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Hypnosis
Hypnosis helps patients access powerful natural healing resources of the mind and feel control in situations that have previously left them feeling hopeless. Through hypnosis, patients can expect to feel an improved state of mind, which is both empowering and beneficial to promoting quick recovery.
In 2003, Dr. Crain got to see this in action first hand when she underwent chemotherapy for a recurrence of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system. She couldn’t focus or concentrate long enough to support the positive suggestions she was telling herself or listening to through a recording. She couldn’t bear the thought of being powerless to control her side effects should they return.
The Finger Focus Technique was created when her hypnotist, Garrett Buttel suggested using a simple technique to help regain concentration and focus. By first bringing her attention to one finger, she was able to ease the process of allowing supportive, empowering beliefs to govern her thoughts. She gained a new sense of control and relaxation when she understood her beliefs created facts. Starting from the Finger Focus, she was able to cue her mind to focus on larger pursuits like hunger and health.
When she returned to her dental practice, she modified the technique to make it chair-side friendly. Instead of feeling trapped by pain and negative thinking, she helped patients manage the emotional components of their conditions and used this technique to redirect patients' anxieties, phobias and fears. She now includes it as part of her treatment protocol; it has translated in many areas of patients' lives and well-being.
Self-suggestion and self-hypnosis are not meant to replace professional
mental health counseling or standard care when indicated.
The Power of the Mind/Body Connection
Negative emotions and stress cause your body to react with chemical and electrical responses that take place within your nervous system. Since the brain is the most important part of the nervous system and is made up of tens of billions of nerve cells, every nerve cell produces chemical communicators to correspond with nearby cells. When you touch something hot, for example, chemical communicators in the nerve receptors of your hand carry the message to your brain to remove your hand from the heat. When you feel stress or fear, your body responds to those emotions in a similar way. Hypnosis and meditation are easy ways to promote relaxation and create more positive chemical communicators to our cells.
What is Hypnosis?
Hypnosis works because the mind is divided into two parts called the subconscious and the conscious. The subconscious mind is viewed as the survival, instinctual level of the mind. Everything and every memory are stored in the subconscious mind. The conscious mind, on the other hand, acts as the receiver and processor of information from the outside world. It is the thinking, analyzing, and language processing portion of the mind. In a hypnotic state, the goal is to slow down the conscious brain waves, allowing the subconscious mind to become open to suggestions. When a person is open to accept the suggestions presented in a hypnotic state, he/she permits new modes of thinking and believing to occur. New beliefs create new facts. Hypnosis can be the force that propels recovery and empowerment.
What Hypnosis is Not
There are many misconceptions about hypnosis. For example, hypnosis is not:
- A state of sleep
- A surrender of will to the hypnotist. (The person in the hypnotic state maintains control.)
- A means by which someone can obtain secrets from the hypnotized person
- A loss of consciousness
- A state of mind in which someone can become “stuck” or remain permanently
- A trance which can only be achieved with unintelligent or gullible people
- Dangerous
- A state that can be forced on a person.
