hypnosis & stage hypnosis

[xray45]

hypnosis & stage hypnosis

What is everyones view on hypnosis being used to help or cure with phobias, obsessive compulsive disorders, weight loss ect.? I have heard allot of people that say it works but I am a little skeptical.
I did go to one of those shows were the hypnotist makes you funny things on stage like cluck like a chicken when a bell rings. He picked a friend of mine for 20 some years and he got hypnotised. IHe claims nothing was setup before hand and I really have no reason to doubt him but I have a hard time beliving this works or worked on him.
Any thought would be great

 

[Suezoled]

If people were so simple to "cure" it would have been officially utilized long ago.

 

[epepke]

Re: hypnosis & stage hypnosis

What is everyones view on hypnosis being used to help or cure with phobias, obsessive compulsive disorders, weight loss ect.? I have heard allot of people that say it works but I am a little skeptical.
I did go to one of those shows were the hypnotist makes you funny things on stage like cluck like a chicken when a bell rings. He picked a friend of mine for 20 some years and he got hypnotised. IHe claims nothing was setup before hand and I really have no reason to doubt him but I have a hard time beliving this works or worked on him.
Any thought would be great

I've found self-hypnosis useful in overcoming my own shyness and anxiety. There's nothing magical about it; it just relaxes one and makes it easier to feel emotions other than worry, guilt, and anxiety.

 

[Rolfe]

I agree with Epepke. I went to a hypnotherapist and found it excellent as a way of really forcing me to do the relaxation exercises everyone was telling me to do. I think it can be very good for anxiety.

But some of the rest of what the woman said she could do (like take away smokers' cravings) sounded very suspect. I happened to be speaking to a friend at a party a couple of weeks ago, who is training to be a psychiatric nurse, and she said she was familiar with studies which showed that beyond the relaxation/anti-anxiety effects it was essentially woo-woo.

Rolfe.

 

[Jeff Corey]

....studies which showed that beyond the relaxation/anti-anxiety effects it was essentially woo-woo.

True, you could search Quackwatch or google the whole topic.
There seems to be documentation for its effect in reducing the report of pain, but that could be a combination of relaxation and the placebo effect.

 

[Suezoled]

I still think if hypnotherapy could be used so easily and in such an encompassing manner that it could control fears and bad habits, it would be covered in insurance.

 

[wayrad]

I once met a guy who said he had been hypnotized in the hospital as part of his treatment for severe burn injuries. Apparently it helped some, for whatever reasons.

 

[epepke]

I still think if hypnotherapy could be used so easily and in such an encompassing manner that it could control fears and bad habits, it would be covered in insurance.

Have you noticed how poorly insurance deals with any mental disorders?

Anyway, I don't know whatever hypnotherapy, whatever that is, may be good for, let alone how "encompassing" it might be. I just know that hypnosis is good for relaxation and anxiety reduction. So, for that matter, is beer, but you don't see insurance companies paying for beer, either.

 

[Suezoled]

Have you noticed how poorly insurance deals with any mental disorders?

(snipped)

Blaming the insurance company for dealing poorly with mental disorders is like blaming the waitress for the chef's poor meal preparation. Employers are the ones who decide what benefits an employee will receive. For independent policies, people can choose what plans they want to receive, and even buy riders each renewable contract season. My own company offers and supports: inpatient and outpatient mental health treatments, including and not limited to emergencies, neuropyschological evaluation, medications, electro-shock therapy, rehabilitation for substance abuse, and even has an employee dedicated mental health help line.

Some employers, however, elect not to give their employees any mental health benefits.

I'm trying to say if hypnotherapy were so excellent and proven, don't you think a company like mine would be all over it to control and regulate this treatment? But they don't; much like homeopathy treatments, it's not proven and is, at best, considered experimental, which my company will not cover.

I was more trying to address the aspects that deal with hypnotisms as a cure for smoking, etc.

 

[Ed]

So, is it helpful for smoking. I'm thinking of trying it.

 

[Suezoled]

So, is it helpful for smoking. I'm thinking of trying it.

Well if you do, keep notes. I want to see how this turns out, please?

 

[epepke]

Blaming the insurance company for dealing poorly with mental disorders is like blaming the waitress for the chef's poor meal preparation.

Blame, schmame. I'm pointing out a fact. I don't give a wet slap who's to blame.

I'm trying to say if hypnotherapy were so excellent and proven, don't you think a company like mine would be all over it to control and regulate this treatment?

No, I don't. You're the one apparently claiming that hypnosis either has to be supercalifragelisticexpialidocious or else it's entirely useless.

But they don't; much like homeopathy treatments, it's not proven and is, at best, considered experimental, which my company will not cover.

I'm sure you're very proud of your company and how they're totally rational. Tell me, do they reimburse for chiropractic? With the subluxations of the nerves and the no need for virual innoculations and the coffee enemas for cancer and all that?

I was more trying to address the aspects that deal with hypnotisms as a cure for smoking, etc.

Well, then, stop arguing with people who do not claim that it is a cure for smoking, OK?

