Description
Overview
The website eMedicine describes hypnotherapy like this:
~Hypnosis is the intentional induction, deepening, maintenance, and termination of the natural trance state for a specific purpose. For the much maligned stage hypnosis, the purpose is entertainment. For medical hypnotherapy, the purpose is to reduce suffering, to promote healing, or to help the person alter a destructive behavior. The hypnotic phenomenon has been used since antiquity to assist in healing.
All individuals enter spontaneous mild trances daily while absorbed in watching television or a movie, in reading a book or a magazine, or in another activity or meditation. With appropriate training, an individual may intensify this trance state in himself or herself or in another individual and use this heightened focus to induce mind-body interactions that help to alleviate suffering or to promote healing. The trance state may be induced by using guided imagery, relaxation, deep breathing, meditation techniques, self-hypnosis, or hypnosis induction techniques.
Individuals vary in their ability to enter the trance state, but most can obtain some benefit from hypnosis. In dermatology, hypnosis may help decrease pain and pruritus in the skin; intervene in psychosomatic aspects of skin diseases; and lead to the resolution of some skin diseases, including verruca vulgaris. Suggestion without formal trance induction may be effective in some cases. Sulzberger reported on the use of suggestion to treat verrucae.~
If you are interested in finding
Self Hypnosis CDs & mp3s for health and healing, visit
BrainPlayground.com for reviews and info about these unique tools.
Research
The Reuters News Service did a recent story on the results of a study that was published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology which stated in part:
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People with a patchy form of hair loss called alopecia areata might be helped with hypnosis, a preliminary study suggests. “Hypnotherapy may enhance the mental well-being of patients with alopecia areata and it may improve clinical outcome,” Dr. Ria Willemsen, of Free University in Brussels, and colleagues write in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.
Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease characterized by sudden, recurrent hair loss in round spots from the scalp or any part of the body that has hair. Psychological factors, such as stressful events and psychotrauma have also been reported to play a role in the onset of the condition, but few studies have looked at the efficacy of psychological treatments.
Willemsen’s team explored hypnosis as a treatment for 21 individuals with extensive hair loss on 30 percent or more of their scalp that had lasted for at least three months. These patients, all of whom previously failed to respond to treatment with steroids, were followed for anywhere from six months to six years.
In most cases, the study participants received hypnosis along with some other medical treatment. During the hypnotherapy sessions, which took place once every three weeks, study participants were given various suggestions, such as to imagine the healing effects of the sun’s warmth on their scalp.
After treatment with a minimum of just three to four sessions of hypnotherapy, 12 patients experienced hair growth on at least 75 percent of their scalp, and nine of these 12 experienced total hair growth, Willemsen and colleagues report. (Click here to read the rest of this article)
Anita Bonollo, a Psychologist with the Genesis Medical Centre in Australia, has written an article entitled 'Healing Alopecia Through Hypnosis'. You can click here to read her article .
Resources
If you would like to explore hypnosis as an option in dealing with your alopecia, here are several ways to go about finding a Hypnotherapist:
You can also visit Hypnosis Downloads.com to find self-hypnosis downloads and mp3's.
There are also several books and audiobooks that you may find helpful, and here are a few that we have found...
Heal Yourself With Medical Hypnosis: The Most Immediate Way to Use Your Mind-Body Connection, by Andrew Weil M.D & Steven Gurgevich PH.D.
Your Power to Heal! Healing through Hypnosis, by Trevor H. Scott, C.Ht.
Hypnosis Healing and The Christian, by John H. Court
Hypnosis is certainly an interesting field. And many of us who are coping with alopecia areata may want to try experimenting with it, if only to help us deal better with our disorder. Now if our hair can also be induced to grow back....even better.
No matter what your interest, it's always a smart idea to gather as much information as possible, and so to that end, here are several links to general hypnosis info pages:
Review
There are, of course, differing views on exactly how effective hypnotherapy is as a treatment for alopecia areata. If you have experience with this therapy, whether positive or negative, please take a moment to share your review with those who are considering it for themselves or their family member.
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Back to Alternative Therapy Home
Alternative therapies run the gamut from the generally accepted as
beneficial, to the edge of the edge of the fringe. First it must be
noted that one shouldn't undertake any sort of elective therapy without
consulting a medical practitioner. Now having said that (and meant it!)
we can go ahead and talk about what can be a useful and beneficial area
to explore. There was the recent much reported story on how a
preliminary study on the effects of hypnotherapy on alopecia were at
least promising. We like promising.
