Hypnotherapy

Please can I have some thoughts on this.
I have had good success since this spring(when I first learned of TMS) at reducing my pain levels and am much more active and comfortable than before. I am entirely convinced that TMS is what is responsible for my symptoms and I spend a lot of time thinking psychological when I do experience them. I am less bothered, psychologically, by the symptoms I have and can usually attribute them to to stuff in my life.
All of this is good,as is the fact that I have overcome a number of conditioned responses to certain activities or situations which were giving me pain but there are certain conditioned responses that I am really struggling with. I have tried all sorts of tactics to overcome them but without success so far. Vizualization of doing pain provoking activities just brings on an intense feeling of anxiety in me and sets my mind racing with negative, scary thoughts even tho' my conscious mind KNOWS it is TMS, I just can't make myself do these things. Hence my idea of seeing a hypnotherapist who buys into the whole mindbody pain scenario and has experience of helping people with TMS, tho' he doesn't use that term.
I figure that if I could just harness the power of my mind to focus on calming anxieties surrounding such conditioned responses, I might be able to move forward with increasing my activities. I know that Dr Sarno felt hypnosis was treating the symptoms, not the cause but does that hold true for conditioned responses in someone who is seeing progress in most other areas and believes that fear, anxiety and other negative and repressed emotions are responsible for the present situation?
I would love to know people's thoughts on this and any experiences people have had.

 

Hi, Solange.

I believe totally that my back pain was caused by TMS repressed emotions and became pain-free
when I finally accepted that into my unconscious. So I am very glad to know you are having the
same good experience with Dr. Sarno's theory.

But, I do like to add hypnosis as a way to relax and visualize calming scenarios.
I spend about 20 minutes each day, usually mornings, watching and listening to a DVD
called "Hypnosis for Stress Relief," hosted by Susan Hepburn, a psychotherapist in London.
She puts a young man into a mild hypnotic session in which he closes his eyes, breathes deeply,
and she talks to him in a very calm voice about imagining himself on a sunny beach with no
cares or worries. Soft music plays in the background.

There are other hypnosis DVDS but I haven't tried them. I think you would like Susan Hepburn's.
I don't see any reason why you should not incorporate some hypnotism in your healing,
since you attribute your pain to TMS. I don't consider hypnosis a crutch or a placebo,
just another tool in the healing bag. We can't all have a friend to talk to us to calm us,
so to me, Susan is that friend.

I've also watched and listened to her DVD at night before going to bed. It almost puts me to sleep.

Good luck and let us all know how you're doing, with or without hypnosis.

 

I agree with Walt. It doesn't sound like you are after a quick fix rather than embracing the idea of TMS, so why not have a go and see if it helps you understand more deeply your emotions and patterns. I would be interested to know if it helps. I often feel that there are bits and pieces that I just haven't accessed despite journalling, therapy, etc. Or, maybe it just takes time

 

I Think mixing the hypnotherapy with TMS healing therapy
does good things for the mind and healing as a whole.

We cant forget the power of dis accosiation from the mind
and other hypnosis bonuses in the war with the mind and body.

Yes I add hypnosis Daily
and when I don't I know it.

Im talking about a deep meditation visualization
or just most the time meditation.

I think its the emotion you feel attached to the feeling you want
that is the dynamite creating healing
Which is when the emotion of love is attached to a desire-
any desire.

We get serious and learn to paint the sky with hope and belief again.
Then we are being as children and learning joy again which
helps build enthusiasm which literally means God with us

Its that center spirit we touch and it brings us the thoughts we want

Hypnotherapy and John Sarnos Tms healing are a Good combonation
for your style and learning

Thanks have a blessed day.

 

Thank you so much Walt,Tarala and Eric. I have been worrying about starting this course of action in case it messed with the progress I have made with thinking psychological and stopping all other forms of treatment.It has taken me so long to overcome some conditioned responses that I feel I could do with a bit of a boost to confront the other even more ingrained ones as I really think that these are now the major part of my problem.
I am so pleased to have your considered support of this approach. I am going to have my first actual session(have had an introductory session already in which the hypnotherapist asked me to explain my problems , what I wanted to get out of it, explained the mindbody syndrome physical effects and how he felt he could help me) with the hypnotherapist this Friday and will probably have a number more sessions so I will report back on how that all goes for me. I hope it will be positive and if I do no more than have a more successful approach to controlling my anxiety when it strikes then it will still be worth it. I know that even if it works for me I will still need to keep a check on those repressed emotions etc, so I am not seeing this as a final and forever solution(if it works) just something to see me over the hurdles of those troublesome conditioned responses and allow me to move on.

 

Wow, Solange- that was the perfect response.
You sure got a good understanding on what you need to do
and How to do it. That's Words of wisdom
you started and finished the thread with.

Keep your heart and mind in the Direction
your going in.

You acknowledge that in full
You should have a nice recovery by
keeping with your constructed protocol
You got it, keep in touch
And don't forget to keep us up to date

Always ask questions like you did here to make sure
some bi- ways arent a waste of time.
Although we all add many tools from many
sources on our own unique journeys.

Sarnos way has always been the way
I just love other arts to add spice and even more control
as you mentioned to help with the conditioning
That's smart thinking.

Good luck and God Bless....

 

Thanks Eric. I appreciate your comments so much to my post just now and to other posts I have read. I like your style of writing, it's very direct, reassuring and honest and reads like it's coming from a friend.Your advice is always friendly and non judgemental. Thanks again for your input.

