Hypnotherapy. Is it woo?

[mistermack]

Is it woo, or does it suffer from the stage hypnotist effect, which seems to be complete woo to me.

On the news a few seconds ago, a teenager with an eating disorder, who had only eaten chicken nuggets, and white bread since childhood, was cured in a one hour session.
She was readily eating foods that would have made her vomit before the session.

A friend's wife had been a smoker for years. She'd tried many ways to quit.
One session with a hypnotherapist and she has never smoked since. That was about thirty years ago.

I know it's anecdotes, but what the fuck? It really worked for them. The effect was definitely not imaginary, and they had tried hard to change, without success.
What do you think?

[Rum]

You will seeeend meee all youuur moneeeeyy..

[Animavore]

Yes.

[tattuchu]

I was wondering about this as well. I'm inclined to say it's bullshit. I'm skeptical that there is even such a thing as a hypnotic state at all. I'd like to try it as an experiment. It'd certainly be an interesting experience.
The reason I got thinking about it lately is because a hypnotherapist opened up shop in my psychiatrist's office, renting a room there. I read the hypnotherapist's promotional materials. It was pretty standard stuff, until she got to the part about "past life regression." I laughed out loud. Then brought it to my shrink's attention. I didn't mention the past life nonsense, just asked her if she thought hypnotherapy was legit. She assured me it was. When I expressed some mild skepticism she replied, "Well it's like anything else. It only works if you believe in it."
WTF?! Surely something works because it works? Belief should be irrelevant

[mistermack]

My friend's wife wouldn't call it woo though. Admittedly, she wanted to stop smoking.
I'd seen her try everything. She was a nurse, so she knew perfectly well WHY she should stop, but she couldn't.

One one hour session. That's all it took, and she never smoked again.

Maybe I should try it to stop wanking. But I suppose you have to WANT to stop.

I'm not giving an opinion, mind. I'm just telling what I know myself.
That girl on the tv just now was so similar, it made me start the thread.
A lifetime of eating disorder, gone in a one hour session. And yet they had tried all sorts of therapy before.
Edit:
Here's a story I found at random, I can't find the one I saw on midlands news :
http://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/famil ... er-1677173

Here's another. There's a lot of it out there : http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/hea ... ear-battle

[Feck]

Placebo effect ........ALL Hypnosis is self hypnosis it's little more than CBT
You want evidence ? what is the success rate of Hypnosis with alcoholism ? Hypnosis can't even inform Coke addicts they aren't actually in pain and we KNOW that that is not actually real .
Stage Hypnotists will ALL tell you all they do is suggest the "victim" is happy to play along..... Miracle cures you might as well pray !!!!!!
Of course you can disagree I'm open to test this anytime I'd love a hypnotist to make me sober i'd love one to make useful or even not addicted to nineteen .......
I'd take a bet you can't find a hypnotherapist who will even wager their normal Fee that they can make ANY significant improvement in my FUCKED life-stile
There you go..... challenge made .

[Feck]

Bring me A hyponobolokist willing to show his stuff I'll make him cry !

[mistermack]

Well, in fact, the placebo effect is not woo.
What is woo, is using the placebo effect to sell something else like pure water.
The placebo effect would be great, if you could put it in a pill, because it really works, and I believe that many trials have established that.

And in many ways, the placebo effect is sort of self-hypnosis. So if the placebo effect works, then self-hypnosis, or self-hypnosis aided by the hypnotherapist, can do the same thing. No reason why not.

They fact that you are so confident that they couldn't have an effect on you, just tells me that you know that you wouldn't want it enough for it to have a chance.

If hypnotherapy worked on 50% of addicts, but had no effect on the other 50%, would you say it was woo?
The only case I know of personally WAS an addict. To smoking. And most people rate that as a hard one to crack.
I suppose, if I knew people who had tried it, and it did nothing, then I'd have more of a clue.
But at present, my own personal experience is 100% success on a sample of one. Not very scientific.
I have a vague feeling that someone else I know tried it successfully, but I can't remember the details, so it might not be fact.
The one on the tv today was very convincing though.

[mistermack]

Found it :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bi ... m-35883687

It's abbreviated though. They went into far more detail on the news.

[Feck]

"They fact that you are so confident that they couldn't have an effect on you, just tells me that you know that you wouldn't want it enough for it to have a chance"
Yes you are right probably that's why I don't go to church and give 10% of my income to a church Or why I don't buy homeopathic medicine
Seriously ??????? was that an argument you tried to make ???

[Feck]

IT'S FUCKIN WOO GROW A SODDING BRAIN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"you wouldn't want it enough" LMFAO Is that how we test science or medicine ?
I guess we should just tell that to cancer patients "sorry we have no treatment but drink green tea by moonlight it will work if you just want it to enough ....... "

[Feck]

"What is woo, is using the placebo effect to sell something else like pure water."
OR HYPNOSIS

[Rum]

I had hypnotherapy in my early 30s when I was going through a divorce and was suffering terrible anxiety episodes. I never felt 'under' in any sense of the word and it didn't doing anything for my anxiety - which went actually when the cow and I finally separated for good!

Just my experience.

[mistermack]

"They fact that you are so confident that they couldn't have an effect on you, just tells me that you know that you wouldn't want it enough for it to have a chance"
Yes you are right probably that's why I don't go to church and give 10% of my income to a church Or why I don't buy homeopathic medicine
Seriously ??????? was that an argument you tried to make ???

Interesting line of reasoning. But I can't see the flow of logic from one thing to another.

If I was an addict, (and I am to some things) I'd be very impressed if I could be cured of it in an hour. Even if I actually did it myself, I WOULDN'T have known how.
I agree homeopathic medicine is woo, and religion is bollocks, but if something or someone like a hypnotherapist, or a placebo pill, can actually help me achieve something I dearly want, then it's a win.

Of course, I wouldn't apply that reasoning to homeopathy or faith-healing, because in most cases the cure is imaginary, not real, and the treatment is loaded with bullshit.
With hypnotherapy, there has been recent work, observing brain activity of subjects, and they can see real differences in brain activity when people are undergoing suggestion.
If it's possible to leave a permanent change, in some part of the brain, that might be how it works, for some people.

[mistermack]

"What is woo, is using the placebo effect to sell something else like pure water."
OR HYPNOSIS

Oh I see. It all makes sense, now you write it bigger.
Did your teachers have to write big for you?