Harnessing the Mind to Manage Irritable Bowel Syndrome
By Karen Pallarito, HealthDay News
Friday, Feb. 15 2008
When drugs and dietary changes don't provide relief from the pain, bloating
and other unpleasant gastrointestinal symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome,
patients may want to try a different approach. Recent studies show that using
one's own thoughts in a process called cognitive behavioral therapy may help
ease symptoms. Likewise, using hypnosis to visualize the pain and imagine it
seeping away can be a powerful treatment strategy, too. "Research indicates that
the probability of achieving benefits is excellent with either approach, even
for patients who haven't improved from standard medical care," said Olafur S.
Palsson, a clinical psychologist and associate professor of medicine at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Center for Functional GI &
Motility Disorders.
Hypnosis treatment has been reported to improve symptoms of the majority of
treated IBS patients in all published studies, noted UNCs Palsson. For patients
who've tried the diet-and-drug regimen to no avail, Palsson said he would
recommend either of these two psychological treatments. "If a patient's main
goal is substantial relief of bowel symptoms, hypnosis is probably the better
choice," he said, for the research literature strongly suggests that it improves
the gastrointestinal symptoms far more reliably.
"It's All In The Mind"
The Independent - Published 2007 January 30
by Roger Dobson
Once regarded as a cheap stage trick, hypnotism is proven to be a powerful medical treatment, and now it's available on the NHS.
There's no magic, no swinging pendulums or swaying watches, and no one is counting backwards as they slump into unconsciousness. This is medical rather than stage or movie hypnotism, and it is increasingly being used to treat the symptoms of diseases and conditions as diverse as asthma, cystic fibrosis, snoring, migraines and warts.
New research from America has also found that more than half the people who used hypnotherapy to give up smoking were able to kick the habit, while researchers in France have successfully used the therapy to lower blood pressure.
Hypnosis has been used for centuries to treat diverse ills, but it went into relative decline with the rise of modern medicine, and in the last 200 years it's been more associated with stage magicians and movie villains than medicine.
Filmmakers take a lot of blame for damaging the image of hypnotism: "When a hypnotist appears on screen, expect evil. If his induction features magnetic hand passes, he's probably about to compel someone to commit a crime. If he hypnotizes with an intense stare, his intent is likelier seduction,'' says Dr. Deirdre Barrett of Harvard Medical School, who has studied more than 200 films about hypnotism.
At the University Hospital of South Manchester, Professor Peter Whorwell, a gastroenterologist who heads the only NHS funded hypnotherapy centre in Britain, which has been pioneering the therapy as a treatment of irritable bowel syndrome, agrees. "One of the problems is the name,'' he says. "If we started off again with a name like neuromodulation, for example, it would be more readily accepted. The name hypnotism has so much baggage attached. Cognitive behavioral therapy is now reasonably well accepted, and so, too, is psychotherapy, but of the three, I would say hypnotism is potentially the most powerful. It is becoming a treatment of choice for IBS.
"When I am dead and gone, people are going to suddenly realize that hypnotism is an incredibly powerful tool and question why it has been ignored for so long.''
Just how it works is not clear, and some critics suggest it's simply a way of relaxing. But practitioners say there's more to it, and that under hypnosis the patient can concentrate intensely on a specific thought, memory, feeling or sensation while blocking out distractions.
"The first thing you have to do is get past the myths and misconceptions about clinical hypnosis," says Dr Carol Ginandes who led a study into its use for anxiety at Harvard Medical School.
In a report in the Harvard Magazine, she explains how it has an effect: "We don't yet understand the mechanisms by which these suggestions are transplanted by the mind into the language of the body, but let's say someone is a smoker. When he's in a hypnotic state, I could suggest that he's going to find himself craving cigarettes less and less over a period of time. If he's ready to quit, that suggestion will be planted at a deep level in his mind, like seeds planted beneath the soil rather than scattered over the top, helping him tap into some useful physical and psychological resources."
Dental: Hypnotherapy is increasingly being used in a number of areas of dentistry, including dental phobia, teeth grinding and extractions and fillings. It has also been used for dental surgery that is usually done under local or general anaesthetic.
Chest Pains: Up to one third of patients who have angina like chest pain are found to have normal coronary arteries, but many continue to suffer painful symptoms despite no evidence of heart disease. Non-cardiac chest pain is a problem because there is little or no treatment.
Wound Healing: Researchers at Harvard Medical School have shown that broken bones and surgical wounds heal faster in patients who have hypnotherapy. Six weeks after breaking their ankles, patients being treated with hypnotherapy were three weeks ahead in their healing schedule than those who were just put in plaster.
Cystic Fibrosis: According to a University of Michigan report, hypnotherapy can reduce symptoms of cough, shortness of breath, anxiety and other symptoms of cystic fibrosis.
Childbirth: Research at the Women's and Children's Hospital in Adelaide, where hypnosis is used for women in labor, shows it is highly effective. Women who had the therapy, which was given after 37 weeks gestation, used fewer epidurals - 36 per cent compared with 53 per cent in other women.
