Health professional presents hypnosis facts

By Mrs. Cherish T. Gilmore (AMC)January 10, 2017

Fox Army Health Center's Dr. Lynley Ebeling, chief of the Neuropsychology/Traumatic Brain Injury Clinic
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. -- The Army Materiel Command Wellness division hosted a guest speaker series called "Hypnosis: Helpful or Hoopla," addressing its role in stress reduction and pain management.

Fox Army Health Center's Dr. Lynley Ebeling, chief of the Neuropsychology/Traumatic Brain Injury Clinic, was the featured speaker for the series that hosted 27 people during the first session in November and an additional 18 in December.

In the first session, Ebeling discussed the history of hypnosis, myths and misconceptions, how it works in the brain and what conditions or behaviors can potentially be treated with hypnosis. In the second session, she led participants through a hypnosis session for stress management training.

Ebeling admitted she was originally one of the skeptics.

"I thought it was hoopla. The first time a hypnotist came into my graduate class to demonstrate it to us, I would not allow it to happen. I thought he was trying to control me. Now, I see the huge benefits of hypnosis and utilize it regularly. So, I went from completely one end of the spectrum to the other," Ebeling said.

Ebeling introduced hypnosis to her practice two years ago after she stood up the Traumatic Brain Injury/Concussion Clinic.

"We were doing a lots of assessments and trying to differentiate the effects between multiple concussions versus post-traumatic stress disorder, which both affect mood, and create a lot of anxiety, agitation, memory problems and attention problems. There was an overwhelming desire to bring down anxiety, agitation and improve sleep," Ebeling said.

But through the years, health care practitioners only had one option to deal with these issues -- medication.

"With the Army in particular, there has been a big push for wellness and to be open to other more natural or complimentary treatments besides medication," said Ebeling.

As a neuropsychologist, Ebeling had to know what was going on in the brain during hypnosis to make it work.

"In simple terms, the usual talk therapy is communication from frontal lobe to frontal lobe, which we would call the conscious part of the brain. With hypnosis, we are talking to the middle part of the brain, which is where we daydream and do things on autopilot. The best way to understand hypnosis is that it is sort of like a mix of meditation, but with therapeutic suggestions," Ebeling said.

There are two different kinds of hypnosis: the kind for entertainment and the kind Ebeling prescribes.

"I offer clinical hypnotherapy, which should be scrutinized carefully by people. The American Psychological Association recommends people only use a licensed professional. In clinical hypnotherapy, we are working on clinical issues very seriously, and we are ethically bound to do it correctly," she said.

Ebeling has two certifications in clinical hypnotherapy. The response from her patients has been overwhelming positive since integrating it into her 26-year-old practice.

"It has been so effective. You cannot deny that it is relaxing. It has been something people have found incredibly beneficial -- especially with my PTSD patients. They can't believe how relaxed they feel," Ebeling said.

AMC's group hypnosis class targeted solutions that include suggesting handling issues with perspective, reminding clients that problems are temporary and addressing issues with deep breaths and rational solutions.

Maria Grimsley, administrative support assistant in AMC's Resource Management division, and Arthur Ignatiadis, liaison operations research analyst for Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity, attended the AMC group sessions.

The day after the class on stress relief, Grimsley underwent surgery. She said the outcome of the procedure went better than her original expectations.

"I don't know if the results had anything to do with stress in the body, which we were asked to focus on during the hypnosis class. However, I had little to no pain in the surgery area. I have also been more relaxed able to see things in a different way," said Grimsley.

This was also Ignatiadis' first experience with hypnosis, and went to the course to satisfy his intellectual curiosity. "It gets a lot of publicity, and I was wondering what it was really about," he said.

Ignatiadis, who spends his day working analysis in the logistics realm, said he also found the class helpful.

"I did feel more relaxed after the class. It can be stressful, because you have to turn out results quickly and you never know how long it is going to take," Ignatiadis said.

This was the first time the wellness division offered hypnosis to AMC headquarters employees.

"Our wellness division shows a lot of initiative. They do their best to give us a lot of exciting topics, so I think we are lucky to have them and they are doing a good job," Ignatiadis said.

Those interested in clinical hypnotherapy as a treatment can contact Fox Army Health Center on Redstone Arsenal at 256-955-8888. Treatment at Fox is only available to Tricare Prime patients who have access to the installation.