Psychologists found memories of painful emotional experiences linger far longer than those involving physical pain.

They quizzed volunteers about painful events over the previous five years.

Writing in the journal Psychological Science, they said evolutionary brain changes which allow us to work better in groups or societies could be key.

The cerebral cortex may also have had an unintended effect of allowing humans to relive, re-experience and suffer from social pain
Zhansheng Chen
Purdue University

The volunteers, all students, were asked to write about painful experiences, both physical and emotional, then given a difficult mental test shortly afterwards.

The principle was that the more painful the recalled experience, the less well the person would perform in the tests.

Test scores were consistently higher in those recalling physical rather than “social” pain.

Psychological scoring tests revealed that memories of emotional pain were far more vivid.

Social evolution

Researcher Zhansheng Chen, from Purdue University in Indiana, said that it was much harder to “re-live” physical pain than to recall social pain.

He said the evolution of a part of the brain called the cerebral cortex, which processes complex thinking, perception and language, might be responsible.

He said: “It certainly improved the ability of human beings to create and adapt, to function in and with groups, communities and cultures, and to respond to pain associated with social interactions.

“However, the cerebral cortex may also have had an unintended effect of allowing humans to relive, re-experience and suffer from social pain.”

The researchers now plan to repeat the experiment in older people, who are more likely to have experienced chronic pain.

Michael Hughesman, a child psychologist based in Germany, agreed that it was likely that emotional pain was handled in a different part of the brain from physical pain, and likely to be longer-lasting.

He said: “There is something very intangible about emotional damage – with physical pain, you can see the bruise, but in emotional abuse there is often fear and anxiety which remains.

“If someone tells you in the playground that they are going to get you after school, then you tend to be anxious and afraid about it far more than if someone just punches you there and then.”

As a therapist and a human being I have first-hand experience of both physical and emotional pain – as we all have. Both can be completely debilitating but once the physical pain has subsided there is a feeling of elation and relief.

How many people can say they have had the same relief from emotional pain? Losing your child in a supermarket brings about an emotional pain that relief can be given but how about emotional pain from incidents that occurred previously?

Through this-life regression therapy I have experienced emotionally charged memories can be re-programmed and relief can be gained. You may not think about this emotional incident all the time but what if you’re walking across a busy road when the memory suddenly enters your consciousness? Your attention may be temporarily diverted and you could be run over by a bus!

Many people (typically men – myself included) don’t believe that their emotional baggage shapes who they are but learning to face these incidents and dealing with them can give you so much strength. It’s only when you’ve dealt with such past incidents that you realise how much they affect you.

News article originally from the BBC here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7587780.stm

www.bbc.co.uk

Imagine having your dentist pull your teeth out and drill into your jaw with
no anaesthetic – just someone muttering in your ear about being on the
beach.   Sounds alarming?  Welcome to the extraordinary world of
hypnotherapy.   

Half a million people in England use hypnotherapy every year.  It’s claimed
it can help with smoking, obesity, tinnitus, weight loss, phobias,
allergies, anxiety and even breast enlargement.  What do we know about
hypnotherapy and hypnosis?  And how are scientists trying to find out about
how it works and its effectiveness? 

In the first in a new series, Professor Kathy Sykes, Professor of Science
and Society at Bristol University, embarks on a personal and scientific
journey to explore three popular alternative therapies: reflexology,
meditation and hypnotherapy.

Travelling across the UK, Europe and over the Atlantic to Montreal, Kathy
Sykes, in a journey that is at times funny, intimate, moving and revealing,
she follows patients who are pinning their hopes on hypnotherapy.  There is
Richard, the policeman, who wants to quit smoking; Nicola, who wants to eat
less chocolate; and Mandy, who wants teeth implants without anaesthetic.
Kathy herself has a go at being hypnotised as she tries to understand more
about the science behind the hypnotic “trance.”

She meets hypnotherapists, and also mainstream scientists, who are looking
inside our brains to try and unravel what goes on during hypnosis.  She
meets Professor Peter Whorwell in Manchester who is pioneering the use of
hypnotherapy for people suffering from the symptoms of Irritable Bowel
Syndrome.

