Hypnotic Pain Control for Healthcare Professionals February 2011

Recently, the LCCH presented an experiential one-day workshop entitled Pain Management Through Clinical Hypnosis at the inaugural collaborative conference held by the Association of Family Practitioners of Malaysia (AFPM) and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP). This oversubscribed workshop proved extremely popular to the 110 enthusiastic healthcare professionals who travelled from all over the world to attend. LCCH CEO and Director of Studies, Peter Mabbutt, introduced delegates to hypnotherapy and to the role that it has to play in the management of pain. Throughout the day many sceptics became ardent advocates of hypnotherapy as they came to the realisation that it can help improve patient care in their very busy medical practices. Delegates were awarded CPD points for attending the workshop.

Delegates at the Pain Management Through Clinical Hypnosis Workshop

The LCCH is pleased to announce that this popular workshop is once again going to be held in London on the 26th February 2011.

It is open to all healthcare professionals, therapists and professionals from other disciplines working in the field of pain management who wish to learn how hypnotherapy can be used to augment and enhance pain management.

A Demonstration of Glove Analgesia

With its hands-on approach delegates will both learn and experience basic hypnotic induction and deepening techniques along with common hypnotherapeutic approaches to pain management.

Practicing Glove Analgesia

Undoubtedly psychological factors are an important aspect of pain management that affect a person’s pain threshold. These are explored from the hypnotherapeutic perspective, as is the concept of secondary gain that can hinder effective pain management.

Delegates Practicing Self-hypnosis

The AFPM/RACGP conference and workshop afforded a great opportunity for the LCCH to introduce hypnotherapy to the many key players in medicine who were in attendance from the Asia-Pacific region. These included the Director General of the Malaysian Department of Health (the equivalent of the Minister for Health in the UK) and both heads of the AFPM and the RACGP, all of whom were enthusiastic in expressing a wish to work with the LCCH in expanding public awareness of hypnotherapy.

For further details of the workshop telephone the LCCH on 020 7402 9037 or email info@lcch.co.uk

www.lcch.co.uk

The colour of hypnotherapy: colour choice predicts response to IBS treatment

Studies show that approximately two thirds of people with IBS respond well to hypnotherapy. However, researchers from Manchester have looked into ways of making the intervention more time and cost-effective by seeing whether there is a way to predict who will be most likely to respond well to treatment using hypnotherapy. Based on previous studies showing that IBS patients respond better to hypnotherapy where colour images of their illness are used, they hypothesised that the relationship between colour and mood might be a predictor to therapeutic outcome.

 The researchers measured mood colour relationship using the Manchester Colour Wheel (MCW). This device has been validated to measure the positive, neutral and negative attributions of colour perception as it relates to mood. The study also measured a number of other parameters that included anxiety and depression levels using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HAD) and high, medium or low hypnotisability using the Tellegen Absorption Scale (TAS).

 Looking at a cohort of 156 IBS patients they discovered that those who had a positive mood colour rating responded significantly better to hypnotherapy than those with a neutral or negative mood colour rating. Independent of the mood colour rating the researchers also found that those presenting with a high TAS score or a score of anxiety on the HAD also achieved significantly better outcomes.

Reference: Carruthers HR,  Morris J, Tarrier  N and Whorwell PJ (2010) Mood color choice helps to predict response to hypnotherapy in patients with irritable bowel syndrome BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 10 (1):75

Hypnotic Language in Occupational Safety and Health

LCCH tutor Kate Beaven-Marks has been invited by the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) to present a workshop at their conference to be held at the ExCel Centre, London in March 2011. She will be combining her knowledge of hypnotic language patterns and communication skills to teach delegates the art of effective communication and its relevance to Occupational Health and Safety. 

Kate Beaven-Marks

 For further information visit the IOSH conference website: www.ioshconference.co.uk
  

Report from the annual confrence of the Association for Professional Hypnosis and Psychotherapy

The annual conference of the Association for Professional Hypnosis and Psychotherapy held its eighth annual conference at The Thistle Hotel, Marble Arch, London.
 
When attending events such as these, one never knows quite what to expect. Benefits include networking with other professionals and training providers as well as picking up useful and interesting information.
 
This was the first year I attended and I was impressed by the organisation and range of speakers, though two of the speakers could have occupied the whole of the weekend as far as I was concerned.
 
Professor Peter Whorwell, Professor of Medicine and Gastroenterology, University of Manchester provided a comprehensive account of the impact of IBS and its treatment, providing compelling evidence for the effectiveness of hypnotherapy. This information has certainly altered my perception of the condition.
 
The other inspiring speaker was Devin Hastings. His talk on diabetes challenged many previously held assumptions and also provided some compelling arguements for the benefits of using hypnosis within treatment and maintenance of the condition. Diabetes really is of epedemic proportions and may well be a factor in many weight control patient's lives.
 
Also worth mentioning was David Uri. His messsage was quite simple. Nutrition has an impact on cognition and emotion. So before diving into some intriguing psychoanalytical regression or parts therapy, it might be worth checking on your patient's dietary habits. Mineral depletion can take place over quite long periods of time, and as creatures of habit we are inclined to restrict our diets without realising the effect it is having. Perhaps your patient is in greater need of a sandwich, than ten sessions of psychotherapy.
 
