Celebrities with Tinnitus

I came across an article in the Huffington Post (read original article here) on some celebrities past and present who are known to have struggled with tinnitus.

The list includes
-Former US President Ronald Reagan who is believed to have developed tinnitus after a blank pistol was fired near him on a movie set during his acting career.
-Musicians Pete Townshend, Jeff Beck, John Densmore and Bono from exposure to loud music.
-Actors William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, who both developed after being near a stunt explosion during the filming of a 1967 episode of Star Trek, "The Arena."
-Vincent Van Gogh, post-mortem medical detective work has led some to suspect that the artist's famous incident where he cut off his ear was the result of his suffering with tinnitus rather than a psychiatric disorder as was once believed.
-Liza Minelli, the entertainer claimed her tinnitus resulted from her father excitedly shouting in her ear when she won an Oscar for her role in the film Cabaret.
-Alan Shepard, the Apollo 14 astronaut was almost sidelined from his mission by a combination of Meniere's disease and tinnitus. Surgery corrected his problem and he went on to be a hero.

Whether you are a celebrity or not, having tinnitus can be quite a burden. It is imperative that you give yourself every advantage including consulting with an audiologist who is familiar with the condition. (Two New Jersey audiologists who have a proven track record of helping with tinnitus are Dr.'s Dhyan Cassie and Robert DiSogra.)

Stress and anxiety also complicate the experience of having tinnitus, further information is posted here.

If you could use some help in developing stress remediation skills in order to cope more effectively with your tinnitus, please feel free to give me a call at (732) 714-7040.

Product Review: Power Hypnosis: the Future of Hypnotic Sessions

Power Hypnosis: the Future of Hypnotic Sessions is a new book by stage and clinical hypnotist John Cerbone.

I have run into John a few times over the years, most recently when he gave a lecture/demo at the Greater NJ Chapter of the National Guild of Hypnotists this past spring. He has a funny and outgoing personality that serves him well as an entertainer and I thoroughly enjoyed his presentation there.

When I saw that he had published this new work I was intrigued as it promised a new spin on the art and science of clinical hypnosis. Always on the search for fresh ideas to enhance my practice and serve my clientele better, I figured it was worth chancing $20 on the digital download of the book.

I must say I was pleasantly surprised and have gained a number of new ideas that I could implement right away. In particular, I really like the idea of crafting "self-perpetuating" suggestions that can benefit the recipient beyond the initial issue he or she sought help with.

What if solving a challenge such as smoking or overeating continued on into the person becoming more able to reach his or her other goals in the future? Self-perpetuating suggestions make this a very real possibility.

In the book John shares a number of interesting personal anecdotes along with copious examples of suggestions he has created as well as the underlying concepts and insights as to the how and why of their specific wording.

Professional hypnotists know that the correct choice of language is paramount to creating successful hypnotic experiences for our clients and you can learn plenty from John's exuberant style.

I definitely recommend this book to my colleagues in the hypnosis profession, you can learn more at
http://hypnosisstageshow.com/power-hypnosis-the-future-of-hypnotic-sessions/

Is it the Nicotine? Smoking Cessation Reconsidered

It was nearly 20 years ago that I first started seeing clients in my hypnosis counseling practice. During these two decades a large percentage of the people I have seen sought my help in order to become free of the smoking habit.

Looking back at the hundreds of private and small group sessions I have facilitated, here are some observations I have made about letting go of the smoking habit:

• If nicotine is so physically addictive why doesn't nicotine replacement therapy have a higher success rate? Most studies I have seen state around a 20% success rate for nicotine patches, with dummy or placebo patches having a rate of effectiveness of about 15%. So is 75% of the benefit really all in your head? I have encountered scores of folks who said that the patches didn't "work" and that they smoked while using them (quite dangerous to do BTW). Maybe the nicotine that isn't the key player here? 
• If smoking is relaxing, why does it elevate heart rate, blood pressure and constrict blood vessels? What may be relaxing is the slow, rhythmic breathing of the smoking behavior and/or the break in your routine. Smoking may be the only time a person engages in "mindfulness." Trust me, there are better ways of going about that!
• Perhaps it would be better if we referred to the behavior of smoking as a bad habit rather than an addiction. Addiction implies helplessness/hopelessness, however unhealthy habits can be dropped.
• I have met a number of individuals who experienced severe adverse reactions to the prescription medications for smoking cessation. Do keep in mind these drugs were originally marketed as anti-depressants. It was discovered some patients taking them for clinical depression reported spontaneously losing interest in their smoking habits and it was then that the pharmaceutical companies decided to offer them as a stop smoking treatment.  But what are the consequence of someone who is not depressed taking such a medication? Be sure to bring this up with your physician if you are considering that treatment route. 
• The look of pride and satisfaction on a person's face when they know they have conquered that dirty, dangerous habit by tapping into their own inner resources is priceless. You can be one of them! 

