Recent research and real-world examples reveal the significant benefits of hypnosis and the power of placebo. A “placebo” has commonly been referred to as a “sugar pill” or “fake treatment” offered to a control group tested against others who receive actual “medication”. The power of the placebo or the curative ability of the mind to heal the body is significant. Often the results are nearly identical to the group receiving the drug and mounting research continually reveals even more extraordinary details that should thrill us all regarding our own ability to heal ourselves.
This article is intended to educate by referencing scientific work by noted authorities, and increase awareness of benefits that are available through professional therapists who serve as guides in helping us gain access to our higher power and human potential.
The placebo effect makes people feel better, just because they expect that they will. It’s the mind’s ability to alter physical symptoms such as pain, anxiety or fatigue. Dr. Bruce Lipton, PhD is a cellular biologist and leading authority in mind-body research. He estimates that over half of all cures, occur through the placebo effect, which looms large in alternative medicine, where many therapies are based on beliefs versus science. It’s a case of “some things have to be believed to be seen”.
A couple extraordinary examples follow, and just consider “what else is available to you” regarding health and well-being as a function of a properly focused mind where the belief system supports that which you would like to become daily reality. We’d call a change “radical” when it’s opposite of what would be expected based on past behavior. A person may desire to make a change in their life, and may have tried repeatedly, only to come up short.
That’s where a competent therapist is invaluable, facilitating behavioral change that the subject can’t achieve on their own. An example is when a “conflicting belief” exists, defined as beliefs that reflect opposing views, one can be conscious, the other subconscious. The adult-self may believe he is worthy, while the child self believes he is unworthy. Undetected and unresolved, it becomes impossible for the person to change. Take that statement, and apply it to something that needs correction in your own life, and “let yourself off the hook” for past sincere attempts that failed … and now realize the possibility that exists.
Dr. Robert Ader, a psychologist at the University of Rochester in New York, who has researched the placebo phenomenon, says “placebos can have real and beneficial effects”, and continues “Much of the results of certain alternative procedures are largely placebo effects, unless you believe there are people who exert magical powers.”
Do Clinical Hypnotherapists have magical powers? Not exactly, but they can offer resolutions to conflicts or a process to empower personal improvement that undeniably is magically powerful and transformational. To see and believe that statement, just “connect the dots” to the data that scientifically has proven that placebos work (what we believe to be is), then think about what you could achieve if you did believe, and realize that the only reason you may have “tried to believe and couldn’t” was because of a block in your subconscious mind from a powerful early event that hasn’t been integrated and know that the therapist is trained to assist you in uncovering the events that continue to un-necessarily limit you even decades later.
Dr. Lipton suggests “that 95% of our daily actions are controlled by our subconscious mind.” It is becoming increasingly more apparent, that a “subconscious tune-up” may be the most beneficial therapy a person could possibly have available to them for improving any area of their life.
“If it were not for the placebo effect, physicians would not be nearly as successful as we are,” said Dr. Thomas Schnitzer, a Northwestern University arthritis specialist. He also lead a study that showed two supplements typically prescribed were no better than sugar pills for arthritic knee pain.
A doctor at The Henry Ford Hospital in Michigan, who had studied hypnosis, used a hypnotist to prepare for his own ACL knee surgery … but also went through the surgery with no general anesthesia. He was “hooked up”, just in case, but required no other sedation. Henry Ford would have been proud. Remember that he said, “Whether you think you can, or think you can’t you’re right”.
Let’s stick with the ACL’s. In perhaps the most extraordinary documented case I’ve heard recently, orthopedic surgeons “tested a surgical placebo” successfully. The patient went into the operating room, and experienced their surgery, but what they viewed on the overhead screen, was another patient’s previous surgery. He got the two holes punched in the skin, but the docs did nothing but “talk through” that other patient’s surgery (the one on the screen) and then sewed up the holes. The results – the knee healed and required no further treatment. And now “Hypno-Band” surgery is available for weight reduction. The subject “thinks” they had their stomach banded.
The “nocebo effect”, is the opposite. It’s the one that “limits” us. It is where the belief that we cannot do something becomes our reality. It doesn’t have to be that way. Many times we’re able to make our own discoveries that provide the gift of linking cause and effect, but everybody has unresolved issues that are silent and packed away deep within our psyche just awaiting the event that will prompt an action that moves us toward greater health be it physical, mental, spiritual or all.
Action: Most therapists do not charge for an initial consultation. Choose wisely as you would do so for any member of your wellness team. Find someone with education, experience, and with whom you “connect”. Ask for referrals and testimonials. Live fully. Thrive.
Be Well. You can because now you know it’s a choice.
Wendy Hill, M.A., is a clinical hypnotherapist who possesses that rare combination of exceptional education and experience, blended with a calming intuitive nature that immediately puts a client at ease. Her skills have been honed over decades with the help of thousands of experiences. Call Wendy at 760-994-9296.
The author, R.D. Cooper, C.Ht has maintained a curiosity regarding deeper sense of self, connectedness to others, nature, and the spiritual dimension for over 25-years. He is a student, teacher, and guide who believes: Logically, if unconscious beliefs largely guide daily behavior, either limiting or empowering … why wouldn’t people want to truly understand how to powerfully step into The Greatest Reality Show on Earth … the one they write the script for everyday … and unlock the full potential of their original blueprint? Hypnotherapy does just that.