My goodness! What can hypnosis not help with? Hypnosis can address any situation that has an associated emotion, feeling, or thought. Many physical diseases, if not all, have at least one emotion attached, and possibly many feelings are intertwined with the physical presentation. Broad examples include stress and headaches, diabetes and depression, pain with depression and anxiety, irritable bowel syndrome with anxiety or fear, and any chronic condition with depression. How many emotions are included with addictions: desire, loneliness, hopelessness, guilt, depression, anxiety, and fear, all muddled together with foreign chemicals? As therapists, we need all the tools we can gather. Hypnosis can help untangle the thoughts and feelings surrounding the mess. It is a tool for accessing the subconscious mind, the hidden cause. Hypnosis can be defined as a state of focused awareness. In this place of concentrated awareness, discoveries of new connections are made with calm understanding and healing.
Holistic health care is about considering all parts of the individual. As a healthcare provider struggling with time constraints, taking a broader view of the problems can be difficult, as it can get messy. Often, the patient may not be interested in solving a perceived problem; they may want medication to fix it. Many times a day, I catch myself saying, I do not think a pill is the answer. In the Hypnosis for Nurses Course I recently took with Christina Cowgill CRNA BCH, a course recommended by the Holistic Nursing Association, we often said, “The thing is seldom the thing.” This means we think smoking, or some other habit or phobia, is the thing when the thing started in childhood or due to a trauma or situation that created an emotion that was not dealt with and is now surfacing disguised as something else. Our subconscious mind is very skillful at getting our attention. We can create a safe place to investigate those hidden injuries using hypnosis. What we consider a small thing may create significant problems if ignored.
Using hypnosis to look under the proverbial rug can be a very effective therapy. Patients feel liberated after unearthing an experience unknowingly connected to the present problem. While in a state of hypnosis, the patient or client may be asked to create a safe, beautiful place in their mind where they can use their imagination to see, hear, feel, smell, and even taste their imagined happy place. From here, they may be asked to travel in time to a classroom or a movie theater in their mind, where a more specific scenario of either the past or future self is seen, and the hypnotist offers gentle guidance while watching for any outward signs of distress. If the work becomes too difficult, the client can be redirected back to their calm, less intense view of the situation, being reassured that they are safe.
This inner movie of new connections and refreshed perspective creates growth, healing, and forgiveness for self and others. Whether facing a phobia, untangling addiction, erasing a craving, or evolving into their desired future self, the client is reassured that they may retreat to their happy, safe place anytime. This work is intense, effective, and life-changing. Once those bothersome stones are swept out from under the rug, examined with a realistic perspective, and discarded or repurposed, a stronger, more confident person emerges. This stronger person is more resilient and better equipped to make healthy life choices!
People with mental health concerns smoke more than the general public. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] 2013, approximately one in four adults in the United States have a diagnosis of one or more mental health disorders. That is 25% of the adult population and that 25% smoke 40% of all cigarettes consumed in the United States. I suspect the other 60% of cigarettes smoked are by people who have not yet been diagnosed. I know I was depressed during the times in my life that I smoked. Do mentally healthy people willingly consume toxins known to decrease their lifespan? Or, do they just not care? Apathy is a symptom of depression. Such a complicated patient population requires a multifaceted approach to care. The multi-approach and interactive dance is the beauty of holistic, integrative care.
The most crucial element for any therapy’s success is the trust afforded in the therapeutic relationship. The public wants hypnosis to work. They want magic. Buy-in is half the battle. Mental health is messy. Using hypnosis to help dig into hidden memories and feelings is an effective way to find the thing we did not realize was the cause. Teaching self-hypnosis, which all hypnosis is, provides self-confidence and resilience for greater independence. Hypnosis is a great tool; many more could benefit if it were more broadly offered.
Due to time constraints, my daily practice does not offer hypnosis. I will provide group hypnosis for smoking cessation through my company, Hypnotic Harmony, starting in 2025. I may be contacted at optimisticseeds@gmail.com.
Debora Katz, MSN, PMH FNP-BC, CYT-200, CHT, enjoys lifetime learning, connecting the dots of mental health, physical health, and the environment, and investigating new ideas.
