Hypnosis is becoming more and more
widely recognised, and there are literally 1000s of hypnosis research studies,
showing the links between hypnosis and improving memory, motivation, aiding
weight loss, and significantly helping people to stop smoking.
Here we have selected just a few of
these studies, first up is a study from 1970 which really brought hypnosis into
the mainstream, and not only gave hypnosis real credibility, but accredited it
with status as a more effective form of therapy than any other currently
practiced:
Hypnosis
has a better success rate than any other type of therapy
In 1970 a groundbreaking
meta-analysis of hypnosis research studies was conducted by Alfred A. Barrios,
which led to the mainstream acceptance of hypnosis as an extremely effective
form of therapy.
Barrios compared 1,018 studies and
articles on hypnosis, 899 articles on psychoanalytic therapy and 355 on
behavioral therapy. In particular he noted the overall lasting success rates of
the different therapies.
He found that hypnotherapy had a
massive 93% success rate after only 6 sessions compared to only a 72% success
rate with behavioral therapy (after 22 sessions on average), and only 38%
success rate with psychotherapy (after an average of 600 sessions).
This led him to conclude that for
changing habits, thought patterns, and actual behavior hypnosis was not only
the most effective method, but that it needed less time / sessions than any
other type of therapy.
Hypnosis
and Weight Loss
Hypnosis for weight loss is gaining
more and more popularity too - British pop star Lily Allen recently said in a
newspaper interview that hypnosis helped her to drop 4 dress sizes!
After the hypnotism, I want to go to
the gym every day, otherwise I feel really bad. I just want to get more toned
and healthy. I'm really good about everything at the moment — I've never been
happier.
Lily Alan in an interview to the
Daily Mail
Here are some news stories and
scientific studies which show the potential of hypnosis to positively help
people to lose weight, not only that but to keep it off - to have a long
lasting, and life changing effect.
Hypnosis isn’t a mysterious, or
little understood phenomenon anymore, it is a scientifically proven tool which
can significantly influence weight loss:
Woman
loses 55 pounds after being hypnotized to believe she had weight loss surgery
Marion Cornes, lost 55 pounds
(24.9kg) after she was hypnotized to believe that she had weight-loss surgery!
After 5 sessions of hypnosis she
believed surgeons had placed a gastric band on her stomach shrinking it to the
size of a golf ball. She was hypnotized and talked through every step of the
surgery as if she was in an operating room.
She said she started losing up to 3
pounds a week immediately after the hypnosis and she now feels full if she
tries to eat anything other than a small portion of food.
"I've tried every other diet
and exercise plan the world has to offer," she said. "I've tried
tablets, Weight Watchers, Atkins, Slimfast, milkshakes and even a personal
trainer, but none of them helped me."
Hypnosis
enhances weight loss substantially over time
Kirsch and Irving compared 100s of
studies where either cognitive-behavioral treatment, or cognitive-behavioral
treatment with hypnosis too was used (with weight loss being the goal) in a
meta analysis.
Their analysis showed that on
average after the final follow-ups, the average weight loss was 6.03 lbs. (2.74
kg) without hypnosis (with just cognitive-behavioral treatment) and 14.88 lbs.
(6.75 kg) when hypnosis was used.
They concluded that when hypnosis is
used it is likely to lead to more than double the weight loss than if just
cognitive-behavioral treatment alone was employed. They also summarized that
the benefits of hypnosis increased substantially over time.
Hypnosis
is more than 30x more effective for weight loss
Cochrane et al conducted a study
into hypnosis and weight loss with 60 female participants who were more than
20% overweight. He divided the participants into 2 groups, one who received
hypnosis treatment, and a control group who did not receive any hypnosis.
Results showed that the group who
received the hypnosis lost more weight. Each participant on average losing
17lbs over the course of the study, compared to women in the control group
losing only 0.5lbs
Cochrane concluded that hypnosis can
make your weight loss efforts more than 30x more effective.
Hypnosis
and Stopping Smoking
Hypnosis is probably most famous for
helping people to stop smoking, recently Matt Damon even testified to the
benefits of quitting smoking - he told Jay Leno that he visited a hypnotist and
it worked:
I went to a hypnotist... It worked.
I swear to god it worked. It was the greatest decision I ever made in my life!
