and count in and out. I let them know that when I count, they are not to be concerned about following me exactly. I can actually see their chest moving in and out, and it’s my job to pace my counting with their pattern of breathing. I ask them to breathe in through their nostrils if they like, and to breathe out through their mouth. I don’t know why that works preferably to the reverse, but the collective wisdom with which I’m familiar says so, so I run with it. The client seems to be okay with it. As they breath into the third and fourth breath, I ask them to “breath in…one…two…three…and hold…one…two…three…and release…noticing the calming effect the release has on your body. You can almost feel your heart slow down instantly as you release the air.” They are of course continuing to breath without my cue, but I say, “now breathe in again…one…two…and hold…one…two…and release.” Soon I will be incorporating cognitive imagery with the breathing, breathing in positive images that the client wants to instil, and out the images that the client wants to be rid of. An example would be, beginning with natural elements of “fresh, cool air like that blowing off from of a mountain top capped with fresh snow.” As the subject gets comfortable breathing in and breathing out in synch with the counting suggestions, I begin suggesting qualities of their personalities that they would like to achieve, suggesting words such as “breathing in confidence, calm, and serenity, breathing out anxiety, (eg.), lack of resolve, and temptation to fall back into (habit they wanted to change–smoking, eg.), breathing in resolve, fixed focus, calm, peace, and serenity). breathing out any associations related (habit or undesireable trait). At this point the pmr will be woven into the suggestions of the rhythmic breathing, alternating with the breathing in, etc. At the time the pmr will be interwoven with the breathing. As I talked only about the rhythmic breathing in this part of the discussion on hypnosis, it is important to know that the pmr was taking place simultaneously with the rhythmic breathing. As these three processes take place, over time they will occurr with varying frequency.

Achieving Goals With Hypnosis (Jan 8, 2011)

Whether through the use of medical hypnosis in the amelioration of acute or chronic pain, or for the purpose of accomplishing a specific goal activity in sports, social behaviors (extinguishing blushing, managing social phobias, conquering fear of speaking in front of groups), health concerns (smoking or chewing tobacco; drinking alcohol excessively), or confidence and competence improvement (test-taking; task-performance enhancement) hypnosis can be a powerful tool in helping one to pull it all together. Depending on the client, I use variations of the above components--relaxation, rhythmic breathing, and guided imagery--to induce the hypnotic trance in which suggested scripts are virtually structured by the client. Many people from many walks of life have come to the San Antonio Hypnosis Center (SAHC) to accomplish many of the above goals. Fear of driving over these new 'fly-away' overpasses ('ribbons in the sky') brought two people to the SAHC in the same week. The fear was too much for them, causing them both to pull their car over and change drivers: "Fortunately my friend was riding with me! I don't know what I would have done!" Crisis situations often bring people to our office. Sometimes it's not one thing, but the one thing on top of all the others that results in making a decision to change an aspect of one's lifestyle, whether it was a doctor telling them they really should lose weight for their health, or seeing the deleterious effects that smoking had on a close friend or loved one. www.sahypnosis.net 210-590-9292 or 210-710-8768.