Research, anyone?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Chris Davis on February 8, 2010 at 2:11pm

Hi Michelle,

I've approached my local PCT's (Primary Care Trusts) with proposals of running clinical trials but they haven't been too keen on the idea. I am now lobbying local GP's to recruit patients for small scale trials that I will hopefully be able to use as a platform to gain more interest from the PCT's.

I have not secured any funding for any of this and so initially it will be very small scale and will fall short of meeting true clinical trial status, but it is a starting point...hopefully.

I've tried offering my services as being a cost-effective alternative to indefinite periods of expensive pharmaceutical intervention or worse still expensive surgery. For the purpose of running local trials I have offered my services free to the PCT's, but I am struggling to get interest from them.

Are you trying anything?

Regards

Chris

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Permalink Reply by AJ on February 8, 2010 at 2:28pm

Hello Michelle,

Based upon your definition, I "semi-formally" conduct experimental hypnosis projects. Presently, I am independently funded and have not sought after any sponsorship.

The publication of my findings is not scheduled for any short term release, however if you are interested in how the scientific method is conducted by other hypnotists, I can suggest reading: Trance and Treatment © 1978 by Harry Spiegel M.D. and David Spiegel M.D. Much can be assimilated by studying their work.

In addition, if you are seeking more current studies I can recommend: International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis http://www.ijceh.com

All the best,

Doc Regal

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Permalink Reply by Ricky Strode on February 8, 2010 at 3:24pm

Good luck. The scienitic method does not support many of the things that can be done with hypnosis. Hell, they still don't know why magnectics work and opinion versus verifiable opinions are much different. People can always come up with opinion that sound reasonable, but that does not make them credible or useful. In fact, I don't know wheter or not people know exaclty the possiblilities of anything in anything, because as long as you look at everything the same as you do now, instead of seeing everything as if it is completly new. Because it in reality really is and that is really just the begining to be able to make changes to ht we think reality really is.

Whats the point in proving things to people that want to believe it is not possible ? That is like trying to convert christians into satanist. What matters is what works and what doesn't. We know that regular therapy has a high failure rate and there is still a lot us as people do not know. So why not just explore and find out for yourself. Is there not enough of incentive in that in and of its self. Hell, book sells from what you find would do more than any funding would ever do.

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Permalink Reply by Michelle Albright, C.H. on February 8, 2010 at 3:54pm

Hi Chris,

Thanks for your quick reply.
No, I'm not currently trying anything, but I'm fascinated by the potential. I'm trying to gauge an 'angle' of where to break into this area, trying to figure out if there is any demand, or even if a demand for such services can be created.
I like the idea of working with physicians to recruit study participants, but the physicians would really need some incentive to get on board. How could they benefit from patients turning to non-medical treatment options? It sounds like a hard sell.
I would be inclined to think that insurance companies would be more likely to fund research that might end up saving them huge sums of cash in the long-term.
Just more to mull over...

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Permalink Reply by Pete Atan on February 8, 2010 at 3:54pm

Hi. Michelle. This is something which has me tugging at what’s left of my hair... I started off studying NLP quite some time ago now only to find later that (unlike hypnotherapy) there has never been any significant research into its long term benefits. Indeed those therapists who put a success rate in figures on their web site and literature may be breaching advertising standards because unless the percentages they claim are a result of appropriate research then they are misleading. You should check out the web sites below, one is the author of the new edition of Hartland’s Medical and dental Hypnosis (Michael Heap) the other is Don Robertson who an academic and Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapist. Don is considered to be the leading expert on Braids original hypnosis model which he relates to the modern use of CBT which is evidenced based. If you drop him an email I am sure he will reply and I am sure he will answer your questions with some hard data...
God bless
Pete

http://www.ukhypnosis.co.uk/

http://www.mheap.com/

Principal@UKhypnosis.com

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Permalink Reply by Michelle Albright, C.H. on February 8, 2010 at 4:00pm

Doc,
Thanks for the book recomendation. The title sounds very familiar, I am going to check my bookshelves to see if I already have that one. (Wouldn't that be convenient???)
Could you share more about your projects? How do participants find you? How many participants have you used and what (if any) exclusion criteria do you use?
I'm checking out the journal link - thanks!