Matt Damon on the Tonight Show with
Jay Leno
The research into this area of
hypnotherapy is very solid, again it not only shows a massively increased
success rate when using hypnosis to help you to stop smoking, but it points
to hypnosis as the most effective form of smoking cessation therapy (with a
higher success rate than nicotine patches / gum etc):
Hypnosis
is the most effective way of giving up smoking
In 1992 the University of Iowa
conducted a meta-analysis of studies using different methods to try and help
people to quit smoking. This was the largest ever scientific comparison -
looking at more than 600 studies which contained 72,000 people in total, from
America and Europe.
They found that on average, hypnosis
was over three times as effective as nicotine patches or nicotine replacement
methods and 15 times as effective as trying to quit alone, and concluded that
hypnosis is by far the most effective way of giving up smoking.
90.6%
Success rate when using hypnosis to stop smoking
The university of Washington medical
school conducted a study where they used hypnosis on 43 patients to help them
stop smoking.
Of the 43 consecutive patients
undergoing hypnosis, 39 reported remaining abstinent from tobacco use at
follow-up (up to 3 years post-treatment).
Barber concluded that hypnosis is an
extremely effective way to quit smoking and this study represents a 90.6%
success rate using hypnosis.
81%
Stopped smoking after hypnosis
30 patients were referred by their
doctor to Texas A&M University for treatment to help them stop smoking. Of
this group 21 patients returned and were given 3 sessions of hypnosis for
smoking cessation.
Results showed that immediately
after treatment 81% of patients reported that they had stopped smoking. Then in
a followup 12 months later 48% of these patients reported that they were still
not smoking.
Elkins GR and Rajab MH concluded
that hypnosis was indeed a statistically significant method of helping people
to stop smoking.
Hypnosis
Research In Other Areas
There are literally thousands of
other research studies into hypnosis, how it helps anxiety, motivation, memory,
pain relief, focus and concentration, even how it can be used to allow someone
to undergo surgery without the need to an anaesthetic.
Here are some more studies which
show proof of the power of hypnosis for helping a wide variety of different
problems:
Athletes
focus better with hypnosis
Professional athletes are turning to
hypnosis to help give themselves an edge, to correct everything from their golf
swing to pre-competition nerves.
Dr Dwight Damn, president of the
National Guild of Hypnotists estimated that more than 7,000 of the guild’s
members are using hypnosis to help athletes improve their performance.
Bob Reese, the famous former trainer
for the New York Jets uses hypnotherapy with both professional and recreational
athletes to help them “get into the zone”
When used like this hypnosis works
simply to take the athletes peak performance and make it available to them 100%
of the time. It takes away subconscious doubts, nerves, and other mental
blockages to allow the athlete to give their top performance, every time.
Hypnosis
helps to reduce anxiety (greater than traditional relaxation techniques)
A small research study was conducted
at Hampshire Hypnotherapy Centre in England with 10 pupils, aged 11 to 16,
being treated at the centre for emotional behavioural difficulties related to
anxiety.
The students were taught how to
self-hypnotise to help them to set goals about things they wanted to achieve in
their lives, and to help them to work towards these targets..
Mr Byron said "It seems to
empower the students to change their lives and it's not me doing it, it's
them." and that it produced greater effects than were seen in students
using more traditional relaxation techniques. "There is no doubt it has a
tremendous amount to offer."
After this trial the students'
teachers said they had seen more changes in the students using the techniques
and speculated this may be because the hypnotherapy produced cognitive and
emotional changes.
It was concluded that the hypnotherapy
helped to reduce anxiety and feelings of helplessness in students, and that the
effects of hypnotherapy were found to be greater than those of more traditional
relaxation techniques.
Hypnotherapy
helps 71% of IBS sufferers for up to 5 years
A research study into hypnosis and
its effects on Irritable Bowel Syndrome concluded that it helped 71% of
patients - and its effect lasted up to as much as five years after treatment.
Researchers from Withington
Hospital, Manchester (UK) conducted the study on 200 patients, each receiving
hourly sessions for around 12 weeks.
The majority of patients found that
hypnotherapy reduced the severity of their IBS symptoms, eased their condition
and made them more comfortable, and these effects lasted up to as long as 5
years afterwards.
Even those patients who stated tat
the effects wore off with time, found that the deterioration was slight
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