Harness Hidden Strengths with Hypnotherapy

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April 25, 2024

By Joie Meissner ND, BCB-L

Hypnosis is the natural ability of people to achieve focused attention while in a deeply relaxed state. People in a hypnotic trance might appear as though they are sleeping, but they can talk and move while being totally absorbed in the present experience.

Hypnotherapy uses visualization and verbal cues to allow people to access their subconscious mind and unearth resources that they may not know they have. When in hypnotic trance, people are more open to suggestions such as changing destructive, habitual thought patterns like negative self-talk or behaviors like excessive social media and cell phone “addiction”.

Hypnosis is used to treat stress, depression and anxiety—typically in conjunction with counseling techniques such as cognitive behavioral therapy. It is also used to help people quit harmful habits like smoking and to aid people with insomnia to fall asleep.

Hypnotherapy helps ramp down stress and anxiety.

A hypnotic intervention reduced test anxiety in 60 first-year nursing students and also lowered their blood levels of the stress hormone cortisol, a 2021 study found. “This study found that hypnotherapy is an effective tool in the management of exam anxiety among the nursing students.” ¹

A 2019 analytic review of 15 studies found that “the average participant receiving hypnosis reduced anxiety more than about 79% of control participants,” researchers found. ²

A 2017 “meta-analysis of 20 studies found that hypnosis had a significant, immediate effect on anxiety in cancer patients and the effect was sustained,” the researchers said. “Hypnosis delivered by a therapist was significantly more effective than self-hypnosis.” The reductions in anxiety were moderate to large. ³

Other studies have also found shown hypnotherapy reduces stress as reflected by a drop in cortisol during relaxing hypnotic trance states.

Women who received hypnotherapy after giving birth through a cesarean section had significantly lower average cortisol levels then those women who did not engage in hypnotherapy, a 2021 randomized controlled trial found. “Hypnotherapy in surgery can provide a comfortable and relaxing experience for patient,” according to the researchers. ⁴

“Many studies have shown that this excessive secretion of cortisol increases susceptibility to depression,” researchers said. ⁵ This may be the reason that cutting stress with hypnotherapy is also effective in the treatment of depression.

A 2021 randomized study comparing cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to hypnotherapy (HT) in patients with mild to moderate depression, showed that hypnotherapy over 6 months is at least as effective as CBT for reducing symptoms of depression. CBT is a gold-standard counseling technique for treating for depression. Improvements were maintained 12 months after treatment. ⁶

Just as hypnosis involves deep focus on the present moment, so too does Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), which also can calm the physiology of anxiety and depression.

To learn more about how Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy defeats stress to heal anxiety and depression click link below:

Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy: A Swiss-Army Knife for Tackling Anxiety & Depression

Care informed by the understanding that emotional and physical wellbeing are deeply connected

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Citations

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1. Hamzah, F., Mat, K. C., & Amaran, S. (2021). “The effect of hypnotherapy on exam anxiety among nursing students.” Journal of Complementary and Integrative Medicine, 19(1), 131–137. https://doi.org/10.1515/jcim-2020-0388 PubMed Google Scholar ↩︎
2. Keara E. Valentine, Leonard S. Milling, Lauren J. Clark & Caitlin L. Moriarty. “The Efficacy of Hypnosis as a Treatment for Anxiety: A Meta-Analysis.” International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis. (2019) 67:3, 336-363, DOI: 10.1080/00207144.2019.1613863 ↩︎
3. Chen PY, Liu YM, Chen ML. “The effect of hypnosis on anxiety in patients with cancer: A meta-analysis.” Worldviews Evid Based Nurs. 2017;14(3):223-236. View abstract. ↩︎
4. Rizkiani, I., Respati, S. H., Sulistyowati, S., Budihastuti, U. R., & Prasetya, H. “The Effect of Hypnotherapy on Serum Cortisol Levels in Post-Cesarean Patients.” Journal of Maternal and Child Health. (2021). 6(3), 258–266. Retrieved from thejmch.com/index.php/thejmch/article/view/587 ↩︎
5. Rizkiani, I., Respati, S. H., Sulistyowati, S., Budihastuti, U. R., & Prasetya, H. “The Effect of Hypnotherapy on Serum Cortisol Levels in Post-Cesarean Patients.” Journal of Maternal and Child Health. (2021). 6(3), 258–266. Retrieved from thejmch.com/index.php/thejmch/article/view/587 ↩︎
6. Fuhr K, Meisner C, Broch A, et al. “Efficacy of hypnotherapy compared to cognitive behavioral therapy for mild to moderate depression – Results of a randomized controlled rater-blind clinical trial.” J Affect Disord. 2021;286:166-173. View abstract. ↩︎