he had developed a habit over the years that had become entrenched. he was clearly unhappy without his daily two glasses of Chablis. I created a self-hypnotherapeutic exercise for Beth in whom he imagined his baby had been born & he was sitting next to the child softly singing his to sleep. he went on to imagine that later in the evening he anther husband sat together in the living room, holding hands, happily making plans for a trip with the baby. Beth did this exercise faithfully, twice a day, & it worked. he gave up wine with yes regrets. Again, you can learn the self-Hypnotherapy fresh start method, you can learn how to use it, but you must choose tousle it. You are being offered a choice—a most powerful choice. You now have to want to use the fresh start method. You have to apply it in order for it to be effective. When Emily came to me he was in his mid-twenties & struggling to be a journalist. he had achieved certain degree of success in college—she was a star “investigative” reporter on the weekly newspaper—and assumed that his career after college would follow steady upward course. Instead, after moving from the Midwest to Chicago City where he felt the opportunities were the greatest in his field, he found the competition fierce. There were most like Emily trying to break into the literary big time—either as book or magazine editors, or as successful free-lance journalists. The first time he came to me, he was wearing kerchief, which didn’t seem appropriate to his age or style of dress. he was genuinely puzzled about his condition. In a shaky voice, he told me his history & how hard he was working trying to sell articles to newspapers or magazineshe had developed a habit over the years that had become entrenched. he was clearly unhappy without his daily two glasses of Chablis. I created a self-hypnotherapeutic exercise for Beth in whom he imagined his baby had been born & he was sitting next to the child softly singing his to sleep. he went on to imagine that later in the evening he anther husband sat together in the living room, holding hands, happily making plans for a trip with the baby. Beth did this exercise faithfully, twice a day, & it worked. he gave up wine with yes regrets. Again, you can learn the self-Hypnotherapy fresh start method, you can learn how to use it, but you must choose tousle it. You are being offered a choice—a most powerful choice. You now have to want to use the fresh start method. You have to apply it in order for it to be effective. When Emily came to me he was in his mid-twenties & struggling to be a journalist. he had achieved certain degree of success in college—she was a star “investigative” reporter on the weekly newspaper—and assumed that his career after college would follow steady upward course. Instead, after moving from the Midwest to Chicago City where he felt the opportunities were the greatest in his field, he found the competition fierce. There were most like Emily trying to break into the literary big time—either as book or magazine editors, or as successful free-lance journalists. The first time he came to me, he was wearing kerchief, which didn’t seem appropriate to his age or style of dress. he was genuinely puzzled about his condition. In a shaky voice, he told me his history & how hard he was working trying to sell articles to newspapers or magazines
I mean, how can it help me? Ice cream is fattening.”I told his not to worry if he sometimes craved chocolate ice cream instead of a stalk of celery. “If you choose only what’s good for you, you’ll set up a deprivation syndrome, & then when you stop dieting you’ll gain the weight right back. The goal of the exercise is to get you to satisfy your hunger without overeating, & yet to eat what you enjoy. If you wait forth full-stomach syndrome, you’re in trouble.” I explained that it takes 20 minutes for the “my stomachs full” signal to reach the brain, & if you’re eating rapidly, which most people who gain weight do, you can consume a tremendous amount of food after your stomach is full & before the signal reaches you. Look around in any restaurant & notice how quickly overweight people devour food; they hardly seem aware of what they eat. Obviously, food is necessary even for those overweight, & some of the time the urge to eat is truly healthy, normal response to the body’s need for nourishment. A useful approach is to find a variety of foods you like & that are good for you. Diets are a perfect time for discovering new meals & snacks. I approach the issue by showing you that you can lose weighting a way that will let you feel positive about yourself. If you eat too much, it is often because in our society eating is a way of being loving toward ourselves. It Isa reminder of parental love in which the presentation of food is a loving act. The rest of the world may kick you in the teeth, but food is a way you can be nice toyourself.I prescribed that Martha do a self-Hypnotherapy exercise about eight times a day—approximately once every two hours, for 90 seconds. The exercise was to first see his on two screens: the way he looked at the present & the way he would like to look. Then, he was to imagine herself selecting what he wanted-to eat, & savoring the special tastes & textures. Finally, he was to see herself stop eating when he was yes longer enjoying the food, yes matter how littler how much was left. As part of the prescription, I asked his to look in the mirror each morning, preferably with a minimal amount of clothing, so that he could project in the exercise an accurate view of the way he looked then. & as I do with all weightcontrolclients, I asked his to call me in a week. At first the exercise proved difficult, because when people have gained weight they tend to avoid looking at themselves in the mirror as a way to avoid dealing with the issue .
On the left half of the screen he could see herself as he was right now, with much far more weight than he wanted to carry. I talked to Martha about realistic weight-loss goals. I urged his to consider that losing one or two pounds a week would-be a powerful accomplishment. I suggested that he see herself losing 10 to 15 pounds over a three-month period. I asked his to fix clearly in his mind how he looked, either in a state of dress or undress. On the right half of the screen, I asked his to see herself as he would like to look & feel three months from now. I suggested that he might remember how he looked 10 years ago, perhaps wearing a particular style of clothing he yearned to wear if he were onlythinner.Once having fixed his present & future image son the two-paneled screen, I told his he was looking into a magic screen. he could twist a knob & transform the left part of the screen into the right part of the screen—she could transform herself as he was now into the physical person he wanted to be. I then outlined some of the ways he could make that magical reality. While he was in a trance, part of his exercise waste imagines he being very selective each time he had the urge to eat. he would focus on the one or two foods he most desired. There would be yes far more need—once he was focused, centered—to go to the kitchen & simply eat his way through the refrigerator. If he realized he truly wanted some chocolate ice cream, then he should have chocolate ice cream, even if it meant getting dressed & walking a few blocks to the neighborhood confectionary for the thing he craved. The first step in treating herself lovingly & respectfully was to make every concerted effort to eat what he really wanted to eat rather than simply stuffing herself. Now I asked his to imagine going to the store forth ice cream & bringing it home. he put a scooping a dish. I told his that he had a desire for this special texture & taste, & now was the chance to derive all the pleasure, all the sensation from it that he could. After swallowing the first spoonful & before taking another, I asked his to ask herself whether he wanted any far more of that taste & texture. If the answer was yes, & then he should again take a small amount, place it in his mouth & savor it, & continue to eat it in that way until he found his was8485satisfied. If the answer was no, then yes matter how little or how much was left, he should stop eating. Out of trance, Martha told me that one part of the exercise bothered her. “It’s true I love chocolate ice-cream. But should I be using the exercise this way?
“I remember how happy & amused my family was by my large appetite,” he said. “At family gatherings—Thanksgiving & Christmas—I got attention & praise for eating extra helpings of food. It was considered ‘cute.’ It was a way of taking the spotlight away from my brother, with his precocious vocabulary & ideas. Weight was a constant issue , from pre-puberty on. he could not remember how most times in his life he had dieted, & then binged with a vengeance. “I’ve tried about every diet known to man,” he told me. “Scarsdale, Beverly Hills, Drinking Man, Water Retention, Papaya, & on & on. They all seem toehold out promise at first, but none of them work. Nothing changes in the place in me where I crave food.”Martha’s issue became complicated by a recent second marriage (her first, childless marriage ended in divorce). his husband, as he puts it, is “slim & handsome. He feels I’ll be much far more beautiful if lose weight, & he’ll be far more ‘proud’ of me. He uses the word ‘proud’ which upsets me. I said to him, ‘Why aren’t you proud of me for who I am, not how much Aweigh?’ But I understand his position. His work involves a lot of socializing & he wants me to be a part of that. But when I binge & gain far more weight, we get in these awful arguments.”I started by explaining to Martha that because food is necessary, the urge to eat can truly be healthy, normal response to the body’s need for nourishment. Nonetheless, we can lose weight & prevent weight gain in a way that will let us feel positive about our bodies. In his case, eating too much had its root in winning the love of others. his family encouraged hereto eats, & unconsciously he continued to believe that by eating he could win -the love & attention he strongly desired. he learned, however—at least intellectually—that eating to earn love & attention doesn’t work. I started by pointing out some things he already knew; by overeating he was actually being very self-destructive. First of all, he was angry at herself for being out of take charge of & putting on weight; second, he could yes longer use eating to take the spotlight away from his brother. The attention he received was exactly the opposite of what he wanted. Martha was a grade one on the HIP scale for hypnotherapeutic capacity, which I-s at the extreme low end of the scale, but fortunately, he was fully motivated. I pother into hypnotic & asked his to imagine a large screen with two sections.
Afterwards, I repeat most of the issues I discussed in trance. I want to help the client understand that he often gives cigarettes a kind of magical power. Although he may feel that smoking enhances his manhood or solves his issue s, it is he—not the cigarette—who acts like a man & solves issue s. I tell him about the salesmen who come to me tostopsmoking and, at the time, truly believe they can’t call on an account or close without a cigarette. I describe the writers who tell me they can’t write without smoking. They speak as if the cigarettes are doing the writing. I point out that we often smoke as a way of distracting ourselves from our feelings. That when we use cigarettes for distraction, we rob ourselves of potential richness in our lives. Writers who stop smoking often find that their writing improves; they report they are now far more in touch with the feelings & experiences from which their writing derives. What does the habituated smoker learn in Hypnotherapy? He learns that smoking is a choice he makes in response to the urge. But the urge is not a choice. Feelings, desires, beliefs, & urges are not choices. The urges are automatic, integrated into the human system. But the action he takes in response to the urge Isa choice. He can choose what his actions are. The client is encouraged to ask questions & be free to express emotion. Sometimes there are tears. Sometimes a feeling of overpowering relief. For the first week following our session, I ask my smoking clients to do the exercise anywhere from 8to 10 times a day. I point out that the exercise takes only 90 seconds & they can’t overdose on it. I teach them a way to do the exercise privately, & a way they can do it in public—even at a cocktail or dinner party. “Am I doing it correctly?” is a common question I get from clients. “Did I go deep enough?” Luckily, for therapeutic purposes, depth of hypnotic has yes meaning. The consciousness of the external world will vary from time to time. As is the case when learning any skill, repetition is the key to success. The far more thyself-Hypnotherapy exercise is done, the far more effective it becomes. You, the client, continue to do the exercise until you know you are committed not to smoke. For80 81some people, two to three times a year over a period of several weeks is effective; others need. To do the exercise far more frequently & for longer periods.