 

[Rolfe]

So, is it helpful for smoking. I'm thinking of trying it.

That was the bit my psychiatric nurse friend had been shown to be total BS. She also said that the one thing the studies did show was that the harder you try to give up the more likely you are to succeed, and the rest was mostly decoration.

Rolfe.

 

[Nucular]

When I was an assistant psychologist, I used to do relaxation with a chronic pain group. One of the protocols I had a go at was 'group hypnosis', a relaxation programme which relied on hypnotic principles.

I fought back the urge to replace "now you're feeling totally relaxed" with "when I say 'bananas' you will think you're a chicken", but, had my self-control failed, I very much doubt whether that would have had any effect whatsoever.

The 'contract' between me and the group was that we were doing this to help them relax; in other 'hypnotic' situations, the contract is different.

My opinion (though I'm no expert in hypnosis itself) is that it all relies on, basically, implicit agreement between hypnotist and client as to the aims of a session, and (especially regarding stage hypnosis), conforming, compliance, and the wish to please a perceived authority figure.

So to apply this to smoking cessation... yes, it might help at least in the short term. But it relies on your beliefs regarding hypnosis and the hypnotist, and your willingness to comply.

As with most pseudoscientific practitioners, hypnotherapists tend not to make any kind of follow-up assessment, so I'd be interested to see one with verifiable data as to any long-term effect. You could probably compare it to thought-field therapy or something in terms of short-term efficacy in a selected sample, expectation-reliant mechanism, mumbo-jumboistics, and so forth.

So basically, if you want hypnotherapy to stop smoking, don't read this thread and your expectations won't be damaged... d'oh!

 

[Suezoled]

Blame, schmame. I'm pointing out a fact. I don't give a wet slap who's to blame.



No, I don't. You're the one apparently claiming that hypnosis either has to be supercalifragelisticexpialidocious or else it's entirely useless.



I'm sure you're very proud of your company and how they're totally rational. Tell me, do they reimburse for chiropractic? With the subluxations of the nerves and the no need for virual innoculations and the coffee enemas for cancer and all that?



Well, then, stop arguing with people who do not claim that it is a cure for smoking, OK?

And which companies treat mental health so poorly?
And yes, I am saying hypnosis has to do what is claims it does or else it's just as bad as chiropractic claims.
As for wether or not chiropractic is covered by my company, it is, and it is an aspect I'm not proud of. However, it is a state mandate my company is required to offer potential clients, and so we do.
....people are arguing it's a cure for smoking.

 

[Ed]

So basically, if you want hypnotherapy to stop smoking, don't read this thread and your expectations won't be damaged... d'oh!

Unfortunately, my expectations are worse.

Edit: Though my wife would like to try it too. It might be interesting if I talked it up (said I did some research, etc) and my information suggests that it is effective. Then I might report back our relative success.

 

[Suezoled]

Best luck to you anyway Ed!

(reminder: please do keep us updated....)

...ok, I guess Epepke was right... there really was no arguement that hypnosis stops smoking. Sorry about that.

 

[Mercutio]

I have done group hypnosis demos for my big intro classes. We do a variation of the Harvard group test of hypnotic suggestability; it is basically a progressive relaxation, with some suggestion thrown in as you go along. On a good day, out of nearly 200 students, I'll get only 10-20 % to really go under. (hands raising as if floating, feeling a fly walking across their nose, hearing music, etc.) With the tougher things, fewer students report experiencing them--a handful will, in response to suggestion, feel that they are on a sunny beach--they can smell the sea, hear the waves, feel the sun...and they report really feeling like they are there (one a few years back had her face flushed and warm on the side that the sun was shining...). Very rarely I can get negative hallucinations (e.g., when you open your eyes, you will see everything but me. I will be invisible--you will see the papers in my hand, but not me...), which really freaks out the people who experience it.

Of course, it is impossible for me to know that they were not faking, but if they were, they were damned good...

Still, the vast majority experienced very little in the way of suggested effects, so this may be a case of "if you are one of the lucky few, it could help".

 

[epepke]

And yes, I am saying hypnosis has to do what is claims it does or else it's just as bad as chiropractic claims.

I made an effort to distinguish hypnosis as a thing unto itself from hypnotherapy. It would be like "massage" versus "chiropractic." Hypnosis, like massage, is a thing to do: it may or may not have whatever benefits. Hypnotherapy, on the other hand, may be like chiropractic, with its own theory and claimed benefits. I don't know. I have no experience with it. I have experience with hypnosis, and I can say that it is useful for relaxation in the same way that I can say that dropping a bowling ball on your foot from a great height usually hurts.

[/b]....people are arguing it's a cure for smoking. [/B]

Good that you've backed off on that. But, for what it's worth, my mother went to a hypnotist 30 years ago for smoking cessation. She taught me how to hypnotize myself, which I find useful. However, she still smokes. So, from pure anecdotal evidence, it doesn't seem to be so hot.

 

[alibaba]

If people were so simple to "cure" it would have been officially utilized long ago.

Not if there are many poeple like you in control