As a clinical hypnotherapist, I find this one of the most exciting areas in the field of hypnotherapy and something I use in clinical practice, so I thought I'd write a little blog about it.
Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI), or simply, how your mind affects your immune system. I believe most people have an idea how our mind can negatively affect our immune system but scientific evidence demonstrating this is relatively recent. How illness commonly occurs after people become psychologically 'run down' or suffer from chronic stress, anxiety, fear or a traumatic shock, such as a death in the family, because this weakens the body's ability to fight illness. Other lifestyle aspects are part of the big picture, such as diet, exercise, bad habits, genetic predisposition though, in my 23 years experience as a health clinician, I can honestly and comfortably say that repetitive negative emotional states of mind commonly manifest into disease. For some, that's catching a cold, or developing a rash or a cold sore, but for others, it means the development of far more serious life-threatening diseases.
"Following hypnotherapy there was a significant overall reduction in the number of reported episodes of rgHSV (herpes virus) accompanied by an increase in the numbers of CD3 and CD8 lymphocytes which may represent a non specific effect of hypnosis. There was also a significant rise in natural killer cell counts, specific lymphokine activated killer activity and reduced levels of anxiety" Fox et al (1999)Â
In 1974 Robert Ader and Nicholas Cohen designed an experiment from which the whole field of psychoneuroimmunology was born. They gave rats drinking water sweetened with saccharin followed by an injection of cyclophosphamide, an immuno-suppressant which caused nausea. Through conditioning, the rats learned to avoid the sweetened water. When later they fed the rats the sweetened water they noticed they began to die and also the death rate was directly related to how much, normally harmless, saccharin water the rats consumed. From these findings, they proposed a theory that the rats died because of the mere taste of saccharin. It was enough to elicit neural signals in the rats' brains which suppressed their immune systems so much that they contracted various bacterial and viral infections and died. Died of tasting sweetness.
These findings led to the knowledge that there are connections between the brain and the immune system which contradicted the previous belief that the immune system was autonomous. This discovery led Robert Ader to continue research into the field of psychoneuroimmunology, a term that he created and first used in his 1980 presidential speech to the American Psychosomatic Society then later used as the title for his collection of essays describing this new field of research.
"Results indicated that deep trance does significantly reduce negative emotional affect and improves immunocompetence and those subjects who chose to use the tape-recorded interventions more frequently benefited the most in reducing their negative affect scores and increasing their sIgA (secretory Immuno-globulin A) measures" Barling et al (2005)            (sIgA is an antibody that plays a crucial role in the immune function of mucous membranes and is found in all membranous fluids in the gut and lungs as well as tears, saliva and sweat)
So, we know the power of our minds can affect our immune system negatively, but as a hypnotherapist, my real interest lies in how the immune system reacts to a positive or even super-positive mindset. These days we have much more research to draw from demonstrating the link between the subconscious mind and a high-functioning immune system. Hypnotherapy in the main, is all about training a positive mindset at the subconscious level, the mind's engine room, changing negative pathways and building an underlying positivity to support resilience in difficult situations and we can now add, to strengthen the immune system.
"Significant alteration of the immune response as measured by B-cells and helper T-cells was shown only for highly hypnotizable subjects exposed to hypnosis" Ruzyla-Smith et al (1995)
It is important to understand that half the subjects in this trial (Ruzyla-Smith) were selected because they were hard to hypnotise ('low hypnotisable subjects'). Everyone can be hypnotised, some take longer than others, but everyone can be. The only stipulation is, the patient must want to be hypnotised, as fundamentally, 'all hypnosis is self-hypnosis'. It's always the hypnosis client's choice. So, in this study, the 'low hypnotisable subjects' group chose not to be hypnotised and therefore not to have their immune system enhanced. But given time, a better induction, and a clearer understanding, they too could be satisfactorily hypnotised and their immune systems boosted.
There are many ways to help train the mind to be more positive. Meditation, where the constant practice of letting go of thoughts, which are commonly innately negative in nature and not getting involved in the drama of that thought, teaches the mind to function in a less negative state. Mindfulness, another explanation of meditation, can be practised throughout the day by being aware of those sneaky negative thoughts that pop up and by consciously letting them go without getting involved in their drama. Physical exercise, tai chi, yoga, Qi gong etc. all help encourage positive thought and weaken negative states of being. The problem is that all these practices, though each useful and wonderful in their own way, are gradual. Potentially, taking many months, if not years of practice and their success is dependent on daily effort. This is fine for some but most people don't seem to have the time, the focus or motivation for such practices.
Which leads to one of the great advantages of hypnotherapy. It's relatively instantaneous, perhaps a handful of sessions, depending on how engaged the patient is. It's also very specific, incisive, and controlled when facilitated and guided by an expert. Within twenty minutes most people can be induced into a relatively deep state of hypnosis, alert, awake, yet very relaxed, comfortable and at ease with their imagined environment, and in no time at all we are talking to their subconscious, thought to account for around 95% of the mind, yet for most, is quite inaccessible.
Now imagine the possibilities here, the potential. Boosting the immune system with a relatively inexpensive, non-invasive, extremely safe, quick and 'pleasant to experience' therapy. In my opinion, all cancer patients should be presented with the opportunity to receive hypnotherapy sessions regularly, or more accurately, all patients whose state of health would benefit from a stronger immune response, and perhaps equally as important, prophylactically, anyone who suffers from a recurrent negative mindset.
Nick Malyon MSc. BHSc. Dip.(hypno).
Some Effects of Hypnosis on Negative Affect and Immune System Response.
Barling, Norman R.; Raine, Susan J. Australian Journal of Clinical & Experimental Hypnosis, (Nov 2005).Vol 33(2), 160-177.
Immunological Markers of Frequently Recurrent Genital Herpes Simplex Virus and Their Response to Hypnotherapy: A Pilot Study.
Fox, Paul A.; Henderson, Donald C.; Barton, Simon E.; Champion, Andrew J.; Rollin, Matthew S. H.; Catalan, Jose; McCormack, Sheena M. G.; Gruzelier, John. (Nov 1999). International Journal of STD & AIDS, Vol 10(11), 730-734.
Effects of Hypnosis on the Immune Response: B-Cells, T-Cells, Helper and Suppressor Cells.
Ruzyla-Smith, P., Barabasz, A., Barabasz, M., Warner, D. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, (1995). Vol. 38, 71-9.