~Michelle

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Permalink Reply by Michelle Albright, C.H. on February 8, 2010 at 4:28pm

Ricky,

I appreciate your reply.
By stipulating that the scientific method would be adhered to, that weeds out the 'opinion factor.' I'm interested in a field that studies measurable effects of hypnosis.
For example, if you have two groups of patients with severe asthma (say 100 patients, total) and half of the patients go about their regular treatment plan, and the other half go about the regular treatment plan and also spend three sessions with a hypnotist using some symptom-controlling suggestions, or age regression, or learning self-hypnosis techniques, or whatever, as long as all 50 get the same protocol, then see what happens. Follow both study groups for six months and collect data regarding something concrete and measurable (number of emergency room visits, hospital stays, increase or decrease in prescription meds due to symptoms) then compile that data and report it.
Adding hypnosis to *routine* medical treatment, and having hypnosis as a FIRST choice in many areas would be a great advancement, not just for hypnotists, but for all humans.
As it is now, hypnosis is still a little bit fringe... a little bit 'last resort.' If there is overwhelming evidence in the form of published scientific research that it helps relieve physical and psychological conditions, then hypnosis will be more commonplace, and therefore will become the norm, rather than the, "well, I've tried everything else and it didn't work, so I'll give this hypnosis thing a shot as a last resort," treatment.
A shift in the paradigm, if you will.
I'm not out to change anyone's religion, but I would like to see some changes in the order of treatments people reach for.
If I can make a living as a hypnotist and help people, AND publish results of research that, in turn, will help many, many more people, then SCORE. :)
The book sales idea is excellent.

Thanks,

~Michelle

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Permalink Reply by AJ on February 8, 2010 at 4:55pm

Hi Michelle,

You may readily find volunteer subjects who offer rights to use subject matter of their case in lieu of payment for specified hypnotherapy services. Post a bulletin on a busy college campus or corporate workplace expressing your needs for subjects and what they can expect in return for participating. Have liability waivers and publicity release forms prepared as well as your protocols and tests.

Good Luck,

Doc Regal

Michelle Albright, C.H. said:

Doc,
Thanks for the book recomendation. The title sounds very familiar, I am going to check my bookshelves to see if I already have that one. (Wouldn't that be convenient???)
Could you share more about your projects? How do participants find you? How many participants have you used and what (if any) exclusion criteria do you use?
I'm checking out the journal link - thanks!

~Michelle

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Permalink Reply by Ricky Strode on February 8, 2010 at 5:00pm

Hell, then all you need to do is survery both parties and you might want to see a gp for that not a hypnotist. Find out if he or an of his peers would be willing to partake on this study. That would classify everything in the scientific method besides observation. However you could just do it the old fashioned way and write up several surveys and offer them to the general public and start from there. I suggest a gp because they would be seeing boths sides and the hypnotist only sees the ones comming to them. Remember statistics mean nothing more than what they are. Every case is alaways usually unique to that individual, but there are always patters to everything. So with that said, I hope that gives you some ideals or some things to reconsider. I really doubt any gp would be unwilling to find out the average of differences between just traditional treatment and traditional treatment with hypnosis. I can give you a good ideal depending on the skill of the hypnotist and if they are very skilled and not stuck in any certain biased set of rules for dealing with unique problems, then there will be atleast double the sucess rate in every aspect of treatment,with it being much more rapid then normal treatment alone and most of the side-effects either will not happen or will not be as bothersome.

