[thunderbear]

As alot of you all know I am a paranormal investigator. Being one means you get to meet alot of interesting and differant people. We recently had a gathering of psychics and fellow investigators. There were spiritual healers there as well. One in particular caught my eye. She has her BA in psychology and has been in practice for over 30 years. She strongly belives in hypno-therapy over medications for things like depression, anxiety, stress and smoking cessation. There is no way i can explain it as well as she can. But the way she talks and belives, mentally ill people are actually very gifted people. And the person who has mental illness dose'nt know how to use their gifts so they develop schitzophrenia or bi polar. And to reach the mind requires hypnosis. She can allivieate anxiety depression and stress through hypnosis. It makes sense to help depression and anxiety by hypnotizing someone. But what do you all think? I don't know about her take on schitzophrenia and bi polar disorder, but the whole thing with the anxiety and depression makes sense to me. What's y'alls take on it?

[Junerain]

You can tell the gifts we have/intelligence we have/empathy we have just by reading the posts in this forum, to quote Girl, Interrupted..it is a gift...it lets us see the truth...

[Naturefreak]

I don't think I'd want to be hypnotized .
I have hardly any control now , I'd hate to have none.
Sorry T-bear , none for me thanks .
Just kidding. If there was proof that it worked I might consider it.
Might Interesting thread though .

[thunderbear]

Originally Posted by Babysteps09

I don't think I'd want to be hypnotized .
I have hardly any control now , I'd hate to have none.
Sorry T-bear , none for me thanks .
Just kidding. If there was proof that it worked I might consider it.
Might Interesting thread though .

Yeah that's the way I feel. I don't like the idea of someone else in control of me while I'm out of it. But if it did work then I would try it. The lady put one of our team members under and right before she started the lady took a pendulam and put it in front of my team members face and body and it swug in a circle. the hypnotist said that means inner turmoil and stress. Well she hypnotized her and 5 minutes later the team member was out of it and in tears. The hypnotist swung the pedulam in front of her again and it swung horizonally. She explained that it meant balance in her mind and spirit. All I know is the team member was in happy tears. And all she could talk about was how much relife she felt and how it felt like a load had been taken off of her shoulders. So that's got me wondering

[*freak*]

Well, being hypnotized is not like you see it in the cartoons or in the movies... It's not like you completely lose control of yourself and can't tell what's going on. It's more like a state of very deep relaxation. You're totally "awake" and you perfectly know where you are and what's happening around you.
At least this is what I experienced. I don't know if there are different techniques and if they cause different effects, but I believe you always remain in control of everything while you're hypnotized. This is how my psychologist explained it to me when we tried it.

[Naturefreak]

Originally Posted by thunderbear

The hypnotist swung the pedulam in front of her again and it swung horizonally. She explained that it meant balance in her mind and spirit. All I know is the team member was in happy tears. And all she could talk about was how much relife she felt and how it felt like a load had been taken off of her shoulders. So that's got me wondering

I can see why it's got you wondering?

[thunderbear]

Originally Posted by *freak*

Well, being hypnotized is not like you see it in the cartoons or in the movies... It's not like you completely lose control of yourself and can't tell what's going on. It's more like a state of very deep relaxation. You're totally "awake" and you perfectly know where you are and what's happening around you.
At least this is what I experienced. I don't know if there are different techniques and if they cause different effects, but I believe you always remain in control of everything while you're hypnotized. This is how my psychologist explained it to me when we tried it.

Did it help you any?

[*freak*]

No, it didn't. But we only did it for a few times, maybe if we insisted we would have gotten somewhere.
I must say, though, that it wasn't at all like what you described in your previous post. No pendulums or anything, my T just talked to me and sort of guided me through a mental journey...

[GrayNess]

All disorders, including psychological disorders from depression, anxiety, schizophrenia and whatever else have a biological component to them. Hypnosis is basically a way to get the person to relax enough but still stay awake. Perhaps the person may feel better after a session of hypnosis but I don't see it as fixing the biological components which affect the behavior of the person. It may be like going through some watery mist on a very hot day, it feels good for a bit but afterward you're sweating away again and baking in the heat.

The thing with hypnosis is that the client must be willing to go with it. When you first put someone under hypnosis (tried a bit on my friends just to experiment), the person is alert and awake. You have to get them to be more and more and more relaxed. However, you're very unlikely to get a person to think they're a chicken or do something that is completely against their morals. That being said, you're also not very likely to change the biological component of disorders through hypnosis.

You can do hypnosis just by talking or you can do it using candles. Either way, you need a good amount of time and need a willing person.

[roadracer]

Originally Posted by *freak*

Well, being hypnotized is not like you see it in the cartoons or in the movies... It's not like you completely lose control of yourself and can't tell what's going on. It's more like a state of very deep relaxation. You're totally "awake" and you perfectly know where you are and what's happening around you.
At least this is what I experienced. I don't know if there are different techniques and if they cause different effects, but I believe you always remain in control of everything while you're hypnotized. This is how my psychologist explained it to me when we tried it.