Snoring: According to Harley Street psychiatrist Dr Tom Kraft, snoring can be treated with hypnotherapy by suggesting under hypnosis that the sufferer turns on his side every time he begins to snore.
"I have reported on the case of a 53-year-old man who came to see me after his snoring led to his wife throwing him out of the bedroom,'' he says. "After I treated him, his snoring went, and he was allowed back in the bedroom, for which he was eternally grateful. After 10 sessions, the patient no longer snored, and when he was followed up later the improvements had been maintained.''
In hypnotherapy, patients are helped by the therapist to reach what's described as a relaxed state of consciousness, like being absorbed in a good book. Therapists may start by describing images that create a sense of security and well being. They may then suggest ways of achieving specific goals, such as getting rid of phobias.
Just how it works is not clear. Practitioners say the patient can concentrate intensely on a specific thought, memory, feeling or sensation while blocking out distractions."
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"Dozing Off Without a Prescription"
Los Angeles Times - 2006 September 25, Monday
by Hilary E. MacGregor, Times Staff Writer
Whether meditating before bed or sipping a kava kava nightcap, more than 1.6 million Americans use some form of alternative medicine when they have trouble sleeping.
Nearly 65% of people using alternative methods to help them sleep used "biological therapies," such as herbs or supplements, and 39% used "mind-body therapies," such as self-hypnosis, guided imagery or other relaxation techniques.
Dr. Jay Udani, who runs the Integrative medicine Program at the Northridge Hospital Medical Center, said he would recommend anyone with sleep problems start with mind-body techniques such as self-hypnosis, meditation or guided imagery.
"in complementary and alternative medicine and sleep disorders, Nahin said, particularly in the realm of mind-body therapies.
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"Quick Skin Care Quiz.", WCP News. Dr.Ted A. Grossbard,
Harvard Medical School. September, 2005.
"Emotional factors can trigger skin problems, or they may
worsen symptoms. While heredity, bacteria, viruses,
hormones and chemical irritants play a clear role in many
skin problems, mind and body always do an intricate dance
together. If your skin condition doesn't seem to be
improving, it may be time to determine the role that
emotions are playing in your acne, psoriasis, rosacea or
whatever skin condition you're experiencing."
"How important is the emotional factor in your illness? "
"The more [it is a factor], the more likely you can be
helped by such psychological tools as relaxation, imaging,
focused psychotherapy, biofeedback and hypnosis and self-
hypnosis. There is a substantial body of research,
including many well-controlled studies, documenting how
helpful these techniques can be.
Mainstream doctors are more and more receptive as the
newer research documents not only these tools
effectiveness, but the specific physiological mechanism
that allow the techniques to work. Enhanced blood flow,
various immune system mechanisms, and stress hormones are
often involved."
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"Hypnosis Works." Discover. November 2004.
“Over the years, a number of rigorously controlled studies
have proved that hypnosis reduces pain, controls blood
pressure, and can even make warts go away.”
“The power of trance can no longer be disputed, a
psychiatrist at Stanford University says. Now we just have
to use it.”
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“Experts back use of hypnosis for terminally ill.” Sunday Herald.
October 31, 2004
“Six hypnotherapists have begun working with patients at
Marie Curie’s Hunters Hill hospice in Glasgow and charity
leaders claim that without an exception the treatment has
benefited patients.”
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“Rethinking Hypnosis.” Newsweek. September 27, 2004
“Despite widely held misconceptions about hypnosis (in
part because of its long history as a type of
entertainment), a growing body of research supports the
ancient practice as an effective tool in the treatment of
a variety of problems, from anxiety to chronic pain.”
“[Hypnosis] has also been successfully as an
alternative to sedation during invasive medical procedures
like angiography.”
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“Hypnosis ‘reduces pain cancer’.” BBC News Online.
September 10, 2004
“Childhood cancer patients suffer less pain
when placed under hypnosis, scientists have claimed.”
“Dr. Christina Liossi, from University of Wales, Swansea,
suggested there was even tentative evidence that hypnosis
prolonged the lives of cancer patients.”
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“Harnessing Mind Power.” Los Angeles Times.
Monday, January 5, 2004.
“At teaching hospitals such as those at Mount Sinai School
of Medicine in New York and Harvard Medical School,
hypnotists work with some surgical patients to help speed
recovery.”
“…certified hypnotherapists now get referrals from
physicians on cases ranging from irritable bowel syndrome
and heart disease to managing the pain of childbirth and
cancer. In some studies, 50% to 70% of people who have
tried it say hypnosis has helped them to feel better or
heal faster. Such reports have encouraged its use for
everything from weight loss to smoking cessation, with
varying results.”
“In a 2002 look at 20 studies on hypnosis and surgical
pain Mount Sinai researchers found that adding hypnosis to
standard post surgical care sped recovery almost 90% of
the time, in terms of pain, anxiety, and the need for
painkillers.”
Laura Bonilla, Spiritual Coach and Hypnotherapist - Phone 909-994-5701 - PO Box 424 San Dimas, CA 91773
