Сделай конспект текста на английском в виде основных пунктов/тезисов: « What is hypnosis and how might it work?

Ann Williamson
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Hypnosis can be seen as ‘a waking state of awareness, (or consciousness), in which a person’s attention is detached from his or her immediate environment and is absorbed by inner experiences such as feelings, cognition and imagery’.1 Hypnotic induction involves focusing of attention and imaginative involvement to the point where what is being imagined feels real. By the use and acceptance of suggestions, the clinician and patient construct a hypnotic reality.

Everyday ‘trance’ states are part of our common human experience, such as getting lost in a good book, driving down a familiar stretch of road with no conscious recollection, when in prayer or meditation, or when undertaking a monotonous or a creative activity. Our conscious awareness of our surroundings versus an inner awareness is on a continuum, so that, when in these states, one’s focus is predominantly internal, but one does not necessarily lose all outer awareness.

Hypnosis could be seen as a meditative state, which one can learn to access consciously and deliberately, for a therapeutic purpose. Suggestions are then given either verbally or using imagery, directed at the desired outcome. This might be to allay anxiety by accessing calmness and relaxation, help manage side effects of medications, or help ease pain or other symptoms. Depending on the suggestions given, hypnosis is usually a relaxing experience, which can be very useful with a patient who is tense or anxious. However, the main usefulness of the hypnotic state is the increased effectiveness of suggestion and access to mind/body links or unconscious processing. Hypnosis can not only be used to reduce emotional distress but also may have a direct effect on the patient’s experience of pain.2

Hypnosis in itself is not a therapy, but it can be a tool that facilitates the delivery of therapy in the same way as a syringe delivers drugs. Hypnosis does not make the impossible possible, but can help patients believe and experience what might be possible for them to achieve.

Hypnotic states have been used for healing since humankind has existed, but because hypnosis can be misused for so-called entertainment and has been portrayed in the media as something mysterious and magical, supposedly out of the hypnotic subject’s control, it has been viewed with distrust and scepticism by many health professionals. However, recent advances in neuroscience have enabled us to begin to understand what might be happening when someone enters a hypnotic state,3–8 and evidence is building for the use of hypnosis as a useful tool to help patients and health professionals manage a variety of conditions, especially anxiety and pain.

Landry and colleagues9 and Jensen and Patterson10 give good and comprehensive information on recent research into the neural correlates of hypnosis. The study of hypnosis is complex and many factors such as context, expectation and personality affect hypnotic response as well as the suggestions used.

As clinicians, we know that simply knowing something cognitively does not necessarily translate into being able to control emotions such as fear and anxiety. A simple ‘model’ that can be used to help patients understand that this is quite a usual response is that of right/left brain, which can also correlate with conscious/unconscious and intellectual/emotional processing.»