What is in a Name?

Whenever we encounter situations that don't quite fit our usual experiences we tend to distort them into familiarity. There's a story about a huge storage tank filled with 100,000 gallons of chocolate syrup. A worker seeing a crack spreading down the side of the tank yelled "FIRE" and was credited with saving many lives. Asked why he yelled "FIRE" he replied, "I didn't think that people would run for the exits if I yelled "CHOCOLATE"

The National Guild of Hypnotists considers the titles "Hypnotherapist" and "Hypnotist" identical. The "Hypnotherapist" moniker was adopted by hypnotists who wanted to distance themselves from image created by stage hypnotists who seemed to possess supernatural powers to make people do embarrassing things in public.

There are many licensed health care professionals who are also trained hypnotists. These practitioners may use hypnosis in such close support of their usual medical procedures that it appears to be integral or in part alternative. The fact that a doctor is capable of using hypnosis does not make it a medical procedure. A physician trained as a radiologist and x-ray equipment repair technician may be able to deal with a variety of problems for which others require outside help; however, no one would suggest requiring an MD license to perform those tasks.

Hypnotists certified by the National Guild of Hypnotists are trained to assist people in modification of their behavior.

• Weight reduction,
• Smoking cessation,
• Stress management,
• Performance enhancement,
• Stopping nail biting,
• Overcoming fear of flying and
• Phobias

are just a few of many procedures that people can accomplish without utilizing the services of a physician or psychiatrist.

Hypnosis is also frequently used as a complimentary procedure in support of medical treatment.

• Pain control when specifically approved by a physician.
• Help patients remember to take their medication on time.
• Mentally prepare patients for surgery.
• Minimize recovery time

The invisible difference

Suppose you were observing identical twins and only one of them knew how to swim. Imagine one of them falling into the deep end of a swimming pool. The situation is extremely hazardous for the one who does not know how to swim and quite comfortable for the other. The invisible difference rests on their necks. The non-swimmer has all of the tools required to survive and enjoy the experience, but the lack of knowledge, in this circumstance, could be fatal.

Suppose one gets a "tension headache". Some people know how to relax and can easily relax with the problem, while others need to take medicine. According to an article by Denise Grady in the Wednesday April 15, 1998 edition of the New York Times:

"More than 100,000 people a year die in American hospitals from adverse reactions to medication, making drug reactions one of the leading causes of death in the United States, researchers are reporting Wednesday. The deaths, as described in the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, are not due to mistakes by doctors in prescribing drugs or by patients in using them. Rather, drug reactions occur because virtually all medications can have bad side effects in some people, even when taken in proper doses."

Double that the number to include the fatalities that occur outside of the hospital and you begin to see the tip of this iceberg of a problem. There are probably five to ten times the number who suffer non-fatal adverse reactions. Even common aspirin will cause intestinal bleeding and irritation in approximately 10% of the population.

We are drowning in a sea of medication that not only endangers our health and

steals our money, but enslaves us as victims. A recent article in the Manchester, NH Union Leader stated that the health care industry now constitutes 15% of the GNP.

The world's greatest doctor

Perhaps you've heard that the vast majority of illnesses effecting humans are considered "functional" rather than "organic". Symptoms arise because some bodily component is, for reasons largely unknown, temporarily malfunctioning. The majority of these conditions are easily and quickly resolved by the "poor person's physician" - time.

Frequently physicians find nothing organically wrong and help us become more comfortable by prescribing medications that attenuate the symptoms. Seeing the doctor is important and it's always very comforting to know that we are not coming down with some dreaded disease.

The problem is that we have become a drug dependent society expecting some chemical to restore our comfort no matter what the affliction. Virtually every medicine known to science is, in some respects damaging to our systems. It may provide the temporary relief that we're seeking while it deposits foreign material in various vital organs. Over a long period these deposits may build up and result in diminished performance of the heart, liver, kidneys, pancreas, etc..

Our conscious mind constitutes no more than 10% of our mental powers. The subconscious mind regulates our metabolism, processes our food, regulates our temperature, stores and manages our long-term memory and a whole lot more.

If anyone has written an instruction manual on how to use the human mind I am not aware of it; however, the principles of hypnosis seem to come fairly close. The US Labor Department defines "Hypnosis" as a state of mind in which the critical faculty of the human mind is bypassed, and selective thinking established."

Hypnotists are trained to understand that all hypnosis is self-hypnosis. We are taught how to guide people into the hypnotic state. Once a person is "hypnotized" we must use carefully crafted phraseology, based on our understanding of how the mind works, to implant beneficial suggestions.

While I hope to discuss how to construct suggestions that will be accepted by the subconscious in future articles, my objective here is to encourage people to seek the benefits available through hypnosis. Not as an alternative to needed medicine but as a method of avoiding unnecessary medicine and a means to escape the victimization forced on us by the health care and insurance industries.

This article was submitting by Hypnotic World's US Representative, Irwin Bluestein, CH

Irwin teaches sales powerful techniques drawn from the fields of hypnotism and Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) that will make customers want to do business with them. You can read more about him on The Unfair Advantage page or contact Irwin directly at irwin@gis.net