Hypnosis

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Hypnosis

• Dr. G. Bakx
• Institut de Nouvelle Hypnose
• Brussels - Belgium

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Traditional hypnosis
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Traditional hypnosis
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Traditional practioners...
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Religious healing
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The beginning of modern hypnosis A. Mesmer
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J.M. Charcot S. Freud M. Erickson
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Modern practitioners
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Modern religious healing...
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Modern religious healing...
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Hypnosis in the operating theatre ...
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Hypnosis in the operating theatre ...
Frenay MC, Faymonville ME, Devlieger S, Albert A,
Vanderkelen A. Psychological approaches during
dressing changes of burned patients a
prospective randomised study comparing hypnosis
against stress reducing strategy.Burns. 2001
Dec27(8)793-9. Faymonville ME, Laureys S,
Degueldre C, DelFiore G, Luxen A, Franck G, Lamy
M, Maquet P. Neural mechanisms of
antinociceptive effects of hypnosis.Anesthesiolog
y. 2000 May92(5)1257-67. Defechereux T,
Meurisse M, Hamoir E, Gollogly L, Joris J,
Faymonville ME. Hypnoanesthesia for endocrine
cervical surgery a statement of practice.J
Altern Complement Med. 1999 Dec5(6)509-20. Meur
isse M, Defechereux T, Hamoir E, Maweja S,
Marchettini P, Gollogly L, Degauque C, Joris J,
Faymonville ME. Hypnosis with conscious sedation
instead of general anaesthesia? Applications in
cervical endocrine surgery.Acta Chir Belg. 1999
Aug99(4)151-8. Faymonville ME, Meurisse M,
Fissette J. Hypnosedation a valuable
alternative to traditional anaesthetic
techniques.Acta Chir Belg. 1999
Aug99(4)141-6. Maquet P, Faymonville ME,
Degueldre C, Delfiore G, Franck G, Luxen A, Lamy
M. Functional neuroanatomy of hypnotic
state.Biol Psychiatry. 1999 Feb 145(3)327-33.
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Even animals can be hypnotised...
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Hypnosis

• Dr. G. Bakx
• Institut de Nouvelle Hypnose
• Brussels - Belgium

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Hypnosis

• Hypnosis is not an alternative form of medicine.
• It is
• observable
• reproducible
• teachable.

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Hypnosis

• is fascinating because we dont know what it is.
• we do know what it can do
• we know how we can induce it

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We have no science of the mind

• If consciousness were so simple that we could
  understand it, then we would be too simple to
  understand it.A. Einstein

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Each person is a unique individual. Hence,
psychotherapy should be formulated to meet the
uniqueness of the individuals needs, rather than
tailoring the person to fit the Procrustean bed
of a hypothetical theory of human
behaviour. Milton H. Erickson, M.D.
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We dont know what hypnosis is!

• But we know all people in all cultures have
  found ways of using it

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Hypnosis

• is a name for a concept covering a number of
  phenomena
• just like Freuds concept of the unconscious
• or Newtons concept of gravity

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What are the facts?

• William James Dr. Carpenter

He has frequently begun a lecture while
suffering neuralgic pain so severe as to make him
apprehend that he would find it impossible to
proceed. Yet no sooner has he by a determined
effort fairly launched himself into the stream of
thought, than he has found himself continuously
borne along without the least distraction until
the end had come, and the attention has been
released then the pain has recurred with a force
that has overmastered all resistance, making him
wonder how he could have ceased to feel it. W.
James (1890), The Principes of Psychology,
Cambridge, MA Harvard University Press, 1981
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When one can take ones mind off pain,it seems
to go away. Conversely, when the mind returns to
pain, so does the body. Where the mind is, the
body is too.
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What are the facts?

• The case of warts

Warts can be made to go away by something that
can only be called thinking or something like
thinking It is one of the great mystifications
of science warts can be ordered of the skin by
hypnotic suggestion. Lewis Thomas, The Medusa
and the Snail, Hew York, Harper and Row, 1957
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What are the facts?

