May 30 2013

Pain: Can it Be In Your Mind? 30 Plus Years of Research Says it May Be

Vol. 202, May 30, 2013

Over the past few years I have been studying how our health care system has let us down. With doctors given no more than seven minutes per patient, they rarely have the time to really listen to your concerns. This has lead to the over prescribing of medications, expensive testing and even more expensive surgeries with poor results.

 

 

John E. Sarno, M.D. has been studying the whole area of mindbody disorders for over three decades having come to the conclusion that the medical model is broken. In his book “The Divided Mind: The Epidemic of Mindbody Disorders” he has built on the foundation of his original book “Healing Back pain”.

 

 

 

Going back to Freud who was the first to speak of the unconscious mind, to the present healers of today, Dr. Sarno explains that a patients’ physical symptoms were induced by the brain to serve a psychological purpose, which is his definition of a psychosomatic disorder. The brain actually causes physical changes in the body parts where blood flow has been reduced. This causes a slight reduction in oxygen causing the pain and other symptoms experienced. Dr. Sarno calls this response tension myositis syndrome (TMS). Since first recognizing this syndrome, Dr. Sarno has realized that nerve and tendon involvement is more common then the muscle tissue from which the name comes.

 

 

Many of the common medical problems of today fall under this umbrella of TMS:

 

 

 

  • Gastroesophageal reflux
  • Peptic ulcer
  • Esophagospasm
  • Hiatus hernia
  • Irritable bowel syndrome
  • Spastic colitis
  • Tension headache
  • Migraine headache
  • Frequent urination not associate to medical conditions such as diabetes
  • Most cases of prostatitis and sexual dysfunction
  • Tinnitus (ringing in the ears) or dizziness not related to neurological disorder
  • Fibromyalgia
  • Carpel tunnel syndrome
  • Chronic pain syndrome
  • Rheumatoid arthritis

 

 

Dr. Sarno came to these conclusions after realizing that the medical treatment for the structural problems never permanently got rid of the problem. One would think that if one had a rotor cuff tear for example, and underwent surgery the problem would go away. That particular problem may have gone away, only to have another problem arise causing pain elsewhere in the body.

 

 

The primary gain from the cause of the pain, TMS, serves is the prevention of the conscious mind to become aware of unconscious feelings like rage or some emotional pain.

 

 

So next we come to the idea of prescribing psychopharmaceuticals to treat depression and anxiety which serve the same purpose for the individual as pain. According to Franz Alexander, one of Freud’s students, emotions plays a role in all illness. He believed that a biochemical formula being needed somewhere in the cortex of the brain will never account for the interpersonal longing that may cause depression for example. The symptom need not be the cause. Treating the symptoms of depression with a prescription drug does not take care of the cause of the problem, it merely masks the problem.

 

 

The most interesting observation though in the book is the acknowledgement that if the patient has the ability to heal themselves, what happens to the authority of the doctor?

 

 

Many years ago I had a client come in to see me, in so much pain she was bedridden for five years. This client was only in her late 30’s at the time. Her medical doctors and psychiatrist could not get to the cause of her problem. She had some surgery that was required for a physiological problem. Once she healed completely from that surgery, her surgeon told me that there was nothing there to physically cause her pain. He told me that he was out of options and that this may very well be a psychosomatic response. You can read her testimonial (here) .

 

 

In this particular case it was indeed feelings of anxiety and rage from the age of 4 that created this intractable pain of which my client was suffering. Once these emotions were released, the pain subsided and the client was able to get back into living a much more normal life finishing up her Ed.D. moving into a professional career in academia.

 

 

I would like you to ask yourself if you are finding that you are under much stress, have a history of being emotionally abused and if you are experiencing pain in your body in different places, or perhaps recurring pain in the same place regardless of the course of conventional medical treatment given? If so, you best look into the emotional components of your pain, because that very well may be the solution to your problem.

