From Chicago Tribune, September 29, 1995
Hypnosis can help patients achieve mind over matter
By Bob Condor
There are many misconceptions about hypnosis, and it seems Marc Oster has heard them all.
``People think it means something is done to them, that they are passive,'' said Oster, a professor at the Adler School of Professional Psychology. ``But modern hypnosis is not like that. It's more of a collaboration between client and therapist.''
Nobody is barking like a dog or doing the tango while under a hypnotic spell. ``It's not like an alcoholic blackout in which you don't remember anything,'' Oster explained. ``You are aware of the therapist and can resist him if you so choose.''
Oster offers hypnosis as part of his private psychotherapy practice in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights. His accomplishments - and those of a growing number of Chicago area
colleagues - refute the common misunderstanding of hypnosis as some sort of magic trick.
Instead, these therapists consider hypnosis a process that allows experiencing thoughts and images as if they were real - and a practice that has potent medical applications.
Some examples: Oster has helped patients with all sorts of gastrointestinal disorders. Research on irritable bowel syndrome shows hypnosis can neutralize the condition among people under 50.
He has also worked with patients preparing for surgery, who experience less bleeding and faster healing after hypnotic suggestions. Oster focuses on reducing anxiety about the procedure and allowing the patient to feel more in control.
Burt Siegel, a Hinsdale-based psychologist, has eased the pain of hundreds of cancer sufferers at the Midwest Regional Medical Center in Zion. He uses hypnosis as an adjunct to morphine dosages, encouraging patients to ``remember the feeling of the morphine'' while later associating it with relaxing music or even prayer. The result is people take fewer drugs to achieve the same pain management.
Siegel said his clients include expectant mothers. ``We teach hypnosis techniques so women can feel less pain during labor,'' he said. ``It makes the time pass more quickly. ``Nothing we do in hypnosis is anything the human system itself cannot do. We have all had the sensation of time flying when having fun and time dragging when we are bored. A therapist will simply facilitate the process.''
Dr. Dabney Ewin, a New Orleans physician, has published papers about his dramatic results with burn patients. If a therapist can use hypnosis within two hours of the accident, he says, the patient can avoid the more serious third-degree burns and extra scarring.
``The relaxed hypnotic state allows the patient to tolerate more pain as dead skin is removed,'' said Thomas Rostafinski, a clinical psychologist in Oak Park who is president of the Chicago Society of Clinical Hypnosis.
Research is still needed in many areas of hypnosis and medical outcomes. But hypnotherapy is gaining acceptance among more physicians based on strong anecdotal evidence.
Dr. Andrew Weil, author of the current best seller ``Spontaneous Healing'' (Alfred A. Knopf), highly recommends it for patients with autoimmune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, scleroderma and multiple sclerosis.
Oster said that reputable therapists prefer working with a physician. ``We want to know the medical situation,'' he said. ``The idea is to enhance treatment, not replace it.''
Every first session of hypnotherapy begins with an assessment of the client's ability to be coaxed into a deep, relaxed state. Oster said about 90 percent of his clients can reach such a relaxed condition through word-pictures or visual imagery.
To induce the remaining 10 percent, Oster instructs clients to dangle a key from a thread before their eyes. Then he asks a series of yes/no questions and the key involuntarily moves different ways for yes and no. Next, the clients close their eyes while responding to questions and reach a hypnotic state when they stop worrying about their answers.
``Then we can make suggestions to improve health, such as describing tissue as cool and calm in someone with inflamed joints,'' Oster said. ``We want them to feel the sensation of the swelling going down, which they can then recall later.''
For more information about hypnosis and practitioners, contact the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis at (630) 980-4740.