Confidence
When the Body Remembers What the Mind Wants to Forget
Understanding Stress-Related Physical Symptoms Through the Mind-Body Connection In 1886, Baltimore physician John Noland Mackenzie placed an exquisitely crafted artificial rose near a woman who experienced severe reactions around real roses. Almost immediately, her throat began to itch. Her breathing became difficult. Her body reacted as though it had encountered the very substance it feared.…
Read MoreHow Can Clinical Hypnosis Help Caregivers?
The Patient Behind the Patient In 2015, researchers in Italy worked with 15 people living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis—ALS. But behind every patient stood another person carrying a weight that rarely appeared on a medical chart. Twelve were spouses. Three were daughters. The patients received four weekly hypnosis sessions and learned self-hypnosis. Their caregivers did…
Read MoreShe Was Afraid of the MRI Until She Found an Escape Route
How Hypnosis May Help With Claustrophobia During Medical Imaging Let me tell you about a 35-year-old woman in Batavia, IL She needed an MRI, but her claustrophobia was intense. Not the “I feel a little uncomfortable in small spaces” kind of fear. Her score on a standardized claustrophobia questionnaire showed that her anxiety was significant.…
Read MoreThe Needle-Fearing Patient Who Finally Completed Her Treatment
How Hypnotic Techniques Can Help Reduce Procedural Anxiety Sophia was 15 when a routine vaccination turned into something her mind would not let go. The injection itself was not especially painful. In fact, she handled it fairly well. The problem came afterward. As she left the room, Sophia noticed several other children becoming upset about…
Read MoreThe Patient Who Entered Surgery Calm Instead of Terrified
How Preoperative Hypnosis May Reduce Anxiety, Pain, and the Emotional Stress Surrounding a Medical Procedure On April 12, 1829, a 64-year-old woman known as Madame Plantin entered a surgical room in Paris. She had advanced cancer in her right breast. This was before modern anesthesia, sophisticated monitoring equipment, and the pain management methods available today. Historical…
Read MoreThe Elderly Man Who Reclaimed His Memory
How Hypnosis Helped an Aging Brain Find Its Way Back In 1991, I met with a gentleman named Ben, a retired accountant in his late seventies who had become increasingly frustrated by his declining memory. He wasn’t suffering from advanced dementia. He was able to recognize family members. But he was trapped in a frustrating…
Read MoreRewriting Childhood Trauma Through Hypnosis: A survivor found healing without reliving the pain.
Many people have never heard of the silent files stored in the brain. In the 1990s, a neurologist working with trauma survivors noticed something unusual. Some patients could describe painful childhood experiences in vivid detail yet showed no physiological distress, spike in heart rate, sweating, or visible anxiety. It was as if the memory had…
Read MoreThe Gamer Who Pressed Pause on His Life
How Hypnosis Helped Break an Obsessive Video Gaming Habit In 1981, a little-known event occurred that caught psychologists by surprise. A young man named Jeff Dailey died after playing the arcade game Berzerk. Witnesses reported that after achieving a high score and experiencing intense excitement, he collapsed from a heart attack. While the incident was rare,…
Read MoreHow a Teacher Beat Social Anxiety with Hypnosis
A case from the early 2000s involving a middle school teacher who nearly quit her career because she could not face people. In 2003, a middle school English teacher, known here as “Laura” to protect her privacy, was on the verge of leaving the profession she loved. Her lesson plans were excellent. Her students performed…
Read MoreBreak Anxiety Patterns
Break Anxiety Patterns Break the Loop: How to Stop Anxiety in Its Tracks” Did you know that around 42 million adults in the U.S. live with an anxiety disorder, which is nearly 1 in 5 people? And most never learn how to break their patterns when anxiety shows up. Naming the Real Problem The problem is…
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