Hypnosis is like described above, your in control, and all it pretty much does is gives you sugestions to follow, and puts you in a great mood so you want to accept the sugestions and really put forth the effort to achive what it is that you want to.
I use hypnosis often, I have some self hypnosis mp3's that I listen to and they really help, but it is all within reason.
The hypnosis that I use, I have a few different ones for sleeping, some for relaxing, and one for exercise motivation. I think they really work for me, the sleeping and relaxing one pretty much just get you in a nice relaxed state by doing stuff like picturing your on a beach, or relaxing certain body parts at a time. The one for exercise motivation just just has you picturing the results of your training and winning and stuff so your all pumped up to get out and exercise.
There is nothing odd about it, it is not like what you see on tv and it works and is not to complicated, just dont expect it to do miracles

[deliquesce]

Originally Posted by GrayNess

All disorders, including psychological disorders from depression, anxiety, schizophrenia and whatever else have a biological component to them. Hypnosis is basically a way to get the person to relax enough but still stay awake. Perhaps the person may feel better after a session of hypnosis but I don't see it as fixing the biological components which affect the behavior of the person. It may be like going through some watery mist on a very hot day, it feels good for a bit but afterward you're sweating away again and baking in the heat.

The thing with hypnosis is that the client must be willing to go with it. When you first put someone under hypnosis (tried a bit on my friends just to experiment), the person is alert and awake. You have to get them to be more and more and more relaxed. However, you're very unlikely to get a person to think they're a chicken or do something that is completely against their morals. That being said, you're also not very likely to change the biological component of disorders through hypnosis.

You can do hypnosis just by talking or you can do it using candles. Either way, you need a good amount of time and need a willing person.

i actualy disagree on both counts .

it is more difficult, yes, to hypnotise someone who is not willing to 'go under', but that is not to say it is impossible. master hypnotherapists can do it with the most unwilling subjects, and get them to do things like act like a chicken, or things they would otherwise find repulsive (lick the floor). it takes a certain amount of skill & mastery, however. so it's not the case that you need a good amount of time (unless an hour or two is excessive?) nor that you need a willing person.

the other part - about "all" psychological disorders having a biological component... that may very well be true, but it's not the case that you thereby need to change the biological component (in all cases) to cure the disorder. the success of approaches like CBT to treat anxiety & depressive disorders attests to this. at most, all that researchers have been able to show is that certain people have biological vulnerabilities to specific disorders - but this is in no way predictive of actually developing a specific disorder, or even developing any psychological disorder at all! so if people with biological vulnerabilities do not develop psychological disorders, then it isn't necessary to "fix" this component in order to cure the disorder.

for what it's worth, however - in relation to OP - i personally wouldn't want to try hypnotherapy. i know it has been very successful for some ppl (particularly those wanting to break addictions) but i don't think it's been studied enough as an exact science, or that the people who practice it (in australia, anyway) have enough training to know how to use it effectively & appropriately.

[GrayNess]

Originally Posted by deliquesce

it is more difficult, yes, to hypnotise someone who is not willing to 'go under', but that is not to say it is impossible. master hypnotherapists can do it with the most unwilling subjects, and get them to do things like act like a chicken, or things they would otherwise find repulsive (lick the floor). it takes a certain amount of skill & mastery, however. so it's not the case that you need a good amount of time (unless an hour or two is excessive?) nor that you need a willing person.

Since hypnosis is basically a deep state of relaxation, I don't exactly see how one can do it on someone who isn't willing to allow for the relaxation. I'm sure that if it is possible, then it would involve other techniques to get the person to be more willing.

Originally Posted by deliquesce

the other part - about "all" psychological disorders having a biological component... that may very well be true, but it's not the case that you thereby need to change the biological component (in all cases) to cure the disorder.

Looking back on the post I made, I probably should have worded it so as to say that you can change the biological component but you don't necessarily need to change it in order to cure the person.

Originally Posted by deliquesce

the success of approaches like CBT to treat anxiety & depressive disorders attests to this. at most, all that researchers have been able to show is that certain people have biological vulnerabilities to specific disorders - but this is in no way predictive of actually developing a specific disorder, or even developing any psychological disorder at all! so if people with biological vulnerabilities do not develop psychological disorders, then it isn't necessary to "fix" this component in order to cure the disorder.

That isn't what I intended to say nor is it what I did say. I never mentioned the predisposition or vulnerabilities that someone may possess. I said the biological component when the person has the disorder. To make this clearer, take schizophrenia for example. Someone can have a predisposition to it but not yet have it. This is NOT what I was referring to. What I was referring to was when someone DOES have a disorder and there is a biological component to that disorder. I'm not sure what gave you the impression that I was referring to biological vulnerabilities or predispositions.

[marjan]

I would like to try it...but wondering if anybody can hypnotize me?!!!
I can fall asleep easily....I'm always awake...

[depressedalaskan]

Sign me up, I'll try anything.

[deliquesce]

Originally Posted by GrayNess

Looking back on the post I made, I probably should have worded it so as to say that you can change the biological component but you don't necessarily need to change it in order to cure the person.

that is simply the point i was trying to make, and it looks like we agree now that you have made your initial stance clearer.

re: biological components/vulnerabilities - i don't want to derail this thread by getting into differences of meaning, or how much emphasis should be put on it in treatment. but if you don't think it's necessary to change "it" in order to change the person, then it isn't really relevant as an a prior argument against whether hypnosis works as a cure.