There is so much to learn, and so little time. Enjoy!

By George Houguez

LCCH on LBC 97.3

After a story appeared in the Daily Mail about a woman who tried to have her husband arrested because he snored too loudly, LCCH CEO Peter Mabbutt was interviewed by Iain Dale on LBC 97.3 about the problems associated with snoring. Having expressed denial over his own snoring (as do most snorers!), Peter went on to describe the difference between snoring and sleep apnoea and explained why people should take the latter seriously. He then explored ways to help alleviate snoring before describing how hypnotherapy can help both the snorer and the snorers partner.

Pulmonary Hypertension Association UK Conference 2010

As a result of our placement scheme at the Royal Brompton Hospital, the LCCH were invited to speak at the Pulmonary Hypertension Association UK’s annual conference held at the Hilton Hotel Manchester in October 2010. This proved to be a very inspirational experience as we met many people living with this debilitating condition as well as the friends, family and medical personnel who look after them. A consistent concern kept being raised as we talked to people during the conference, and that was  “who looks after the carers?” A very vocal cohort of conference attendees kept highlighting this often overlooked aspect of care, bringing into focus the problems that carers face when living with and caring for someone with pulmonary hypertension (PH). Despite the love with which care is given, the carer also has emotional issues that need to be addressed. Several attendees talked of the strain that being a carer places on relationships, their ability to sleep (as they are constantly listening out for their partners breathing) and their levels of stress in general.

 

The Hilton Hotel Manchester

 

 The needs of PH patients were very much highlighted during the two talks we presented introducing hypnosis. The need to be able to talk to someone who was not a family member and who had time to listen was a very important aspect for many with PH. A discussion on the importance of holding a positive outlook despite the severity of the condition focussed attention on the need for schemes such as ours that gives PH patients the opportunity to have access to professionals who can help with coping with symptoms, setting goals, building the ability to focus on the present with positivity, whilst dealing with issues of mortality should they arise.

 During two sessions in the afternoon, Peter Mabbutt gave a brief overview of hypnosis and hypnotherapy that was followed by Thomas van Berckel who explained the aims and objectives of the placement scheme. Jana Stanton also had the opportunity to share her experience as a clinical hypnotherapist working with PH patients, which allowed for some very positive Q&A at the end of each session.

Jana and Thomas

 The day was very successful and has left us with the potential to strengthen ties with the Pulmonary Hypertension Association UK and so open up further doors of opportunity to help improve patient care whilst at the same time creating an avenue of care for the carers.

Mahadevan Travelling Fellowship

The LCCH in Malaysia has recently seen the launch of the Mahadevan Traveling Fellowship and is acting as custodian for the scheme. It is presented in collaboration with Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), one of the worlds most prestigious hospitals.

The announcement of the candidates with Tun Siti Hasmah (centre) and Tan Sri Dr Mahadevan (far right) 

The Fellowship has been established to facilitate study and research and is created to recognise the work and commitment of Tan Sri Dato Seri Dr Mahadevan, one of Malaysia's most famous psychiatrists and clinical hypnotherapists. The scheme opens the way for a Malaysian Psychiatrist holding a significant interest in clinical hypnosis to visit Harvard and undertake one month of funded study.

The first recipient of the Mahadevan Exchange Traveling Fellowship was  Dr Sharifah Eliza Jamalullail.  Currently, Dr Gayathri K. Kumarasuriar  is visiting MGH. The other selected candidates are Dr Zainal Abdul Rahman, and Ng Khian Boon. All of the candidates are LCCH graduates. 

Malaysian Prime Minister Dato' Sri Mohd Najib presenting Dr Sharifah Eliza Jamalullial with the Fellowship

The Fellowship also paves the way to invite Harvard University experts on psychiatry and clinical hypnosis to visit Malaysia. The Harvard team visited in March 2010 and among the highlights of the visit was a workshop on psychological trauma presented to the Malaysian medical profession by Dr John Tan from University Malaya, Dr Henderson from Harvard University and Peter Mabbutt CEO/Director of Studies from the London College of Clinical Hypnosis. Peter Mabbutt and Dave Henderson went on to present their work at Sultan Abdul Halim Hospital in Sungai Petani

The Fellowship continues a historic precedence that was set over 50 years ago by the mystery benefactor to a young Malaysian psychiatrist following an act of remarkable ability at emergency medicine and hypnosis. In 1965 as a junior psychiatrist working in Dublin, Tan Sri Dr Mahadevan came across a terrible roadside accident. The only method he had to stabilise the patient was hypnosis. With remarkable presence of mind and technique the patient’s life was saved. The person he saved went on to fund Tan Sri Dr Mahadevan studies throughout the UK and the USA where he had the honour of working with some of the greats in hypnotherapy. Dr John Hartland invited Tan Sri to collaborate with him on a project looking at haemorrhage management through hypnosis at Hammersmith Hospital. He later traveled to the USA and worked with the father and son team Herbert and David Spiegel before returning to Malaysia where he is now known as the founder of Malaysian psychiatry.