If you would like to learn more about how you can become a healthy non-smoker for life, call (732) 714-7040 for a free, confidential phone consultation.

Is Your Fear UNUSUAL?

I came across an article in the U.K.'s Bristol Post  5 Unusual Fears Bristolians Suffer , an account from a mental health clinic in that city regarding some of the most unusual fears they have encountered in their practice. Do you have one of them?

Here is the list:

1. Ergophobia- a fear of the workplace that usually centers around about inadequate job performance or pressure from supervisors and peers.  This has become more common during the past decade. 
2. Lachanophobia- a fear of vegetables that goes beyond the thought of eating them, some folks become extremely anxious even being in their presence. 
3. Coulrophobia- many traveling circuses have dropped clowns from their roster because of the intense fear reaction they can induce in children and adults
4. Koumpounophobia- the fear of buttons, usually on clothing. These sufferers will only use zippers or velcro on their clothing. 
5. Urophobia- the fear of not being able to urinate. 

For the record I have personally seen hypnosis help items 1, 2 and 5 on this list. I have not had a request regarding the fear of buttons as of yet and have my doubts as to whether the clown fear is all that irrational-just kidding!

And although some of these fears can seem comical on the surface, actually they are not funny as they can severely impact your quality of life.

What all of these kinds of subconscious responses, whether its the relatively "normal" fear of public speaking or a more exotic one such as chronomentrophobia (clocks) have in common is that the brain is treating a non-threatening situation as if it were dangerous. 

Trying to rationally talk yourself or another person out of an unhealthy fear is seldom successful because these responses are not governed by the conscious mind. Its not like you intentionally woke up one day and decided that you were going to be be afraid vegetables!

Hypnosis is a tool that helps create the mindset able to replace these negative old patterns with new habits. If you could use some help, please call (732) 714-7040 for a free, confidential phone consultation.

A Mindful Break?

This morning I had a few things to take care of at the office.  Since the weather was nice and the summer tourist traffic is pretty thick at the Jersey Shore on a Friday, I decided to bicycle the 3 miles each way rather than drive.

So I took care of a few things the needed attention at 302 Hawthorne Ave and on the ride back home I was kind of lost in a negative train of thought about a current challenge I am facing. Don't worry its nothing major, just a situation that is kind of frustrating and a perhaps bit discouraging.

As I rode along I noticed myself getting entangled with these thoughts and my mood began to suffer.

Luckily mindfulness is not just something I teach to my clients, I do practice it myself.

So I stopped pedaling for a spell and took a breather on a bench beneath a shade tree. I focused first for few moments on the flow of my breath, which brought me back to the NOW.

And in that present moment I remembered that I am in fact OK right now as long as I am breathing. And that when you let a thought just be a thought it loses its power over you.

Then my awareness shifted to the perfectly blue sky overhead, with just a few wisps of white clouds floating by. I noticed too that the weather today is pretty much near perfect. Perhaps best of all, because I was on my bike I whizzed along past those who were stuck in traffic! Ha!

The rest of the ride home went fine and my dog was happy to see me (that or he really needed to go to the bathroom).

Now the challenging situation I mentioned earlier still exists and I will need to pay attention to it. But when you are in a state of ease and relaxation, your ability to find creative solutions greatly improves.

So don't a let a negative train of thoughts distract you from what is good and beautiful in your life. Mindfulness can show you how to do that. Please connect if you have any questions by giving me a call at (732) 714-7040.

Smoking and Serious Mental Illness?

I received an intriguing bit of information this morning from the Web MD newsletter concerning newly published research in the Lancet, a respected British medical journal.

The article "Smoking Linked to Schizophrenia" stated that smoking may be a risk factor in the development of that serious and persistent mental illness.

This was of particular interest to me for two reasons. First, as a professional hypnotist I help people let go of the smoking habit.  Second, prior to this career I was a case manager for over 10 years in an adult psychiatric rehabilitation program and the majority of the clients had a schizophrenia diagnosis.

