Hypnosis is a state of inward attention and focused concentration, often while deeply relaxed, and is sometime referred to as trance.  When the mind is concentrated and focused, people are better prepared to tap into and utilize their inner resources for change.  Hypnosis allows people to use more of their potential, thus increasing their self-control (it is a myth that people lose control during hypnosis).

Everyone has experienced hypnosis or trance.  If you have ever been deeply absorbed in reading a book or watching TV, and failed to hear someone talking beside you - you were in a trance-like state.  Hypnosis is not a form of sleep, though a person in trance often appears to be asleep.  Actually, the opposite is true.  The brain-wave patterns of people in hypnosis show alert wakefulness. Clinical hypnosis is different only to the extent you will be experiencing it with the guidance of a trained psychotherapist, who incorporates suggestions for change.

Testimonial

"Hypnotherapy takes advantage of the mind/body connection by encouraging patients to enter a trance...In this state, verbal suggestions are often able to pass from the mind to the nervous system, influencing the body in ways that seem impossible in ordinary states of awareness.  I frequently refer patients to hypnotherapists because I have seen it produce excellent results in many illnesses that are managed poorly by conventional medicine, among them a wide range of skin and gastrointestinal ailments, allergy and autoimmune disease, and chronic pain.  Some people fear hypnotherapy, seeing it as mind control; but, in fact, hypnotherapists simply arrange circumstances to allow patients to move on their own into natural states of focused concentration, similar to daydreaming or watching a movie.  Patients then learn to recreate the experience on their own.  It is important to shop around for a therapist you trust and feel comfortable with..as well as being someone you can trust, a good hypnotherapist should be inventive and willing to try new strategies to access spontaneous healing."

    Spontaneous Healing - Andrew Weil, MD

Areas of application may include:

• Depression
• Anxiety, including panic and phobias
• Ego-strengthening
• Pain management
• Habit control, including smoking cessation
• Performance enhancement
• Improved concentration and reading comprehension
• IBS symptom relief (7-session protocol developed @ UNC-CH) *
• Stress-related health problems. particularly psychosomatic disorders

*  I am listed on a national registry of licensed health providers, qualified to administer this protocol:        www.ibshypnosis.com