HPS111: Argumentative Essay on Hypnotherapy Treatments

This argumentative essay examines the effectiveness of hypnotherapy in treating various psychological disorders. The essay begins by defining hypnotherapy and its process, then delves into its application for conditions such as schizophrenia, PTSD, anxiety, depression, and ADHD. It presents arguments and evidence from scholarly articles, including randomized controlled trials and studies on children's responsiveness to hypnotherapy. The essay also discusses the use of hypnotherapy for conditions like insomnia and inflammatory bowel syndrome, while also acknowledging potential adverse effects and limitations. The conclusion synthesizes the evidence, highlighting the potential benefits of hypnotherapy for specific conditions and the need for trained professionals to administer the treatment. The essay follows APA guidelines and is a comprehensive exploration of the topic.

Running head: PSYCHOLOGY FUNDAMENTAL OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR
PSYCHOLOGY FUNDAMENTAL OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

1PSYCHOLOGY FUNDAMENTAL OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR
Should we be using hypnotherapy to treat psychological disorders? If so, for whom and for
what?
Hypnotherapy usually involves the application of guided application, intense concentration and
fixated attention for achieving an increased level of awareness that is often known as trance. The
attention of an individual becomes so focused during this state, that anything going around is
temporarily obstructed. The person might focus his or her attention with the assistance of a
therapist. It has normally been found to help people to unravel their painful thoughts, meanings
and the memoirs that might have hidden from the conscious minds.
Additionally, it is hypnosis that permits people to perceive things like blocking the consciousness
of pain. This paper will argue over the effectiveness of hypnosis in treating certain psychological
disorders. It has been argued over the fact that children tend to respond better than the adults to
hypnotism as children are more in touch with their own imaginations Cowen, (2016). In support
of this Hilgard and LeBaron, (2019) have stated that hypnosis has been found to be useful to
relieve pain and anxiety in children suffering from cancer. It has been stated that hypnosis in
children largely depends upon their capacity for the imagination, which normally remains high in
child and might not be shared equally among all the children. Children’s capability of remaining
immersed in pretend play has been found to be the precursor of their hypnotizability. It has been
found that hypnotherapy in combination with CBT has been effective in treating ADHD than that
of only CBT treatment (Hiltunen et al., 2014).

2PSYCHOLOGY FUNDAMENTAL OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR
Hiltunen et al, (2014) have conducted a randomized controlled trial where it has been stated that
hypnotherapy is a better option in treating depression, which is an important comorbidity of
ADHD. This can be supported by another evidence by Virta, Hiltunen, Mattsson and Kallio,
(2015), where it has been stated that hypnotherapy is more effective than the antidepressants in
treating depression. This is due to the fact, that when an individual reaches in a trance, he or she
reaches the deepest level of consciousness and assist the patients with new and healthier thought
process and behavior to use at the time of encountering the depressive events.
Schizophrenia a serious mental disorder that can have people to experience altered
thought, delusional thinking, altered thinking patters. It can also cause social withdrawal. Zhang
et al. (2017), have suggested that hypnosis can be used as an alternative form of treatment like
talking therapies and relaxation or guided imagery. A randomized controlled trial has been
conducted for measuring the effectiveness. It has been found that very few people have left the
trials suggesting that hypnosis and relaxation and listening to classical music can be a non-
pharmacological treatment options for schizophrenia, improving their function and the life
quality. Pyun, (2013) on the other hand have stated that Hypnotherapeutic methods like direct
and indirect suggestion , psycho-strengthening imaging and suggestions, guidance,
hypnoprojective restructuring and neutralization of effects related to delusions have been
affective in some of the selected hypnotizable patients.
It has been stated by Barabasz and Barabasz, (2013), that Abreactive hypnosis, which the
main constituent of the Ego State Therapy (EST) that has been advanced from the
psychodynamic understanding of the character as the product of the ego states. Disclosure to any
traumatic events has been found to activate the subcortical structures of the brain. Previously

