Think Yourself Healthy

A raft of new studies suggests hypnosis can ease a range of problems, including overeating and back pain. Best of all, you can do it yourself.

When Carmen Lopez walked into her doctor's office for a core needle biopsy of a lump in her breast three years ago, she was a wreck. "My anxiety was through the roof," recalls the 40-year-old administrative assistant in Boston. So when her doctor asked if she'd like to be in a study on the effectiveness of hypnosis for relaxing patients before medical procedures, she quickly agreed. Lopez lay down and was given local anesthesia. Then a woman sat by her side and took her through the standard hypnosis process: First, she asked Lopez to close her eyes, relax, and breathe deeply. Next, she told her to picture herself in a beloved place—Lopez chose the seashore. As the doctor stuck Lopez's breast with a needle for 45 minutes, the hypnotist described how peaceful Lopez felt. "I was aware of the discomfort but concentrated on the serene ocean," Lopez recalls. "Without hypnosis, I'd probably have been crying and in more pain; I'd also have been a lot more worried about whether I had cancer." (She didn't.) "Instead, I stayed calm the entire time."

Hocus focus

Many people assume that a hypnotized person can be made to do anything. "Not so," says Lewis Mehl-Madrona, M.D., associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine in Saskatoon. "The subject has to actually want it to work for something to happen."

Indeed, there's nothing supernatural about the hypnotic state. Experts say it's similar to being so absorbed in a movie that you're oblivious to anything else. But for people looking for specific results—e.g., to stay calm during a biopsy—it's best to see a professional hypnotherapist. Sometimes one session is enough, though if you want to achieve a long-term aim such as stopping bingeing, several are needed, along with listening to supplemental tapes at home. But whatever the goal, the principle is the same: When a person is relaxed and her mind clear, her thoughts about what she wants to do can become amplified.

Scientists have used brain imaging to show that once this level of concentration occurs, "certain parts of the frontal lobe—the area that eliminates distraction—are activated," says Helen Crawford, Ph.D., professor emerita of psychology at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.

Recent studies are finally persuading mainstream docs to give hypnosis a look: M.D.s at the University of Wales in Swansea have used it for pain in children with cancer, and it also eases irritable bowel syndrome. Below are more reasons a hypnotherapist may soon share an office with your doctor.

Ban bad habits

Although research results have been mixed as to the effectiveness of hypnosis for quitting smoking, the findings are more promising for weight loss: A 1996 review of studies done by the University of Connecticut at Storrs found that dieters who used it lost an average of about 12 pounds versus 6 for those who didn't. "Hypnosis doesn't banish hunger pangs," says Elvira Lang, M.D., associate professor of radiology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. "It does help people to act more healthfully. Essentially, we want to help someone go into that deep, trancelike state to create change in her life."

"It's not unusual for my clients to lose between 10 and 20 pounds," says Jean Fain, a psychotherapist and certified hypnotherapist at the Cambridge Health Alliance in Massachusetts. "One woman was making a lot of unhealthy food choices. She'd have an egg sandwich with butter every morning without even thinking about it." Fain began by giving her simple suggestions. "While she was in a trance, we talked about her eating more fruits and vegetables; she also listened to hypnosis CDs at home," Fain says. Eventually, the suggestions started to sink in. "She ended up losing 11 pounds and was blown away—she told me she never thought she'd be able to do it."

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