Royal Society of Medicine

On the 6th of June 2011, the Hypnosis and Psychosomatic Medicine Section was at the centre of the news because of claims that the NHS could save money–a huge amount of money–if hospitals employ fully qualified therapists to use hypnosis in treatment. The overall message of fellows of the society was that hypnosis is a very powerful tool that can be used on its own or in conjunction with medical treatment, but that patients should be protected from, as Jacky Owens, president of the section calls them, ‘hypno-cowboys’.

She said,

“Conditions such as depression, pain and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) affect millions of people in the UK and a great cost to the NHS. But hypnosis can often work where other treatments have been unsuccessful”.

Hypnosis is, at long last recognised by NICE as an intervention for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome and Peter Whorwell in Manchester has shown that his gut directed approach is significantly effective in treatment. However, there are many other conditions that have been treated effectively with hypnosis including depression, phobic anxiety, agoraphobia, psychosomatic pain, OCD, sleep disorders, eating disorders, anxiety, grief, chemotherapy-induced nausea, PTSD amongst others.

Amongst other specialists, Dr David Kraft gave a lecture on the use of hypnosis for smoking cessation. He gave a detailed account of a case study: the client was a man in his early 30s who had smoked over 25 cigarettes for about 20 years. Dr Kraft used hypnosis and a number of techniques which he described for the audience. He showed that it is possible to use hypnosis and help people give up smoking in one session. In one hour.

David Kraft is a fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and a member of the Hypnosis and Psychosomatic Medicine Section. He is also a member of the British Society of Clinical & Academic Hypnosis (BSCAH) and on the General Hypnotherapy Register (GHR). He has written and co-written over 10 peer-reviewed articles in academic journals in England and Australia and has given lectures at the Royal Society of Medicine of four occasions. David has spent a great deal of time treating people with phobic anxiety, but has recently also had a lot of success helping people give up smoking. He uses covert sensitization (aversion therapy) in his approach and has even help people to reduce their cravings to a minimum.

Smoking has a deleterious effect on almost all of the organs in the body and is responsible for many deaths each year.

To give up, phone Dr Kraft on 0207 467 8564. Now!!!