Self Hypnosis to Feel Better

I am writing about using self hypnosis to feel better.  Many of you already do this subconsciously,  although you perhaps haven’t actively thought about it or put a name on it. I am not talking about classic hypnosis, but a variation of it.  It could also be considered “focus control”.

Let me illustrate by example.  Think of how these 2 different people react when they get a cold.  Person “A” is miserable for a week, partially or totally incapacitated.  Person “B” carries on  (I’ll use the masculine for both sexes) his life as if nothing is going on.   Both people have exactly the same physical problem, but very different experiences.  What is the difference.

Person “A” is constantly aware of the cold symptoms.  He worries about them.  The symptoms bother him, distracting him.  Being distracted by them, he focuses on them. He thinks about them all the time.  The whole day is centered upon them.  The only time he gets relief from them is when he is sleeping.  However, his worrying even interferes with his sleep.

Person “B” gets occasional glimpses of the symptoms, but his attention is elsewhere, the week passes, and then his cold is gone.  For person “B”, it is almost as if the cold had never happened.

So how does person “A” do this?  He uses focus control.  More accurately, in this case, focus diversion.  I’ll illustrate by explaining how I do it.  I feel a cold coming on.  I know there isn’t any cure for a cold.  I know the cold is going to last about one week and that there is nothing I can do to change that.  I am aware that unless the cold symptoms are particularly severe, the side effects of cold symptom relief medicines are more troublesome than helpful.  I take a moment, swearing (to myself) about this state of affairs, and then I put the whole thing totally out of my mind.  For the next 7 days I do not think about it.  My goal is to focus on anything and everything other than the cold.  The cold will get zero mental energy or thought from me.  A week later I no longer need to divert my focus as my immune system has effected the physical cure.

Now, in this example, there are some things that could sabotage your success in doing this.  You have to be clear on the facts.  If you incorrectly believe there is a  “cure” for the cold or if you believe that cold medicines are extremely effective, you will seek those things instead, and not be motivated to sustain focus control/diversion for a week.

These focus control techniques are not specific to colds.  It involves any experience whether it be physical or psychological.

For example, people suffering from anxiety disorders can focus on the reality of the dangers (or lack of danger), diverting their attention from the feelings of anxiety, resulting in a decrease of anxiety.

This isn’t specific to health.  These techniques are used regularly in sports.  They refer to it as the “mental game”.   For example, when performing a sports task it is important to sustain your focus on the action you are performing.  A common error is worrying about something you don’t want to happen instead of what you do want to happen.  So a bowler should focus on how he wants to execute a shot while doing it.  If, while in his approach, he instead thinks “I hope it doesn’t go in the gutter”, his attention, at the moment of shot execution, is directed to the gutter, directing the ball there too.

Some people can do this better than others.  But like any skill, practice makes perfect.

These techniques are very powerful.  They cost nothing, and have zero side effects.

Arnold Solof, MD