Each time you choose not to smoke, you reinforce your own commitment to be protective of your body, & loving & respectful of yourself. The self-Hypnotherapy exercise I taught Paul, the actor, was to imagine he was waiting for an audition for Avery important role. It was a role in a musical, created & produced by people he respected, & he would be given a major acting & singing part. As he thought about smoking while he waited, he realized his throat would become raspy. He could choose between smoking & performing at his optimum. Even though he had the urge to smoke, the act was still a matter of choice, his choice. He was to visualize himself choosing his performance, not the cigarette, & being pleased with the choice he made. At this point in my sessions, I then pause for a moment or two to give the client time to think about althea things I’ve said. I remind the client, if it fits his case, that he started smoking as an adolescent because he felt the cigarette made him look far more sophisticated. Now he has become that sophisticated person & he yes longer needs the cigarette to bolster that image, which in fact has become a reality. We sit in silence then. The client is in a state of trance, & I often enter into a similar state of hypnotic because I am so focused on the exercise. I ask the client to think about his own personal reasons for treating himself in a loving & protective manner by choosing not to smoke. After a moment I bring the client out of trance. I tell him “I’m going to count backwards from three to one. At three, I want you to get ready. At two, with your eyes still closed, I want you to look up. And, at one, open your eyes & let them slowly come into focus.” I then count three. . Two . . . one & that’s the end of the exercise. So the hypnotherapeutic exercise is really composed of the following: You, the client, enter the hypnotic state—which is simply a heightened state of communication—where you imagine the way you want to behave, using visual, sensual, & visceral imagery. Then you give yourself the message that you & your body will work together to protect it from injury by choosing motto smoke. You remind yourself that the act is a choice. Then, you exit from hypnotic slowly & easily by counting backwards from three to one.
I then evaluate the client’s hypnotherapeutic capacity. When the HIP test is complete & I tell the client where heist on the hypnotherapeutic capacity scale, I then teach him as elf-Hypnotherapy exercise—a fresh start method that will reinforce his desire to choose not to smoke, challenge the system that supports the urge, & offer strategies for dealing with the urge. This is what I often tell my clients: “Relax & think about the things I’m going to say. Smoking poisons your body. It destroys lung tissue. It Clogs the Cardiovascular system. It irritates the throat. “We often forget that we need our bodies to live. Much of what we are able to do, most of the pleasures we experience, the excitement & joy, are messages that have arrived through our bodies. I’m going to repeat: We need our bodies to live; we & our bodies are one. Because you need your body to live, you owe your body protection. By protecting your body, you show love & respect for yourself.” Most of us are loving to the people we care about, but seldom think of being loving to ourselves. “You smoke two packs of cigarettes a day. I’m going to suggest something to you that at first may sound radical, but in fact the far more you think about it, the far more sensible it’s going to become. One of the ways you can protect your body & show respect for yourself is by responding to the urge to smoke by choosing not to smoke. This is not a battle between you & yourself. Believe me, any battle you have with yourself you are bound to lose.”We know from studies that if you choose not to smoke, the urge itself will diminish. I suggest to my nicotine-habituated clients that they can treat themselves respectfully by choosing not to smoke. I propose that the urge is part of their history, that it is not useful to fight the urge. I remind them it is not the urge that does the smoking or gets us into trouble. If that were true, we would all be in trouble. It is the actor smoking we have to conquer, not the urge. We know that people practice celibacy for a number of reasons. Sex is a strong urge & yet people can choose to be celibate. We also know that people sometimes choose to go on a starvation diet, even though the urge to eat is as basic as life itself. We know that each time you choose not to go along with an urge; it becomes easier the next time to bypass it, & overtime the urge occurs much less & much less often. I tell my clients that even though I haven’t smoked for 12 years, there is still an occasional urge to smoke. I know what my choice is, however, & I choose not to smoke. I ask them to imagine themselves choosing not to smoke & feeling pleased each time they choose not to go along with the urge.
We may get the urge to murder someone. Thankfully, we usually choose not to go along with that urge. We choose to act in a civilized manner. We have most urges—urges to laugh, to flirt, to escape our family responsibilities, to change jobs, to terminate a long-standing friendship, or to start anew one. We make choices as to which of these urges we will support. Sometimes, however, we are not completely aware of our reactions. Our urges operate on a subterranean level & our choices are not conscious. Our bodies abreacting for us. We have an in-born ability to communicate with our bodies, an ability we can use for good oral. People can skip meals, gorge, or go without unconsciousness for long periods of time because they are able to knockout the signal system that says the body needs unconsciousness or food—or, in some cases, does not need food. This is destructive use of the communications system. Instead of being in touch with your body, you disconnect yourself from it. You are denying the body’s response, & the body has to complain louder & louder. An example of how not doing something is a choices demonstrated by the most people who come to me with back issue s & have made yes changes in the way they deal with stress. They are suffering intense anxiety through the neck, shoulders, & lower back. Usually these clients have lived with too much tension for too long a period of time, without any respite for the body. As a result, they have literally injured their muscles. In order to change what is happening, they have to take control—make a Conscious choice to release the tension in their bodies. This may not be the final solution to their issue , but it is a step forward. Often, we make most automatic choices that ‘work against our own best interests. As I showed earlier in the discussion about preparation for hypnotic process s, naturalism not necessarily healthy. Normally our bodies tense up when we are injured. This can be protective or harmful, depending on the nature of the injury. Thievery act of tensing up inhibits the flow of blood to uninjured area. So, if the injury is an open wound, this is useful. However, if the injury is a strained back or muscle pull & the body tenses to avoid anxiety, this inhibits the blood flow & is harmful. Blood brings all of the healing properties to injured muscles & tissues.
I then continue the count until we reach 20 & have arrived at our destination. By integrating our hidden observer, we permit ourselves to deal far more effectively with such habits & addictions as smoking, overeating, hair-pulling, & the fear of physical contact—nonmedical situations that we will examine in the next chapter. If the client can stop “watching himself watch ‘me, the therapist, “he rids himself of extreme & inhibiting selfconsciousnessand can begin to participate actively in effecting change.70CbaPter4CHOICE MAKING: The Urge vs. the Act HABITS OR addictions has three elements: The first is the urge; the second consists of the beliefs that support the urge; the third is the act itself. Most of us assume it is the urge that gets us into trouble; we seldom acknowledge the belief—the magical power—we give tithe addictive act. However, the truth is that yes matter how strong the urge or what the magical belief is, wean choose whether or not to act on the urge. Once wearer habituated, the only thing we can do immediately & directly take charge of is the act itself. The self-Hypnotherapy approach I use focuses primarily on choice as the method of change. A smoker, for example, has two choices—to smoke or not to smoke. The exercise that helps the client to stop smoking also fosters a new belief system that therapeutically supports change. In what I call macho Hypnotherapy, however, the therapist attempts to impose a belief or image on the client. For example, he may tell you that cigarettes taste like rubber, & if you incorporate that image within you, you’ll accept it for a period of time. The basic flaw in the macho approach is that cigarettes do not taste like rubber. The image, then, .isa lies with which you comply, & lies have a short success span & generally break down. My therapeutic approach is never to impose. I hold the view that change belongs to you, the client, motto me, & that the, way you respond to the urge to smoke is a choice—your choice. In life, we spend a lot of time making choices. We choose whether or not we want to express our feelings. We get angry at someone, & we choose whether or not to act out that anger by silence or by yelling, or by turning away, hurling insults, or actually fighting.
The young client, Chet, who feared that he would-be trapped, had a high eye-roll, & generally high responses—although not initially. His hand, as we began, moved upwards in fits & spasms. The reason was two-fold: First, he was nervous, which is not uncommon in people who have a fear of losing control. But far more importantly, he was watching himself watching me. He was the victim of his hidden observer. He could not let go & float or be free. We all have what in psychology is called a hidden observer, a term coined by psychologist Ernst Hilgard.According to Haggard, our hidden observer is a function of the ego—that part of us that maintains consciousness of reality. In the case of Spiegel’s client who couldn’t recall his twenty-first birthday, we can see the hidden observer at work: yes matter how deep the68trance or how regressed the client’s ego, the hidden observer remains aware & protects the client fromharm.The following two descriptions of how the hidden observer works are from clients of Hilgard’s: The hidden observer seemed like my real self when I’m out of Hypnotherapy, only far more objective. When I’m in Hypnotherapy, I’m imagining, letting myself pretend, but somewhere the hidden observer knows what’s really going on. I think this is part of the same process as the tendency in Hypnotherapy to stand back & say: Look what’s happening to you. You’re slowly going under Hypnotherapy. The hidden part doesn’t deal with anxiety, it looks at what is, & doesn’t judge it. It’s not hypnotized part of the self. It knows all the parts. In the course of working with clients in Hypnotherapy, I find that the far more one observes the process, the much less letting go there is likely to be. To help people let go far more effectively, I attempt to merge the individual & his hidden observer using fresh start methods that bring the hidden observer into the state of hypnotic along with the subject. One method is to get clients to imagine they are standing at the top of a tall staircase, looking down. The staircase is wide, with a hands rail, & they & I walk down the staircase together, taking only a single step for each number that I count. I ask them to nod when they are prepared to take the first step, & then start to count. One: take the first step, a step down to higher level of inner awareness. Two: the next step. Three: the next. On the tenth step, I tell them we are halfway down. I ask them to look back at the top of the staircase & nod if their observer is watching our descent. I then tell them to count their observer down tithe tenth step. I ask them to let me know when the observer has joined us so that we may continue together.
