Witnessing the powerful effects of hypnotherapy first hand, I do sometimes become frustrated about the widely held scepticism towards this therapy, particularly within the mainstream medical profession. I am therefore heartened when a medical doctor working within the NHS endorses the benefits of clinical hypnotherapy.
Hypnosis has been around for centuries to treat a whole range of illnesses and to act as a poerful anaesthetic, but in the last century has been associated very strongly with stage hypnotists and machiavellian film characters intent on committing evil. So its quite refreshing when an NHS Consultant uses hypnotherapy as a first line of treatment.
At the University Hospital of South Manchester, Professor Peter Whorwell, a gastroenterologist who heads the only NHS-funded hypnotherapy centre in Britain, has pioneered the therapy as a treatment of irritable bowel syndrome. He is convinced that people are put off by the name, and feels that if we could perhaps re-invent the treatment with a different name, perhaps ‘neuro-modulation’ then it would be better received. He feels, as do I, that sometime in the future people will suddenly realise that hypnotism is an amazingly powerful treatment tool, and that we have been put off using it simply because of its associations mentioned above. He even goes so far as to say that he believes hypnotism to be much more useful than cognitive behaviour therapy or psychotherapy in the treatment of certain conditions.
So, therefore, I do see my role as one of educating people and helping them to understand what hypnosis is, quite simply a deeply relaxed but focussed state in which the subject is able to absorb and use suggestions, which enable positive change (this could be helping a physical healing process, or perhaps allowing emotional or psychological adjustments to occur).
If you share the scepticism of those who believe hypnosis to be a form of dark mind control, then I urge you to re-consider and try it for yourself. If, on the other hand, you are like many of my clients who have witnessed how transformative it can be, then please spread the word!
Best wishes,
Wendy x
