B1 – Intermediate
For centuries, people have been wondering and debating about hypnosis. Science has yet to fully explain how it actually works. But nowadays, more and more people are turning to this method to cure various ailments. But does it really work?
Read the article to find out more about this alternative treatment
This is how it works.
The patient settles into a chair. She stretches her feet onto an ottoman.
In a soothing voice, the doctor says, “I’m going to count from one to three, and as I count, your eyelids will get heavy. They will close whenever it feels right.”
The patient relaxes each part of her body. The doctor guides her to “a place of rest and comfort and healing.”
She tells the patient, “Enjoy the beauty of this natural, healing place. And as you do, something very powerful and healthy and positive is taking place deep inside your body. Your body knows what it needs to maintain healing your gut. It knows how to keep pleasant sensations in. How to avoid pain and discomfort.”
This is hypnotherapy. Patients enter a trance-like state. They experience relaxation and visual images. Medical centers are now using hypnotherapy. The purpose is to treat gastrointestinal (GI) disorders. GI disorders include digestive conditions such as acid reflux, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and ulcerative colitis.
The treatment usually is about seven sessions scheduled over a three-month period. People practice at home between sessions. Studies show the treatment works in more than half of patients. Treatment outcomes can last more than a year.
A doctor said, “Some patients get a little uneasy about the word ‘hypnosis.’ It brings up images of some guy in Vegas making you bark like a dog. It takes some education to explain to them.”
The doctor says about one-third of patients are open to trying hypnosis.
Faulty signals between the brain and the gut cause the body to have a bad reaction. It results in internal pain. Why does hypnosis work? Because it shifts the brain’s attention away from those signals. Hypnotherapy provides healthy suggestions about what is going on in the gut.
The problem does not go away. The GI tract is still upset. But the patient does not feel the pain in the same way. It is less intense.
Hypnosis works well on IBS patients. There are few treatments for IBS. Hypnosis has become a major treatment. A doctor said, “It sounds crazy, but we have been having great success with hypnotherapy.”
A patient says hypnotherapy helped rid him of pain in his abdomen. His doctor told him that his diagnosis of IBS was incorrect. The real problem was related to his brain.
The patient thought he had nothing to lose. Nothing else had helped him for two years. The pain disappeared in fewer than ten sessions. He said, “Sometimes it creeps back a little, and I just do one or two [home] sessions and it goes away.”.
Hypnosis is now an accepted treatment for some medical conditions. Most insurances cover it. Medical centers all over the country are using it.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Discussion Questions:
- What is hypnosis? Explain how it is done.
- What is your opinion about this treatment?
- Talk about its positives and negatives.
- Would you try it out yourself? Tell us why or why not.
- Share about other things you know about hypnosis.
16 replies on “A Surprise Medical Treatment: Hypnosis”
1.What is hypnosis? Explain how it is done.
When your brain is in a unconsciousness state and your body is ease through breath and mindfulness techniques you can call that ” hypnosis”
2.What is your opinion about this treatment?
In my opinion it depends on the person. If someone is wiling and confident to leverage this technique probably it will work but the knowledge ot the doctor who applies it is very important
3.Talk about its positives and negatives.
I think that there are only positives implications unless it does not work for you
4.Would you try it out yourself? Tell us why or why not.
I would like to be hypnotized to realise how my body feels
4.Share about other things you know about hypnosis.
I don’t have too much information . In fact all that I know is that I have seen in tv shows and in that case does not seem t6o be very professional , it is more oriented to have fun and entertain or amuse the public
What is hypnosis? Explain how it is done.
Hyposis is an alternative treatment. The patient enters a trance-life state while they are relaxed and listening to the hypnotist. Hypnosis serves for some treatments.
What is your opinion about this treatment?
I´m not very confident with this treatment, I´m more in favour of the traditional medicine.
Talk about its positives and negatives.
As a positive thing is that seems to be working for some diseases while you are not taking any drug.
The negatives is that not doing well the tecnique can lead to other problems.
Would you try it out yourself? Tell us why or why not.