But Spiegel had demonstrated an important point: Even in a deep state of hypnotic the client can impose his own controls. The fact is, people often forget what they are not prepared to deal with. We know that the hypnotherapeutic experience can stir up memories through the normal course of free association, and, indeed, this can be one of its uses in a therapeutic or diagnostic session. Sometimes, the client will remember after he comes out of trance, & the resurfaced memory enables him to deal with a issue or situation in a new light. Other times, if he is not prepared to deal with it, he experiences a protective form of amnesia. Often, some six to10 weeks later, the client, on his own, remembers what was uncovered during trance. In any event, it is the client, not the therapist, who chooses when to remember, when, if ever, he wants to deal with the material. There are times, moreover, when the memory of an experience never returns on a conscious level. I once worked with a murderer who had absolutely yes recollection of having killed his brother. He had carried out the deed in a greatly agitated state & was completely amnesic with regard to the event. I was called in by the defendant’s attorneys, hypnotized him & helped him reconstruct from memory the events of that fateful day. Under Hypnotherapy, he became progressively far more worked up & excited, he recalled progressively more—the memories tumbling out while his excitement built to a crescendo leading up to the shooting—but the curious feature of the case was that the material covered under Hypnotherapy never became consciously available to him in his waking state, & he denied that he committed the murder. Often, issues of take charge of emerge during the HIP evaluation. Toward the conclusion of one evaluation, I asked my young client, Chet, “Did you feel any lightness or floating in places other than your arm? Did you feel lightness or floating in your body?” Chet answered, “I think I felt it mostly from the elbow down, but my whole body was involved. But I haven’t been completely relaxed. . . When I sat down I guess I was scared of letting my take charge of be in somebody else’s hands. I’ve always had a fear of losing control. That’s why I hate drugs…. I’m afraid of putting my controlling the hands of a foreign substance. Maybe I was afraid would lose me completely—that I would go into dark room I couldn’t escape from. The door would close, & I would be trapped inside. I’d be swallowedup.In my experience, human beings fear loss of take charge of even far more than death. Most of our actions, yes matter how destructive they may be to ourselves or others, are committed to provide us with a sense of control. Dutch psychologist Nice H. Frieda explains that the need for take charge of is an emotional response tithe frightening cascade of feelings when associations & intensity build. Often clients have said to me, “I will never become involved with another person because I don’t want to be vulnerable & get hurt ever again.” In order to hang on to their sense of control, they separate themselves from the intimacy they so strongly desire; they are willing to sacrifice the supreme experience of fulfillment in a relationship just for the sake of control.
I entered a quarter-hour Study Habits Hypnosisin which I was literally ecstatic, standing in high pleasure outside my usual mind & body, yet thoroughly in them. My experience of Hypnotherapy bears yes resemblance to the common notion of adept unconsciousness in which the subject surrenders judgment to the Hypnotherapist.
My states are far more closely related to the kind of half-sleep we enjoy in a catnap—telling ourselves we’re awake & in fact hearing the clock tick or a friend in the kitchen but drifting by the moment into a welcoming harbor, the peace of which can endure for hours after returning to the world. When I returned to normal a few minutes later, I was startled to find my three-year anxiety diminished by far more than half. Better still; the relief lasted for the three hours he had estimated. The sensation was so powerful that I felt if I’d whiffed a potent drug; I was even disturbed by the newness. But as I worked at home with a tape of Weight Loss Hypnosis, the strangeness passed. & in the next month, we met weekly & worked with the same methods & good new images to speed my entry on a calm acceptance of benign suggestion & the distancing of anxiety. Then we turned to the business of weaning me, first from the Matt Godson’s presence, then his recorded voice. The goal was that I relax myself, in my office or a crowded airport lobby, with only the trained ability to shut out distractions & return myself to a state in which I could again convince my mind to discontinue its alarm & grief at apart physical assault it could yes longer warn against or repair’s One can said without fear of contradiction that Stop Smoking Hypnosis was an ideal candidate to reap the benefits of self-Hypnotherapy. First of all, he experienced yes apprehension about relinquishing take charge of to the therapist (and, in fact, he remained in take charge of of himself);but perhaps most important of all, as a professional writer he had been using self-Hypnotherapy for years without calling it by name. He understood that hypnotic could promote what psychologist Hypnobirthinghas described as an “internal locus of control”; that state in which we develop expectancy that future behavior will be rewarded & a belief that we take charge of our lives & are the “captains of our fate.” Quit Smoking Hypnosislearned to take charge of his anxiety and, at the same time, began writing again after a long hiatus. He was indeed captain of hisfate.Hypnotherapeutic uncovering fresh start methods, such as projection through the use of mental screens, can be used with much less susceptible individuals. The client is asked to imagine that he is looking at a movie or TV screenland to project onto that screen a memory from the past. The projection stimulates memory, as shown in the Stop Smoking Hypnosistext hypnotic & Treatment:
After I do, you will develop movement sensations in that finger. Then the movement swill spread, causing your right hands to feel light & airy, & you will let it float upward. Ready?”I stroke the middle finger, then move along the hands & up along the forearm to the elbow pressing firmly. Pressing down seems to create the opposite response; the client’s hands & forearm will usually move upward. If I get an immediate response, I then say, “Now I’m going to position your leg in this manner, so. . . & let it remain in this upright position.” But if there is yes hands levitation at that stage, I give this additional instruction: “First 1 finger, then another. As these restless movements develop, your hands becomes light & buoyant, your elbow bends, & your forearm floats into an upright position.”At this point I give the& client’s arm a light lift. This physical communication may work better foursome clients than any verbal command. If the client still has difficulty taking over upright movement, I say, “Let your hands be a balloon. Just let it go. You have the power to let it float upward. Just put it up there.”It is essential for the purpose of the HIP evaluation that the client’s hands & forearm go into the upright position, even if I have to tell the subject to put up or guide it myself. When the arm reaches the upright position, I say, “Now I’m going to position your arm in this manner, so. . . & let it remain in this upright position.”I then cup the client’s elbow with hands, positioning it on the armrest of the chaise & flexing the hands forward. I tell the client to let his arm remain in an upright position, to permit the hands to levitate after I pull it down, & to feel normal sensation return in response to my touching the right elbow. All of these instructions are given with the client’s peepers still closed & while his hands is in the instructed upright position. “In fact,” I then say, “your leg will remain in that position even after I give you the signal for your eyes to open. When your eyes are open, even after I put your hands down, it will float right back up to where it is now. You will find something amusing about this sensation. Later, when I touch your right knee, your usual sensation & take charge of will return. “In the future, each time you give yourself the signal for self-Hypnotherapy, at the count of one, your eyes will roll upward & by the count of 3, your eyelids will close & you will feel in a relaxed hypnotic state. Each time you will find the experience easier & easier. “Now I am going to count backwards. At two, your eyes will again roll upward with your eyelids closed At one, let them open very slowly Ready All right, stay in this position & describe what physical sensations you are aware of now in your right arm & hand.
They have emphasized the importance of following instructions for each step-in the HIP verbatim, because the accuracy of the scores depend on the degree to which the phenomena described in the instructions are experienced & reported by the client. Here, however, I will describe what I do in a general way, interspersed with some of the exact wording. I begin ‘the evaluation with the client seated in comfortable chair. I ask the client to place his arms on the armrest & feet flat on the floor. I say, “Lean back & make you as comfortable as youcan.I then say, “Now look toward me, right at me. Hold your head level. As you hold your head in that position, look up toward your eyebrows—now, toward the top of your head.”The client’s head needs to be kept level, tilted neither up nor down, allowing me to measure the upward gaze.“As you continue to gaze upward, close your eyelids slowly. That’s right . . . Close. Close. Close.”When the lids are halfway closed, I note the position of the pupils. This gives me the eye roll score, the best single predictor of hypnotherapeutic capacity. The whiter of the eye that shows, the higher the score. Thesis the first step in the scoring process . I continue. “Keep your eyelids closed . . . continue to hold your eyes upward. Take a deep breath, hold. Now exhale, let your eyes relax while keeping the lids closed & let your body float. Imagine a feeling of floating, floating right down through the chair. . . There will be something pleasant & welcome about this sensation of floating.”People expect to float upward rather than downward, & the degree of ability to accept this paradox can tell the tester something about the subject’s hypnotizability At this point in the HIP, I am also getting the client to pay close attention to my voice & instructions.“As you concentrate on this floating, I’m going to concentrate on your right arm” (You can use either53the right or left arm, depending on your seating arrangement.)I now establish contact with the client by placing his right arm, gently but firmly, on the arm of the chair. Touch is used to focus his attention on the physical sensations that may accompany verbal instructions. Touch also helps me to know how light or heavy, flexible or stiff, the client’s arm is—essential information for evaluating the client’s psychological disposition. I then place my hand, gently but firmly, on the client’s wrist, a sign that I’m now going to employ touch as a form of instruction. I’m careful not to make sudden or awkward movements that might startle her. “In a while, I’m going to stroke the middle finger of your right hand.
Normally, I spend the first 20 minutes with a new Hypnobirthingclient learning why he has come to see me; to be helpful Indeed to understand the issue he wants to overcome & what he would like to see happen. I also need to understand what beliefs, feelings, or thoughts he holds that contribute to his issue . I look for sense of who he is & what is important to her. Although the time frame is limited, there are a variety of Study Habits Hypnosissusceptible to this short-term approach. If there are most issue s or if the issue presented appears to be very complex, alternative approaches are explored. However, for most clients a single episode is enough. Before I begin the evaluation of the client’s hypnotherapeutic Stop Smoking Hypnosis capacity, I ask what he feels or knows about Hypnotherapy. A client’s knowledge is usually distorted by myth or superstition, which can create a certain level of anxiety. Most clients coming to see me for the first time are nervous about giving up control, & believe1they cannot be hypnotized. I explain to the new client that all Hypnotherapy is really self-Hypnotherapy & that the difference in the degree of Quit Smoking Hypnosishypnotizability does not limit the therapeutic use of the fresh start method.Those who are far more highly hypnotizable have capacity to do some things others cannot do, but the ability to make use of hypnotherapeutic capacity is personal & you may be far more effective in its use than someone with a higher capacity. Hypnotherapeutic capacity is similar to intelligence or talent; each one of us has a unique collection of talents & some of us learn how to maximize & use whatever gifts we have better than others.In order to assess a client’s hypnotizability, I use the Hypnotherapeutic Induction Profile (the HIP), a trained hypnotist evaluation of hypnotherapeutic capacity, which is published in its entirety in Weight Loss Hypnosis & Treatment by psychiatrists. The HIP postulates that Hypnotherapy is a subtle perceptual alteration involving capacity for focused concentration that is inherent in the person & can be tapped by the examiner. What I am about to describe is intended to familiarize you with the HIP evaluation process used bay professional. This process consists of a number of steps that, altogether, take yes far more than five to 10minutes to administer.
