Dr. David Spiegel

Yes, there are.

We found it very helpful for stress reduction.

That mind-body connection is very helpful because part of the problem with stress is your perception.

You mentioned it earlier in a sort of good sense.

You're at a football game or something and you feel the physical reaction.

That can be a reinforcing thing.

Wow, this is exciting, let's do it.

It can also be very distracting.

You notice it in your body, your body tenses up, you start to sweat, the sympathetic nervous system goes, your heart rate goes up.

When you notice that, you think, oh God, this is really bad.

And then you feel worse.

So it's like a snowball rolling downhill.

Hypnosis can be very helpful in dissociating somatic reaction from psychological reaction.

So we teach people to imagine their body floating somewhere safe and comfortable, like a bath, a lake, a hot tub, or floating in space.

And then picture the problem that's stressing them on an imaginary screen with a ruler.

No matter what you see on the screen, you keep your body comfortable.

So, at this point, you still can't control the stress, but you can control your physical reaction to it.

And that starts you feeling more in control.

At least there's one thing I can manage.

And then you can use it to think through or visualize through one thing you might do about that stressor.