• The case of warts

Fourteen subjects under hypnosis were asked to
rid themselves of warts, but only on one side of
their body. Nine of these subjects were able to
bring about this result, becoming completely free
of warts on that side. A.H.C. Sinclair-Gieben
and D. Chalmers, Evaluation of Treatment of
Warts by Hypnosis, Lancet, Oct. 3, 1959 480-482
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What are the facts?

• Dr. E. Faymonville, Liège
• Hypnosis in the operating theatre less
  conventional sedation, less bleeding, faster
  recovery
• Specific patters of brain activation during
  hypnosis
• Dr. Vincent Martin
• Operation with hypnosis as only anaesthetic

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Frenay MC, Faymonville ME, Devlieger S, Albert A,
Vanderkelen A. Psychological approaches during
dressing changes of burned patients a
prospective randomised study comparing hypnosis
against stress reducing strategy.Burns. 2001
Dec27(8)793-9. Faymonville ME, Laureys S,
Degueldre C, DelFiore G, Luxen A, Franck G, Lamy
M, Maquet P. Neural mechanisms of
antinociceptive effects of hypnosis.Anesthesiolog
y. 2000 May92(5)1257-67. Defechereux T,
Meurisse M, Hamoir E, Gollogly L, Joris J,
Faymonville ME. Hypnoanesthesia for endocrine
cervical surgery a statement of practice.J
Altern Complement Med. 1999 Dec5(6)509-20. Meur
isse M, Defechereux T, Hamoir E, Maweja S,
Marchettini P, Gollogly L, Degauque C, Joris J,
Faymonville ME. Hypnosis with conscious sedation
instead of general anaesthesia? Applications in
cervical endocrine surgery.Acta Chir Belg. 1999
Aug99(4)151-8. Faymonville ME, Meurisse M,
Fissette J. Hypnosedation a valuable
alternative to traditional anaesthetic
techniques.Acta Chir Belg. 1999
Aug99(4)141-6. Maquet P, Faymonville ME,
Degueldre C, Delfiore G, Franck G, Luxen A, Lamy
M. Functional neuroanatomy of hypnotic
state.Biol Psychiatry. 1999 Feb 145(3)327-33.
27
What are the facts?

• Placebo effect
• this will help you!
• mamas little kiss will help you!
• this pill will help you!
• never this is only a placebo!

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How is it done?

• Deceptively easy!
• Use of concentration
• Use of imagination, metaphor, stories
• the brain seems unable to distinguish between
  real experience and hypnotic experience
• Easier with children!

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O, who can hold a fire in his handby thinking on
the frosty Caucasus? Or cloy the hungry edge of
appetiteby bare imagination of a feast? Or
wallow naked in December snowby thinking on
fantastic summers heat? William Shakespeare,
Richard III, act I, scene 3
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Why not simply give a straight command?

• Why not simply say to the body Heal thyself?
• We dont know how to!
• L. Thomas one would have to be an extraordinary
  cell biologist to know what orders to send to
  eliminate warts!
• Compare a CEO does not need to know how to
  execute all his orders, but needs to know how to
  talk to his collaborators!

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What we see in hypnosis is that the body does
what we tell it to do, but only if we know how
to tell it!
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How do we talk to the body?

• by actively engaging the mind using
• visualisations
• metaphor
• stories
• a placebo is a way of fooling the mind this will
  help you!

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Why is this a problem?

• Because of the scientific mindset in our
  culture body-mind separation
• Because of the medical modelfor every disease
  there is an external treatment by a specialist
• often useful
• but also disempowering, leading to hopelessness
  and depression

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A different mindset ...

• Quantum mechanics we have come to accept the
  wave-particle duality as two aspects of the same
  reality
• Neither is true!
• Body and mind could be seen as two aspects of the
  same reality

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If I do science,I must assume determinism. But
if I think of life,I must assume a free
will. William James
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A missed opportunity?

• Alternative medicines have missed the chance of
  introducing a real alternative, i.e. healing from
  inside and learning to use the amazing powers of
  the mind
• Instead they try to compete with science in
  providing healing by an outside specialist

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Thank you for your attention!