Supporting ALS treatment with hypnosis

ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) is a serious disease of the motor nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. Because these nerves are affected, your muscles no longer work properly. The disease is not curable and over time you will die from it.

ALS can develop at any age, but most people diagnosed are between the ages of 40 and 60. It is a progressive disease; muscle weakness gets worse over time. The average life time after diagnosis is three years; the course is different for everyone. Sometimes it lasts shorter and sometimes it lasts longer[1].

In the Netherlands, 400 to 500 people a year receive this diagnosis.

Hypnosis in ALS

Recently, research has also been conducted to determine whether hypnosis can play a role for people with ALS and their caregivers. After all, it is a disease with a significant impact that can trigger anxiety and feelings of depression.

A small study involving 15 people with ALS found that hypnosis can have benefits both psychologically and for the body. However, this study was so small that you cannot yet say that these effects are there for everyone with ALS. Larger studies are needed for that, but it is a hopeful study.

The study found that anxiety and depressive symptoms were lower among the group of people with ALS and their caregivers who had undergone hypnotherapy and self-hypnosis than among the group that had not. Anxiety, in particular, decreased significantly.

In addition, the ALSFRS-r score was used to see what the physical effects of hypnosis were. This score went down slower in people in the hypnosis group than in those who did not receive hypnosis[2].

So there is evidence that hypnosis can slow the progression of ALS, but as mentioned this study was only a small study and you can't yet apply the results to "all" ALS patients. It is mostly hopeful.

The reason that hypnosis has been studied to see if it can affect treatment is because as early as the 1990s there was evidence that the psychological states of people with ALS affect the course of the disease. At the beginning of this century, it also emerged that the mood of people with ALS and the sense of well-being they experienced influenced the course of the disease. Researchers then also indicated that more research needed to be done on psychological treatments for ALS.

Because hypnosis can help people feel well and improve mood, so this form of treatment has been looked into.

In the study, patients received a hypnotherapy session once a week for four weeks using Ericksonian hypnosis techniques. You can also learn these techniques at the Hypnosis Institute of the Netherlands.

Each session began with inducing hypnosis and deepening relaxation. Hypnosis techniques were then used for therapeutic purposes. The sessions incorporated metaphors, guided visualizations, and direct and indirect suggestions. All of these suggestions were tailored to the patient’s needs.

In hypnosis, it is common to tailor the treatment to the client, and not give everyone exactly the same suggestions.

At the end there was a focus on learning self-hypnosis and then they were taken out of hypnosis and the hypnotherapist made the patient feel clear and refreshed (source 2).

There were, however, themes that could be relevant to every client. For example, the first session focused on creating a safe space for the client. The second session focused on awareness of thoughts and emotions and how the body influences them. The third session dealt with family and helped the client focus on a different time period, incorporating visualizations involving earlier and later generations of the client’s family. In the fourth session, the sessions delved deeper into the perception of positive emotions.

The sessions were also recorded so that patients could use the recordings during self-hypnosis. They were encouraged to do this daily.

Safe place

One way to support someone with ALS is to help him or her imagine a safe place. A place where the person feels completely at ease.

This is often done with guided visualization. It is often most helpful to give people the suggestion to imagine such a place and not come up with a place themselves. You can then also say that the place does not have to be real, but may also be a place in their imagination.

If people have trouble with this, you can make your own suggestion, but always ask if they like the venue first. For example, if as a therapist you say "Imagine being at the beach on a beautiful day" and they have ever experienced something nasty on a beautiful day at the beach, this suggestion will not help the relaxation.

Therefore, always ask "do you like the beach?" before giving such a guided visualization of a safe place.

Transforming Emotions

Emotions can sometimes be difficult to transform, especially when you’re actually in the palliative phase . Fortunately, there’s still a lot you can do by working with metaphors and symbolism.

For example, a hypnotherapist can work with colors and shapes. By giving emotions colors and shapes, you can help the client make the emotion tangible. This helps to do something with it. Whereby the negative emotion gets less of a hold on him or her and, on the contrary, space is made for positive emotions.

A place in the bigger picture

When it comes to focusing on time and place, it can be helpful to make people realize that they are a small part of their family’s story —or of humanity’s. It depends on what works best for the client. In cases of strained family relationships, “humanity” may be a better focus.

In doing so, it can also be good to look back at the person's story. After all, everyone leads a unique life with ups and downs. By looking back on that. Focusing on what went right. What was fun and where he or she contributed to the lives of others, it may be easier to say goodbye and have less anxiety about the course of the disease.

Focus on what can be done

When you have ALS you lose a little more and more, and that may initially be what someone with ALS focuses on. By shifting the focus to what is possible, and that there are people who are there for the person with ALS, it is also possible to look more optimistically to the future.

Some people with ALS also feel like a burden to those around them when they need care. By changing that belief and helping people realize that those around them can actually show their love and take on the caregiving role, you can help people with ALS enjoy life more.

Learning hypnosis to help people with illness

Hypnosis can be invaluable in improving a person's well-being in many conditions, and in ALS. Therefore, it can be beneficial to have knowledge of hypnosis so that you can help people with chronic problems enjoy life despite their problem.

If you want to help people with a terminal illness, we recommend taking all of the training courses offered by Hypnosis Institute Netherlands, as this is the best way to help them.

Is hypnosis right for you? Come to the free masterclass to get started.

Or sign up right away for one of our training courses or events.

Training is available both in class and live online. Ideal if you can't make it to class one day but want to take it remotely.

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