SELF HYPNOSIS CALMS ASTHMA ATTACKS

An asthma attack has both physical and psychological components. The anxiety that often accompanies an attack reinforces the physiological processes underlying the asthmatic response. Teaching the asthmatic patient how to use self-hypnosis to control the anxiety can be effective and may also reduce the need for medication.

A 12-year-old asthmatic patient learned self-hypnosis by following instructions that she would imagine walking on a beach and lying down near the ocean to relax. She received, according to the report published in BMC Pediatrics by Ran D. Anbar, M.D. of the Department of Pediatrics, State University of New York Upstate Medical University, a post-hypnotic suggestion that when she touched her finger to her nose, she would enter a state of profound relaxation.

After two 45-minute sessions, she was able to use the finger relaxation technique to calm herself. She had been using nebulized levalbuterol at least four times a day, but within two weeks of her training, she was using hypnosis instead, half of the time, and by three months she had completely discontinued use of the medication.