 

 

 

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May 18 2013

Grinding Your Teeth at Night or Perhaps All Day –Hypnotics Can Stop This Habit Safely and Quickly

Vol. 63, April 2008 – Grinding Your Teeth at Night or Perhaps All Day – Hypnotics Can Stop it

During  March of 2005, I had a gentleman referred to me for smoking cessation. You see he was going on a trip to France and wanted to be a non-smoker before he went. This however, was not the primary importance at the time we spoke. He had this other problem that needed to be addressed immediately. About eight years before his dentist had noticed that many of his teeth had been totally worn down. Some of them had cracks in them. He was told that the reason this had happened was because he was grinding his teeth. At that time he realized that he was always grinding his teeth, but had no idea why. He thought he was content in his life. His dentist told him that he would need $40,000 worth of dental work to keep his own teeth. He followed through and had the work done. By the time we spoke, eight years later the teeth were ground down and one would never know that he had all that work done. Continue reading

May 18 2013

Why Drug Treatment Centers Don’t Work and What Does

Vol.201, May 18, 2013

Every few months we hear of some celebrity who has overdosed after repeated stays in drug rehabs. More recently Anna Nicole Smith, Michael Jackson, Amy Winehouse and Whitney Houston have senselessly died of drug overdoses.

I for one have been hitting my head against the wall wondering how people can even believe that drug rehabs are a viable solution for drug addiction, when the wealthiest of people with access to the top level of care, end up routinely dying of drug overdoses.

I did a bunch of reading of various blog postings by those who have asked the same question be it a person with an addiction history, a reporter, a doctor or one who runs a facility. Each had their own notions why these failures occur. I don’t believe anyone would argue with the addicts who stated, when forced to go into rehab by a boss, spouse or parent it isn’t going to work. The addict has to make the choice to become “clean” or there is no personal investment for a positive result.

For someone who is looking at drug rehab centers from the outside as Anne Fletcher did in her book “Inside Rehab” the truth is a bit hard to take. First, she recognizes that there are few requirements for addictions centers so anyone can open one up. Many times they are owned and run by ex-addicts themselves, many without formal training. Further more, there are few ways for one to prove the excellent results that are claimed by these facilities. Ms. Fletcher states that much of the patients’ time is spent watching videos telling them the dangers of drugs and alcohol and sitting in groups speaking about the programs, neither which have been proven to be effective. In some programs the addicts are to be “broken” out of their addiction by being humiliated. This is an absurd notion especially given that addiction is a potentially deadly medical condition due the same care and concern of any other medical condition.

Most facilities will force their patients to participate in 12-step programs where they are told that a power higher than they is to be trusted to take care of their problem because they have no control over it. Additionally, they are told that if they refuse the principles of the 12-step program they will end up dead or in jail. Why is it that we ask 7 year olds to take responsibility for their behaviors? Yet, adults are told they have no control over themselves and to give it up? This is contrary to any understanding of what it takes to be a responsible adult in this world.

Particularly upsetting is that the 12-steps are the treatment of choice in most of these programs given the dismal success records of research done by AA itself.  AA membership surveys (all self-reported) from 1977 to 1990 reported that 81% of  alcoholics STOPPED attending after a single month. Only 5% attend for a year. Deborah A. Johnson reported in her 2005 article in the journal “Addiction” that the spontaneous recovery rate for alcoholism is 24.4%. This means that 24.4% of alcoholics got to the point where they were so tired of the negative ramifications of their alcohol abuse, they gave it up all on their own without any help of any sort.  With these facts known, my question is: How did AA and NA become the most used method of recovery on the planet? My answer is that it is readily available with the cost being minimal to none so anyone can attend. When we add to this those who swear by its success in their individual cases for the past 80 plus years, you have the world’s largest program regardless of its lack of efficacy.

The most important problem that I have with these drug treatment programs as if the above weren’t enough, is the fact that stopping the use of the drug is one thing. Keeping a person from returning to their drug habit is a whole other issue, especially if they are left with the urges to use, even when once off the drug(s) of choice. This is where the drug rehabs fail miserably. It is readily known that for an addict to have any real sense of being in “recovery”, a year of being drug free is required at a minimum. So a 30 or even 90 day treatment center away from the addict’s real world is not going to help them to remain sober or clean.

