Nowadays, a number of books on the subject of Psychiatry explicitly indicate psychotherapy under hypnosis, as we presently tend to call the medical use of hypnosis (or hypnotherapy), as a choice treatment and associated to other therapeutic methods such as the administration of psycho pharmaceutical or clinical medicines, in cases where the conditions are mostly of somatoform nature.

In removal of traumas, control of phobic fear and in the major part of the behavioral disturbances, the therapy by means of the spoken word under hypnosis shortens the length of the treatment and increases the results obtained, since the suggestions transmitted, "a priori" to the benefit of the patient, are not questioned by the superego.

This was known to the elder hypnosis psychiatrists, Mesmer, Charcot, Abbe Faria and even Freud; the latter, not knowing how to use it, declared it to be an hysterical phenomenon.  Freud's disservice was a heavy burden which only lost its strength when psychiatric prejudice was enlightened and entities such as the British Medical Association, American Medical Association, Canadian Medical Association and American Psychiatry Association acknowledged the power of hypnosis as means of diagnosis and treatment of specific psychiatric problems.

Researchers and university services then got immediately organized to a more in-depth study on its phenomena and on the use to be given to its particular diagnosis and therapy techniques.  An international society was founded which, to date, publishes a magazine of high scientific level aiming at sharing its knowledge.  National entities were created in different countries and were associated to the International Society.

But history takes turns: proximity of the "new age" and the amazing patient's capacity to present hypermnesia phenomena, the exacerbation of the memory, attempts to exploit the technique of regression to infant and adolescent stages to instigate insensible therapists to seek fantastic regressions to other dimensions, fetal life and even ... other lives, throwing this serious medical technique into the limbo of esoterism. People can live and "re-live" other lives in several serious mental conditions: the pseudo-therapist's have forgotten that among the amazing qualities of this technique, there is that of delirium induction, which is capable of turning patient's latent fantasies into elaborated delusions. And worse: in Brazil (and in few other countries) stage hypnotists use and abused their human "guinea pigs" showing the audience some trance inducing techniques in a bizarre manner. In Brazil, in the early 60's, a presidential decree brought the use of hypnosis back to the medical environment but .... yet, it did not manage to gain the total credibility of the physician, who is unaware of the neuro-scientific basis of hypnosis.

How it works

Trance inducement in a gradual manner, in stages, follows the path of sensorial fatigue, imposed by means of calm, rhythmic and persistent words. The stimulation of the inhibiting reticular substance activates the emotional mechanisms of the cortic-limbic-cortical inter-relation towards activating the sensitive, sensorial, ideative and affective functions. An alteration is initiated in consciousness, a state that simulates the sleep state but is not sleep (the person does not "sleep" under hypnosis) the EEG registration of the patient under hypnosis is that of type of alertness and not unconsciousness.

Is sensitivity to hypnosis a general one?  Yes.  Around 90% of the population may be hypnotized, at least to a level for medical therapy. Some may not be hypnotized for the deeper stages, such as the stages required for pure research. These 90% have different levels of sensitivity: they will all enter the hypnotic state - depending mainly upon the skill and effort of the physician. What about the remaining 10%? Well, as hypnosis depends on word stimulation (calm, rhythmic, monotonous and persistent) only those deaf and those unable to understand the minimum essence of what is being said will not easily enter trance.

What are the indications?

Let us make it clear that, irrespective of the level of hypnotic depth, the person hypnotized will not follow a suggestion that may violate his/her code of values, principles or ethics. Therefore, to say that there was a hypnotic suggestion made that could force someone to attack an authority (for example), has no scientific grounds: hypnosis is powerful but unable to alter the personal scale of values. 
The relief of pain is one of the basic indications; as one should not lie to the patient under hypnosis, the suggestion is not that the pain has ceased to exist but rather that it is gradually becoming a tolerable sensation of itching or warmth. We may enhance the courage of a candidate to a working position by reinforcing their true personal values and lessening the fear and inhibiting self-depreciative impulses or lack of self confidence. 

It is difficult to increase a critical number of t4 cells in immunodeficient patients. W.H. Polonsky, PhD. of the Boston University School of Medicine, with controlled methodology, recorded sessions, four 2 hour sessions of hypnosis, collecting blood, before, during and afterwards, verified the increase of t4 cells in the normal phases of life and in happy moments; in depression the count decreased. 
G.R. Smith, from the Psychiatry Department of the University of Arkansas tested the cellular immunological response and the same response fortified with hypnosis, measuring the lymphocyte transformation in antigens, and eventually verified a immunological response, in that some suppressed it and others increased it. These results were presented at a meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society, held in Toronto.

From the easiest therapy (pain relief), to the hardest one, the increase of t4 cells (what a hope to the HIV positive patient!), the range of hypnosis applications can vary from control of somatoformal processes to the old psychosomatic diseases, from asthma to irritable colon and psycho-dermatological problems. It prepares the pregnant woman for a tranquil and controlled labor, where the pain is mediated by the parturient woman herself.

But it's widest application is in Psychiatry. From deconditioning of phobic fears to control of anxiety. Impulse control is one of the newly opening fields of practical investigation. Behavior disorders, dietary problems (anorexia and bulimia), inhibited or exacerbated sexual impulses and correction of its malfunctions at every age level. Control of gambling impulse and also the intervention (by means of potentialization of psychotherapy under hypnosis) in different chemical addictions, from alcohol to heroin, to smoking. It is also useful as a reinforcement of behavioral treatment, accompanied by biological therapy adequate to the particular case.

It's activity on the emotional elements of depression, control of suicidal impulse, re-activating the normal values of life, in short, with advantages to the functions inherent to those of psychotherapy should be stressed. While it should not be forgotten that some forms of depression are a hereditary organic disorder not treatable without the corresponding medication.

Every day and at every discovery, those who study hypnosis find a new possibilities opening and the addition of new elements to neuroscience, from research to diagnosis, to treatment.

The wonderful thing is it's safe. Totally harmless and controlled by the physician.

The only danger is it's possible misuse: delusions can be created, especially when 'navigating' around peoples lives in false regressions. The unethical practitioner may hold open the door to dangerous fantasy, triggering latent psychosis.

TOPIC "I"

Hypnosis remains one of the most controversial therapeutic methods in Psychiatry: it was coldly received after the undue criticism of it's theraputic value by Freud, it came back with renewed strength after the Second World War, supported by the major international medical entities and today it's a tool capable of altering the immunological response, expressively increasing the CD4/CD8 ratio.

It endured serious disbelief in Brazil due to it frequent use as entertainment on stage, jeopardizing the human "guinea pigs"; it the early 60's a presidential decree prohibited its use out of the medical environment and it has subsequently become the choice treatment for some of the most important psychiatric conditions.

One of its advantages is the reduction of treatment time but it should be pointed out that hypnosis is seldom a treatment in itself. Still, there is no doubt that the different therapeutic methods in use work better and faster when allied with hypnosis.

It is a preferential treatment for the (controlled and planned) removal of symptoms, removal of traumas of irrelevant cause; it is the psychotherapy that comes closest to the disembling of phobic fears and it is the briefest and most efficient method to control somatoformal processes, anxious etiologies of cause to be separately analyzed. And in today's AIDS world, it is the method which leads to the fastest alteration of psycho-immunology, drastically increasing the CD4/CD8 ratio. As a medical procedure, it may be supported by associated therapy, such as a psycho- pharmaceutical one (anti-depressants). Its value in the immediate relief of pain opens new fields in several medical areas, from rheumatology to surgery, to oncology.