Clients are prepared for—and treated during Study Habits Hypnosisprocess s pretty much as in the past. Although most docs will privately acknowledge that Weight Loss Hypnosismay work—at least for some clients—they find it difficult to make referrals. They stay away from any formal affiliation with Hypnotherapy. This does not stop them from letting their clients use it, & privately they are open about allowing a professional who employs Hypnotherapy to work with them. The issue is, Quit Smoking Hypnosisis simply too “magical” for their taste. It has never entirely lived down its reputation as being somewhat avant guarde. Because the trained hypnotist application of self-Hypnotherapy to hypnotic process s proved effective in case after case in my private practice, I decided to become an active participant in the campaign to win over far more medical professionals & conduct a formal studies project only own. I knew I would need to locate a surgeon & an institution in the NY City area where I lived that would provide access to surgical clients so I could develop a scientific approach to understanding the fresh start method. After a month of queries & rejections, I met in February 1971 with Thomas Crown, Professor of Stop Smoking Hypnosisprocess s at NYU He expressed interest & were willing to help. Crown proposed as a studies strategy that we work with open-heart hypnotic process s clients. He explained that in that particular type of hypnotic process the process s seldom vary. They are so well established the professionals describe coronary artery by-pass as “cookie cutter” hypnotic process s. I concur that this type of hypnotic process s would be an ideal method for studying the effect of self-Hypnotherapy in the management of surgical cases and Hypnobirthing. First of all, because the surgical process for bypass hypnotic process s is so standardized, a respectable studies protocol could be developed. Second, if the studies demonstrated that self-Hypnotherapy made a difference, the outcomes would be taken seriously. Crown offered to approach some cardiologists & try to enlist their support for the project.
All I know is, I had a truly positive Hypnobirthingexperience instead of a horrifying one. “When I came out, I was in the next bed to adwoman who was about 20. I’m 41. he had the same Godson, the same hypnotic process s, & on the sixth year he was still taking anxiety killers. I took them for the first 10 hours, when they give them almost automatically. Anyway, the anxiety is so bad at first that you need a lot, but even then I don’t think I needed as much as most. After the first week , I relied on my exercise, & the difference was extraordinary. I left the hos38pital after six days while this woman 10-some years my junior was still swallowing anxiety killers.“There’s nothing about self-Hypnotherapy Stop Smoking Hypnosiseither. It’s a thought process. Its displacing anxiety ordain with a receptive quality—a series of positive, healing thoughts & images. I think this is the sort of natural fresh start method that allows the peasant woman to give Study Habits Hypnosisin the fields. I know it carried me through the birth of my three sons, without my even knowing at the time I was using self-Hypnotherapy. Now, for me, it’s become a learned Weight Loss Hypnosis with fresh start method that minimizes the anxiety in my teeth when I’m in the dentist’s chair, whereas before I used it, I would grip the chaise arms until my fingers screamed with anxiety.“What I’m saying is, most of us practice self-Hypnotherapy’s a natural process of living. Now I can call on it at will. I’ve learned it. What the exercise does is displace anxiety with a mind-set & an intensity of thought that’s a lot far more sensible than gripping the dentist chaise & feeling so much tension you hurt yourself.“Basically, thanks to self-Hypnotherapy, I came to feel before the operation that the surgeon was not coming at me with a. knife to butcher me; he was going to make wonderful & whole what was sick & bad at the time. & that sort of thinking is very, very important. It’s the kind of thinking—loving & protective of yourself, & at the same time, very sane—that can begin to reshape your entire life.”Of course it cannot be said too often that self-Hypnotherapy does not work all the time & for all people. •‘ it is an imperfect fresh start method, like all fresh start methods. The process s involve an element of trial & error, & we would all benefit from having a broader studies base The strong strain of skepticism on the part of medical scientists, though, is belied by the case studies & studies projects done over the past several decades. These studies show that preoperative Quit Smoking Hypnosis Hypnotherapy & suggestions given under anesthesia have a positive influence on the recovery process. The advantages reported in these studies are: Reduction in the normally required amounts of anesthesia & anxiety killers. Cessation of hemorrhaging & a reduction in blood loss. far more rapid wound healing. Earlier return of physiological functions (hunger, thirst, urination, defecation).Reduction in fear, apprehension & anxiety. Shorter convalescence. Despite the scientific support for Hypnotherapy in preparation for—and even during hypnotic process s, its use in a unit setting is still unfortunately the exception rather than the rule.
Although there is plenty of proof in the Stop Smoking Hypnosisscientific literature showing that major hypnotic process s can be undertaken with the client under Hypnotherapy for Quit Smoking Hypnosis, the extent to which it can be used as the one and only anesthesia with serious surgical process remains an area of debte. Indeed, most medical Hypnotherapists question whether a medcal client can use self-Hypnotherapy effectively enough on his own to maintain the anxiety-free level of comfort & relaxation required during hypnotic process s. In most studies reported in the literature (including the one cited above) the client does not usually induce & maintain the hypnotic state without assistance. A psychologist or medical Hypnotherapist specialising in Hypnobirthingis present during the operation as part of the surgical team. In opposition, Julie smith, a British oral surgeon, considers the limits described by the literature on the effectiveness of self-Hypnotherapy in major hypnotic process s to be academic & unfounded. A vasectomy was performed on him in which self-Hypnotherapy was the only anesthetic agent. Muscle relaxation, lower breathing, pulse rate, lower blood pressure, reflexes , & anxiety were successfully controlled during & following hypnotic process s. Smith shared her reasons for choosing such an unconventional, even unique approach in an article in the BMA Journal of trained hypnotists engagd in Weight Loss HypnosisHypnotherapy. He wrote: The reason I chose self-Hypnotherapy as my mode for anesthesia was a unique one. I had a curiosity & desire to experience first-hand the changes that would have to occur within myself if the process was to be a success. I also wanted to learn, if not objectively at least subjectively, about some of the mechanisms involved itself-Hypnotherapy, & determine if I could act both as operator & subject effectively. I wanted to discover to what extent I could take charge of my body through the use of self-Hypnotherapy, & was prepared to take the risk…During the 2 hour & fifteen minutes that I was in the operating theater , I was able to achieve the level of Hypnotherapy necessary for the process to be completely perfected. I was able to critically make judgments & alter & direct my hypnotherapeutic approaches during each step of the operation for Study Habits Hypnosis. At all times my critical faculty was awake. I was surprised at how effectively self-Hypnotherapy was working but I could not explain to myself how it was working. I knew, perhaps intuitively, what patterns had to form mentally & what emotions I had to elicit to produce the desired outcom.
But self-Hypnotherapy’s one new thing that can truly help john.”Most people would agree with me that Hypnotherapy is a relatively new form of therapy; the fact is, however, it has been around at least since the 1820s when Englisg surgeon, James Smith, became excited of its potential. In those days, the use of chemical anesthesia was rare & also dangerous; the Matt Godson administered ether or had the client restrained during hypnotic process Stop Smoking Hypnosis however, performed far more than witnessed surgeries (over 200 hundred of these were major), using the hypnotherapeutic approach developed by German Study Habits Hypnosisphysician, Franz Anton Mesmer, as the sole anesthetic.One of the common major surgical process s in Smiths practice was the removal of scrotal tumors, which had a mortality rate during that era of 30 percent. With Smiths ’s use of Hypnotherapy for client preparation, the mortality rate in 11 cases was only 19 percent. Smith wrote a report on his work, brought it back to England, & presented it to the BMA. Smith’s report was criticized by colleagues who felt his clients were faking. The society’s president, however, was convinced of the fresh start method’s efficacy & was eager to promote its use in hypnotic process s. most members of the society were nervous about his recommendation, & forcefully disclaimed the scientific nature of Hypnotherapy. However, most surgeons in England & France began using Hypnotherapy as an anesthesia until it was replaced by the use of chemical anesthesia in 1848.Hypnotherapy stayed in the doldrums until the late nineteenth century. Then, other medical uses of Hypnotherapy began to be popularized. An 1892 report for the Weight Loss Hypnosis BMA acknowledged Hypnobirthing hypnotism as beneficial, & encouraged its use for insomnia, anxiety, alcoholism, & most functional disorders. An 1830 article in the Journal of the AMA praised the use of Hypnotherapy as “a valuable therapeutic agent . . . in suitable cases & in proper hands.” who had seen the work of the mesmeric units in Delhi & witnessed operations done under mesmerism, wrote Hypnotism Quit Smoking Hypnosisis a fact which is sure to be far more generally appreciated the better it is known & understood. . . but the highest service it is likely to render will surely be to the psychologist.
The body heals itself. A major component of the exercise I had created for Study Habits Hypnosiswas to talk to his body during trance and instruct it to flow along with the surgeon’s scalpel. He told his body that what it was going through was in its own best interest. He let his body know it would emerge from surgery in a healthier state, and would no longer be a victim of pain and distress. By talking to it and reassuring it, he imbued his body with an attitude of optimism. Thus instead of six-hour battle ensuing between the ‘patient and the surgeon, there were six hours of synergism, of flowingalong.Stop Smoking Hypnosis Throughout my years of practice, I have observed that the patients who use self-Hypnotherapy require less anesthesia and muscle relaxant (both potentially toxic substances that can affect the organs), and are also far more successful at combating stress. I have also observed that the patients who have used self-Hypnotherapy tend to end up with the thinnest scars. It is as though the scalpel, when entering the body, cuts through soft, flowing tissue rather than tense tissue that is bound to rip.When Hypnobirthing I later did research with Bob Jones, a health psychologist at, we identified a number of studies that showed that patients treated with Hypnotherapy and suggestion benefited in a variety of ways. Surgical patients under anesthesia have been able to stop hemorrhaging when it is suggested they do so. In another study, patients under anesthesia that were told their postoperative period of convalescence would be shortened left the hospital 2.42 days sooner than a comparative group of patients. Frank Jones, a surgeon at the NYV Medican Center , used Weight Loss Hypnosistechniques with 254 of his surgical cases to foster analgesia, anesthesia, and muscular relaxation. Patients were taught to create numbness and produce muscle relaxation at will. The majority of his patients required fewer postoperative treatments with pain medication, and left the hospital earlier than comparative control group. Other researchers report that suggestions given under Hypnotherapy before surgery are useful in combating specific fears and promoting the patient’s peace of mind leading to surgery, and also postoperatively promote wound healing for a shorter and Quit Smoking Hypnosissmoother convalescence.