As a hypnotist I have great issues with the notion that by repeatedly telling yourself and the world that you are an addict, worse that you will never be anything but an addict – with the thoughts and behaviors that come with it. Why would anyone want to brainwash themselves in this manner? The way to healing is to allow one to realize that they can and must indeed give up that label and focus on healthier and the meaningful aspects to living. That is the way all healing of any other problem is done that is successful. It never helps to harp on the issue that is the problem, does it?

Lastly, Dr. Nora Valkow director of NIHDA, would like you to believe that one needs to take a drug like suboxone to keep you off of the “mind altering”drugs. Well, if one doesn’t have urges or desires, why would someone need to take a drug for the rest of one’s life that has to be detoxified by the liver or kidneys? I would say that this is a result the pharmaceutical companies brainwashing our society that pills and injections will take care of all ills,

A Better Solution:

So why would someone look to a hypnotist to stop an addiction? Well, for one thing if the practitioner is knowledgable at all, they will know how to help the client to withdraw from the drugs with little to no withdrawal symptoms. This will make the process of withdrawing easy while allowing the person to have few if any urges to “use” going forward.

Secondly, if one is doing an individualized treatment, the client’s thinking can be reframed using hypnotic technique to refuse the old life style, allowing them to create a new life away from drugs, drug addicts and dealers. This has to be done or there is no way the addict will be able to stay clean.

Third, given that many addicts began their addiction early in life, social and behavioral maturity has to be part of the process. Most of the addicts I have worked with have noted that the reason that they found it so hard to live without their drugs was because they had no idea in how to comfortably interact with people of their age group. So boundaries need to be taught and what better way to do it then over the year or so of treatment as different life experiences come up. In this way the client is learning new ways of coping with life’s ups and downs.

Lastly, and this is the most important of all, the cause of the problem must be addressed; the addict has to learn how to love him/herself. This includes forgiveness for anything that was done under the influence of the substance.Without that, there is no healing that can be achieved on any deep or permanent level.

With all of this in mind, doesn’t it make more sense to use an individualized and respectful manner for healing the whole person? Wouldn’t it make more sense to be far away from the usual “drug speak” of programs? Would it be better dealing with the reality of every day life? However, this will only work if he addict is ready to become a non-addict committing the time and attention required to make these lasting changes.

May 11 2013

Are You A Sex Addicted Woman?

sex selesAre You A Sex Addicted Woman? – Vol.200, May 11, 2013

If you are a woman who is fighting sex addiction, I realize that there are few resources to help you deal with your issue. I realized this when I got inquiries from woman who are struggling with this problem commenting to me that there are few places for them to get help.

The Statistics:

If you are a woman who fits this situation, by all means know that you are not alone. There are 13% of women (20% of men) who admit to looking at porn at work. Cybersex is problematic for 40% of females internet users. About 3% of the U.S. population would be female sex addicts (8% for men) according to Patrick Carnes, sex addictions researcher. Sadly about 50% of the females who went to male professional counselors be they clinicians or clergy were sexually abused so a female treater would be best.

Who Is A Sex Addict?

Sex addiction is a global term used to cover addiction to pornography, affairs, sex chat rooms, picking up people in bars and even prostitution. The way one knows if they are addicted to sex versus having a high sex drive is whether the sexual encounter satisfies them. For a sex addict, it really doesn’t matter how much time, money or potential harm comes to them, they still can’t stop the sexual activity. They are obsessively fixated on acting out, unable to stop the impulsive behavior, including hiding the behavior from others. This is because the “pleasure” neurotransmitter is being released into the brain which gives the addict the desire to continue the act from starting with the search phase to the completion of the sexual release.

Like with all addictions a tolerance level is reached where it takes more sexual activity to get the “high” till the ability to feel the pleasure from the dopamine no longer is evident. The addicted will continue the behavior just to feel “normal.”

