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2/27/08: Diane Sawyer and Staff, cross firey hot coals with the help of Hypnosis.
Read GMA'S articles via ABCNEWS.GO.COM
With the help of hypnosis, "Good Morning America" anchor Diane Sawyer hopes to tap into the deepest part of her mind to walk on fire. Wednesday she and other "GMA" staff members attempt to walk over hot coals that burn at more than 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
The Benefits of Mental Focus
To learn more about the power of the mind, Diane Sawyer and the "GMA" staff studied how self-hypnosis could help them not only meet this dare but handle everyday complaints and stresses.
"Hypnosis has been called 'believed in imagination.' It's a form of highly focused attention," said Dr. David Spiegel, a psychiatrist at Stanford University. "You control what you focus on and what effect it has on you and your body."
Deep mental focus has been credited with helping free divers hold their breath for up to eight minutes and for getting women through childbirth without pain. In 1961, a hypnotized woman had a Caesarean section without anesthetics.
She simply sung the song her hypnotist suggested she sing.
"We hear all the time about the incredible ways in which monks and yogis are able to rewire their brains through intense practice," said Anne Harrington, who wrote "The Cure Within." "Maybe one important thing we should be doing more of is trying to discover the extraordinary in our own world," said Harrington.
'GMA' Gets Focused
So how would self-hypnosis work for the "GMA" staff members?
First, Spiegel met individually with the firewalkers to determine who was more, or less, susceptible to hypnosis.
Afterward the group gathered and Spiegel asked them to remember funny things to relax their minds. Then Diane and the others were told to imagine two screens. On the left side they envisioned a specific problem, and on the right they visualized a pleasurable place where they imagined a solution.
During the exercise, Diane kept peeking, and Spiegel caught her.
"You were observing, Diane. I noticed that," Spiegel said.
"I cheated," Diane confessed.
Of the group, Diane was ranked one of the least likely to be hypnotized.
But "you can get a lot of benefit even if you're just moderately hypnotizable if you use it," Spiegel said.
Before hypnosis, the pain centers of the brain are very bright, but during hypnosis, they're almost inactive.
"Your performance and efficiency will improve when you do this. So what it's doing is maximizing your potential," said Dr. Herbert Benson at the Harvard Medical School, who is studying how people gain control over their lives through a form of meditation.
For the "GMA" group, many felt a definite difference following the session.
"I thought it was really great how it was just so easy to float from one screen to the next," said producer Maureen White.
"It was just like the sensation of comfort there," said Anthony Underwood, another producer.
In Times Square Wednesday, viewers can see just how harnessing their minds might help Diane Sawyer and the "GMA" team cross those scalding hot coals.
Of course yours truely watched this exciting episode and I'm very happy to tell you, they all crossed the 1200 degree( I believe was the temp) hot coals successfully and comfortably.
Three cheers to Diane and Staff!
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5/11/08: Putting Hypnosis to the Test on Smokers ~ Read GMA'S articles via ABCNEWS.GO.COM Terry Singleton, a convention coordinator from California, started smoking at age 17. Quitting has always been a struggle. "I'd smoke while I chewed the gum," she told ABCNEWS' Good Morning America, laughing. "I'd smoke while I drank the tea." Likewise, after 16 years of smoking, ABC producer Chris Francescani is determined to quit. "It's like the boy who cried Marlboro," Francescani said. "You know, it's not something that I expect people to believe in me, because they've seen me try and fail so many times." Now, it's become a matter of pride. "I'm sick of it," Francescani said. "I'm sick of smoking. It's unhealthy. It's unattractive. It's undignified. I don't want to be obligated anymore to this sort of hourly addiction." He and Singleton agreed to let Good Morning America use their cases to put hypnosis to the test, to see how well it works to help fed-up smokers quit their habits. Many Turn to Hypnosis Each year, tens of thousands of people visit hypnotists in the hope of curing their addictions. According to a Stanford University study, 50 percent of smokers undergoing hypnosis quit after just one hypnotic session. After two years, 25 percent remained smoke-free. "It's an area that I don't know anything about … so that's a little freaky for me," Singleton said. "But [if it means] becoming a non-smoker it's worth it." Hypnosis works best on behavior — not root causes, particularly those in which genes may play a strong role, so alcohol and drug abuse have proved resistant to change through hypnosis. Weight loss also is hard because it is fueled by such a complicated set of emotional and genetic