This fact should interest people with diabetes, because control is exactly the issue that concerns them: controlling blood sugar levels.



Hypnosis has been a medically recognized phenomenon for well over four decades. In 1958, the American Medical Association and the American Dental Association made resolutions recognizing hypnosis as an accepted form of treatment in medicine and dentistry.

This was three years after the British Medical Association passed a formal resolution approving hypnosis as a valid therapeutic technique for treating neuroses and for relieving pain in surgery and childbirth.

One example of hypnosis helping people with diabetes is that it can change their insulin requirements and sometimes eliminate them. This is illustrated in a case study found in the book, Mind-Body Therapy, by Ernest L. Rossi, PhD and David B. Cheek, M.D.

In this book is an amazing story about a 33-year-old patient with insulin dependent diabetes who was pregnant. She was in the hospital because she and her doctors were considering ending the pregnancy because of severe toxemia and two diabetes induced comas that had occurred in her previous pregnancy.

Dr. Cheek, talked with the patient and her husband about using hypnosis to control pain and thus control her insulin needs. Upon her agreement, the patient was then trained to use hypnosis to achieve complete abdominal anesthesia.

She was also trained to be able to awaken from trance to respond to doctors or nurses questions so that they did not think she was in a diabetic coma.

Here's where it gets more interesting: "On admission to the hospital she was taking 180 units of insulin a day, using 60 units of protamine zinc, and filling out her requirements with Regular insulin. The response to the surgery was remarkable. She maintained a normal temperature, pulse, and respiration after a total hysterectomy under spinal anesthesia. Her blood sugar never went over 117 mg. / 100 cc. although she was eating a regular hospital diet from the day of surgery."

But it gets even more fascinating: "No insulin was used during the hospital stay. During the next 11 months, she used only an occasional dose of insulin during periods of emotional stress."

Please understand very clearly that this is an exceptional case that is discussed only so that

the door can be opened to the possible benefits of hypnosis for diabetics.

Now, let's look some of the ways that any person with diabetes can absolutely benefit from hypnosis.

I discovered that there are 7 ways in which hypnosis can powerfully help.

I will discuss a couple in this article by starting with this question: what are some of the areas that cause problems for diabetics?

First and foremost of course is diet and exercise. Hypnosis has a long history of helping people to attain and maintain an ideal and healthy weight.

In other words, among many benefits, hypnosis can help the diabetic to more easily comply with the recommendations of their doctor. In their book, Clinical Hypnosis: Principles and Applications, doctors Harold B. Crasilneck, PhD and James A. Hall, MD state: "Hypnotherapy can often help in treating obesity, an observation that is one of the most clinically confirmed in all the literature on hypnosis."

This brings us to a very important point: Hypnosis is not meant to, nor could it ever, replace standard medical treatment.

In fact, hypnosis is most effective when used in conjunction with traditional health care. It is also important to note that most hypnotists are not licensed as medical practitioners.

Therefore, a hypnotist must always have a fully informed doctor's referral before helping anyone in any manner that is medically related.

What else can a hypnotist do for you as a diabetic? Well, you know that food management is crucial in diabetes. Visit any physical therapist that is helping a diabetic amputee to rehabilitate and you'll understand.

Many of those who have suffered amputations did so because of their out of control and indiscriminate eating habits. The results are horrifying. This is just one of the many devastating diabetes complications brought on by a destructive diet.

Can people with diabetes avoid this outcome without having to suffer a lifetime of denial?

Yes. Through the use of hypnosis, people can actually change their inner motivations thereby decreasing their desire for unhealthy food and unhealthy amounts of food.

At the same time, a hypnotist can help a person to increase their desire for better foods and to develop better eating habits.

How does this occur? The method is complex, but it can be described concisely. Hypnosis is your ability to convince yourself that something is true.

When you believe something, that belief is reflected in your thoughts, feelings and actions. So, once you use hypnosis to convince yourself that you prefer healthier foods and activities, then it becomes a habit to think and behave that way.

Think of hypnosis as a lever, a simple tool that can help people to remove blocks in their lives that were previously impossible to budge.

For each individual, the blocks are different. The mechanism by which hypnosis removes these blocks is that while in trance you have the ability to perceive things differently. When you see or think of something differently, its effect on you is changed.

Many people wonder if they have to do hypnosis on an ongoing basis. The answer is that it depends on the person and their situation.

Some people have been able to become nonsmokers after one session. For others, it takes a little while longer. Changing a belief is as personal and fickle as getting over a cold. But know this: it is absolutely proven that it can be done.

There are two reasons I am pioneering this approach to diabetes management. First, is that in 1992 I was going blind from diabetes but after using hypnosis, I regained 20/20 vision.

The second reason is that my mother has been devastated by diabetes and it is my passion to help so that another child does not have to watch their parent being taken apart piece by piece by diabetes.

Here's one way you can use the power of hypnosis right away. The next time you are faced with a difficult food choice, such as finishing off all the food on your plate even though you are not hungry, close your eyes and take five deep, belly breaths. With each breath you inhale, tell yourself that you feel very full.

With each breath you exhale, tell yourself that it is okay to not be a member of the clean plate club. Think about the fact that, whether or not you eat the food, it ultimately ends up as waste either in the restaurant trash can or in your toilet. By realizing this, you are releasing yourself from the harmful hypnotic command that you must eat everything on your plate. Practice this technique at least 10 to 15 times and you will notice a change.

How else can hypnosis help? Another area in which hypnosis can help the person with diabetes is exercise. The hypnotist's specialty is motivation. In fact, as defined by The National Guild of Hypnotists, a hypnotist is a stress-management consultant and a motivational coach.

Think of the benefits of being motivated to see exercise as something you want to do rather than something you have to do.

In conclusion, there is overwhelming medical evidence that hypnosis can help people with diabetes because it is a proven safe and powerful method of helping people to change.

Thank you for reading this article.--Devin Hastings--founder of the Diabetes Research Association of American and owner of MindBody Hypnosis

"Speak well to yourself because your deep mind is always listening."