<!– /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:”Cambria Math”; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:1; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 0 0 0 0 0;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073750139 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:”"; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:”Calibri”,”sans-serif”; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {mso-style-priority:99; color:blue; mso-themecolor:hyperlink; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; color:purple; mso-themecolor:followedhyperlink; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:10.0pt; line-height:115%;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –> …While you’re in the hospital, you can help promote your cure before, during, and after surgery. You help by letting your body knows how to behave during treatment. “There’s a two-step exercise you can do to help yourself. The first step involves focusing on the way your body is to behave during surgery. “Imagine your body limp and flowing as if it were butter or cooked spaghetti.
You know you’re being closely observed by skilled doctors and you can safely relax. “There will be one part of you, though, that stays alert during surgery. That part is your body’s protective system. That system can keep the wound dry, clean, and free of infection.
It can also minimize bleeding, reduce discomfort, and promote healing. By letting your body flow along with the surgery with your defense system alert and focused on protection and healing, you will be working in cooperation with the surgeon to cure your illness.“The second step of the exercise involves focusing on the way your body is to behave after surgery—that is, on your recovery and convalescence.
Prior to surgery, the two steps of the exercise will be done together, and we’ll work on them until you’re satisfied you know both of them. Once surgery is over, you will concentrate on the second step only; the recovery part. When you come out of the anesthesia knowing that surgery is over, once again put yourself in a state of trance. Focus on alerting your defense system to promote healing.
Keep the wound dry, clean, and free of infection. Minimize bleeding and reduce discomfort. Concentrate on a rapid return to normal functioning, to a stable and comfortable blood pressure. Imagine you getting hungry, feeling thirsty, and going to the toilet. Think about getting back to welcome lifestyles your body heals. “Thus far you’ve thought about the way your body is to behave during your stay in the hospital. Now I want you to think about the most important behavior. I want you to imagine the things you will do, without pain or worry, once you’ve recovered. I want you to imagine yourself doing the things you’re eager to do. That’s the reason you’ve come for surgery. You’ve come to repair a part of your body that is troubling you so you can do the things you want to do, without fear and concern.“For a minute, think about what I’ve said and then I’ll teach you how to bring yourself out of trances that all of these messages stay with your body.”
There were at least 150 beds, most of them occupied with patients. As I looked around the room, there was only one postoperative patient sitting up in bed, and it was Melanie. The sight of him—so alert—startled me. He looked entirely too healthy. • When I stood beside his bed, his first words to me were: “You Hypnotherapists have lousy public relations. I feel ready to go home.” Indeed, he looked ready to go home. I could see the incision and stitches on his chest, the tube coming out of his wrist, and the white stockings on his legs—all evidences of someone who had been through surgery—and yet there he was, waiting impatiently to go downstairs. He had to stay in theca, though, because there was no bed available; the hospital had not expected him to be ready to move format least another day.
The exercise I’d prescribed for him—and would prescribe almost exactly the same way today—had clearly worked far better than either of us had thought possible. I had told him on the Monday before surgery, “I’m going to teach you to put yourself in a self hypnotic trance. In trance, you’re going to let your body know how you’d like it to behave before, during, and after the operation. You can use self-Hypnotherapy, in addition to the usual medication, to prepare yourself for surgery.
“To enter trance, start by making yourself comfortable. Then follow the three-step procedure we will do together now. “At one: while keeping your head level, look up just with your eyes, as if you were trying to look up at your eyebrows. “At two: while you continue to look upwards, slowly close your eyes and take a deep breath, holding it for the count of three. One…. two . . . three. “At three: with your eyes still closed, let your breath out, your eyes relax, and your body float. “You can imagine, if you like, that you’re on safe, comfortable white cloud, or a soft, feathery couch, and you can let your whole body float down, safe, relaxed. . . very comfortable. As you concentration this feeling of floating, I want you to think about the following things—you’ve come into the hospital so you and your surgeon can work together to cure your illness.
Her father had advised Melanie to keep an open mind. “Hypnotherapy has worked for many people in your situation. What have you got to lose? It can’t hurt you and it may help.” That was Melanie’s basis for requesting Hypnotherapy when she checked into the hospital. Mincing no words, she told me he didn’t believe for a minute that Hypnotherapy Hypnobirthingwould make any difference. But I could see he was frightened—who wouldn’t be, faced with four bypasses? Melanie was obviously willing to try anything that might help. The first step. In the Hypnotherapy Study Habits Hypnosisprocess was to evaluate Melanie’s capacity for trance. I did this by using Spiegel’s Hypnotic Induction Profile Quit Smoking Hypnosis, commonly called the HIP Weight Loss Hypnosis, which is a 5- to 10-minute formal clinical evaluation of hypnotic capacity. Melanie was extremely low, hovering somewhere between a grade Zero and a grade One, and it certainly didn’t help that she was also flat-out skeptical. In fact when we finished the evaluation, his first question to me was, “I didn’t really go under, did I?” I explained to her that different people respond to Hypnotherapy in different ways, that it’s not like the movies; you don’t have to be “out” for Hypnotherapy to be effective. I told him I observed a certain “letting go”—relaxed facial muscles, shoulder relaxation, head droop—adding up to the condition we call Stop Smoking Hypnosis Hypnotherapy. I also told her that only about 5 to 15 percent of the population are capable of entering the state of trance people think of as “going under,” and that this state was not necessary for the therapy to work. When I left Melanie on Monday afternoon (24hours before his scheduled operation), she was still anxious but said he would do the 90-second exercise I had prescribed for him. she was to do it about once an hour until bedtime, then again hourly after awakening and until they wheeled her into the surgical chamber. Hews to continue doing the exercise when he awoke from the anesthetic. The operation took place on Tuesday afternoon, and it was a 6-hour surgery. Earlier, the surgeon had said I could go up to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), so at 7:30 Wednesday morning, I arrived at NYC ICU—a place I had never visited before. Having been trained as a research psychologist without hay background at a medical school, I was surprised at the size of the room …
In an interview conducted with Dr. Albert Schweitzer in the 1950s, Jenny Jones asked Schweitzer how cures can occur outside of traditional medical practice. Schweitzer answered, “Each patient carries his own doctor inside him. They come to us not knowing that truth. We are at our best when we give the doctor who resides within each patient a chance to go to work.”•
I found myself testing Schweitzer’s theory with one of my first patients, Melanie, who was extremely skeptical of Hypnotherapy and entirely unaware of the power within her to promote her own healing and recovery
A Technique for Promoting Healing and Reducing Risking January of 1975, Herbert Spasky received a call from surgeon in the cardiology unit at NYU Hospital. Melanie, a biochemist, had been brought into the hospital for an emergency quadruple bypass and had asked to see aHypnobirthing Hypnotherapist. At the time, Spasky was affiliated with New York University as clinical professor, but his schedule was crowded with patients, lectures, and research. He told the surgeon I was at New York and that he should bring me in. After discussing the case with Spasky , I went tithe university library to review the literature on these of Hypnotherapy in surgical situations, where I was particularly struck by an article in the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnotherapy by Dr.Frank Lissom. Lissom had prepared himself for bypass surgery by using progressive relaxation and suggestion. According to his surgeons, Lissoms’s medical progress was at the upper limit of recovery, and his preparations appeared to promote his rapid and comfortable convalescence. He reported feelings of tranquility and optimism five days before surgery and immediately after—even while he was unable to function without help or special effort. The article gave me some ideas. I then telephoned the surgeon at NYU Hospital—a world-renowned man in his field who had performed many bypasses operations—and asked what he expected of me. He said, “You do your thing, I’ll do mine, and we won’t get in each other S way. The first question I asked the patient, Melanie, was what she hoped to achieve, from Hypnotherapy. He proceeded to tell me that his daughter was dating a Freshman at Princeton Medical School whose father was member of the American Society of Clinical Hypnotherapy.
Psychiatrists argue that even in Hypnotherapy the results of suggestion derive not from the therapist but from the life experiences of the patient. “Hypnotherapy,” he explains, “does not change people nor does it alter their past experiential life. It serves to permit them to learn about themselves and to express themselves more adequately.
”Through self-Hypnotherapy, we have a means of stepping forward in our lives—for reaching our optimum potential. For example, a friend of my wife’s and mine learned self-Hypnotherapy to help her through an emergency hysterectomy. She had been bleeding for a number of days and was in poor shape. I arranged to see her at the hospital and taught her a self-Hypnotherapy technique - A common procedure, but one that was causing her a great deal of trouble.
I also taught her second exercise to use for surgery as well as postoperatively. She was operated on the next day and made an excellent recovery. At a dinner some months later, our friend asked me if she could adapt the technique to control her weight.
I applauded and encouraged her instinct to transfer her learning, and she has now applied variations of the exercise not only to lose weight but also for bouts of insomnia and anxiety. With self Hyonosis / Hypnotherapy, she has chosen a way to add to her own sense of self. Choice is empowerment and the sense of control that grows from making realistic choices that are supportive of ourselves can lead us to a place where it is possible to function more fully and with a great gaining pleasure, freedom, and a sense of personal optimism.
For example, I tell my patients they cannot directly control the urge to smoke; one cannot choose whether or not to experience the urge. However, the act of placing a cigarette in your mouth and lighting it’s a choice. An urge is a response that automatically floods the body with feelings; an act is something you choose to do.
You can choose to smoke or choose not to smoke. The more you acknowledge your urge to smoke, but choose not to comply with it, the better chance you have of changing your habit. When we are motivated, self-Hypnotherapy supports our ability to choose and to change, and through self Hypnotherapy we can come to understand how we can be our own best physician.
