04/01/2024
My Summary on the findings of Ran D. Anbar from his book "Changing Children's Lives with Hypnosis"
Ran D. Anbar is a physician with specialized background in pediatric pulmonary disorders such as asthma and cystic fibrosis. He writes of miraculous results using hypnosis with children to empower patients to leverage their mind/body connection and heal themselves. He believes children with chronic illness are more resilient to heal with less psychological stress. He writes of frequently having better results guiding people to heal with hypnosis than traditional medicine. He poses the question "if you can think your way into a disease can you think your way out?" using the example of Paul, a child who triggered a breathing attack just by IMAGINING a cheese burger on the grill. Anbar points out the fascinating amount of times hypnosis is portrayed in childrens media, such as how Jafar used it in Aladdin to manipulate the sultan. Because of the negative associations, he recommends discussing what hypnosis is and isn't as a great place to start. Anbar states hypnosis is NOT: for mind control, it's not sleep, and it's not controlled by others. He states hypnosis IS: a distinct plane of inward attention, more intense and narrow focus than conscious level of awareness, and a state that distraction falls away. Some functional symptoms he worked on were medical symptoms with no known cause, anxiety related stomacheaches and coughs, sleep challenges, seizures, bedwetting, migraines, overcoming nausea for kids in chemo, and asthma worstened by anxiety. Anbar explains studies have shown kids are highly hypnotizable, but most anything you are in resistence to wont work. He helped many children build positivity, reduce medication, and improve breathing and heart rate. He also credits scottish surgeon James Braid who was one of the best documented early pioneers of hypnosis in medicine. He urges that hypnosis is a part of daily life, and a missing piece in peoples health plans. He quickly learned hypnosis would become a main part of his treatment of clients, not just "something extra".
Anbar was fascinated at the differences of peoples minds, such as how some people can hear every little part of their favorite song in their head, not everyone can. Some only hear music while its playing. He writes of helping a child clear a lump from his throat, by having the child imagine a strong stream of water washing the "boulder" in his throat away. Another time he had the child clear the uncomfortable feeling by imagining the lump was an egg and having him crack and fry it. Before making suggestions, Anbar prompted child to ponder what imagery resonated with them and asked thought provoking questions to inspire solution. Frying the egg and washing the boulder away with water were both the child's idea, making the imagery even more powerful. When you listen without directing, you give the child confidence to express themselves. If you listen carefully, they may tell you exactly what needs to be addressed. This stuck feeling in throat is refered to as globus reaction. It's best to get all senses involved if possible to make hypnosis more vivid. One child he worked on reported the moon tasted like chocolate milk. Anbar's goal was to avoid children going through months of expensive invasive tests that may very well lead nowhere. He believes physical and mental perception are intimately intertwined. He goes on to say hypnosis is shockingly simple once patient learned to trust they had the power to control their symptoms. Tests are only good for determining something isn't dangerous and doesn't require medical therapy. The "assurance" of this doesn't always end symptoms though, and patients find themselves going from physician to physician seeking medical relief that doesn't exist. Often stress and fear is the source of breathing problems. People have their children on drugs with no psych evaluation when the solution to their breathing problem might just be switching schools. The truth is emotions alter symptoms and stress can trigger increased blood sugar and blood pressure amongst other things. Shakiness can come from adrenal release, and tingly numbness can occur from breathing too fast. It's telling when symptoms go away while child sleeps or is distracted. We only see what we know. Anbar gives the example that when he first was studying he didn't recognize the sound of a heart murmur. This took time, training, and awareness. Many children found comfort in imagining their lungs opening like air vents, metaphors that a child can understand. Kids want to be able to control their own circumstances. Anbar reported that children felt empowered choosing the times of day they listened to their hypnosis audio tapes, and with time easily learned to do self hypnosis for themselves circumstantually. He witnessed children with years of symptoms often no longer experiencing them after even just one to three sessions.
God created the entire world with words. WORDS ARE POWERFUL and create a physical response. Pleasant words are like honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. Hearing negative words raises anxiety inducing hormones and fires up the amigdala. Not just other peoples words, our own negative words trigger the same response studies show. Power in intention of "this will make you feel better" even if its just a bowl of soup or spoon full of honey placebo creates an effect. Tapping into the power to manage how you feel relies on empowering speech. Nonverbal communication eccentuates power of words, such as smiling into a child's eyes. An example of reframing self talk is "I am feeling badly" to "I wish to feel better". Redirecting focus to the solution instead of reinforcing the problem. It's key to focus on empowerment, not just flattery. For example if a child experiences improved grades, praise their commitment and ask how they achieved that outcome. When children talk about the action they are taking, they feel in control of their fate. When discussing goals say "when" not "if", convey confidence in their abilities and framework for expectation. As Yoda says, "Do or do not, there is no try." The word "try" leaves room for failure and is breeding ground for minimal effort and doubt. But of course failure doesn't have to be feared anyhow, for it is only feedback. Therapy is effective when the client believes and approaches it with commitment and confidence. Because of strong parental influence, their belief is just as crucial. Parents influence how their child perceives reality.
