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The Daily OrangeNo prescription needed: Hypnotists use new medicine to fight obesity, depression
By Megan Hess
Posted: 10/16/08, 11:38 PM EST Section: Feature
Still, 95 percent of the American public has never been professionally hypnotized, and 80 percent has never thought about getting it done, Briggs said. In fact, there are more clinical social workers in Chicago than there are hypnotists in the world, he added.
Briggs said this related back to how certain health-care practitioners question the healing powers behind hypnotism. He said a number claim hypnotherapists yield results that are largely based on testimonials and anecdotes, and cannot be supported by scientific evidence.
Like some fellow hypnotherapists, Schwarz will give new patients free half-hour consultations to answer questions and determine whether they can be hypnotized. As a general test, she asks for chins down and eyes up to the ceiling. The more whites show in the eye, the more susceptible a person is to hypnotism.
Schwarz then develops a rapport with her patients and leads them into the unchartered waters of the subliminal by drawing attention to a specific body part.
"I'll tell them to be aware of their toes, or imagine they are leaves floating on a river," Schwarz said. "They focus on their breathing, and then I coach them into closing their eyes whenever they're ready."
After each session, she assembles motivational readings and customizes CD recordings for her patients to use outside the office.
But Schwarz, 49, wasn't always such an advocate of "brainwashing with a positive twist," as she refers to the practice. Once a skeptic herself, she recognized the healing powers of hypnosis only after a midlife crisis in her 30s. She was burned out as an outpatient director of a chemical dependency program.
"I wanted to work with people who wanted to work with me," Schwarz said. She was attracted to the goal-orientated nature of hypnotherapy, which is all about establishing trust and following directions.
A number of hypnotherapy clinics like Alternative Hypnosis and the Wellness Therapy Center also provide psychotherapy services. In New York state, there is no license required for hypnotism. Lay hypnotists can put ads in newspapers without breaking the law, while most professional hypnotherapists are licensed in psychotherapy.
Briggs said this related back to how certain health-care practitioners question the healing powers behind hypnotism. He said a number claim hypnotherapists yield results that are largely based on testimonials and anecdotes, and cannot be supported by scientific evidence.
Like some fellow hypnotherapists, Schwarz will give new patients free half-hour consultations to answer questions and determine whether they can be hypnotized. As a general test, she asks for chins down and eyes up to the ceiling. The more whites show in the eye, the more susceptible a person is to hypnotism.
Schwarz then develops a rapport with her patients and leads them into the unchartered waters of the subliminal by drawing attention to a specific body part.
"I'll tell them to be aware of their toes, or imagine they are leaves floating on a river," Schwarz said. "They focus on their breathing, and then I coach them into closing their eyes whenever they're ready."
After each session, she assembles motivational readings and customizes CD recordings for her patients to use outside the office.
But Schwarz, 49, wasn't always such an advocate of "brainwashing with a positive twist," as she refers to the practice. Once a skeptic herself, she recognized the healing powers of hypnosis only after a midlife crisis in her 30s. She was burned out as an outpatient director of a chemical dependency program.
"I wanted to work with people who wanted to work with me," Schwarz said. She was attracted to the goal-orientated nature of hypnotherapy, which is all about establishing trust and following directions.
A number of hypnotherapy clinics like Alternative Hypnosis and the Wellness Therapy Center also provide psychotherapy services. In New York state, there is no license required for hypnotism. Lay hypnotists can put ads in newspapers without breaking the law, while most professional hypnotherapists are licensed in psychotherapy.
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