Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy for Treating Chronic Migraines

The treatment and prevention of chronic migraines using hypnosis can be a relatively cost-effective option for those wanting to avoid prescription drugs.

As a matter of fact, hypnosis can be beneficial for treating all kinds of headaches, whether they be migraine, chronic, or episodic.

In a recent study, the researchers compared the cost of different kinds of behavioral treatment with that of prescription drugs.

Following a six month period, the behavioral treatment methods were comparable to the prescription drug treatments.

In the case of minimal-contact therapy, for instance, the patient meets the therapist only a few times per year, and then practices the behavioral techniques mostly at home with the help of recordings.

After a year, minimal-contact treatment was on average $500 less expensive than prescription drugs according to this which was published in the journal “Headache” in June 2011.

Using Hypnotherapy for the Treatment of Underlying Stress

An even more effective method than self-hypnosis, on the other hand, is using hypnotherapy for the treatment of the underlying stress which causes the headaches to begin with.

Body pain sometimes acts something like a wake up call which is sent in a language which the body understands; namely, sensations.

With hypnotherapy, because it has access to the subconscious mind, it can persuade the body to send its message in another language which the conscious mind understands; namely, English.

A patient might be asked, for example, “now focus on the sensations that are most immediate to you now. Where are they? OK, in your head, around the temples.

Now let those painful sensations speak.” This Gestalt technique can be very effective, and within the trance of a hypnotic state, the patient will nearly always spontaneously find the words coming out of their mouths which express the real source of the pain manifesting in the body.

“I am just so tired of working all the time and getting nothing for it” or “I need to take a break, and forcing headaches is the best way I know to force you to take one.”

And this is only the beginning of the patient’s emotional exploration.

The next step is to take these words as well as the light they shed on the underlying problem behind the symptoms, and then go back in time to the original source of this problem.

For instance a patient might follow the trail back to an event at age nine when he was bursting with frustration in his fourth grade classroom at not being able to grasp the teacher’s explanation.

His head even began throbbing so that the teacher sent him to the school nurse to lie down and take a rest. In other words, his headache served as his ticket out of a difficult and hopeless situation, and as time went on he unconsciously began to use this method again and again.

The next step would be to work with the patient’s age-regressed nine-year-old ego to find other ways to deal with the problem.

Then with the help of the current, adult ego, that nine year old is able to find more constructive solutions. He could find a more creative way to understand the problem, or simply even tell the teacher that he needs more time to understand.

The patient then experiences a healthier route out of the problem and gains a feeling of empowerment as well as sense that the headache has been but one option among others for escaping a stressful situation.

This option can then become one that the adult no longer opts for.

Alternative Methods of Relief

This new insight, along with the freedom retroactively experienced from it, saves patients from the dread that their symptoms are unavoidable, that they are like an independent forcing lurking in their heads just waiting to pounce.

To reach this realization viscerally, not only intellectually, is made possible only by accessing the subconscious mind.

Hypnosis is a gentle, but at the same time powerful, method to gain access to one’s deep subconscious motivations, and to access to the body’s insight through explicit language rather than through subtle emotional cues.

It is a common phenomenon for patients to visit doctors, pharmacies, medicine cabinets to find relief.

It is comparatively less common for people to consult a therapist about physical symptoms such as headaches.

Nevertheless, patients of hypnotherapy have come to realize that many physical symptoms can be rooted in emotional issues and can accordingly be treated by hypnotherapy.

The subconscious mind has an uncanny ability to speak for body.

When patients learn the to communication directly with the body, they become empowered in a way they never thought possible before.

Modern medicine has taught us to seek out medical doctors exclusively in order to treat physical symptoms. Many ancient traditions, however, such as Chinese or Indian Ayurvedic medicine, have always appreciated the interconnection between mind, body and spirit.

Modern Western medicine, on the other hand, distinguishes sharply between the mind and body, and can accordingly be counterproductive to healing at times.

In places such the Cleveland Clinic’s Integrative Medicine department, however, people discovering again the tools to heal the entire complex of mind, body and spirit of their patients.

When patients come to realize that their painful symptoms, illnesses, or even serious diseases might actually have originated from their childhood-self’s decision to find safety or comfort, they experience a great elation because they can now make healthier decisions as an adult that no longer imply their pain or illness. It can often come as quite a surprise, and as a joyful event taking place right there in the therapist’s office.

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Perth Hypnotherapists
Linda 0409 079 435 or Jan 0423 936 933 today.

Medical Disclaimer

Results will vary from person to person.

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