factors. Published studies show that severely obese people lost just 14 pounds, and motivation was key. Perhaps that's because hypnosis works best with simple instructions, and someone can't simply say, "Don't eat." But a person can just stop smoking. And for many, a simple, self-hypnotic technique may help them win what seems an impossible battle. Barely Noticed ABCNEWS asked father and son doctors David and Herbert Spiegel, both psychiatrists and clinicians of hypnotism and addiction, to take on Singleton and Francescani — to hypnotize them into quitting cigarettes. It would take just 60 minutes. "For my body, smoking is a poison," Francescani said under hypnosis. "I need my body to live," Dr. Herbert Spiegel said. "I need my body to live," Francescani repeated. Afterwards, both were surprised that the experience was not more intense. "First of all, I thought that it would definitely be more eventful, … less voluntary of me," Singleton said. "I never once felt that I was under any spell," Francescani said. "You know, I didn't feel that he had any power over me." In fact, that's a big misconception about hypnosis, experts say. There's no deep trance, no loss of control. Subjects are completely aware the entire session. "In fact, you're not taking away control," said David Spiegel, who is affiliated with the Stanford University School of Medicine. "You're teaching control by telling them they have a greater ability to control how their body feels." Some Success But did it work for Singleton and Francescani? The jury's still out. Two weeks later, Francescani said his battle against smoking had become easier — "hard but … manageable." "Before, it was impossible, and now it's possible," Francescani said. "I'm not sure what he did to make it possible, but my body's calmer now, it doesn't freak out every 20 minutes, you know, when you don't have a cigarette." He added that knowing there would be follow up on his case on national television "certainly helped" him refrain from lighting up. Singleton did smoke about 10 cigarettes in the week after her hypnosis — well down from her normal consumption — but like Francescani, also found it easier to resist. "I can go all day without smoking," she said. "I get with my girlfriends and I'll have a cigarette. I think it's made a difference or maybe it's the guilt factor. Everybody at work's rooting for me, you know. Everybody's expecting you to quit, you know?" Owner of website does not claim ownership of the above news article. The above news article is the sole property of ABCNEWS.
ABCNEWS Tries Hypnosis on Two Smokers
Hypnosis, No Anesthetic, For Man's Surgery
Professional Hypnotizes Self, Is Fully Awake, Pain-Free During Hand Operation
Alex Lenkei on The Early Show Tuesday (CBS/EARLY SHOW) LONDON, April 22, 2008
Hypnotherapist Alex Lenkel underwent hand surgery using self hypnosis instead of anesthetic. He speaks with Maggie Rodriguez.
Professional hypno-therapist and psychotherapist Alex Lenkei, 61, put himself into a deep trance so he wouldn't feel the pain -- he says it took him only 30 seconds to put himself under.
During the surgery, some bone at the base of his thumb was removed, and some joints were fused in an attempt to improve his arthritis.
Lenkei says anesthetic has gotten him nauseous before, and he just feels avoiding it is healthier than using it, in part because it takes awhile to get it out of your system.
Doctors "were using a chisel, hammer to basically break a sort of walnut-sized bone in the hand to take it out. They also used small medical saw to attach tendon to the thumb," he told Early Show co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez Tuesday.
"I didn't feel anything at all," Lenkei says. "There was no pain, just very deep relaxation. I was aware of everything that was going on in the (surgical) theater. I was aware of the consultant tugging and pulling during the operation. But there was no pain.
"And at the same time, the anesthetist had my vital signs monitored all the time. They were fully in control of everything. They hooked me up with reference to anesthetic if I needed it, but it was not necessary."
This wasn't the first time Lenkei went that route, he says: "In 1996, I had a hernia operation with no anesthetic. But at that time, I had a colleague with me to stand by with hypnosis. And, being a professional, I know how to go into what they call deep hypnosis. And the local hospital was kind enough to actually allow me to use hypnosis for the operation."
Lenkei says there's a lesson to be learned here for the medical profession, "basically, that hypnosis can be actually used post- and pre-operation to actually help the patient (relax) for a much better successful operation. And I feel that doctors ought to investigate this in a lot more detail and actually use it for the benefit of the patient."
Lenkei says people can heal more quickly if hypnosis is used, and patients are more relaxed.
A doctor was in the operating room says only a small percentage of people would be able to put themselves into such a deep trance, so it wouldn't work for large numbers of people.