A mixture of serious science and personal journey – Alternative Therapies is
intriguing viewing for anyone interested in the ever-growing, ever-confusing
and controversial world of alternative therapies.

Alternative Therapies has been fully-funded by the Open University. More
information on the series can be found at www.open2.net

Affirmations are great tools that can help you overcome fear, build your confidence, develop an abundance mind-set and more. The problem is that many people aren’t sure exactly how to write effective affirmations. Do they always have to be in present tense? Can they contain “negative” words like can’t, won’t, not, and so on?

- I am filled with light, love and peace.
- I treat myself with kindness and respect.
- I don’t have to be perfect; I just have to be me.
- I give myself permission to shine.
- I honor the best parts of myself and share them with others.
- I’m proud of all I have accomplished.
- Today I give myself permission to be greater than my fears.
- I love myself no matter what.
- I am my own best friend and cheerleader.
- Thank you for the qualities, traits and talents that make me so unique.

Hypnotherapy and Neuro-Linguistic Programming techniques are the tools to provide you with all the answers you’re looking for.

My motivations behind wanting to know more about these topics are that I want to succeed in all areas in life and I’ve spent a lot of time watching people whom I consider to be more successful than me. Some of these people are only successful in some areas and not in others (in some areas I consider myself to be more successful than them).

So in which areas in life do I want to succeed?

I’m a man and therefore I want to be more appealing to the gentler sex. So how do I go about this? Well, I’ve been reading ‘The Game’ by Neil Strauss which is a great start and very motivating. I’m also more conscious than I used to be about how I look and act when in the presence of women. It must be noted here that I’m very happily married so I’m not looking to get myself into trouble but I am fascinated by how knowing a few rules and ‘tricks’ and, if I’m being honest, I would like to get my ego boosted by having women showing an interest in me (it’s been a while!) - and what man wouldn’t!? It’s also important for a happy marriage that we still make an effort with our partners too – I know I don’t get a look-in at home if I don’t shave regularly!

Over the past couple of days I’ve been looking on YouTube.com for Styles (Neil Strauss) and Mystery’s video clips. These are a great resource as you actually get to put faces to the famous names and you also get to learn more about the body language they use, which is difficult to get across from a book.

TheMysteryMethod on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=TheMysteryMethod

A lot of what they teach is self-confidence and making you aware of why most men behave the way they do. One example Mystery gives is that men feel scared of the approach because of the 10,000 years of emotional baggage that we carry. Back in the era when humans lived in small nomadic groups men had to fight for their social status. This could often mean a fight to the death.

So imagine, if you will, this early man who wants to get a little closer to one of the females in the group. What happens if she is the property of one of the alpha males? He’s going to get his arsed kicked that’s what. A similar thing will happen if he’s rejected by any of the other females in the group. If he does’nt actually get a kicking his position in the group is diminished and he’s probably not going to get a chance to reproduce.

So modern man is carrying this psycological baggage and shows this by hugging his pint in the corner and never approaching any of the available females. How many men come home after a night out utterly depressed that they haven’t pulled or at least flirted? I know because that used to be me – not that I consider myself a PUA but I now accept the responsibility that if I don’t pull/score then it’s my fault. I can live with that.

Some time ago I had the pleasure of accompanying a self-proclaimed Pick-Up Artist (PUA) on a night out. Needless to say it was an entertaining evening. Here’s my account of the evening:

Last week I went out for a few drinks with some friends from work and we were joined by a chap that is a PUA master (a bit like a Jedi master except objects don’t float about). I’d heard many stories about this guy and was obviously impressed by what I’d heard. He’s been studying NLP and PUA techniques for some time and spends a lot of time honing his skills. After meeting him I worked out that he’s got a lot of learnt skills but he’s also a natural. His body language, style, looks and personality are all fully in control. He’s fairly tall and goodlooking (why does it pain me to say that about another man?!).