The article notes that people with schizophrenia are far more likely to have a smoking habit than the general population. My past experience concurs with that. In fact, at one point  the facility I worked in decided to ban inside smoking because non-smoking staff were actually contracting smoking related illnesses from the noxious and ever present cloud of second hand smoke.

What was new information to me in the Web MD article was that a person receiving a first time diagnosis of schizophrenia is 3 times more likely to be a smoker than someone who isn't.

The researchers suspect that the tobacco habit increases the activity of the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is implicated in the development of schizophrenia.

This really gives credence to the idea that we should use whatever means necessary to deter younger people from developing the smoking habit since the onset of schizophrenia usually occurs during a person's late teens or early twenties.

It also suggests that programs serving individuals with serious and persistent mental illness should offer smoking cessation services since the effect of nicotine on  neurotransmitter balance may be undercutting efforts towards recovery.  This counters the old belief that the mentally ill "needed" to smoke in order to soothe stress.

No one NEEDS to smoke. EVER!

If you would like to learn more about an effective stop smoking program I would like to offer you two options: a) a free, confidential phone consultation, call (732) 714-7040 or b) sign up for my free e-course on letting go of the smoking habit at http://eepurl.com/0Vd91

Source material for this article at: http://www.webmd.com/smoking-cessation/news/20150710/smoking-schizophrenia

Your Life Sentence? PARDONED!

Now just to be clear, I am not referring to the kind of life sentence carried out in a scary super max state prison by those deemed by the courts to be a danger to society at large.

No barbed wire, metal detectors or cavity searches here!

Rather lets look at the sentence about your life. Actually I'm sure you have many of these sentences. 

"My name is Jim and I'm from New Jersey" is a fairly benign and accurate one in my case.

Some life sentences can be downright awesome.

"I have a natural talent for numbers."

"I hardly ever get sick."

"I am a lucky person."

Then again some life sentences are pretty awful.

"I have no willpower."

"Everything I touch turns to crap."

"People don't seem to like me."

The thing about these life sentences is that if your unconscious mind hears them often enough, especially with strong emotion, it will accept them and carry them out automatically. The unconscious mind does not care if your life sentences are positive, negative or neutral.

The good news is that you can grant yourself a full pardon from your negative life sentence by the use of affirmations. 

This where you turn around the negative statements as if it were opposite day and intentionally deliver the message you need to hear.

Example: "I have no willpower" gets flipped to "I persist and I succeed." 

Affirmations can be a stand alone technique or combined with self-hypnosis or guided meditation.

Another option is to write down the positive statements where you will see them often. 

Please feel free to connect if you would like to learn more, call (732) 714-7040. 

Hypnosis for Tinnitus Stress Relief

I just posted a new video on how hypnosis can help alleviate the distress of tinnitus.

Self-Hypnosis and Mindfulness Meditation

On Tuesday, July 14, 2015, I will be leading a class on Mindful Self-Hypnosis. Students will be learning a combination of self-hypnosis and mindfulness meditation techniques that can enable you to cope better with stress and to alter unhealthy habits and responses.

Hypnosis and self-hypnosis basically involve giving positive input to the unconscious, automatic part of the mind that acts out patterns and images whether they be good, bad or neutral. Quite often we unwittingly take on negative beliefs and live our lives in accordance to them. 

You may be less familiar with mindfulness meditation, although it has received significant positive attention in recent years as it used in several major medical centers to help alleviate pain and anxiety. 

Based on Eastern meditative techniques (although not a religious practice by itself) mindfulness essentially involves learning to be more fully in the present moment. 

Virtually all stress and anxiety occur when we leave the present moment and either: 

• Dwell on negative events from the past which cannot be altered at this point or
• Project fear and worry into the future about things that may but probably won't happen.

When we abandon the present moment for these negative flights of fancy we get tangled up in a stressful train of thoughts, where one negative thought leads to another to yet another. In short time we are stressed even though nothing bad is happening right now.

Usually in the present moment we are OK and mindfulness meditation has several methods to bring us back to the now. 

Paradoxically, when we are mindful we can become more effective problem solvers since we are operating from a place of strength rather than fear.

In my hypnosis practice I have found that the principles and techniques of mindfulness blend perfectly with traditional methods of hypnotism.

If you would like to learn more about the class on 7/14, please visit lhttp://njhypno.com/nj_hypnosis_classes_id125.html