Hypnosis: From Trance to Treatment

by Joe Dunne

Hypnosis is a prime example of how time takes time. It took centuries to become what it is today. Think on that for a moment. I knew very little about the subject and shrugged it off as something I wasn’t interested in. Wow, was I wrong.

From Temple Sleep to the Operating Room

Hypnosis is rooted in ancient healing. In Egypt and Greece, the sick slept in temples hoping for healing dreams, and trance-like states were part of spiritual practice in India.

In the 1770s, Viennese physician Franz Anton Mesmer made “animal magnetism” famous. His theory was wrong. In 1784 a French royal commission that included Benjamin Franklin found no magnetic force and credited the effects to imagination. Still, Mesmer drew attention to altered states of mind.

In 1843, Scottish surgeon James Braid popularized the word “hypnotism” and described it as focused attention and suggestion, not a mystical force. Later that century, Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault and Hippolyte Bernheim of France’s Nancy School showed that suggestion could ease real medical and psychological complaints. The British Medical Association endorsed hypnosis for medicine and dentistry in 1955, and the American Medical Association followed in 1958.

Trance, to spectacle, to science. Hypnosis has come of age.

What It Is and What It Isn’t

“Hypnosis is a relaxed state of mind, similar to the feeling of falling asleep, where it’s possible to plant positive suggestions for behavioral change,” shares Barry Wolfson, MS, Director of The Hypnosis Counseling Center.

Forget the swinging pocket watch. In a modern session, a trained professional guides you into relaxed, absorbed attention, then offers suggestions tied to a specific goal, such as easing pain or calming fear.

Hypnosis is not mind control. You stay aware, you can reject any suggestion that doesn’t fit your values, and you usually remember everything. The power is in your own ability to focus, not in the practitioner.

A 2016 Stanford brain-scan study in Cerebral Cortex found measurable changes during hypnosis: calmer activity in a region that scans for what to worry about, stronger links between brain and body, and less self-consciousness.

Where Hypnosis Is Helping

Surgery. In a 2007 trial of 200 women published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, a 15-minute hypnosis session before breast surgery meant less anesthesia; less pain, nausea and fatigue afterward; operations about 11 minutes shorter; and roughly $770 saved per patient.

Pain. A 2019 review of 85 controlled studies with more than 3,600 participants found that hypnosis brought meaningful pain relief to 42 percent of highly suggestible people and 29 percent of those in the middle range, which is most of us.

Irritable bowel syndrome. In a 2018 Dutch trial of 354 patients in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology, 40 percent of those given individual hypnotherapy reported adequate relief, compared with 17 percent of the control group. Group sessions worked nearly as well, at a lower cost.

Quitting smoking. Many turn to hypnosis to break the habit. In a 2014 trial of 164 hospital patients, 37 percent of those who received hypnotherapy were smoke-free six months later, about twice the rate of those using nicotine replacement.

Dentistry. Dentists use hypnosis to calm needle fear and quiet the gag reflex. A 2022 review of 19 trials found it can help ease dental anxiety.

Sports performance. Coaches use hypnosis to build focus, from the free-throw line to the three-point arc. In a 2002 study in The Sport Psychologist, all five college basketball players improved their three-point shooting with hypnosis and reported feeling more confident and relaxed.

“As the Director of the Hypnosis Counseling Center as well as The Foul Shot Doc for 40 years, I have utilized general hypnosis practices in many arenas,” states Barry Wolfson.

Hypnosis isn’t a cure-all. It works best for clear, measurable goals.

Self-Hypnosis

Many clinicians now teach self-hypnosis for use between sessions. Try three steps:

Focus: Close your eyes, follow your breath or count slowly.

Deepen: Picture walking down a staircase, or relax each muscle group in turn.

Suggest: Repeat a phrase such as “I can notice discomfort and still feel calm,” or “Cravings rise, crest and pass like waves.”

What New Jersey Readers Should Know

In New Jersey, state regulations count hypnotherapy as part of the practice of psychology. Using hypnosis to treat a medical or mental health condition calls for an appropriate professional license.

The same rules allow unlicensed “hypnocounseling” for goals not related to a medical or mental health disorder, such as stress management, habit change, motivation and performance. Hypnocounselors may also teach self-hypnosis.

Natural Awakenings is proud to feature both hypnosis coaches and licensed clinical hypnosis providers among our advertisers. You’ll find them in these pages. Whoever you see, ask about training and licensing.

I came to this subject a skeptic. I’m leaving it curious. Time takes time, and hypnosis has earned its place.

Joe Dunne is publisher of Natural Awakenings Central and North Central New Jersey magazines.