Addiction by its very nature is an escalates over time with a withdrawal involved.

According to the research done, 81% of sex addicts were sexually abused. In most cases this is an “attachment disorder” in that the child never bonded normally to her caregivers. If the primary caregiver doesn’t look the infant in the eye, the right orbital area of the brain never develops the emotional attachment that is necessary to have healthy intimacy in her life. From that point on, she is looking for love in the wrong places. Since sex is not love and love is not just sex, many of these women feel emotionally hurt. Those who do not feel the emotional hurt have numbed themselves of any emotional connection.

What Can Be Done About It?

Though there are certainly sex addiction counselors and 5 different types of 12-step programs out there to work with people with this issue, I have a different answer. Over the past several years I have worked with sex addicts to let go of their sexual addictions without any of the reported withdrawals that conventional programs are unable to match. I have also been able to help my clients heal in a matter of a month or two without the need to perpetually obsess about the issue, and without needing to label themselves. For me healing occurs when people can re-enter the world living a normal life no longer being involved in the dysfunctional behaviors and that includes perpetually talking about your past behavior. Let it be in the past as you let it go. Search out a hypnotist that can help you to more easily heal from the underlying issues that created the problem in the first place. In this way you will be able to get on with your life, and back with your family where you belong.

 

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May 04 2013

An Interesting Weight Loss Case History – Vol. 102, May 12, 2011

A few weeks ago I received a call from a woman who worked in the medical field. She was looking for a hypnotist to work with her husband who had the interesting habit of sleep walking in the middle of the night to get something to eat. However, he had no recollection of this behavior. She did because she was regularly awakened each evening as a result of it.

She had found my name as a result of calling a community medical program who found the Dawning Visions Hypnosis, Inc. website online. When she found out that Dawning Visions was within an easy walk of her home, she decided to give me a call.

Her husband came in for his first appointment where I took his detailed personal history. From the conversation with his spouse on the phone I was of the opinion that this could be a fairly simple case. He had about 30 to 40 pounds to lose, making it a smaller amount of weight with which we were dealing. It was also clear that he may have an allergy to gluten given that he had to go to the bathroom right after eating, one of the common symptoms. However, one does not know what one does not know. I suggested that he refrain from eating wheat products and see if that helped him out at all.

During the detailed personal history he had many stories of loss of people in his life that he never really had a chance to grieve. He was rather sad while speaking of one of his sister’s two children who perished in a freak accident, some twenty-five years earlier. The children were only nine and eight years old and my client twenty-five at the time of the accident.

Since my client got upset as he told of the story I made the decision to do a hypnotic induction on him to heal some of the loss he had experienced. I asked him to ask his unconscious mind which of the individuals he felt the deepest need to grieve. This was done because the client really does have the best idea as to the clearing that will have the largest impact. He told me that he needed to clear the loss of his nephew and niece. He said it felt so unfair that two such loving and happy children had to perish. He could never get his mind around the loss.

We cleared the losses of the two children including him having a conversation with each of them as a way to allow him to have the very much needed closure around this sad situation. Next, I had him speak with his twenty-five year old self letting him know that now the forty-two year old would be taking care of him leaving the twenty-five year old self to be at peace finally.

A week later my client came in for his follow-up. The first thing that he said was that he was no longer awakening his spouse in the middle of the night as far as he knew since she had never told him of it happening since our first appointment. He started to make his meals and bring them to work. This was something he did for quite some time and stopped doing. Bringing his own food meant that he had control over what he was putting into his mouth, especially important if he was indeed gluten intolerant.
We cleared a couple of more losses for him, during his second session, though he made it clear to me that he felt the behavior was really all built around the loss of those two cute, innocent children.

So far things seem to be going well. I will be following him as he continues to drop the requisite weight.

The lesson here is fairly simple. It is not only about diet and exercise that people end up gaining weight. Emotional issues can and do contribute to these weight increasing behaviors. Once they are unearthed and dealt with, the need to fill up, even in the middle of the night during a sleep walking ritual you may not even be aware of, can be stopped and the weight can more easily come off.