 

Hi Solange,

Interestingly enough, I just considered today that I would like to go to a local woman who is a certified hynotherapist. I hear she's excellent and and I can't help but think that the subconscious mind will direct me to the source for healing fully. Let us know how you do, and I will update how I do

 

Solange and Lianne, I'm glad you both will try hypnotherapy.
Not as a replacement for TMS but as a supplement.

I feel I've relaxed and put anxiety on hold when I watch the Susan Hepburn
DVD, Hypnosis for Stress Release. I think it's available to rent at Netflix
and inexpensive to guy if you look for it through amazon.com.
And there are others like it.

Good luck and let us know how it goes with your hypnotherapist.
It isn't scary. You don't "go under." You just get suggestive, calming words
as you listen. At least that's how Hepburn does it.

 

Thanks Solange, your the best
and yes Walt - cool soothing words
is the protocol for hypnotherapy
with visualizations- everything called for in
tms healing as far as visuals and affirmations
I like the Extra power it gives to your self control.

Yea Walt-I think your Hepburn tape
does all that already, as you said.

Thanks Guys I love this thread...

 

Hypnosis for Pain
Management



There is growing recognition of the place of hypnosis and related
techniques in pain management (Loitman 2000). Psychological
approaches to pain control such as hypnosis can be highly effective
analgesics and are underused (Holroyd 1996). A Technology Assessment
Panel convened by the National Institutes of Health reviewed
the literature, took testimony, and concluded that hypnosis is an
effective pain treatment:
The evidence supporting the effectiveness of hypnosis in alleviating
chronic pain associated with cancer seems strong. In
addition, the panel was presented with other data suggesting
the effectiveness of hypnosis in other chronic pain conditions,
which include irritable bowel syndrome, oral mucositis,
temporomandibular disorders, and tension headaches.
(NIH 1996, p. 315)
It has been known since the middle of the 1800s that hypnosis is effective
in controlling even severe surgical pain (Esdaile 1846). Hypnotic
analgesia and similar techniques work through two primary mechanisms:
physical relaxation and a combination of perceptual alteration
and cognitive distraction. Pain is not infrequently accompanied by reactive
muscle tension. Patients frequently splint the part of their body that
hurts. Yet, because muscle tension can, by itself, cause pain in normal
tissue, and because traction on a part of the body in which pain is being
experienced can produce more pain, techniques that induce greater
physical relaxation can reduce pain in the periphery. Therefore, having
patients enter a state of hypnosis so that they can concentrate on an
image that connotes physical relaxation, such as floating or lightness,
often produces physical relaxation and reduces pain.

Trance and Treatment
Clinical Uses of Hypnosis

Second Edition


Herbert Spiegel, M.D.

David Spiegel, M.D.

 

thanks for this more information on hypnosis.
I've used the Susan Hepburn DVD Hypnosis for Stress Relief,
not for pain, but it always calms me.
It's a 20-minute session of her calming talking and soft music
in the background, visualization of a sunny beach,
and all the while the person breathes deeply with their eyes closed.]

It's like a meditation session.

I can see where hypnosis can be a supplemental tool with TMS.

 

Walt,thanks for the suggestion of the Susan Hepburn DVD,I will try and get hold of it. If there are any more suggestions of similar things which people have found useful I'd be glad to hear of them. It seems to me that anything which can be used in addition to the core principles of Dr Sarno's advice without going against the fundamental philosophy of how to overcome TMS, or trying to be a substitute for it, can only be beneficial.

 

Hi, Solange. I looked it up online and the best price for a dvd of Susan Hepburn's Stress Relief for Life
is a seller at Amazon.com, new for $10.76 plus $3.99 shipping from Massachusetts.
Someone else is selling it for $10.69 but they're in Canada and it might take longer to reach you.

Good luck with it. I really like it.

 

Went for my first proper session with hypnotherapist this morning. So far just concentrated on helping me relax through a sort of guided vizualization where I imagined my self to be in a place where I feel particularly relaxed and happy which led on to imagining my discomfort/anxiety/worry take on a sort of physical form and watching it float out of my body. Sounds weird I know! In addition he kept suggesting to me/my mind (whatever you want to call it) that I was ready to change and heal and wanted to do this. It was quite relaxing and is supposed to be setting the stage for addressing particular conditioned responses, I think, by enabling me to think about them next time from the comfort of a 'safe place' so that I do not get so anxious and will be prepared to challenge them without fear .
I would love to say I went out of there turning cartwheels but that was never going to be the case and I'm willing to give this a fair try for at least another 3 or 4 sessions (alongside the TMS thinking psychological) to see if it begins to help. Will update again next week. In the meantime, I am going to try and enjoy my weekend. It's sunny here so I'll be in the park some of the time and go to Chatsworth House, which is near where I live, in Derbyshire to wander round the fabulous gardens there and maybe go into the house too. I'm determined to enjoy myself and stop putting my life on hold waiting for the TMS symptoms to go. I can't believe how many opportunities I've missed because of that but now I've seen the Sarno light I'm not wasting any more.Hope you all have a great weekend too. Look forward to hearing how you are doing Lianne.

 

Solange, sounds like a good way to start the hypnotherapy. The relaxation visualization is similar to what Susan Hepburn does in her DVD.
She even talks about relaxing so much, you're floating.

Best of all, you've decided to take the weekend off and enjoy yourself. Maybe walking in the gardens this weekend will give you the place to
visualize in the future hypno sessions.