I have some respect about it,kind of fear, not sure I would be willing to make it.
Share about other things you know about hypnosis.
Hypnosis is not adequate for everyone and should be used carefully and by experienced people with correct tecniques.
Welcome to the Phoneenglish blog! Well done writing your answers.
Here is how this sentence can be written a bit better:
May you continue to be consistent in practicing your writing through this exercise.
1 – It is an alternative treatment for various health problems.
The person enters a trance and begins to have pleasant sensations.
2- It is very good, it seems interesting and healing.
3 – I don’t know anyone who has tried it.
Yes, I would try it if necessary.
Good job trying to answer your lesson’s discussion questions.
See how this response can be revised:
Remember to write as many sentences as you can to answer each question to be able to express your thoughts better. For example, instead of just saying, “Yes, I would try it if necessary.“, you may also indicate why you would want to see for yourself how this treatment works.
What is hypnosis? Explain how it is done.
Hypnosis is a non medical therapy where your body connects with you brain skipping interferences having positive results but the method has not been scientifically proved.
What is your opinion about this method? I know people used it and it worked so I agree to use it for some diseases as a supplemental therapy.
Do you know anybody who has tried this treatment before? Would you try it out yourself? My father was a smoker, used hypnosis and stopped. Yes, I would use if it could be an alternative to cure my disease.
Good job starting with your writing practice once again.
Take note how this sentence can be written properly:
Keep going with this exercise.
1. Hypnosis is a state of deep relaxation where a person apparently loses the power of voluntary action.
2. I’ve heard that hypnotherapy as a technique is useful. But I think we need more information and more studies to determine if it really works. I think that in many people it has a placebo effect. In people with anxiety and depression I think this method is good, help relax and felt a lot better.
3. No, I don’t know anyone who has used this method. Yes, I would try it out myself.
Way to go returning to your writing practice. You are off to a great start.
Note how this sentence can be structured better:
To more entries from you!
1. What is hypnosis? Explain how it is done.
Hypnosis works into your mind, helped you to have access of parts of your mind that normally is difficult to access. I think people only use a little part of their minds. Brains is the motor of the body.
2. What is your opinion about this method?
I don’t think hypnosis is for everyone. I suppose you must have a predisposition to suggestion, if you are open-minded it will be easy for hypnosis to work well.
3. Do you know anybody who has tried this treatment before? Would you try it out yourself?
No, I don´t know anybody who has tried hypnosis.
Why not, I think you don´t have anything to lose for trying it.
It is good to have you back! May you continue to be consistent with practicing your writing once again.
You may express this sentence a little better this way:
Until your next entry!
What is hypnosis? Explain how it is done.
Hypnosis consists on taken the patient to a relaxed state where his brain can be reeducated.
What is your opinion about this method?
I cant’t understand how it works, but if it is so extended and scientifically accepted, I guess that it has a correct base.
Do you know anybody who has tried this treatment before? Would you try it out yourself?
No, I do not know anyone who has tried this. If I needed, I would not have problem in trying it.
Good work answering this lesson’s discussion questions. Remember to keep being as expressive as possible. Elaborate on your ideas as much as you possibly can.
See how you can improve the following sentences a little bit:
Keep going with this exercise to continue progressing.
I think that current medicine continues to use a fairly orthodox methodology and it is not friendly to using other alternatives that are outside its medical field, strictly speaking.
Thank you for sharing what you think. Please look at some a bit more accurate words you can use to say this idea:
I think that current medicine continues to use a fairly orthodox methodology and it is not friendly to using other alternatives that are outside its medical field, strictly speaking.
> I think that modern medicine continues to use fairly orthodox methods and it is not friendly to using other alternatives that are outside the medical field, strictly speaking.
Cheers!
The Hipnosis like a way to treat patienst with Mental illness started at the end of XIX centurie, Sigmud Freud was very interested on this technic, but he could realise very soon that the symtoms desapeared but the patients had the same symtoms right away. This was the reason he looked for another way to treat the patiens without any relapse. The Psychoanalisis was born.