However, it's interesting to note that hypnosis was used quite widely before anesthetic was developed.
Owner of website does not claim ownership of the above news article. The above news article is the sole property of CBS/EARLY SHOW.
Hypnotists guild members say therapeutic aspects more important than entertainment
TELEGRAM.COM Worcester, MA
By Valerie Franchi CORRESPONDENT
August 12,2008
MARLBORO— If the word hypnotism makes you think of audience members embarrassing themselves on a stage, think again.
Today’s hypnotists take themselves very seriously — and they should. They’ve worked hard for decades to dispel that image and prove that they are a legitimate profession.
Now, according to one of the founders and president of the National Guild of Hypnotists, Dwight Damon, a chiropractor, they feel they have achieved their goal.
“We have arrived,” he said.
“In the early days of hypnotism, about 95 percent were stage performers and the rest were using therapeutic hypnosis,” Mr. Damon said. “Now that number is reversed.”
Mr. Damon was in Marlboro over the weekend at the 21st annual National Guild of Hypnotists convention, educational conference and exhibition. About 1,500 hypnotists from across the country and abroad descended on the Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel to attend dozens of workshops and lectures on topics such as “Laughter Therapy” and “The Pain/Brain Connection.”
When the National Guild of Hypnotists was founded in 1951 in Boston, Mr. Damon said, the “big idea was to establish the practice of hypnotism as a separate and distinct profession.”
The guild now boasts more than 10,000 members in 65 countries worldwide.
Not that hypnotism’s therapeutic value to lessen pain and improve medical treatment is a new concept. As early as 1958, the American Medical Association sanctioned hypnosis as a therapeutic modality, according to Mr. Damon. And Life magazine was touting the benefits of hypnosis in childbirth and surgery.
“But what most people thought about hypnotism was what they saw on stage,” said Mr. Damon.
Shaun Brookhouse, of the National College of Hypnosis and Psychotherapy in England, said that image causes confusion. “It makes people believe that hypnosis will be quicker than other forms of therapy because of its ‘magical’ quality,” he said. “It creates natural misconceptions.”
Mr. Damon believes that eventually hypnosis stage shows will be phased out.
The majority of hypnotists are high-level professionals, such as nurses and physicians, and work through hospitals, said Mr. Damon.
Although there is no federal licensing for hypnotism, a few states — not including Massachusetts — offer a state license. “The government doesn’t want any more bureaucracy,” said Mr. Damon.
So the National Guild of Hypnotists acts as the regulator of its profession. “Part of why we created the guild was to create our own standards of practice and consistency of training,” said Mr. Damon.
Patricia MacIsaac, a nurse and certified instructor for the National Guild of Hypnotists, taught a training course for new hypnotists during the convention. “We had 25 new graduates,” she said.
Hypnotists today most commonly use their talents to help people stop smoking, lose weight or reduce stress. Other fields, such as “hypnobirthing,” fertility counseling, and pain management — particularly for athletes — also are also becoming popular.
One of the hypnotists at the convention, Larry Garrett, director of the Garrett Wellness Center in Chicago, used his skills for an unusual purpose.
In 2001, he traveled to Iraq to assist a businessman who had been injured and could not apply pressure to his left leg. His doctors could find no medical reason for his problem and the businessman decided hypnotism could help him.
When Mr. Garrett arrived in Iraq, he discovered his client was Udai Hussein, the eldest son of Saddam Hussein.
“Udai had been shot and his lower leg was shattered,” Mr. Garrett said. “He had been laid up for three years recovering. When he did begin to walk, he was walking with fear.”
After working with Udai for 10 days, Mr. Garrett said he returned to the United States and Udai continued self-hypnosis. About four months later, he returned to find Udai doing much better. “The progress was so dramatic he was even able to run,” he said.
Mr. Garrett, who was in Iraq on Sept. 11, 2001, says he was debriefed by the FBI and CIA following both trips. “They asked many questions about where I was, how we got to Udai’s house … questions of importance to our government security,” he said.
The events of Sept. 11 have opened up a whole new area of treatment for hypnotists, he said. Managing the stress of flying, dealing with all the new security measures, is one of them. The fear of terrorism is another.
“The fear of not knowing who to be afraid of causes a heightened level of tension we have not seen before,” said Mr. Brookhouse.
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