Michelle Albright, C.H. said:

Ricky,

I appreciate your reply.
By stipulating that the scientific method would be adhered to, that weeds out the 'opinion factor.' I'm interested in a field that studies measurable effects of hypnosis.
For example, if you have two groups of patients with severe asthma (say 100 patients, total) and half of the patients go about their regular treatment plan, and the other half go about the regular treatment plan and also spend three sessions with a hypnotist using some symptom-controlling suggestions, or age regression, or learning self-hypnosis techniques, or whatever, as long as all 50 get the same protocol, then see what happens. Follow both study groups for six months and collect data regarding something concrete and measurable (number of emergency room visits, hospital stays, increase or decrease in prescription meds due to symptoms) then compile that data and report it.
Adding hypnosis to *routine* medical treatment, and having hypnosis as a FIRST choice in many areas would be a great advancement, not just for hypnotists, but for all humans.
As it is now, hypnosis is still a little bit fringe... a little bit 'last resort.' If there is overwhelming evidence in the form of published scientific research that it helps relieve physical and psychological conditions, then hypnosis will be more commonplace, and therefore will become the norm, rather than the, "well, I've tried everything else and it didn't work, so I'll give this hypnosis thing a shot as a last resort," treatment.
A shift in the paradigm, if you will.
I'm not out to change anyone's religion, but I would like to see some changes in the order of treatments people reach for.
If I can make a living as a hypnotist and help people, AND publish results of research that, in turn, will help many, many more people, then SCORE. :)
The book sales idea is excellent.

Thanks,

~Michelle

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Ricky Strode on February 8, 2010 at 5:09pm

Remeber if people can sell people things they will never use then you can sell them their future idea and one that will be much more useful than the things that go into closets, attics grages and so forth. The first thing you have to do is to eliminate fear and the best way to do that is to create good feeling of anykind and laugher is always good for that. If we want more people to come and see us we have to get them just like all the companies get their clients. Word of mouth and advertisements are the single most powerfull revenue makers there are. If people feel comfortable with you then you got them and all you have to do from there is give them what you said you would. They will always refer people if you give incentives in doing so and not just that it can be very rewading for a therapy relationship with clients. If you are doing a wonderful job for them they will want to share it with someone at sometime.

Michelle Albright, C.H. said:

Ricky,

I appreciate your reply.
By stipulating that the scientific method would be adhered to, that weeds out the 'opinion factor.' I'm interested in a field that studies measurable effects of hypnosis.
For example, if you have two groups of patients with severe asthma (say 100 patients, total) and half of the patients go about their regular treatment plan, and the other half go about the regular treatment plan and also spend three sessions with a hypnotist using some symptom-controlling suggestions, or age regression, or learning self-hypnosis techniques, or whatever, as long as all 50 get the same protocol, then see what happens. Follow both study groups for six months and collect data regarding something concrete and measurable (number of emergency room visits, hospital stays, increase or decrease in prescription meds due to symptoms) then compile that data and report it.
Adding hypnosis to *routine* medical treatment, and having hypnosis as a FIRST choice in many areas would be a great advancement, not just for hypnotists, but for all humans.
As it is now, hypnosis is still a little bit fringe... a little bit 'last resort.' If there is overwhelming evidence in the form of published scientific research that it helps relieve physical and psychological conditions, then hypnosis will be more commonplace, and therefore will become the norm, rather than the, "well, I've tried everything else and it didn't work, so I'll give this hypnosis thing a shot as a last resort," treatment.
A shift in the paradigm, if you will.
I'm not out to change anyone's religion, but I would like to see some changes in the order of treatments people reach for.
If I can make a living as a hypnotist and help people, AND publish results of research that, in turn, will help many, many more people, then SCORE. :)
The book sales idea is excellent.

Thanks,

~Michelle

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Michelle Albright, C.H. on February 8, 2010 at 5:53pm

Thank you for the information - very helpful!
:)

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Permalink Reply by Henxy on February 9, 2010 at 12:09am

For areas of research; I'd be cautious of something as important as maintaining a patent airway! There may well be major resistance and ethical issues of removing someone with 'severe asthma''s medications in order to do a trial of HT without the potential for confounding by the patient still being on pharmaceutical management.

In scientific trials, patients are randomised to one intervention or another, or the control group. So your volunteers would need to be prepared to be in any of those groups. And they need to have the least potential for bias (so the best mate of a hypnotherapist is probably going to cause some issues if they are a subject!).

It's impossible to blind the researcher and/or the patient to whether they are giving/receiving; so strong and convincing measures of what is done with each patient consistently need to be ensured; which takes out the element of individualisation of therapy, which is a big factor in HT working well, IMHO.

Good luck!

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