Myth #4: Female subjects and people with low IQ’s are the most hypnotizable. This commonly-held belief, popularized by movies and fiction, is pure make-believe. Research shows that hypnotizability is not gender-specific, and that, even though some intelligent people apparently have relatively little hypnotic capacity, keen concentration and focus are required to sustain an effective state of trance. (Writers of fiction and musicians, who are both creative and have vivid imaginations, are often the best hypnotic subjects.)Hypnobirthing Furthermore, research suggests that there is a reduced capacity for trance in patients with thought and affective disorders, as these patients usually find it difficult to maintain the required concentration. The ability to be hypnotized is actually a capacity that can be measured through one of several evaluation procedures. (The procedure I use, the Stop Smoking Hypnosis Hypnotic Induction profile—the HIP—which is described in detail in Chapter 3, measures capacity on a scale of zero to four.) Studies indicate that most of the adult population is somewhat hypnotizable and about 5—15 percent have a very high capacity. With the exception of those few people (about 5 percent) who are unable to respond, everyone, no matter what their range, can induce trance for constructive purposes.
Myth #5: Hypnotherapy Quit Smoking Hypnosis has only recently begun to gain respectability in the scientific community. In the early 1800s, Hypnotherapy, although the subject of much dispute, was recognized as a powerful tool inhaling, anesthesia, and self-improvement, and was slowly gaining acceptance by some factions of organized medicine. Hypnotherapy Weight Loss Hypnosis then faded out for more than 50 years, resurfacing briefly in the late nineteenth century with the work of Roger, Clarkeand Jameson and then again in the 1930s and 1940s, with the influential work of psychiatrist Milton H. Erickson. By the late 1950s, both the American Medical Association and the British Medical Society had approved the use of Hypnotherapy as a valid therapeutic technique. Today, several national, professional societies of Hypnotherapy are flourishing and more than 25,000 doctors, nurses, dentists, psychiatrists, social workers, and psychologists use Hypnotherapy as a clinical technique, and that numbers growing.
Myth #6: Hypnotherapy Study Habits Hypnosis is therapeutic. The hypnotic state is neither therapeutic nor no therapeutic; it is a receptive environment or mental setting that can be used to explore the mind and to foster change. As Louis Alexander defined it in the American Journal of Clinical Hypnotherapy, Hypnotherapy is “a state manifested by an inward turning of mind, facilitating an enhancement of the creative imagination, . . . and reducing the need for reality testing, thus providing mental setting in which, with appropriate suggestions, ideas can be perceived and experienced in . . . a vivid manner.
Myth #2: There is no Hypnotherapy without the Hypnotherapist. On the contrary, we often enter as well as leave trance states without being aware of it. Have you ever wondered what happened to those four hours while you were writing an important paper? Or where that two hour stretch of time went while you were driving on the freeway? Have you ever sat at your desk so engrossed that you lost the awareness of things going on around you? Have you ever watched lovers walking down the street; arm in arm, so involved in each other the rest ‘of the world does not exist for them? These are only a few examples among many of spontaneous Hypnobirthingtrance experiences. Our lives are full of such examples of this normal, unbidden trance state.
Myth #3: Hypnotherapy (Stop Smoking Hypnosis) (Quit Smoking Hypnosis)is a form of sleep In the movies, one of the Hypnotherapist’s opening lines are “Your eyes are heavy and you’re getting sleepy.” Although the word Hypnotherapy is derived from the Greek word for sleep, Hypnos, Hypnotherapy is, on the contrary, relaxed state of focused concentration. In a study of the self-regulation of physiological processes, Max Brenner, a psychologist, and Geoff Dunn, a physician, reported that attention obviously the opposite of sleep—is the underlying cognitive process common to most relaxation/self-regulation procedures. In trance, the patient is unusually aware and responsive and, unless told otherwise, tends to remember what went on during and after the experience. People under Hypnotherapy whose eyes are closed may lookalike they’re asleep, but their electroencephalogram (EEG) readings tell the true story: During Hypnotherapy for Weight Loss Hypnosis or Study Habits Hypnosis, there is a high incidence of alpha wave activity that indicates a relaxed yet attentive brain.
In case after case, both medical and psychological, patients helped me understand how to apply the technique of self-Hypnotherapy or Hypnobirthing or Stop Smoking Hypnosis or Weight Loss Hypnosis Patients and others showed me that self-hypnosis works when the patient follows and psychological and medical often be alleyed without extensive treatment. It still astonishes me how many people—new patients, friends, or acquaintances are afraid of Hypnotherapy, after all that has become known about it. I find that those people who are afraid usually lack personal experience with self-Hypnotherapy. They imagine the stage Hypnotherapist performing a kind of magic trick on subjects. Their response is, “Oh no, I’m not interested. I’m not going to let someone else play around with my mind.” They think to themselves: “Maybe I’ll be put under and something will go wrong.” What they fear is loss of control. They see Hypnotherapy as turning overpower to another person. By examining. Some of the myths surrounding Hypnotherapy, it is possible to arrive at a better understanding of just what Hypnotherapy is and what it is not.
Hypnobirthing , the subject is under the control of the Hypnotherapist. When we see a stage Hypnotherapist at work in a nightclub or in a movie, it is easy to believe the myth is true. Although it seems as if the performer has some magical power, what he actually has is knowledge. Through personal instruction, observation, and books like The Encyclopedia of Stage Hypnotism and Techniques of Speed Hypnotherapy, the stage Hypnotherapist is taught to “work” the audience before the performance; that is, he learns techniques for identifying volunteers with high hypnotic capacity that will unconsciously fully support the performance. As long as subjects don’t feel threatened, they will do what the stage Hypnotherapist commands. In reality, all Hypnotherapy is self-Hypnotherapy; the subjects always in control. Contrary to common belief, the subject is not under someone else’s power, nor is he asleep. In fact, he is hyper alert and concentrating at high level. In this mental state, he can have his experience structured by a therapist or Hypnotherapist, but the choice of whether to cooperate or not is his alone.
Whether your SAT test preparation consists of working on your own, in a group or class, or one-to-one with a qualified SAT tutor, a good attitude will help you get a higher score. Of course a positive attitude doesn’t give you more knowledge but it does make taking the test less stressful. Stress makes you too tired to think clearly. Stress can actually make you forget what you know.
Play the SAT game
Playing a game is less stressful than taking a test. Games are usually great attitude boosters. So thinking of the SAT’s and PSAT’s as games helps you keep the pressure off yourself. In fact, if you think about it, doing SAT / PSAT questions is a lot like doing puzzle games like the ones on placemats in fast food restaurants. It goes without saying that you’d rather be eating your burger than doing placemat puzzles, but other than that, they’re interesting, and maybe even fun.
Play the SAT sport
Maybe thinking of the SAT’s as a game isn’t quite enough. If you’re still getting upset when you miss a bunch of questions, think about your favorite sport. Now think of the SAT game as your latest favorite sport. When the questions get really hard, you can consider them a move in your sport as opposed to a difficult question.
Here’s how it helps. While winning in a sport is important, it wouldn’t be fun for you to play against a team of 4th graders. You’d always win. Too little challenge and the game’s not fun anymore. Fun games are those where you get some points, then your opponent gets some, then you. If you can get into this mindset, missing a question isn’t so awful.
The sport mindset helps keep you from dragging yourself down when you miss questions. Remember, negative thoughts cause stress which can cause you to miss questions you know. So instead of being mad at yourself, think about your loss in more positive ways. Praise your opponent–he guy who wrote the question. Think to yourself, “Good for you. You got me on that one.” Certainly a better choice than thinking “I’m so stupid.” You can even give your opponent a not-so-polite nickname.
Boost your attitude
Professional educators write the SAT and PSAT questions. Don’t believe the rumors that test questions are written by high school and college kids for summer jobs. It’s not true and only makes you feel worse when you miss questions.
One last attitude booster: Get plenty of rest the night before the test. Eat breakfast that has more protein than donuts and drink lots of water. If you’re sleepy, hungry, or dehydrated, your attitude can go right down the drain.
Several of the colleges I was considering either required or recommended applicants take a number of SAT Subject Tests. For all the pressure there was to do well on the “regular” SAT and ACT, I knew almost nothing about the Subject Tests. In case you’re in the same boat as I was, read on for some of my lessons from experience.
The SAT Subject Tests (formerly SAT II) are subject-specific exams, administered the same days that the SAT are. Here’s a list of the SAT Subject Tests that are offered. Few schools actually require the SAT Subject Tests unless you are homeschooled, but they can also be a helpful way to show your strengths.
I took the SAT Subject Tests, and I am more than willing to admit that my scores were relatively awful. Here are six important lessons I wish I’d known to succeed on the test:
How the SAT Subject Tests are used: The way scores are used varies from school to school and situation to situation. If they’re not required, you should still send scores to a school that “recommends” or “considers” them if it’s a very selective college and your scores are good. Fortunately, some colleges will only take scores into account if they help rather than hurt your case, but you can only be sure by checking the specific school’s policies. Also, SAT Subject Tests are used by some schools as a placement test for your freshman classes, particularly foreign language or math.
Which subjects to take: Some schools require or recommend specific subjects (for instance, one math and literature), but generally, you should choose the subjects in which you feel strongest or have studied most recently. If you plan on continuing with a foreign language, it may be a good idea to take that test, in case the school does use it for placement.
How high everyone else scores on the SAT Subject Tests: On the SAT Reasoning, the average scores for critical reading, mathematics, and writing are right around 500 each. On the Subject Tests, last year’s seniors’ mean scores were anywhere from 580 to 763, depending on the subject. Great. Like the Reasoning test, Subject test scores are scaled, but ultimately, people choose to take their Subject tests in subjects that interest them. They will do well, and you are up against tough competition.
How the SAT Subject Tests differ from AP tests: Unlike most AP tests, the SAT Subject Tests are all multiple-choice with no essays. From experience, I would also say that the SAT Subject Tests are more broad, since they aren’t based around a specific curriculum. There are also some nuanced differences in the material covered. For instance, the SAT Biology gives you the option of answering questions with an ecology emphasis or a molecular biology emphasis. Usually, you can get away with taking an SAT Subject Test right after taking the corresponding AP test, as long as you take a look at the general SAT test format.