3PSYCHOLOGY FUNDAMENTAL OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR
Psychologists have often stated that the traumatic events remain jammed in the brain in the non-
verbal region, subcortical region of the brain, where they cannot be accessible to the frontal
lobes, which are responsible for reasoning, understanding and thinking. Neurobiological studies
have revealed certain neurobiological shifts related to focused attention and arousal of relieving
the trauma. The traumatic imprint is inaccessible via the verbal, rational, cautious or the
executive part of the brain as it is entrenched in the subcortical subconscious, which can only be
affected by cognition and thinking. Abreactive hypnosis has been found to be altering these main
functions (Barabasz & Barabasz, 2013). However, the hypnotherapy will not just be confined to
talking about the trauma or cognitive reframing, but should also be able to activate the primary
process regions to severe discussion of the actual incident. It has been stated by Barabasz and
Barabasz, (2013) that 5-6 hours session procedure of hypnotherapy has been found to be useful
for PTSD.
Although the paper focuses on psychological disorders, but a large number of paper can
be obtained about hypnotic therapy in the treatment of inflammatory bowel syndrome, which is
of some unknown etiology. There are evidences that proves the distress often leads to IBD
symptoms flares. Since there is no cure, treatment mainly depends on pharmacological, and
dietary interventions. Gut-directed hypnotherapy (GHT) has been utilized to control gastro-
intestinal disorders (Moser, 2014). GHT has been found to be having an immune modulating
impact and can increate clinical remission in patients with ulcerative colitis (Moser, 2014). Many
of the papers have also referred to the fact that hypnotherapy has been found to be effective in
treating patients with insomnia.

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Hypnotherapy can be considered to be safe, unless it is given by a trained
psychotherapist. Hypnosis has been found to be ineffective in people with severe mental health
disorder. Adverse reaction related to hypnosis are rare but mild side effects like head ache,
dizziness might persist. Extreme conditions might include dissociative symptoms that is
destabilizing, which might place the patient at the risk of harm (Howard, 2017).
In conclusion, it can be said although there are few papers related to the effectiveness of
hypnosis, but the papers that supported the effectiveness of hypnosis have provided some really
strong evidence regarding the use of hypnosis against certain conditions liken Schizophrenia,
PTSD, anxiety disorder and other conditions like sleeping disorder and irritable bowel
syndrome.

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References
Barabasz, A., & Barabasz, M. (2013). Hypnosis for PTSD: Evidence based placebo controlled
studies. Journal of Trauma and Treatment, 2167-1222. http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2167-
1222.S4-006
Cowen, L. W. (2016). Literature review into the effectiveness of hypnotherapy. Australian
Counselling Research Journal, 10, 1-55.
Hilgard, J. R., & LeBaron, S. (2019). Hypnotherapy of pain in children with cancer. Routledge.
Hiltunen, S., Virta, M. A. A. R. I. T., Salakari, A. N. I. T. A., Antila, M. E. R. V. I., Chydenius,
E., Kaski, M., & Partinen, M. (2014). Better long-term outcome for hypnotherapy than
for CBT in adults with ADHD: results of a six-month follow-up. Contemp Hypn Integr
Ther, 30, 118-134. Access date: 27.1.2020. Retrieved from:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Maarit_Virta/publication/264382321_Better_long-
term_outcome_for_hypnotherapy_than_for_CBT_in_adults_with_ADHD_Results_of_a_
six-month_follow-up/links/56542e3308aeafc2aabba4bd/Better-long-term-outcome-for-
hypnotherapy-than-for-CBT-in-adults-with-ADHD-Results-of-a-six-month-follow-up.pdf
Howard, H. A. (2017). Promoting safety in hypnosis: A clinical instrument for the assessment of
alertness. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 59(4), 344-362.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00029157.2016.1203281

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Moser, G. (2014). The role of hypnotherapy for the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases.
Expert review of gastroenterology & hepatology, 8(6), 601-606.
https://doi.org/10.1586/17474124.2014.917955
Pyun, Y. D. (2013). The effective use of hypnosis in schizophrenia: structure and
strategy. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 61(4), 388-400.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00207144.2013.815059
Virta, M., Hiltunen, S., Mattsson, M., & Kallio, S. (2015). The impact of hypnotic suggestions
on reaction times in continuous performance test in adults with ADHD and healthy
controls. PloS one, 10(5). doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0126497
Youssef, S. (2013). Is Hypnotherapy an Effective Treatment for Depression?.
Zhang, B., Wang, J., Zhu, Q., Ma, G., Shen, C., Fan, H., & Wang, W. (2017). Hypnotic
susceptibility and affective states in bipolar I and II disorders. BMC psychiatry, 17(1),
362. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-017-1529-2