Boosting the Immune System with Hypnotherapy

As a clinical hypnotherapist, I find this an exciting area within the field of hypnotherapy, and as it's something I use in clinical practice, I thought I'd write a little blog about it.

Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI), or simply, how your mind affects, influences and alters 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. 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 also part of the big picture, such as diet, exercise, bad habits and genetic predisposition, though, in my 23 years of experience as a health clinician, I can honestly and comfortably say that repetitive or constant or extreme negative emotional states of mind commonly generate 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) 

In 1974, Robert Ader and Nicholas Cohen designed an experiment from which the field of psychoneuroimmunology arose. They gave rats drinking water sweetened with saccharin followed by an injection of cyclophosphamide, an immunosuppressant, that causes nausea. Through conditioning over time, the rats learned to avoid the sweetened water.

When later they fed the rats the sweetened water, they noticed they began to die, and the death rate was directly related to how much 'physically harmless' saccharin-sweetened water the rats consumed. From these findings, they proposed a theory that the rats died from 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 from tasting sweetness.

These findings led to the understanding that there are connections between the brain and the immune system, which contradicted the previous belief that the immune system was a separate, autonomous system. This discovery led Robert Ader to continue research into the field of psychoneuroimmunology, a term he coined and first used in his 1980 presidential speech to the American Psychosomatic Society, and later 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 in the gut and lungs, tears, saliva and sweat

We know that the power of our minds can affect our immune system negatively, though, as a hypnotherapist, my real interest lies in how the immune system reacts to positive or even super-positive mindsets. These days, we have much more research to draw from in demonstrating the link between the subconscious mind and a high-functioning immune system. Part of hypnotherapy is about creating positive mindsets at the subconscious level, the mind's engine room, changing negative pathways and generating positivity to support resilience in difficult situations, and we can now add to that, strengthening 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 that the patient must want or agree 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 those thoughts, 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 can pop up; then, once seen, they can be consciously let go, helping the mind avoid slipping into negative drama. Physical exercise, tai chi, yoga, and Qigong all help encourage positive thought and weaken negative states of being. The problem is that all these practices, though useful and wonderful in their own way, are gradual, potentially taking many months, if not years, of practice and daily effort.

This 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, around 95% of the mind, yet for most, 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 system, and perhaps equally as important, anyone who suffers from a recurrent negative mindset.

Nick Malyon MSc. BHSc. Dip.(hypno).

Boosting the immune system with Hypnotherapy in Adelaide

www.nickmalyonhypnotherapy.com 

www.nickmalyon.org 

References

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.