Learn Ways hypnotherapy Reduces MS Symptoms
This blog is the ultimate guide to learning all the ways hypnosis can be used for symptoms of MS. We will dive into what it is and the top fours ways it can be used with symptoms of MS.
What is Hypnosis?
I am going to skip over the typical explanation of hypnosis. Because it so does not cover all it can do nor all the many instances we are using it without knowing it. It is not just a state of mind where you are more easily suggestible to new ideas and concepts. Instead, I invite you to think of hypnosis as an inner focus. It's where your attention if more on your thoughts, ideas, inner dialogue, and emotions than on what is happening around you.
Let me give you some examples – When you are thinking about everything that could go wrong at work while you are driving there. When you are talking to your work colleague and, at the same time, you are having an inner dialogue worrying about saying something wrong. Or when you are half awake before the alarm goes off and already going through everything you have to do that day.
Yes, all these everyday experiences can be considered tapping into the state of hypnosis. But, in these cases, you are using the state to make yourself anxious and worried. And, most importantly, to our conversation on hypnosis for MS, you are putting your body, that lives through each of these imagined scenarios, into high levels of stress.
Once you realize the power of this state to help you and your body conquer life rather than regret it; you can create both mental and physical changes in your health! So let’s jump into the ultimate guide to hypnosis for MS!
But first, we can’t discuss hypnosis without mentioning the subconscious mind -
The Role of the Subconscious Mind
Our thoughts, imagination, and ideas influence our emotions, self-esteem, and our physical bodies. When we focus inwards, we tap into, what has been referred to since the days of Freud, the subconscious mind. With hypnosis, we have the tool to both put in all sorts of ideas and suggestions into this vast area of our minds (at least 95% of our mind) as well as extract memories, alter behaviors and change limiting beliefs.
This vast area of our minds influences our:
- body sensations (such as pain, paralysis, and numbness)
- perceptions (making something more or less scary)
- memories (all of them).
Why is it important to recognize the link of the subconscious and hypnosis?
Because the subconscious is our direct gateway to our mental and physical health. If you had a bad experiences in public as a child, you might find that your leg stiffness worsens when others are watching (are they going to notice you have MS?). If you perceive your bed as a safe haven, your body will relax and your muscles might spasm as they release the day’s tension.
Yes, perceptions and experiences stored in your subconscious has a direct influence on the symptoms of MS.
Thus, if you want to manage and even recover, hypnosis is a powerful tool to creating health. So let’s jump into the different ways you can use hypnosis for MS.
Hypnosis Guide for Multiple Sclerosis
Hypnosis can Alter Your Perception
One of the fascinating aspects of hypnosis is how it influences our perception. For instance, if someone perceives a situation as dangerous, as I described above, their body reacts with fear, triggering a fight-or-flight response.
This is particularly relevant for those living with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) - as fear can also trigger a “freeze” response when we find we are stuck and can’t fight or quit a situation. The freeze response in the body can cause your leg, for example, to freeze up. And once the danger is averted and the body has relaxed, those same muscles can spasm as they release the tension built up in the day. (More on freeze gait and spasms in the article on German New Medicine here).
So what can we do about it? Our perceptions significantly affect our physical state. Being in a relaxed, parasympathetic state promotes healing and allows us to regain control of our movement. So, one aspect to change using hypnosis for MS is your perception of certain places, people, and even foods from dangerous or stressful to neutral or fine.
That needs to include changing your perception of the symptoms of MS. Yes, fearing symptoms actually make them worse (read more on the nocebo effect)! Thus, let’s move onto changing our relationship to symptoms -
Hypnosis Can Alter MS Symptoms
Hypnosis can also help change our relationship with MS symptoms. For example - pain does not exist in the body until it reaches the brain, where it's interpreted. If we are worried about our symptom, and focus on the pain in the body, we can unknowingly amplify it (more on the research on this phenomena here).
What to do?