To help a child understand the power of words, Anbar told him to hold out his arm as stiff as he could. What do you think happened when he had the boy say "I am strong" vs "I am weak" when he pushed down on the child's arm? He then told the child to say "I am not weak" and the boy's arm went down with just as much ease as when he said he was weak. If this was a coincidence it would not happen every time. This is because of the negative word "not" which isn't effective for hypnosis. The mind only focuses on the action. Another example is saying "I want to breath well" instead of "I don't want to have a breathing problem". The mind skips over "I don't" and just hears "breathing problem". An additional example of reframing negative talk is saying to a child "what lead you to make that choice?" instead of "how could you do such a terrible thing?" People whose minds are positively tuned have more tendency toward possessing the trait of patience. The reason this is hard for people to understand is because thought can't be observed or measured scientifically. But just because it can't be studied doesn't mean it doesn't exist. As Henry Ford once said, "whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right."
A way Anbar helped mother and child understand the power of words together was for her to lift her child twice. Once while she was imagining helium balloons tied to him, and the second time while imagining him attached to tons of weights. The difference in effort was noteworthy. What you visualize has power. In hypnosis you can attach positive feelings to an "anchor", such as having them press their index finger and thumb on dominant hand while rememebering a time in life they were confident. This feeling can be triggered later with the movement in the waking world at any time. A person can pick any anchor they want such as striking a superhero pose, but unless you want everyone to stare and wonder what you're doing, it's best to choose something subtle like crossed fingers or a thumbs up. Creating an anchor can help a person feel centered and calm any time they need, such as before public speaking or before a competition. Someone may find it helpful to visualize their special place before taking a test. With these tools the way a person feels doesn't have to be dictated by their outside circumstances. Anbar believes hypnosis should be front line therapy, not a last resort when nothing else works. You can't get addicted to or overdose on hypnosis. Hypnotherapy can fill gaps of an existing regime or be a pain solution. Before performing hypnosis for pain though, it is essential to first make sure there is no medical cause for the pain to assure a serious issue requiring medical treatment isn't being overlooked. Anbar writes of telling one child who mitigated their pain successfully in hypnosis to find a mirror, and observe what color his pain was. He then asked the child to visualize what color the pain would turn when he felt better. He had the child visualize the number his pain was on a scale, then have the child turn the dial on the pain down. The autonomic nervous system regulates our bodies functions, and it listens to us, you can speak directly to it in hypnosis.
Other fun visualizations Anbar used were asking a child if there was an animal causing his headaches, what animal would it be? The child imagined that it was a woodpecker in his head, and then directed the woodpecker to fly away. Making the visualization silly also makes it less scary. Another child he had imagine his mind was a ride at disneyland, and had the child locate the control panel of the ride and turn the lever off on his pain. It helps if the imagery used is familiar to the child. He had one girl who really loved Beauty and the Beast imagine the light shining on her that the Beast experiences at the end of the movie when he turns back into a prince. This helped the child get through painful bandage changes she had to go through every day. It should be noted that as a child ages, treatment will have to change for visualizations to remain relevant to them. Make adjustments as they age. It also helps a child to see characters who are overcoming the same struggles that they are.
The subconscious mind is a co-therapist. You can ask a child the same question in the conscious Beta mind and then again immediately after in the subconscious Alpha Theta mind and produce an entirely different answer. Anbar asked one child in hypnosis what love was. In hypnosis the child said love came from God and the soul, but in his conscious Beta mind after hypnosis when Anbar asked again the child said, "I'm not sure, I don't really know much about love I've never been married." The subconscious can possess knowledge and widsom the patient is unaware of. The subconscious is very truthful, it rarely lies. The subconscious is very literal. Children are confused by irony, double meaning, and passive aggressive language in daily conversation. Anbar's studies reveal that when something is bothering us deep down and we have unresolved feelings, it can keep bubbling up in different ways. Denial can get in the way of any therapy. How can you resolve something when you are denying its existence? We can have compassion that denial is a coping mechanism to protect oneself. This summary barely begins to summarize Anbar's work. But the key to remember is this: the most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any.
