Hypnotherapy, Neuro Linguistic Programing (NLP) and guided visualization.
Recent breakthroughs in Psychoneuroimmunology studies now give increasing evidence of the connection between mind-body communication and the rationale as to how hypnosis plays a factor in this.
A simple description offered by Dr. Karen Olness M.D., of Case Western Reserve University, is, "A form of self-induced, focused attention that can make it easier for you to relax or control your body's functions."
Modern Hypnotherapists assist the client to create a mental link between their required goal and natural physical abilities to heal. To achieve this the client is guided by the therapist to a relaxed state, which allows for a communication to the unconscious mind. It is at the unconscious level that many conditions and thoughts exist, which are out of reach to the conscious mind or that the conscious mind is ill equipped to deal with.
Guided Imagery or visualisation, is a process that involves the use of symbols to imagine the changes the individual desires takes place. Clients are encouraged to relax and imagine a journey described by the practitioner. This may include having the client imagine that their problem is like many other things that they know to be true but curable. An example of this would be relating the body's abilities to send the appropriate healing to a cut on the hand. No thought is required for this to happen, it happens naturally and therefore those learning's from that natural state can be transferred to the presenting problem.
Visualisation has been used for many centuries, but it gained a lot of attention in the early 1970s when cancer patients were encouraged to use it to fight cancer cells in their bodies. A direct approach could be to have the patient imagine the cells of their immune system attacking the active problem or cancer cells and watching the cancer cells being subdued. Scientific research has looked into guided imagery.
Dr. Richard Smith, a psychiatrist at the University of Arkansas, conducted one such study, for Medical Sciences. In this study a woman who had had the virus chickenpox and had a natural defence mechanism to it, was injected under the arm with the virus. The resulting swelling at the site of injection and its later disappearance was the expected result of someone whose immune system was working well against the virus. This was confirmed by blood work showing an increase in her white blood cells responding to the virus. Over each of the next three weeks she was injected again and each time she was instructed to use imagery to reduce the size of the swelling. The result was a smaller swelling with each subsequent injection and a corresponding reduction in the white blood cell count required to deal with the virus. In the final analysis, the woman was instructed to return her immune system to normal. Further injections resulted in the original response. This experiment showed that guided imagery could have an affect on the immune system.
Researchers believe that visualisation may reduce stress, thereby boosting the immune system and helping the body fight disease, and may give people a more positive outlook.
What Psychoneuroimmunology provides us is a blue print of cellular and molecular communication between mind, body and gene which takes hypnotherapy out of the realm of magic and into a psychobiological reason for success.
It has been said, "The human body can be conceived as a five million year old healer, with a pharmacopoeia of neuropeptides, neuroendocrine secretions and immunological restoratives that maintain and enhance health."
If that is so, then Psychoneuroimmunology is a science that truly has laid the groundwork for many complimentary health care approaches, especially hypnosis, visualisation and Neuro Linguistic Programming, to have a validated scientific support.
The benefits are many as it supports the premise of a health care without always turning to drugs. All of the modalities which utilise the science of Psychoneuroimmunology are non-invasive and return an element of control to the patient for their own health and welfare, in a world where the individual often feels a loss of that very control over their own lives.