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May 04 2013

Kids and Divorce: It’s Not As Bad As You Think

Hijo del divorcioKids and Divorce: It’s Not As Bad As You Think – Vol. 199, May 4, 2013

How many times have you heard parents relent that they are unable to divorce because of the harm it will do to their children? I hear this more often than I would like. From my perspective, if someone is in an unhappy marriage the best thing they can do for everyone involved, is to dissolve it. Using your children as a reason to stay in an unhealthy and untenable situation is a bad idea for all concerned.

Most of the 1.5 million children of divorce do well in the long term according the research sited by Hal Arkowitz and Scott O. Lilienfeld in their article “Is Divorce Bad For Children” (Scientific American Mind, March/April 2013 p. 68-69). The researchers found that the children of divorce showed small differences in their overall social and emotional well being over those of married couples.

There were two situations that created the most angst from children:

1. Children do poorly with high levels of conflict during and after the divorce that are between you and your children’s other parent. Keep these conflicts to a minimum to help your children feel more secure through the process of divorce while minimizing emotional damage.

2. When parents didn’t express their marital issues, they surprised and in some cases terrified their children when the upcoming divorce was announced. Interestingly enough, those children who experience much tension between their parents before the divorce adjust better than those who experience little discord between their parents. These children happy to know that the fighting is coming to an end. Be honest with your kids about the situation between you and your spouse, speaking to them at their level of understanding.

One of the most common issues that arise in children regarding divorce is that of the child blaming him/herself for the divorce. I had a 10 year old boy come in for a session who was acting out in anger, pushing people. His dad really was not certain what the true issue here was because there were some serious problems going on with his mother at the time, along with some changes in the household itself. During the session his dad was present. I asked this little boy what was going one with him and why it was that he was feeling so angry. He answered quite honestly that he thought that it was his fault that his parents got divorced. To his father’s credit he was able to explain that just as his son sometimes has friends that he no longer feels friendly toward for whatever the reason, this is what happened to him and mommy.

If you have a child that is acting angry or even if the child is acting withdrawn, go ahead and simply ask what is on the child’s mind. If the child is able to express it, you will be able to have an honest discussion about how friendships can change over time. In this case the child understood that his mother had some serious emotional issues that she was going through. What he didn’t understand was that it was his mother’s issues that created the problems in the marriage, having nothing to do with him.

If your child is unwilling to speak to you, do go seek out some professional help. It will be better for your child and for the family as a whole.

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Apr 27 2013

The Importance of Telling People that they Matter

Because of Your Love I am FreeVol. 85 February 2010 – The Importance of Telling People that they Matter

Article written by Donna N.

One would think that telling someone you care would be a simple and natural act, as natural as eating or sleeping.  The simple act of letting someone know you care about them  too often goes unsaid,  and assumed or taken for granted..  By not telling someone you care and assuming they know how you feel you are really taking them as well as their life for granted.  Telling someone you care and appreciate them certainly is something that is done not nearly enough in our everyday lives.  People need to feel appreciated.   People need to be told they are cared about and appreciated.  Too often we go through our daily lives assuming that people know how we feel.  Due to this fact,  this newsletter has been a little hard to write.    We often assume the other person knows we care and so we do not feel the need to tell them.    It seems like they should just know,  but do they?   Why is it so hard to tell someone you care?   Probably because it is easier to assume they just know,  and that is why this newsletter was hard to write.  And just how important is this to us humans as we go through the motions of our daily life?   It wasn’t until I read an article on the internet that this hit home for me. The article was written by Victoria Rosner for the New York Times and she was also featured on the Today Show on TV on January 19, 2010. The title of the article is “ Shall I let my Son See His Dying Dad?”

When I read this article on my computer it reminded me of a similar situation in my own life.

The article was about a 2 year old boy who never knew his father.  His father had walked away from his mother when she was pregnant with him.   Although his father was not present physically,  it didn’t mean he didn’t care, or did it-how was this 2 year old to know? Continue reading

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