We need to change our attention- even just visualizing ourselves in a serene place—can help reduce the perception of pain. For example, when visiting the dentist, instead of fixating on the discomfort, I always take my mind to the beach. I imagine my arms and legs in the warm sun, the sound of the waves, and my feet walking on the sand. Occupying my mind in this inner holiday distracts me, and my body, from the pain. Consequently, the pain is actually lessened.
Another option is to alter the sensations experienced. For instance, if someone notices a new symptom, instead of panicking and worrying if your MS is progressing, you can visualize what you want that part of their body to feel like instead. Then you can imagine applying over that symptom like a paint brush –
So if your left leg has become rigid all of a sudden, focus on the other leg. Focus on the control and strength you have in the right leg and then ‘pass’ that feeling onto your left leg.
It’s amazing the results possible!
“I tried your technique on the new tingling I was experiencing in my cheek. I imagined it feeling like my other cheek each time I felt the pain and the symptom has totally gone away!”
This simple act of visualization of what we want, rather than focusing on what we don’t want, can be done in just a few minutes a day. It can lead to reduction of the experience of symptoms.
Hypnosis for MS Can Reframe Memories
Our subconscious mind stores all our memories. This is especially important as, unresolved memories that make us feel helpless, hopeless or incapable, can cause physical symptoms.
For instance, a client of mine experiences an increase of her MS symptoms every time she enters a hospital. Another experiences greater rigidity when her mother is visiting. These people and places are linked to unresourceful memories.
Hypnosis allows us to revisit those memories as the experienced adults we are today. Then we can provide the resources we needed then to the stories stored in the subconscious. Yes, hypnosis can create amazingly empowering false memories! And, yes, we are aware the new version isn't 'real' yet our minds and especially our bodies respond to them favorably.
Why? Because you realize that that kind of experience can't happen today with the resources you've developed. By acknowledging and 'overcoming' the situations in our memories, we can help our bodies release the physical tension and triggers associated with them.
Hypnosis Can Influence MS progression
How we visualize our future can also shape our physical reality. If we anticipate negative outcomes—like being stuck in a wheelchair—our bodies respond accordingly. What's more, a negative perception of the future often heightens anxiety, tension, and with it, physical symptoms. In contrast, visualizing ourselves engaging in activities we love (even activities you can’t currently do, such as running on the beach) can encourage our bodies to accelerate recovery.
Studies show that athletes who visualize their performance during period of injury, can maintain muscle strength. This demonstrates the power of positive mental imagery on the physical body.
Now don’t take my word for all the possibilities of creating mental and physical change in your symptoms using hypnosis for MS. Research has demonstrated its effectiveness, even on symptoms of MS.
Limitations
To complete this guide on hypnosis for MS, I wanted to cover a few limitations I have found -
Firstly, hypnosis does not always create instant change. Instead, hypnosis works best through repetition. By visualizing repetitively, you can ease discomfort, rebuild muscles, and change unproductive habit patterns. Often people have high expectations that change can happen quickly even when they have lived with MS for many years. This can become a barrier to do the work that creates lasting change.
Hypnosis gets a bad rap as many people associate it with stage hypnosis (getting someone to quack like a duck). Thus, medical hypnosis -
- with over 40 years of research in healing IBS;
- proven to accelerate healing (such as after a surgery or broken bones);
- reduce chronic pain and take care of constipation
- get’s tossed aside because people are afraid it’s mind control and silly.
Another limitation is hypnosis can seem hard at first. Like any skill, it requires practice– some people are naturals and some of us (me included) require time to get a hang of it and be able to relax, let go, and visualize.
Next Steps
Hypnosis is a powerful tool. Not just to manage the physical and emotional challenges associated with MS, but also to create real change. By understanding how your perceptions, memories, and visualizations influence your body; you can focus on changing your thoughts, healing your past, and visualizing what you DO want.
To start using hypnosis to manage MS, consider joining our group sessions. Or consider working with me individually and take control of what is happening in your mind and in your body.