Hypnotherapy used to treat smoking, insomnia and grief
Look into my eyes …
Many people are familiar with hypnosis as a stage act.
In a club or theater setting, a hypnotist brings volunteers on stage, puts them in a trance-like state, and has them perform potentially embarrassing acts for the amusement of the audience.
But hypnosis is much more than a form of entertainment. For some, it’s a very real way to obtain relief from a variety of physical, mental and emotional conditions.
Hypnotherapy is used to treat such diverse conditions as gastrointestinal problems, skin disorders, seizures, alcohol and smoking addiction, high blood pressure, migraines, insomnia, asthma, phobias, pain suppression and grief, said Dr. Kristin Sturdevant, a psychotherapist who holds a Ph.D. in counseling and human development from the University of Iowa.
In her Iowa-City based practice, Sturdevant combines traditional psychotherapeutic approaches with alternative approaches such as hypnotherapy, yoga and reiki (energy balancing). She said she recently has seen increased interest in hypnotherapy.
“People are opening up to alternative therapies,” she said. “If there is one thing people call for most frequently, it’s smoking cessation.”
Sturdevant became personally acquainted with hypnosis while in graduate school. At the time, she was having difficulty with a statistics course and sought hypnotherapy as a way to deal with test anxiety.
“I got an A on the test for the first time,” she said. “I was sold. It was quite a big deal for me.”
After her personal success with hypnotherapy, Sturdevant trained on how to use the technique in a holistic practice. Today, hypnotherapy accounts for about 25 percent of her practice.
According to the Society of Psychological Hypnosis, a division of the American Psychological Association, hypnosis is a relaxed state of heightened focus and concentration in which an individual is more open to suggestion. Hypnotherapy is the use of hypnosis to treat medical or psychological concerns by changing undesired behaviors, managing emotional distress or coping with physical symptoms.
“With hypnotherapy, we disengage the cognitive-thinking part of the brain and engage the subconscious brain,” Sturdevant said. “This allows the person to relax and be open to suggestion without resistance from the conscious mind.”