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Look deep into my eyes and relax...
 |
| And the eyes have it: Directors of Surrey Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy, Paul Howard, left, Paul White, right and and hypnotherapist Karen Wilson at the surgery in Wallington. |
By the time that I finally arrive at the Surrey Institute
of Clinical Hypnotherapy (SICH),
I am stressed.
Once again I have managed to get stuck in traffic in Carshalton, and, once again, I arrive at an appointment out of breath, complaining about road works. As I make my apologies, I am introduced to the SICH directors, Paul Howard and Paul White, two very relaxed and welcoming hypnotherapists who help put me more at ease.
After calming down and asking some basic questions about hypnosis and the workings of the mind, I go upstairs into the treatment room, take a seat and start to take some long, deep breaths.
"Close your eyes now and just relax," says Paul White as I continue to breathe deeply. "Becoming aware of any tension there might be in your body"
I do not feel frightened, but fairly soon on into the session I do start to wonder whether I am doing the right thing.
I am sitting, reclined, on a black leather chair in a room listening to a man I have never met before.
He is asking me to tense and then relax my toes, my legs, my stomach, my eyes, even - dare I say it my bottom.
But this in itself is not what is bothering me. It is the fact that I am allowing myself to be hypnotised and that, despite becoming an accepted form of therapy, hypnosis is still something most of us if we are honest are frightened by.
There must be an element of surrender in all this, I tell myself, and so I decide to loosen up and go with the flow.
References to hypnotic
techniques date back thousands of years. Around
1500 BC, the Hindu Vedas described methods for inducing trance-like states in religious practice.
There are paintings and scrolls from ancient Egyptian times that appear to depict hypnotic rituals. The ancient Greeks hypnos is the Greek word for sleep - are also thought to have made use of hypnosis to cure anxiety.
It was not until the late 18th century, however, that hypnosis as we know it today began to develop.
The founding father of modern hypnosis was Viennese physician, Anton Mesmer (1734-1815). Mesmer, from whom the word mesmerise derives, treated large numbers of people by putting them into trances, using the power of what he called animal magnetism to cure disease.
As much an entertainer as a physician, it did not take long before the medical establishment of the day sought to discredit him. The medical journal, The Lancet, referred to his antics as "mesmeric quackery" and success soon turned to humiliation.
Whether he intended to or not, Mesmer was responsible for helping to create the stereotypical image of the hypnotist glaring eyes, swinging pocket watches and long velvet capes that continues to pervade our consciousness to this day. This image been strengthened by the phenomenon of stage hypnotism where hypnotists elicit bizarre behaviour for entertainment. It is stage hypnosis, Paul White believes, that is responsible for people being afraid to seek out a hypnotherapist for help dealing with physical or emotional problems.
"I think it is because of what they have seen on stage, it is 100 per cent because of that. The number of people we get coming here who ask us, you are not going to make me cluck like a duck or a chicken are you?', it is because they have seen it on the stage, that is their only point of reference."
Although there is no universally agreed explanation as to exactly how it works, there is no doubt that for many people hypnosis is an effective way of treating a variety of conditions including anxiety and panic attacks, weight problems, smoking and phobias. It can also be used to help relieve with physical ailments such as asthma, irritable bowel syndrome and psoriasis it has even been used to alleviate the pain caused by dental operations.
During my visit I meet one of the clinic's patients, Andrew Borman, a 48-year-old man who has been smoking since he was 13. Mr Borman is suffering from emphysema. Hypnosis, he explains, is his last resort to get him to quit.
"I have been told that if I carry on smoking, that will be it. I came for my first session a week ago and I have not had a cigarette since then I was smoking 40 to 60 a day, so to just go a week is quite an achievement. I was a bit worried about being put under, but you do not really feel any different."
So just what is going on when we go under? It all has to do with the relationship between our conscious and sub-conscious mind and the beliefs we have about ourselves and the world around us.
As we become relaxed, the subconscious mind becomes more focused. If we close our eyes, visual stimulation is reduced, the main sensory perception is hearing and our critical capacity is reduced. The subconscious then has extra room to absorb information and by making suggestions, a hypnotherapist can help a patient change some of their fictitious beliefs and the processes by which they have learnt something harmful.
"It is not rocket science, it is really simple," says Paul Howard. "Your subconscious mind is full of beliefs. I might have a belief I cannot run a marathon, for example. Or say I have got anxiety and I know when I go into a social environment I am going to get very anxious that is a belief, but it is fictitious, it is because I have taught myself that.
"What we do in hypnotherapy is put suggestions into counter that belief and try and get them to re-evaluate it. If they can do that - problem solved. We are not programming them, we're just getting them to re-evaluate those beliefs or behaviours that are irrational."
Back in the chair, meanwhile, I have sunk into a deep state of relaxation and it feels good. I certainly am not asleep, I can hear everything Paul is saying and the sound of the room's ticking clock has also become very prominent in my mind. I am told I will become more confident and more able to do what I want to do when I leave here and then, almost as soon as it all began, I am preparing to come out of the trance.
"One, slowly, gently, easily, carefully returning to your full awareness once again, twothreefourfive, open your eyes take a deep breath and stretch."
I sit up and return to my senses and within a few moments I am firmly back in the world. It seems like an hour has passed, though it is actually more like 25 minutes. I thank Paul for his time and the free session of self-confidence therapy, and drive back to the office feeling relaxed and cheerful. Not even a van driver refusing to give way is able to dampen my newfound sense of well being.
SICH has offices in Wallington, Epsom and Croydon. Accredited by the National Council of Hypnotherapy, it also offers training in clinical hypnosis. Call 0800 849 7001 or go to www.sich.co.uk.
9:50am Thursday 3rd February 2005
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