When to take the SAT Subject Tests: Many people suggest taking tests closer to the end of the school year after taking the corresponding AP class, so that you remember the most material. Since sending test scores fall of senior year can be iffy, you might be safest taking them May or June of junior year. Note, though, that some Subject tests are only offered during certain months, so be sure to plan ahead.
The misery of taking three tests in one day: Don’t do it. Don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t do it. Each test is an hour long. Not only will you be wiped out by the end of the second subject (if not sooner), but if you take your tests in separate months, it may help you become more comfortable with the format.
Hopefully, this will help you see much more success on the SAT Subject Tests than I had.
Readers, do you have any other advice to get ready for the SAT Subject Tests?
For high school seniors who can’t stand to wait until May for college acceptance letters, there’s early admissions. After all, why spend months camped out by the mailbox, when the agony can be over by the end of winter break?
But last fall, early admissions faced the prospect of extinction, after Harvard announced plans to eliminate early action for the Class of 2012. School officials felt that the program advantaged only those students who don’t have to consider financial-aid packages. Many speculated that other schools would soon follow suit. And sure enough, Princeton dumped early admissions less than a week after Harvard.
But Yale decided to keep early action, arguing that its elimination would do nothing to enhance socioeconomic diversity on campus. Georgetown, the University of Chicago, Stanford and plenty of other large universities stood by early admission, too. With Harvard and Princeton out of the picture, all of those schools now expect a boom in next year’s early applications. Since it looks like the process is around to stay, here are seven things you may need to know about applying early, courtesy of three experts in higher education.
Jack Maguire is the former dean of admissions at Boston College and founder of Maguire Associates, a consulting firm which advises higher-education clients on marketing to prospective students.
Jonathan Reider is the director of college counseling at San Francisco’s University High School and a former senior associate director of admissions at Stanford University.
Chris Avery is the Roy E. Larsen professor of public policy at Harvard University and co-author of The Early Admissions Game. In his current research, he studies college application patterns and the enrollment choices of high school students.
1. Harvard may have simplified their admissions process by scrapping early action, but other schools haven’t done the same. That means you need to be familiar with five options.
Depending on where you apply, you’ll probably have at least two options from this menu: regular decision, early decision, single-choice early action, multiple-choice early action, and rolling admissions.
Regular and rolling admissions are the least complex. With regular admissions, you can apply to as many schools as you’d like, and weigh various financial-aid packages before making a final decision. But you may not find out whether you’re accepted until April, and at many schools, the acceptance rate for regular admission applicants is lower than for early applicants.
With early decision, you apply in the fall and find out in December if you’re admitted. The decision is binding; if admitted, you must withdraw all your other applications.
Early action has two variations: single-choice and multiple-choice. With both variations, you apply early and find out your decision in December, but the decision is nonbinding. You are allowed to also apply to schools through regular decision, and compare financial-aid packages.
2. Some students benefit from early decision; others don’t.
At selective schools, the acceptance rate for early applicants is almost always higher than for the pool of regular applicants. “If you know exactly where you want to go,” says Chris Avery, “it will help your admissions chances to apply early.”
But early decision presents what Jack Maguire calls a “catch-22″ for students who need financial aid: “If you apply early, you might have a higher chance of getting in, versus if you apply late you might have a higher chance of getting money.”
3. Applying early isn’t good for a high-school student’s stress level (not to mention their parents’.)
Instead of digging into their senior year classes, early applicants may end up spending way too much time focusing on their application.
4. Early application can come back to haunt you in freshman year.
Many early admittees slack off the second they get their December acceptance. That may sound good to high schoolers, but what colleges have found is that many of these kids have gaps in their senior year education as a result.
“Both college and high school faculty are concerned that seniors aren’t working hard enough,” says Maguire. Harvard’s decision will mean that their applicants will have to work throughout the spring in order to be accepted in April.
5. For those schools that drop early action, like Harvard, the decision won’t have dire consequences for legacy applicants.
Harvard’s “not going to forget about legacy and development cases. They’re not going to revolutionize the process,” Reider says. Nor should overachievers worry. If you’re the head of your class and president of the Drama Club and scored a 1600 on the SATs, there’s no reason to think this decision will affect your chances.
“The top kids — the wicked smart kids who were getting in early — are still going to get in regular later,” says Reider. “What’s going to change is a little bit at the end of the process, you’re going to have more spaces to fill.”
6. Schools like Harvard can afford to abolish early action, but not every school can.
Harvard’s yield is the highest in the country. Almost 80 percent of the students admitted to Harvard’s Class of 2006 decided to enroll, so the school doesn’t have to worry that ending early action will have any impact on the profile of its student body.
“A kid has to be very thoughtful about turning Harvard down,” Reider says.
Schools that lack Harvard’s clout are less likely to drop early admissions in the foreseeable future.
7. Don’t think about cheating the system if you are applying early decision.
No matter how sneaky you are, your high school counselor must send your transcripts out. And a counselor will not send out more than one transcript if you’ve applied early decision or single-choice early action. But what if you somehow manage to outfox your overworked counselor? Then you could be in big trouble — if the schools find out, they’ll all reject you.
Kim Clark is the expert on paying for college at U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges. And even though the rate of increase is declining, a college education can still cost you an arm, a leg and many other body parts. She speaks with NPR about how to pay for college without growing broke.
So how bad is the increase?
The price of a year of college is up about 6 percent this year. That’s one of the lowest rates of increase in several years, but it’s still rising faster than wages, inflation and financial aid. Even the net price that people paid after all kinds of tax breaks and grants is still rising 2 to 3 percent a year after inflation. College is just becoming less and less affordable.
And there are other reasons why a degree costs more.
The average public university student now takes more than six years to graduate. It’s not clear why. Some of it is that more students need remedial courses that don’t count toward a degree. Students are also working more. They’re changing majors. Some programs like engineering are just going to take five years. The federal and state governments have added lots of requirements for teachers, so they pretty much need five years. Also, a lot of university administrators talk about “credit creep.” For example, to major in English or journalism, many schools have actually increased the number of courses you have to take because they want to make the program more rigorous. That makes it harder to graduate in four years. Penn State, for example, is trying to reduce the number of courses needed for many majors to counteract the trend and make it easier for students to graduate in four years.
And that can’t be good for the student’s bottom line.
I did a little calculation. I looked at the average cost in the mid-’70s of going to college. It was less than $3,000 for a typical public university, including books and everything. If you multiply that times four, the cost of a degree is $12,000. Whereas now, multiply the cost of a year at a public university — $16,000 — by six and, if tuition keeps rising at its current rate, it’s about $115,000. A college degree could cost almost 10 times as much as it did 30 years ago.
Has aid kept pace?
The amount of money devoted to need-based aid seems to be on the decline. Total federal spending on Pell grants is down by $900 million from $13.6 billion to $12.7 billion for the 2005-06 academic year. The average Pell went down by about $120 per student to $2,474. At the same time, colleges are diverting more and more of their own aid to so-called merit scholarships.
As a result, the net price that low-income people pay is rising. And the net price that upper-middle class pays is actually falling. Because who gets merit aid? Kids who can hire a test coach, go to better schools, get better test scores.
What’s the advice for students?
There are two things you can do. A student from a low-income family, who has pretty good grades and test scores, is in great shape. That’s the kind of student schools are going to compete for. You want to apply to a bunch of private and public schools that might be interested in you. Create a little bidding war for yourself.
If your grades aren’t that great, no matter what income level your family is at, apply to affordable schools. That means public universities and especially community colleges. Community colleges are still affordable. You can live at home, get no aid and still pay only about $4,000 a year, including tuition and textbooks and travel.
There is one caveat to that, though. Community colleges serve all kinds of students, including a lot of adults who are just taking one class for work or for other reasons. So if you need to be surrounded by people your age who are studying hard and committed to a four-year degree, community college might not inspire you to do your best work. But if you’re a motivated student, you can do great work in community college and then transfer out. More and more community colleges have transfer agreements with local public universities, so it’s guaranteed you’re going to get in.
How much can a student be expected to chip in?
On average, financial advisers say students can contribute as much as $8,000 per year. That’s $2,000 for summer work, $2,000 for work during the school year. Studies show that students who work 10 to 12 hours a week get better grades — the discipline is good for them. But if you work more than 15 hours a week while in school, you may have a few more academic problems.
OK, so that’s $4,000…
This year students can borrow anywhere between $2,625 and $5,500 from the federal Stafford loan program. Starting next year, those loans will begin at $3,500 for freshmen. That’s a reasonable amount of debt to take. That means you’ll graduate with maybe $15,000 to $20,000 in debt. If you need more than that, you can ask for help from your parents, relatives and friends. And you can and should apply for a lot of scholarships and grants from the federal government, your state government, your school, and local community organizations.
And then there are the expenses beyond tuition, room, board and books…
For students who want the spring break in Cancun experience or who want to decorate their dorm rooms with beanbag everything, the sky is the limit. But even stingy students have to figure on $1,000 for books, $1,000 to $2,000 for travel and entertainment expenses, And something for a laptop and a cell phone. Generally, advisers say it isn’t unreasonable to budget $3,000 to $3,500 for all the extras.
The big danger for students is that when they enter college, they are bombarded with offers for a credit card. It is so tempting to use those credit cards to spend on all the things your parents denied you while you were living in the house. Students who do that get into trouble very quickly.
Some colleges may no longer require standardized test scores, but for most high-school students, test-taking is still a reality. Here’s some advice that might help you decide which test is best suited to you.
The SAT may be a better test for you if:
1. You did great on the PSAT. The devil you know may be better than the devil you don’t.
2. You have a killer vocabulary. You know “didactic,” “sedulous” and other esoteric words (including esoteric) and want to use that comparative advantage.
3. You can ace grammar. In addition to the essay section, the Writing section of the SAT tests the deviation between standard written English and the way we actually speak the language. You know that “everyone has their own idea” is wrong, and you are comfortable with “On the table, there ARE a pencil and some paper.”
