Overcoming Autoimmune Symptoms with Hypnosis: a Patient's Perspective

When I was about to finish my hypnotherapy training (at Hypnosis Motivation Institute), I was completing my hypnotherapy residency there at the same time. Everything and every issue were new to me, even though most of them were quite common in the field of hypnotherapy. One client that I helped though, stuck out the most.

Case of a hair loss

For the sake of privacy, let’s call her Sandy. Sandy was an immigrant mother, who was in a happy marriage at the time. She loved her kids, husband, and life except that she started losing big chunks of hair.

Slowly but surely, every time she is in the shower, when she combed her hair or blow drying made her lose more and more hair. Imagine the level of stress when losing a significant amount of hair by simply doing everyday things like washing your hair.

Her specialist called this Scarring Alopecia which is an autoimmune skin disorder that causes hair loss due to hair follicle damage. Meaning she was facing permanent hair loss because of the follicle destruction.

What is scarring alopecia? 

Alopecia Areata is basically when the body attacks its own hair follicles, according to the American Academy of Dermatology. Think of losing big chunks of hair causing baldness in some parts of the head. The semi-good part is that as long as hair follicles don’t have permanent damage, the hair can always grow back. Alopecia Areata can also affect the hair on other body parts such as the face and head.

Scarring Alopecia though, is when the hair follicles are damaged permanently and there is a significant chance that the lost hair won’t grow back.

Typically, Alopecia is caused due to inflammation in the hair follicles. However, what causes the inflammation can vary.

A patient’s perspective of how hypnosis can help with autoimmune disease.

Finding hope again

Of course, when she heard this from her doctor, she was devastated. I agree with her because as women, we tend to identify ourselves with hair a lot. So, losing hair can mean loss of attractiveness, likability, or the overall female side of a woman.  

The problem is, stress and worry make any physical symptoms even worse. So she was in a cycle, feeling like nothing was going to be able to help her since she tried basically everything. Thanks to one of her friends, she wanted to give hypnosis a chance.

She heard about hypnosis as a complementary treatment for autoimmune disorders, unsure of what to expect but with an open mind she came to my hypnotherapy session.

Hypnosis as a complementary therapy for autoimmune disorder

As holistic methods of healing become more and more popular, many clinicians have been more open to alternative healing modalities such as hypnotherapy. And actually, there are many research studies that support the potential successful autoimmune symptom management with hypnotherapy. For example, in one study, participants listened to a hypnosis recording for 12 weeks while their levels of inflammatory cytokine IL-6 were being measured. Results showed that participants’ resilience increased and their inflammation showed a downward trend.

Another study that was published in the journal of Psychology & Health was testing hypnotherapy for autoimmune symptom relief. According to the report, hypnotherapy produced significantly more improvements in patients with symptoms of Rheumatoid Arthritis when compared to relaxation or medication. In other words, it is becoming more and more evident that a hypnotic suggestion in autoimmune disease treatment can go a long way during the journey of healing.

Hypnosis approaches for autoimmune symptoms

And to be honest, when I was helping Sandy, I wasn’t very sure as to where to start in the beginning as well. After all, I was still going to school. But I listened to my intuition, I knew I could help her. I started by helping her break the cycle of worry that leads to losing more hair; which eventually results in worrying even more.

Through the six sessions we worked together, we worked through the main stressors that triggered the inflammation in the first place. She was going through significant changes in her life, there were a lot of unknowns, triggering her to live in survival mode.

Another important achievement we had together was strengthening the mind-body connection by empowering her as a whole. She was able to remember her power over her body’s responses. Sometimes the strongest medicine we need is the belief that we can direct our body to calm down and produce a different response.

Results with hypnotherapy

Do you know what the greatest achievement for a hypnotherapist is? It’s when a client’s doctor says “I don’t know what you’ve been doing, but keep doing it because it seems to work”. Yes, after the end of 6 sessions, Sandy was growing baby hairs on the areas where her doctor was thinking she would never grow hair back!

To be honest, it wasn’t an effortless journey. Some days she felt very discouraged and demotivated but other days things looked more hopeful. In the end, by trusting herself and the process, she was able to achieve what everyone else thought was impossible.

Overcoming autoimmune symptoms through the power of the mind

During hypnotherapy, we use the powerful tool of hypnosis which allows us to tap into the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind is the part that reacts, triggers the survival mode, and controls the body.

For example, sometimes you may find yourself doing involuntary moves out of habit. Just like driving a car. Oftentimes, we don’t “think” about pressing the breaks before we do, we just do it. This is a great example of how the subconscious mind works.  

Hypnotherapy modifies these involuntary responses and reactions that come from the subconscious mind. When the subconscious belief changes, the results can change as well because the mind is a goal machine and it will do everything to meet the belief.

Final words 

Living with an autoimmune disorder is definitely one of the most challenging things anyone can deal with. As always, the best place to start your healing journey is by visiting your doctor and receiving the medical support you deserve. 

However, if nothing works, if you find yourself paddling a lot but not going forward, hypnotherapy can be a great option for symptom management or overcoming the disease altogether.