By Darren Devine Western Mail
Thousands of people will pledge to turn their lives around at the stroke of midnight tonight.
And a Welsh academic claims achieving these New Year Resolutions for a new and improved life could be
aided by hypnosis.
Bryan Bennett says hypnosis must shed its image of stage-show quackery as the technique can be used
to treat everything from asthma to arthritis.
He says hypnosis has been used for thousands of years as a form of pain relief and wants to see it
embraced by the medical profession.
The PhD student from the University of Wales, Bangor, is involved in research work that attempts to
prove hypnosis can successfully treat arthritis. In the trials sufferers identify the areas of their lives most
affected by their condition, whether it be an inability to perform particular tasks or hobbies or interests.
These will then be the focus of a course of individual hypnotherapy and imaging sessions - where
patients are encouraged to form positive mental images of themselves.
Mr Bennett, 34, said patients have told him they feel better after taking part in the trials.
He said, 'There have been some positive changes in people we have seen in the group, but nothing you
can measure objectively. People have said they have experienced a reduction in pain and others have
said they are better able to relax than they were before.'
Mr Bennett was introduced to the potential health benefits of hypnotherapy while working as a research
assistant at Imperial College, London. There he worked on similar trials on the efficacy of hypnotherapy
on breast cancer and HIV patients.
Mr Bennett, 34, says arthritis is a disease of the immune system and hypnosis may work by bringing a
form of psychological relief that can boost the body's mechanism for fighting infection.
'There are lots of applications to hypnosis - it can even be used as an anaesthetic in childbirth.
'We used it with breast cancer and HIV patients and found it got results in terms of people coping
better. In terms of psychological quality of life it's definitely important. And perhaps psychological
improvements may boost the immune system and so be of physical benefit in that way.'
Other potential uses for hypnotherapy are as an alternative to anaesthetic in dentistry.
Mr Bennett says research shows some patients are more hypnotisable than others. These tend to be the
kind of people who find it easy to become deeply absorbed in a book or TV programme, almost to the
exclusion of everything else.
'People who are very open to suggestion benefit most. It's about your ability to become absorbed and
focus attention on a particular thing.
'If you're reading a book and you lose track of time that is a form of hypnosis because your attention is
totally focused on the book.
'If you've been watching a film and you pick up your cup of tea and it's empty that's a form of hypnosis
because your attention has been really focused and you've become unaware of the surrounding
environment.'
Mr Bennett is splitting those taking part in his research into three groups - one receiving hypnotherapy,
another is treated through imaging and the third is the control group receiving no intervention.
He hopes to be able to publish interim results early next year before his study is completed in around
18 months' time.
He is still looking for volunteers to take part, but anyone interested must have been stabilised on their
current treatment for three months. Contact Mr Bennett on 01248 388147 or through e-mail
bryan.bennett@bangor.ac.uk Hypnosis research: A volunteer involved in Bryan Bennett's research says
the technique has more to do with being 'deeply relaxed' than put under a spell.
The 74-year-old woman, who asked not to be named, also takes medication and exercises to treat her
arthritis.
'I have found it excellent so far, though it's still early days. I have also been prescribed medication
which has helped considerably and exercise, which is helpful to a point, but not as much as this.'
Mr Bennett's research is designed to teach those taking part to eventually use the technique on
themselves. How hypnosis works: When a person becomes hypnotised they are not - as popular
misconceptions would suggest - slave to the hypnotist, but retain free will and are actually hyper-
attentive.
Hypnosis is a trance-like state defined by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination.
In the relaxed mental state that characterises hypnosis, people feel uninhibited and relaxed, because it
is said they tune out the worries and doubts that normally keep their actions in check.
The most widely accepted theory of how hypnosis works suggests it offers direct access to the
subconscious mind.
Normally we are only aware of the thought processes in our conscious mind - we consciously look for car
keys or choose words as we speak.
But in completing these kind of tasks your conscious mind works hand-in-hand with your subconscious
mind, which accesses a wealth of information that allows you to solve problems, construct sentences or
find your keys.
This theory explains the success of stage hypnotists in persuading volunteers to cluck like chickens or
sing at the top of their voices.
By opening the door to the subconscious mind it's as though the volunteers are reacting automatically
to their own impulses and suggestions, rather than being prompted.
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