Anyway, this chap, knew that I’ve started on this hypnotherapy course and was kind enough to let me try a few suggestibility tests on him – I actually had the whole (male) group of us doing some waking hypnosis tests which probably looked very interesting to the onlooking crowd – he thought these tests were pretty cool and said that he’d ‘open-up’ a group of girls that were sitting close to us so I could show them the same tests.

Needless to say this scared the crap out of me because I just don’t walk up and start talking to people in bars. After spending about 10 minutes convincing me this would be fun he went across to these ladies and said something like (I couldn’t hear axactly what he said because I had my head in my hands dying of embarrassment):

“Hi ladies, my friend over there is studying psychology and he’s got these really cool hypno things he’s showing us. Do you want to see them?”

He then waved me over. Surprisingly it all fell into place and I showed them the same suggestibility tests I’d done earlier. They were a group of three ladies; two sat down on a sofa and one standing just over my right shoulder. Now in order to do these tests I had to be facing one of these ladies but I made sure that I kept the other two in the conversation.

Once I’d done the tests and had a few minutes of banter I thanked them for their time and returned to my group. I felt GREAT! I felt like I’d lifted a barrier. This happened a few more times in the evening and I grew in confidence. These ‘tricks’ enabled me to enter their personal space without them feeling threatened. I’m not sure if I’ve got the courage yet to open up groups but I’m going to try and use my new PUA friend as a mentor and wingman so that I can gain some independence in future.

The important thing here is that it’s not going to help me chat-up (what a horrible phrase?!) women, because I’m too old for that kind of stuff, but it will be a great way to help me sell myself as a hypnotherapist. If you’ve got self-confidence/self-belief then everything else can fall into place – especially if you have a plan too.

Obviously I’m looking forward to honing my skills as a hypnotherapist and learning new ‘tricks’ for building rapport with clients. So as-well-as the course I’m looking for new books to read on the subject. I have just read Derren Brown’s ‘Tricks of the Mind’ which is great as it covers all the tools you need as a PUA for opening and making yourself seem interesting. It’s also got some great ideas on memory improvement that, although I’ve come across them before, seem to be written in a way that I’m really connecting with. I really recommend it to anyone has an interest in showmanship and psychology.

Breast cancer patients need less anaesthetic during operations if they have been relaxed by hypnosis beforehand, US research suggests.

Patients in the study of 200 women by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine also reported less pain afterwards.

Breast cancer surgery patients often suffer severe side-effects such as pain, nausea and fatigue during and after their operations.

UK experts said more research was needed to prove hypnosis worked.

The side-effects from breast cancer surgery can sometimes mean a longer stay in hospital, extra drugs, or even a return to a hospital ward when patients should be recovering at home.

The Journal of the National Cancer Institute paper is just the latest to conclude hypnosis can help with operations.

Dr Guy Montgomery, who led the research, recruited 200 women to receive either 15 minutes of hypnosis or just a conversation with a psychologist before their surgery.

The women undergoing hypnosis were given suggestions for relaxation and pleasant mental images, and instructions on how to use hypnosis themselves.

Patients who had received hypnosis needed less anaesthetic than the others, and reported less pain, nausea, fatigue and emotional distress after the operation.

Money saving

The researchers said this was not just better for the patients, but it added up to cash savings for the hospital, as operations took less time on the hypnotised patients, and less was spent on medication and readmission of patients.

Dr David Spiegel, from Stanford University School of Medicine, wrote in the journal: “You have to pay attention to pain for it to hurt, and it is entirely possible to substantially alter pain perception during surgical procedures by inducing hypnotic relaxation, transforming perception in parts of the body, or directing attention elsewhere.

“The key concept is that this psychological procedure actually changes pain experience as much as many analgesic medications and far more than placebos.”

Dr Sarah Cant, from Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said: “This is an interesting study and anything that can help reduce the side-effects of breast surgery for breast cancer patients is to be welcomed.

“However, further, larger studies are needed before we can come to any firm conclusions about the benefits of hypnosis prior to breast surgery.

“Anyone interested in using hypnosis should discuss this with their breast care team first and ensure that they are using an appropriately trained and experienced hypnotherapist.”

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More proof, if it were needed, that hypnotherapy is becoming more accepted by mainstream medical profession.