Hypnosis and Panic Attacks

Defined as a physiological condition intending to change or alter a person’s thinking or behavior, hypnosis has been a hot topic for scientists, with some believing that is can indeed cure patients and help them overcome various illnesses – like panic attacks, for example – and others brushing it off as mere quackery without any real remedial value.  Still, despite the arguments on both sides, this has not stopped hypnosis from consistently being employed by those psychologists who see it as a way to help sufferers of panic attacks.  They stress its history – which dates back hundreds of years, if not longer – and argue that, even in a time of high skepticism, many people still look to hypnosis as a means of helping them overcome their illness. 

Because of the effects hypnosis has on an individual’s mind, many psychologists believe that panic attacks, which stem from the brain, can be remedied with hypnosis.  Utilizing hypnosis, these psychologists argue, helps to formulate a division between body and mind.  Dealing with the mind exclusively, hypnosis can help strengthen the effects of the mind over the body by altering how certain sensations are perceived and by redirecting a person’s attention away from symptoms that may be dwelled upon during a panic attack.  This, in turn, will lead to a state of physical relaxation, causing a panic attack that may have only become worse to gradually subside and eventually disappear altogether.  Many patients who have undergone such treatment swear to its effectiveness and have come to be major proponents of this type of psychology.  They view it as a way to help someone with taking prescription medication that may have short or long term effects on a person’s body and mind. 

On the other hand, there are many, psychologists included, who perceive hypnosis as nothing more than an outdated, ineffective treatment that has not shown any conclusive scientific indications that it can help cure people from panic attacks.  Pointing to the increased knowledge that has been gained about the brain, people who dispute the effectiveness of hypnosis generally argue that the brain is far too complex an organism to simply be fooled into thinking something that it is not true.

Although they concede that there are certain illusions that will trick the brain into thinking something contrary to the truth – optical illusions, for instance – they argue that this is only temporary and that, sooner or later, an individual realizes that this is not the truth and hence no longer believes it to be the truth.  Hypnosis may be able suitable as a short-term solution to panic attacks but can no way be considered a long-term one.  For any long-term solution, a permanent, irreversible change must take place and this, they contend, can only be done by a drastic life-style change or through the use of drugs.  

Whether effective or not, hypnosis still plays an active role in psychology and is still sought after by many people wishing to cure panic attacks and many other illnesses. Even those who view it negatively admit that the complete disappearance of hypnosis is likely to never occur, mainly because it is so ingrained in our society.

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