Saturday, May 23, 2009

Learned Optimism

There is a book by Martin Seligman, called Learned Optimism. In this book, Optimism is measured on 4 scales: Permanence, Pervasiveness, Personalization, Hope.

Pessimists believe that bad events are their fault, will last a long time and ruin everything. They feel helpless and think all the events in their lives are beyond their control.

Optimists believe that defeat is a temporary setback or challenge.

People who believe good events have permanent causes are more optimistic than those who believe they have temporary causes. If you think about bad things with generalizations that start with always or never, like I never pass math tests or I always miss the basket, you have a permanent pessimistic style.

This can be changed! There are some worksheets in the book to help you look at things differently and learn a new habit of thinking like an optimist. Self-hypnosis is also a great way to learn a new habit, or replace the habit of thinking pessimistically with thinking optimistically!

I took the test and came out as an optimist regarding good events and normal or average regarding bad events.

There is also information on the longevity of optimists. I will discuss this in the Hypnotic Fountain of Youth on August 9 in Marlboro, Massachusetts.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Chapter Meeting

Happy Victoria Day (in Canada)!

The next Tampa Bay NGH Chapter meeting will take place NEXT Tuesday, May 26, 2009 at 7:30 pm at Books-A-Million, Route 19, Palm Harbor. Yes, the day after Memorial Day.

We will discuss Migraine Relief with Hypnosis (demo by Mark Beck)

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Medical Hypnotic Suggestions

I spoke to young woman yesterday. She was just 21 years old and had just lost her job. She called me about techniques to reduce stress. I recommended that she use hypnosis and learn self-hypnosis. It turns out a few months ago she went through some medical tests to find out what was the cause of her physical pain and discomfort. She was referred to a rheumatologist, presumable because it might be rheumatoid arthritis.



Well, here are the diagnoses: degenerative disc desease, Renault's syndrome and hypermobility syndrome. She was prescribed pain medication as there is no treatment for these chronic conditions, all you can do, explained her doctor is to treat the pain.



When she had a bad reaction to the third medication, the doctor explained that there was nothing else she could do for her, because the only course of action she knew was to use pain medication. She also mentioned that her condition would probably lead to fibro myalgia.



I find this reprehensible. As a hypnotist I know how much weight these words carry, especially when it comes from a "doctor." But the Hypocratic Oath says , "First do no harm."



We know that words can hurt. Ask anyone who has ever been bullied.



Also I just heard about a study where healthy people who had been misdiagnosed with cancer, developed cancer!!!!!!



I asked my client if she believed what the doctor told her. Fortunately, she was still in denial of an expectation of lifetime chronic pain which only increases and there is no hope of surcease. I recommended that she do some research on alternate methods of treatment like acupuncture, and herbs and of course, hypnosis for pain management. I also told her I had once been to a neurologist who taught bio-feedback to his headache and migraine patients. In the past, migraine was considered resistant to most pain medications, so he prescribed bio-feedback to them with spectacular results and no unpleasant side efects. Of course, I consider bio-feedback to be a form of self-hypnosis.

I would just like to take this opportunity to caution medical professionals to be careful with their words. Patients are very vulnerable.

Another study states that patients who were not told to expect hair loss and vomiting with chemotherapy did NOT experience these side effects.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

I'll put you under...

Someone recently contacted me and asked about which type of hypnosis would be necessary to relieve panic attacks. And which type of hypnosis would put you under the deepest. This was my response:

Hypnosis is very effective for panic attacks, but I would need to know more about your situation and about which methods have worked in the past to alleviate them. Have you ever taken medication? Have you been diagnosed with Panic Disorder?

It is very difficult to find appropriate words to describe the hypnotic trance. Many people feel relaxed, heavy and maybe like they are sinking, so we describe it as being "under." But this may be misleading. We also say someone is "under" anesthesia and this is very different from hypnosis, even though hypnosis can be used for anesthesia! The client is always in control and to many clients the trance does not feel much different than daydreaming. And yet it is still very powerful, as changes can occur very quickly that people have not been able to implement using other methods.

But I wouldn't say there is a type of hypnosis which "puts" the client "under." Actually, the level of hypnotic trance is determined by the individual. It seems that some people go "deeper" than others, again the word "deeper" can be misleading, if you are a deep subject, you can use hypnosis as anesthesia and you can experience hallucinations after hypnosis. Some people are light subjects and though it is unlikely they would hallucinate, and unadviseable to do major surgery without chemical anesthesia for them, they can make significant changes in behavior very easily, like quitting smoking.

Hypnosis is a state of focused attention. If you can become so absorbed in a book or movie, or even a daydream that you don't hear someone walk into the room and speak to you, you have experienced a trance. The kind of hypnosis I do involves facilitating the client to experience physical relaxation, and then talking to them, giving them suggestions that we have discussed before the relaxation, and some possibly some metaphors and stories. This might sound very similar to a guided imagery.

I'm curious if you have experienced individual hypnosis before? or was it a group session? I would really like to work with you if you feel it would be beneficial.

Friday, May 1, 2009

Affirming your Truth

Even Suze Ormond advocates the use of affirmations for her clients who desire financial freedom, but Suze calls them "Truths." She states that when she first started as a stock broker and drove a delapidated 25-year-old car which she parked around the corner so no one would see it, she affirmed her "truth" every day as often as possible, that she earned $10,000 per month in commissions. She says she knew it was far from the truth when she started affirming it, but soon became true for her.

See my other blog, http://musinglog.blogspot.com. for the article about her audio program called Financial Freedom.