WWe are an anxious nation. According to the Mental Health Foundation, 37 percent of women and nearly 30 percent of men report experiencing high levels of anxiety in the past two years, a significant increase from 2012 to 2015. From work stress and money worries to health issues and family issues, the problem is that many of us have something that keeps us up at night.
In my case, in 2021, at the age of 40, I underwent treatment for primary breast cancer, and I am feeling unstable and anxious about what is happening with my body. When I was diagnosed, I was fit, healthy, and feeling great, but unbeknownst to me, her two tumors had grown in my right breast. Who’s to say something like that won’t happen again elsewhere in my body?
wake up Waking up early in the morning with my heart racing, head spinning, and anxiety is my new normal. Despite cutting back on caffeine and alcohol (and trying antidepressants, which didn’t work for me), this early morning panic seems depressing and inevitable.
But there may be a solution. It’s possible to rewire the brain, says Dr. David Spiegel, a professor of psychiatry at Stanford University and director of the university’s Center on Stress and Health. His answer? hypnotherapy.
If you’re frowning, I get it. You’re probably thinking of a stage hypnotist brandishing a clock who encourages drunken revelers to bark like dogs. It’s a world away from the logic, reason, and cognitive science one associates with Stanford psychiatrists.
But Dr. Spiegel has put 40 years of clinical and research experience into his new app, Reveri, which he hopes will bring hypnotherapy into the mainstream. It just launched in the UK after racking up 500,000 downloads in the US. The annual plan costs £89.99 after a 7-day free trial, which translates to £7.50 per month.
“We tend to overestimate physical interventions and underestimate psychological interventions for medical and psychiatric problems,” he says. “For something to be considered a ‘real’ treatment, [people believe] Requires incision, ingestion, or injection. ”
• How to reduce stress – no yoga required
Compared to drugs, hypnotherapy has a better risk-benefit ratio as it has no side effects. And having felt like a human medical waste disposal facility during cancer treatment, a non-pharmaceutical approach is very appealing.
Reveri offers interactive guided hypnosis sessions for a variety of concerns, including sleep, stress, smoking, drinking, pain, overeating, and lack of concentration. There are quite a few claims.
I signed up for a 7-day stress relief program. Each session, voiced by Spiegel, immediately puts me into a state of relaxation and makes me feel like I’m floating.
“I wanted to create an experience that was as similar as possible to what it would be like to be with me in the office,” he says. For this reason, he made the app interactive. So, in his voice, you will be asked to rate your stress level, for example, and the app will respond accordingly using voice recognition technology.
Since I don’t feel “hypnotized” and realize that I have total control and can stop things at any time by simply opening my eyes, I start to think that it must not be working. But I will persevere. This was facilitated by the fact that the sessions were short, averaging 8 to 9 minutes.
It’s hard to notice the difference at first. Maybe I woke up less in the middle of the night, but there were always good nights and bad nights. However, after using the app for five days, he woke up feeling less tired than usual. I opened one eye and peered cautiously at the clock, surprised to see that the time was 7:09am. I slept for 8 hours straight for the first time in over a year.
It wasn’t a fluke. For the first time since cancer treatment, I was able to sleep regularly through the night. Not only that, but instead of waking up feeling some unknown fear, I’m waking up feeling optimistic.
Spiegel laughed at my surprise. “I wouldn’t be too surprised if you were on sleeping pills, would you?” he says. “This works and really surprises people. We underestimate what our brains can do. We have a lot more control than we think.”
As a full disclaimer, I don’t just do hypnotherapy (I have a 9 minute “focus” session that I often do after lunch after completing a stress relief program). I also follow all the anti-anxiety advice: exercise, socialize, limit stimulants, eat well, and seek treatment. When there are so many factors that exacerbate stress, a multifaceted approach seems prudent.
For a second opinion, call Dr. Sabine Donnai, founder of Viavi, a private clinic focused on preventive medicine and healthy longevity.
• This anxiety podcast gives you a mental toolkit
When asked if hypnosis is known to be effective, she quickly replies, “The short answer is yes.” “It is a recognized treatment and is prescribed by some clinicians for phobias, weight loss, and smoking cessation. It is not a placebo. Some people consider it entertainment, so… It just has a negative connotation.” She compares it to meditation. “Hippies used to do it, but now we all know its benefits.”
She’s rather skeptical about whether apps are as effective as seeing a hypnotherapist in person, but says, “I’m not saying it’s not possible. And of course more people It also has the advantage of being approachable,” she says.
It’s certainly more convenient than going to a hypnotherapist’s office. “For example, if we’re working on treating insomnia and you’re trying to go back to sleep at 3 a.m., you probably don’t want me in your bedroom,” Spiegel says with a laugh. . “But you have me on your smartphone.”
Donai points out that hypnosis is only as effective as you allow it to be. “Some people find it very difficult to be hypnotized,” she says. “You have to trust the process. If you resist going into a deeply relaxed state, it won’t work.”
This app has a “hypnotizability test” so you can see how effective it is. Of course, there are some people whose mental health issues are beyond the capabilities of hypnotherapy apps. “Some people need careful evaluation and medication or long-term structured psychotherapy, but not everyone,” Spigel says. “Reveri’s purpose is to be a publicly available tool that helps people help themselves.”
And there is solid evidence behind it. Spiegel describes a clinical trial published in The Lancet that looked at people undergoing endovascular surgery without anesthesia. One of the three groups he was randomized to received standard treatment, which involved pushing a button to introduce opioids into the bloodstream. The second group had a nurse who provided supportive comfort during the surgery. The third person was hypnotized.
“This group was taught to imagine themselves floating and translate their discomfort into a sensation of tingling or numbness,” he says. “In the end, the standard treatment group’s pain level was 5/10, the nursing support group’s pain level was 3/10, and the hypnosis group’s pain level was 1/10.” The hypnosis group still received opioids, but The dose is half that of the standard treatment group, meaning fewer side effects.
“We then asked them how anxious they felt, and the standard treatment group answered 6/10, the nursing group 3/10, and the hypnosis group 0/10.”
So if hypnotherapy is truly an effective, evidence-backed treatment with no side effects, why isn’t it more widely available? “It’s a stigma against non-pharmacological interventions,” he says. . “If a drug produced such results, every hospital in the country would use it.”
For more information, please visit: reveri.com
5 ways to calm your anxious mind
1. Prioritize sleep. Avoid caffeine after lunch, switch off screens an hour before bed, and get some sunlight each morning to regulate the sleep hormone melatonin.
2. move your body. A meta-analysis published this year in the British Journal of Sports Medicine showed that exercise was 1.5 times more effective than pharmacotherapy in reducing moderate anxiety.
3. The 2015 Smiles trial (the first intervention study to test dietary modification as a treatment strategy for depression) focused primarily on vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, dairy products, olive oil, legumes, and some meats, Eating fish and eggs improved symptoms of depression.
Four. Reduce alcohol. While drinks may relieve stress and anxiety in the moment, they often cause anxiety at 4 a.m., and the long-term effects are increased overall anxiety.
Five. Find your tribe. A sense of community is as important to your health as quality sleep and proper nutrition, so call that friend.