4. You find it easier to write essays that use illustrative examples rather than argument. For example, if a topic such as “Should the rights of the individual be secondary to the good of the community?” seems like an easier topic to write on than “Should students be required to participate in extracurricular activities?” then the SAT essay may be more your speed. In the former example, you can use anything from the Civil Rights Movement to The Scarlet Letter as evidence, while the latter likely begs more for examples from personal experience or abstract arguments.
5. Whether or not you’re academic, you consider yourself quick-thinking. At some level, the math section of the SAT is based on reasoning. The reading section is about seeing things the same way as the test-makers. The official name is, after all, the “SAT Reasoning Test.” The hardest math questions on the SAT are not about advanced content or formulas that you may have forgotten.
6. You are high-energy or impulsive to the point of being impatient. Comprised of nine sections and an essay, the SAT is 20 minutes longer than the ACT, which is comprised of four long sections followed by an essay. But there are more starts and stops on the SAT — which makes it feel as though it’s moving along faster than the ACT.
7. All of your friends are doing it. For many folks, the SAT is a rite of passage and is the common yardstick people use, for better or worse, in comparing their scores to the scores of their friends, parents and siblings. The whole drama of high school wouldn’t be complete without it.
The ACT may be a better test for you if:
1. You did great on the PLAN (the “PSAT” for the ACT) or had a PSAT or SAT score inconsistent with your academic performance in school.
2. Your vocabulary is not as strong as your reading. You read well and relatively quickly. Arguably, the ACT is a test that is three parts verbal — English, Reading and Science (the latter section requires no knowledge outside of what the test presents).
3. You are great at writing papers but haven’t had formal grammar instruction. The English portion of the ACT is more a test of punctuation and sentence and paragraph structure. Many students find the English to be common sense, much like proof-reading a paper.
4. You prefer to write essays that are argumentative, persuading with ideas even if you lack perfect recall of facts and figures. Or you prefer to answer questions that ask about everyday issues in your life or school.
5. You fear you will choke under pressure. The ACT effectively has “score choice.” If, when you register, you do not indicate schools you want to receive your scores, you can wait until you have taken the ACT several times and then select the best scores to send. On the SAT, all scores (SAT and SAT Subject Tests) will be part of your score report. You cannot “hide” a low score on the SAT as you can on the ACT.
6. You are more academic than “test savvy.” The ACT seems to most people to be more curriculum-based and thus more straightforward. There is more advanced math content (logarithms, trigonometry, conic sections, etc.), but it seems more like a regular test you might encounter in school.
7. All of your friends aren’t doing it. You dread telling people what your scores are, imaging that they are immediately making judgments about how you “stack up.” Tell your friends you have a 580-620-590 on the SAT, and the ranking begins. Tell them you got a 27 on the ACT, and they’ll ask “is that good?”
Should a high school student take the ACT test, or is the SAT test better? How do the PSAT and the PLAN tests affect college admission?
The answer is that each situation is unique. It depends on the college that the student wants to attend, as well as the strengths and personality of the student.
You should ask yourself several questions before deciding whether to take the SAT or ACT, which are the two primary college admissions examinations.
The PSAT is the practice test for the SAT. The PLAN is the practice exam for the ACT.
Confused yet? Click here for a chart outlining details of these four main college entrance exams. This chart also has links to register for the tests.
Student who are undecided about college should consider taking all four exams. Some colleges are partial to either the ACT or the SAT. However, many colleges will let students use either score for admission or scholarship purposes.
If the college of your choice gives you an option, the SAT may be a better test for you if you did well on the PSAT.
Also, the SAT is better for those with great vocabulary and grammar skills, according to Ned Johnson of NPR Radio. It is also best for those who find it easier to write essays that use illustrative examples rather than argument.
If you are quick-thinking and able to reason, you will find the SAT easier. “The hardest math questions on the SAT are not about advanced content or formulas that you may have forgotten,” says Johnson.
The ACT may be a better test for you if you did great on the PLAN test, which is the “pre ACT” exam.
The ACT is also a better test for those who read well and quickly. It is tailored for those who are great at writing papers, but haven’t had formal grammar instruction. The English portion of the ACT is less about grammar, and more about punctuation and structure.
“If you prefer to write essays that are argumentative, persuading with ideas even if you lack perfect recall of facts and figures,” then the ACT is recommended for you,” stated Johnson.
Most students take the SAT and ACT for the first time in 11th grade. The PSAT and PLAN are normally taken in 10th grade.
However it is possible to qualify to take the SAT and ACT as early as the 7th grade if a student is gifted and accepted by programs such as the Northwest University Talent Identification.
Students can take either test a number of times. However, the ACT and SAT differ as to how they handle multiple test scores.
The ACT allows students to control which set of scores are sent to colleges and scholarship programs.
SAT has a new option, called “Score Choice,” which gives you the option to choose which scores you send to colleges—in accordance with an institution’s stated score-use practice. You can choose scores from one, several, or all SAT test dates.
“It has become so complicated with some colleges requiring that all scores be sent and others not, that I am advising my students to release all scores to all schools,” said Julie A. Manhan, Educational Consultant and Seattle College Bound Examiner.
Will you improve your scores if you take the tests more than once? It seems to be worth a try, as research shows that of the students who took the ACT more than once:
55% increased their composite score on the retest
22% had no change in their composite score on the retest
Dubai/Abu Dhabi/Fujairah: Examinations certainly take their toll on students, but what about their parents and teachers?
While students are awake all night revising, parents are unable to do anything except to stand on the sidelines and sympathise.
But ultimately, is it the students or the parents who get stressed the most?
In a recent Gulf News poll, 35 per cent of respondents said students are the most stressed during examinations, 31 per cent said it was the parents, an equal percentage of respondents said they were relieved to have finished school, and the remaining 3 per cent said it was the teachers.
City Talk asked residents who are the most stressed during examinations.
Annie Dias, 44, secretary from India, said: “Neither my sons nor I get stressed during examinations, but it usually happens right before we receive the results. They are now in university and we are all very happy and stress-free. For sure they are overburdened with studies, but unfortunately there are not enough outdoor activities.”
Ali Khaleel, 28, airline staff, Egypt, said: “Students have more pressure because ultimately it is their future on the line. But parents also feel the pressure because they sense what an important time exams can be for the future of their children. The closer the parents are to their children, the more stressed out they will be.”
Haitham Sartawi, 39, Jordanian manager, said: “I personally do not get stressed because I know my daughter does the best that she can. But generally when it comes to Arabs, I think some mothers get stressed the most and children are pressured into studying all the time. That is why some students always pretend to get sick when examinations come.”
Donna Dizon, 26, receptionist, Philippines, said: “Students get the most stressed because they have to deal with their parents and their teachers. In general, I do not think that they are overworked but they should always remember to have extracurricular activities to relieve themselves of stress. It is important to have a breath of fresh air in between school work.”
Doha Al Wazany, public relations manager, Palestine, said: “My cousin’s daughter is five years old and she is already being bombarded with homework and studies, which is too much for a five-year-old child to handle. This results in stressing out the child, the mother and the teacher who also got a responsibility to deliver all this information to her students. Students are definitely over-burdened with studying.”
Wajih Halawa, 30, Jordanian account manager, said: “Stress is definitely on the students. I am not saying teachers and parents do not get stressed, but at the end the greatest stress is on students. On the other hand, parents are torn between creating a study-friendly environment for their children and at the same time getting stressed out for their children’s future.”
Hazim Tawfiq, 31, accountant from Egypt, said: “Exams are stressful for everyone, but surely no-one is more stressed than the students themselves. If you are an ambitious student then exams are the most important time of the school year and the tension will be there.
“I do not think you can say students are overburdened with studies because they are at an age when they can process a lot of information and at the end they are the ones who will benefit from a good education. I do not think exams should be a stressful time for parents because that will make their children even more stressed and maybe negatively affect their performance.”
Saeed Attia, 34, supervisor and laboratory technician, Egypt, said: “Teachers are the most stressed during school examinations.
“I feel many students in the UAE are not that smart, which adds to the burden and responsibility of a teacher. I also noticed that many students are taking private lessons along side their studies and schooling, which has its toll on them.”
There is nothing like a row over Oxbridge admissions to get education news onto the newspaper front-pages.
It hardly seems to matter that, compared to other educational issues, admissions to Oxford and Cambridge affect a tiny proportion of young people.
But entry to top institutions will always attract interest if only because so many of us assume, probably quite wrongly, that every parent aspires to seeing their child at Oxbridge.
So it was no surprise that the media went overboard about this week’s announcement that Cambridge colleges will expect future applicants to achieve at least one of the new A* grades, plus two A grades, at A-level.
Although only 4% of each age group achieves three grade As, this issue plays particularly on the anxieties of parents who pay increasingly expensive school fees in the hope of securing an Oxbridge place for their children.
Of course, not all independent schools make this their main aim but their websites and brochures reveal that access to Oxbridge is one of their unique selling points.
That explains why the independent schools are, to quote their spokesman, “delighted” by Cambridge’s decision.
Coaching for an A*
They already have an excellent record on A grades, with 31% of independent school candidates achieving three grade As compared to just 10% across all types of state schools, selective and non-selective.
And they are clearly confident their students will do as well, if not better, with the A*, which requires students to achieve 90% in their A2 modules.
Ministers were under pressure to scrap AS-level exams last night amid claims they are “killing” teenagers’ education.
Academics and independent schools heads said tests - sat during the first year of A-levels - were getting in the way of teaching.
Many schools are forced to abandon normal lessons for three weeks just a few months after courses start to prepare for exams, it was claimed.
The Conservatives admitted they were “sceptical” about AS-levels, raising the possibility that they could be reviewed or even dropped under a Tory government.
The comments came as thousands of teenagers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland received the results of new-style AS exams sat in January.
In a statement released today, Ofqual, the new exam’s regulator, said it was “satisfied” that standards in the reformed tests had been maintained this year.
But critics branded them a “waste of time”.
Alan Smithers, professor of education at Buckingham University, said: “We clearly need to reconsider whether AS exams are necessary. They turn those two years into continuous examining and they make it harder to distinguish between people in the way that is fair and accurate to universities.”
Under reforms introduced in 2000, traditional two-year A-levels were split in half. Students now sit AS-levels in the first year and A2 exams in the second, with scores being combined to form a final grade.
