"A funny thing is happening to hypnosis, long a feature of vaudevillian routines: It's becoming respectable, working its way into premier research hospitals, medical journals, and doctors' offices throughout the US. An increasing number of physicians are using hypnosis to ease patients through childbirth, angioplasty, chemotherapy, breast biopsy--even full-on surgery. 'If somebody told you there was a medication that could treat 100 different conditions, didn't require a prescription, and had no bad side effects, you wouldn't believe them,' says Harvard Medical School psychologist Carol Ginandes, PhD.'"I don't want to sound like a snake oil salesman, because hypnosis is not a magic wand. But it should be made available as a supplementary treatment for all patients who could benefit. Right now.'

From Prevention Magazine's March 2006 article, The Healing Power of Hypnosis

Speed weight loss. Studies have consistently shown that adding hypnosis to cognitive-behavioral treatments for weight reduction increases the chances of short-term success. Over as many as 48 months, hypnotized patients lost more than double the amount of weight that patients lost in a program without a hypnosis component.

From Consumer Reports: Power of suggestion: Medical uses of hypnosis

This study examined the effect of adding hypnosis to a behavioral weight-management program on short- and long-term weight change. One hundred nine subjects, who ranged in age from 17 to 67, completed a behavioral treatment either with or without the addition of hypnosis. At the end of the 9-week program, both interventions resulted in significant weight reduction. However, at the 8-month and 2-year follow-ups, the hypnosis clients showed significant additional weight loss, while those in the behavioral treatment exhibited little further change. More of the subjects who used hypnosis also achieved and maintained their personal weight goals.

From the Journal of Clinical Psychology: Effectiveness of hypnosis as an adjunct to behavioral weight management

"Hypnosis is the most effective way of giving up smoking, according to the largest ever scientific comparison of ways of breaking the habit. Willpower, it turns out, counts for very little." To find the most effective method to stop smoking, University of Iowa researchers performed a meta-analysis, utilizing the results of more than 600 studies, totaling nearly 72,000 people. The results, which were published in the Journal of Applied Psychology and included 48 studies of hypnosis covering 6000 smokers, clearly showed that hypnosis was three times more effective than Nicotine Replacement Therapy.

Cognitive Reactions to Smoking Relapse, Reported in New Science, Vol 136, Issue 1845

Just when my skeptic's antennae convince me I always know bunk when I see it, I get fooled. I assumed hypnosis in medicine was one more con game... "Hypnotherapy will help you lose weight!" C'mon, if it worked, there wouldn't be all those overweight people around.Truth: Hypnosis works -- if you let it!

John Stossel of ABC's 20/20, from page 215 of his new bestselling book: Myths, Lies and Downright Stupidity

Hypnosis is no longer just a stage-show act. During the past 10 years, it has slipped quietly into mainstream medicine -- helping people quit smoking, even cut back or stop using pain and anxiety medications. There's good research backing it up.

From WebMD: Hypnosis Goes Mainstream

"Hypnotherapy has the potential to help relieve the symptoms of a wide variety of diseases and conditions. It can be used independently or along with other treatments. For example, it's one of several relaxation methods for treating chronic pain that has been approved by an independent panel convened by the National Institutes of Health. According to preliminary studies, hypnotherapy may be used to change negative behaviors, such as smoking, bed-wetting and overeating, reduce fear, stress and anxiety, eliminate or decrease the intensity of phobias, treat pain during childbirth and reduce labor time, control pain during dental and surgical procedures..."

From the Mayo Clinic article Hypnosis: An Altered State of Consciousness

"To appreciate the therapeutic potential of hypnosis, you first have to forget about things like swinging watches and hapless audience members who prance around onstage, crowing like roosters. 'One of the interesting ironies about hypnosis is that old fantasy that it takes away control,' says Dr. David Spiegel, professor and associate chair of psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine and a leading expert on the practice. 'It's actually a way of enhancing people's control, of teaching them how to control aspects of their body's function and sensation that they thought they couldn't .'"

Newsweek, Altered States

Under hypnosis, subjects do not behave as passive automatons but instead are active problem solvers who incorporate their moral and cultural ideas into their behavior while remaining exquisitely responsive... Nevertheless, the subject does not experience hypnotically suggested behavior as something that is actively achieved. To the contrary, it is typically deemed as effortless--as something that just happens.

From Scientific American Mind: The Truth and the Hype of Hypnosis

The power of suggestion which hypnosis provides is enough to change the way patients think of themselves, their bodies and their surroundings.

From Johns Hopkins: Hypnosis Practices Gain Credibility

"A 'cure' to help us lose weight and quit smoking is the Holy Grail for those who have tried everything. Hypnosis can help... Lifestyle changes matter most here. That means better eating habits and more exercise. Hypnosis can be extremely effective in reinforcing a commitment to lifestyle changes."

From WebMD: Hypnosis: Focusing Subconscious on Change

A new study shows people who have liposuction are three times more likely to gain weight if they don't follow a healthy diet and four times more likely to pile on the pounds without regular exercise. But those who follow a healthy diet are twice as likely to lose weight after liposuction... This is one of the first studies to look at the long-term results of liposuction and shows that people are much more likely to be happy with their results if they make other healthy lifestyle changes.

From WebMD: Diet, Exercise Foster Liposuction Success

Liposuction may help you shrink your girth, but not the health-related risks of obesity such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes. To improve your health you need to drop pounds the old-fashioned way -- reducing calories with diet and exercise.

From WebMD: Risks From Obesity Same After Liposuction

The immediate risks associated with gastric bypass surgery to treat obesity may be much higher than previously thought. But the long-term benefits of gastric bypass surgery in preventing death will likely outweigh those risks, according to new research... "In fact, in the real world... the risk of dying within 30 days of surgery is about one in 50."

From WebMD: Studies Weigh Risks of Gastric Bypass Surgery

They might just as well ask themselves how much money it'll take to lose the weight. Last year, Americans spent an estimated $46 billion on diet products and self-help books. But much of that money is wasted. In fact, a government review found that two-thirds of U.S. dieters regained all the weight they had lost within a year, and 97% had gained it all back within five years. And following these regimes is significantly more expensive than the tried and true technique of eating less and exercising more. How much more?...The median diet worked out to a costly $85.79 a week--that's 50% more than the $54.44 the average single American spends on food.

From Forbes: Costly Calories

"Unlike most business processes, which tend to reduce information to abstractions, executive coaching engages with people in customized ways that acknowledge and honor their individuality. It helps people know themselves better, live more consciously, and contribute more richly." "It's not just individuals who benefit from one-on-one coaching -- their employers can gain immensely, too."

From Harvard Business Review, The Wild West of Executive Coaching

A career and life coach provides trustworthy guidance though the various stages of your life and career -- though career assessment, career planning and career changes, to help you find satisfaction in your work and fulfillment and balance in your life. Dr. Fredric Mau is a certified affiliate of the Highlands Company, providers of the Highlands Ability Battery, this gold standard among career and life coaching instruments identifies, and the world's finest assessment of natural abilities.

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