With the economic and health effects of the coronavirus pandemic, the stress levels of people around the world have skyrocketed. According to professional hypnotherapist Dr. Alex Aviv, hypnosis is an "excellent tool" to deal with anxiety brought about by the lockdowns and other coronavirus-related restrictions.
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"Since the outbreak of the pandemic, we have come across more mind-body symptoms," said Aviv, who is also the chairman of the Health Ministry's advisory committee on the Law of Hypnosis. "As is well known, stress can manifest itself in various physical forms. Both fieldwork and studies published in the past year indicate an increase in psychosomatic symptoms as a result of the pandemic, particularly among teenagers, students, and women.
"The most common symptoms were headaches, digestive issues, and dizziness. Hypnosis is an incredibly effective tool in treating the underlying cause of all these symptoms – stress."
Q: The pandemic has been particularly hard for school teens.
"The lockdowns have significantly disrupted their studies. Although schools in Israel have reopened, not enough time has been given to the students to gradually adapt. As a result, more of them skip school, and those who do arrive might be present physically, but not mentally.
"Children and teenagers are naturally more prone to hypnosis. It is most effective in reducing anxiety related to the return to school. It has also been found helpful with kids who refuse to go back to school."
Q: What would such a treatment look like?
"The majority of teenagers who refuse to go to school feel most secure in their bedrooms. What we do in such cases is make them imagine that the room goes with them. Whenever they feel anxious in the classroom, they can close their eyes and imagine they are in their bedrooms, in a safe place."
Q: Can any person be hypnotized?
"Technically speaking, yes. Hypnosis is a mental process during which emotions and cognition are transformed through suggestions. Therefore, any person could be hypnotized to one degree or another. I must stress, however, that proper consent is an important condition for this. Nevertheless, not every person, not even if he really wants to, can show hypnotic effects.
In any case, "hypnosis cannot force a person to do something that he does not want to do."
Q: In what situations is hypnosis helpful?
"Hypnosis helps a person pass a driving test, for example. In that case, it would involve complete vigilance. On the other hand, if we want to help a person sleep at night, hypnosis will help with that. When dealing with anxiety, we will try to bring about physical relaxation that will lead to emotional and mental change as well. Other times we might want to bring up a memory from the past."
Q: And how is a hypnosis treatment chosen?
"Let's say someone is anxious about the driving test examiner, then the suggestion will focus on making him seem more ridiculous [in the eyes of the person taking the exam], for example by imagining him wearing a red bow tie with white dots or with a long nose. This reduces anxiety.
"When a person is too anxious to fly, the goal is to help him feel safe on the plane, that his flight experience should resemble a child's crib, and the plane's movement – cradling."
Q: And how can such a state be achieved?
"Using a pocket watch is a classic method for getting a person into a hypnotic state. The modern therapist has a variety of other methods as well, such as relaxation, imagination, signs, and movements."
Q: Are the effects of hypnosis long-term?
"The change that comes about in the brain's 'control center' during hypnosis is caused by the secretion of neurohormonal substances as well as neurotransmitters.
"The continued use of hypnotic tools 'teaches' the 'control center' new ways of coping, that is, creates new neural pathways that allow a person to raise their pain tolerance. In these cases, changes caused by hypnosis can be long-term."
Q: What does modern research say about hypnosis?
"It proves that hypnosis not only helps with the symptoms but improves one's well-being as well. Various studies have found that hypnosis improves psychophysiological neuroplasticity, that is, the ability of the brain's neural network to change and develop. This can potentially help a person learn new capabilities more effectively."
Going back to the coronavirus, "many people are anxious and highly stressed about blood tests and injections. Hypnosis is an excellent tool in overcoming the fear of needles. A young woman came to me because she was anxious to get vaccinated before getting drafted into the IDF.
"Every time she saw a syringe or the needle of a syringe, she got very anxious. After a few sessions, she agreed to get a vaccination and even the blood test that she needed. Needless to say, her recruitment day was a success."
Q: You also treat professional athletes.
"Yes. I used to work with an athlete who kept losing in competitions, even though he excelled in training. Performance anxiety caused his muscles to stiffen, which severely impaired his performance. During our sessions, I taught him how to relax his muscles, and in the year following his treatments, his performance skyrocketed.
"Simone Biles' case raised awareness of the fact that despite being physically gifted, athletes can be vulnerable as much as the rest of us. As a result, more athletes are willing to receive such support."
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Q: Great athletes like swimmer Mark Spitz and boxer Muhammad Ali used self-hypnosis in their careers. Would that also work for the general public?
"Self-hypnosis is an excellent therapeutic tool and we use it a lot in anxiety treatment. When a student has anxiety before an exam, for example, self-hypnosis can reduce anxiety and increase concentration and ability to retrieve knowledge during the exam."
Q: Let's talk about the Hypnosis Law. Israel is the only country in the world where unlicensed individuals are legally forbidden to practice hypnosis.
"Many countries view Israel's Hypnosis Law as a sign of progress, and the only reason they themselves have not enacted such laws is because performers constitute a strong lobby. In Israel, there are mentalists and performers as well who try to influence legislators to repeal the Hypnosis Law. I am glad to belong to a group of people who are concerned about public health and not the livelihood of performers."
As per Israeli law, only physicians, psychologists, and dentists who have undergone special training and who have successfully passed the Health Ministry's examination in hypnosis are permitted to practice it in Israel."
Q: Some would say that by denying performers the opportunity to perform hypnosis, you are supporting a minute group of hypnosis professionals.
"I understand that some readers might think so, but I am glad to say that we are working on a new hypnosis bill that would allow other therapists – social workers, for example, or midwives – to study hypnosis and get approval to practice it too."
Aviv went on to describe the dangers of hypnosis treatments by untrained professionals.
"Let me tell you about an actual case. A young man went on a cruise with his girlfriend. One evening, there was a performer on stage whose act included hypnosis. Without meaning to, the performer took this man back to a childhood trauma and caused emotional damage that lasted several months and only went away after a few months of intensive healing hypnosis work.
"Another time, a man came to an alternative therapist in Israel – who did not have a license to practice hypnosis – after he struggled due to a breakup with his girlfriend. During the session, the man began to turn blue and suffocate. The therapist called an ambulance and the patient was hospitalized. The head of the emergency room contacted me and through hypnotic intervention, the patient got better."
Aviv explained that to prevent such a situation, one should only turn to licensed hypnotherapists.
"In hypnotherapy training, they teach you in detail how to get a person out of hypnosis safely, even if he wants to stay in it. Mentalists and charlatans who practice hypnosis illegally have not been trained to deal with such situations, so hypnosis performed by unlicensed individuals is inherently dangerous and reckless."
