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Hypnotherapy becoming more hipJan 24 2007, by Melissa Lajara It may be hard to believe, but Frayda Kafka is sure that addictions to smoking and alcohol can be cured by the same simple method that also can be used to eliminate a fear of flying or stage fright or even irritable bowel syndrome. It's nothing new – something you may have heard referred to as “the power of suggestion.” Kafka is a hypnotist, but has never swung a pendulum or told anyone “you're getting sleepy.” She said there's quite a departure between the perception of hypnotism and its reality. “People think they're going to lose consciousness, they think they're going to lose control,” Kafka said. “This is not the case.” In fact, she said, it's about regaining control. Kafka has been hypnotizing willing subjects since 1980 and said her clients have been relieved of nightmares and fears as well as addictions and pounds. She remembered one particular time in an airplane cabin. “There was a young man sitting next to me, having a panic attack,” she said. “I just made up a technique on the spot for him. I got him through the takeoff and we had a great time on the flight.” In this case – and Kafka said this is true for all her clients – the power to control the mind and the body doesn't come from her or what she says, but from within the individuals themselves. Kafka's skills, she said, are in communicating that ability. “I always tell people the unconscious mind is like a 2 or 3-year-old child,” Kafka said. “I know how to talk to the child inside of them.” Allison Friedman, one of Kafka's clients – she says she works with 20 to 30 people each week – said the Lake Katrine hypnotist's major asset is her intuitiveness. “Most therapies are part science and part art form,” she said. “I don't think hypnotherapy is different. She can log on ... to what a person is experiencing.” A practice once reserved for stages and shows is now readily gaining acceptance, and not just from those who've had success through Kafka's sessions. Hypnosis, according to a New York Times science article that was published about a year ago, has earned some new respect from doctors who study the brain. Although the scientific understanding of hypnosis and its effects on the brain are still limited, according to the article, the practice has been employed since the 1950s to treat pain. It was reportedly used in the 19th century in India during surgery and limb amputations, before ether and anesthesia were discovered. That comes as no surprise to Friedman, a New Paltz psychotherapist and social worker.“I believe in efficient and functional treatment,” she said. “For certain things hypnotherapy seems very logical.” Friedman, who suffers from an autoimmune disease, said her sessions with Kafka originated from a desire to be healthier. She said that the suggestion she was given was essentially that her body and mind would “naturally arrive at a consensus about what was right for my body.” Without even realizing she was doing it, Friedman said, she stopped eating meat, and said she's never felt better. She said people “have a mysterious sense” of what hypnotism really is. “I think it's very easy for people to be skeptical,” Friedman said. “What have you got to lose? I think it's helped me a lot.” Kafka said that helping people is her number-one goal. She charges $150 per 50-minute session, but said a switch usually only requires a single visit, which can even be conducted over the phone. In that session, she said she often teaches people how to self-hypnotize so that they can use the methods to help in other situations. In the business world, such a thing is unusual – most brick-and-mortar businesses are reliant on repeat business. “I'm not that great a businesswoman,” Kafka said, “but I'm an excellent practitioner.” Her work as a hypnotist began with her own addiction to cigarettes, one she shared with her husband. “I was a smoker, three to four packs of Camels a day,” she said. “We were both big-time smokers, and both therapists. We had children.” Kafka said her husband went to a quit-smoking seminar and brought the information back to his wife, who quit cold-turkey on her own. “I gained 40 pounds,” she said, “but I wasn't smoking.” From what her husband gleaned from the seminar, Kafka structured her own 8-week smoking cessation program, but added some meditative aspects. She quickly discovered, through feedback from people attending her group, that the urge to smoke was going away after the first session. So she cut the classes back. She began studying hypnotism, not even realizing right away how she had made the difference. “ It was kind of backwards,” she said. She said her one-time smoking cessation session now goes something like this: Attendees are given a blue glass crystal (worry stone) to rub or look at, and are given a calming word to meditate on. “Breathe in, think of the word, the color blue or rub the stone. As you let your breath out, you automatically let the urge to smoke go with it.” Sounds easy, right? After nearly 30 years of helping people kick the habit, she said the success of the technique is hard to refute. But of course, it doesn't work on everyone. According to the New York Times article, one in five people cannot be hypnotized. Kafka estimated it's about 10 percent, and claims that more creative, intelligent people are actually easier to hypnotize. She said she can usually ascertain their readiness on the phone – and if not, she won't give them a session. She said that it's rare that she has to turn someone down. Friedman stressed the importance of the individual actually wanting to change. “If insight was curative, we'd all walk around feeling fabulous,” she said. “It doesn't necessarily mean you can dislodge that pain. But it's a cure with a lot of possibilities as we learn the way the mind works.”
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