Date: Oct 20, 2010 Author: Meryl Davids Landau Source: Yahoo (
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by: Meryl Davids Landau
If you wish your doctor offered natural therapies before resorting to her prescription pad, you have plenty of company. In a recent survey of Prevention readers, 84% of you said you want to get advice about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) directly from your physician—no doubt because she has the training to discern the superstars from the snake oil. Fortunately, as patient use of CAM intensifies and research increasingly provides strong support for some treatments (and at least preliminary evidence for others), many highly respected, conventionally trained docs are venturing into this arena. These MDs aren't abandoning what they learned in medical school; they simply recognize that healing that unites the best of all techniques represents the wave of the future.
Twenty years ago, Dr. Lang reached for sedating drugs to help a patient suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder through a medical procedure. When a staffer offered to try hypnosis, Dr. Lang reluctantly agreed, skeptical it would help. Within minutes, the patient was relaxed and cooperative. "I was amazed at hypnosis' effectiveness; it opened up a whole new world for me," says Dr. Lang, who later learned that a hospital or doctor's office is a very suggestible setting. In the years since, Dr. Lang, an associate professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School, led large, randomized trials documenting hypnosis' value during breast biopsies and other procedures. Her findings: Hypnotizing patients immediately before a procedure leads to a faster recovery and the need for fewer pain medications.
Her top tips:
Breathe away pain.
Next time you undergo a medical procedure, use this breathing technique: "Each time you inhale, take in strength; with each breath out, think calm," says Dr. Lang. "Notice how with each inhalation you take in more relaxation, and how with each breath out you let go of whatever there is to let go of." Don't fight discomfort; instead, keep focusing on your breathing and imagine a cold pack over the area, numbing the pain.
Bring your own therapist.
Increasingly, hospitals and medical offices offer hypnotherapy, so ask if yours does. If not, you may be able to bring your own practitioner if you clear it in advance. Even if the therapist isn't allowed into the treatment room, you'll benefit by having a relaxing session as you wait beforehand. Find licensed health care professionals at the Society of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis (sceh.us) or the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis (asch.net). Consider hypnotherapy for other health problems too. It cut hot flash frequency and severity by nearly 70% in one study and aided weight loss in another.
Reduce stress to boost healing.
Any mind-body intervention designed to minimize anxiety—massage, meditation, yoga—helps healing. That's because all prevent excess stress hormones from hindering immune functions by, for example, slowing the army of helpful blood cells heading to a wound. Incorporate one or more stress-reduction techniques into your daily routine.
