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By Mayo Clinic staffHypnosis may help you cope better with certain medical conditions, stop unwanted habits or reduce stress related to medical procedures. The effects of hypnosis can be long lasting and can improve your overall quality of life.
Hypnosis isn't right for everyone, though. You may not be able to enter a state of hypnosis fully enough to make it effective, for instance. Certain qualities that may mean you're more likely to have success with hypnosis include:
- The ability to be so engrossed in music, a book or a movie that you aren't aware of what's happening around you
- Smells trigger vivid memories for you
- Memories trigger physical sensations of past events
- Information for the general public. American Society of Clinical Hypnosis. http://asch.net/genpubinfo.htm. Accessed Oct. 15, 2009.
- Stewart JH. Hypnosis in contemporary medicine. Mayo Clinic Proceedings. 2005;80:511.
- Surman OS, et al. Hypnosis. In: Stern TA, et al. Massachusetts General Hospital Comprehensive Clinical Psychiatry. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby/Elsevier; 2008. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/165034062-3/0/1657/142.html?tocnode=5754. Accessed Oct. 15, 2009.
- Hypnosis today — Looking beyond the media portrayal. American Psychological Association. http://www.apa.org/releases/hypnosis.html. Accessed Nov. 19, 2009.
- New definition: Hypnosis. American Psychological Association. http://www.apa.org/divisions/div30/define_hypnosis.html. Accessed Nov. 19, 2009.
- Hypnosis. American Cancer Society. http://www.cancer.org/docroot/ETO/content/ETO_5_3X_Hypnosis.asp. Accessed Nov. 19, 2009.
- Schnur JB, et al. Hypnosis to manage distress related to medical procedures: A meta-analysis. Contemporary Hypnosis. 2008;25:114.
- Martin DP (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Dec. 1, 2009.

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