Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in Balance, the 2015 Sound Fitness & Health Guide.

BY RICHARD WALKER

If you’ve ever doubted the effectiveness of hypnotism, consider this:

No. 1: According to the American Psychological Association, hypnotism “has proven effective in interventional radiology, various surgical procedures, the treatment of burns, child-birth labor pain, bone marrow aspiration pain, and pain related to dental work, especially so with children.

“Chronic pain conditions for which hypnosis has been used successfully include, among others, headache, backache, fibromyalgia, carcinoma-related pain, temporal mandibular disorder pain, and mixed chronic pain. Hypnosis can alleviate the sensory and/or affective components of a pain experience, which may be all that is required for acute pain.”

No. 2: Many athletes have long employed a form of self-hypnosis — “mental imagery,” or visualization — to become more competitive and improve their performance. Citing a report in Psychology Today and a study in the Journal of Sports & Exercise Psychology, Carolyn Gregoire wrote in Huffington Post, “Research on the brain patterns of weightlifters found that the patterns activated when a weightlifter lifted heavy weights were activated similarly when they simply imagined lifting.” The study found that “imagining weight lifting caused actual changes in muscle activity.”

So, why not you?

Trying to lose weight? Quit smoking? Up your game? Hypnotherapy can help.

“There’s nothing mystical about it. It isn’t  ‘woo-woo,’ ” said Kayla Wentworth, a certified clinical hypnotherapist in Poulsbo.

After all, we are subjected to the power of suggestion every day, she said; that’s what advertising and marketing are all about, getting a message to stick in your head.

In fact, the brain is constantly taking in information that influences our decision-making, our opinions, even how we view ourselves. Hypnosis can override that.

“Hypnosis is simply a state of being relaxed,” she said, adding that the word “hypnosis” is a Greek word meaning “sleep.”

“When you’re in a state of deep relaxation, that’s hypnosis. The chatter goes away and the brain is open to suggestion. It’s like putting new information into a computer.”

For someone trying to lose weight, that new information may be to have a drink of water instead of eating when you think you’re hungry.

For someone trying to kick the smoking habit, the new information may be that a cigarette tastes bad. Your brain begins to think that the cigarette tastes bad, and so it does.

For someone trying to achieve a goal, that new information may be visualization of achieving the goal — whether it’s overcoming anxiety, depression, fear, insomnia or low self-esteem. “The brain starts to say, we’re going to make this happen,” Wentworth said.

Here’s something else you might not know: Hypnosis works, but only if you’re open to it. A hypnotherapist “cannot make someone do anything that goes against their will,” Wentworth said. (That goes for those hypnosis shows you might see in Vegas or on TV. They’re real, she said.) “Everyone is hypnotizable. The point is, you want to make the change.”

People who seek hypnotherapy before or after medical-related procedures are particularly open to it. Hypnotherapy has proven effective for people who are allergic to anesthesia. And, according to the American Psychological Association, a 2002 study that compared intravenous conscious sedation with hypnotic sedation during radiology treatment found that the cost of hypnotic sedation was half as expensive as the standard sedation procedure.

Wentworth attended California State University, East Bay, and is a certified clinical hypnotherapist. She worked at School for the Deaf in Fremont, California, for 25 years, and moved 10 years ago to Poulsbo where she specializes in cancer support hypnotherapy. Her office is at Liberty Bay Marina, but she is in the process of moving her office to Bainbridge Island.

Rates vary, depending on number of sessions, but generally the first session is $185 for up to three hours. Subsequent sessions, $85; a session can last up to an hour and a half.

She also teaches a six-week hypnobirthing class.

“Some of the topics we cover are releasing emotional fears, releasing limiting thoughts, birth preferences, birth plan, relaxation scripts, bonding exercises and much more,” she said.

“My goal is to educate parents to understand that giving birth is not something to be feared. I teach them a relaxing, stress-free method of birthing based on the belief that babies should come into the world in an atmosphere of peace, joy and calmness. We also learn nutrition, relaxation, and self-hypnosis so the mother can experience the joy of birthing her baby in a comfortable, and often, pain-free manner.”

She offers classes in self-hypnosis, as well.

For those who feel they have not discovered their full potential, or who have lost their confidence, or who have attempted and failed at a goal, self-hypnosis can be liberating.

“It’s about empowerment — and being able to move on,” Wentworth said.

For more contact Wentworth at 360-621-8108, or go to HypnotherapyForYourHealth.com.