MEDICAL HYPNOSIS/HYPNOTHERAPY

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Hypnosis is safer than virtually any medication any of us doctors use.”  David Spiegel, M.D., Stanford University, School of Medicine
“Hypnosis is one of the top four mind-body therapies practiced by Americans today.”-Harvard Medical School
“The use of hypnosis has a recognized place in the medical armamentarium; that is a useful technique in the treatment of certain illnesses, when employed by qualified medical and dental personnel”. -Report published by an AMA advisory  committee 
“Hypnosis is the epitome of mind-body medicine. It can enable the mind to tell the body how to react, and modify the messages that the body sends to the mind.” New York Times
Complementary therapies are having an incredible impact on people’s perception of health. A 1998 survey by Stanford University reported that 69% of all Americans use some form of complimentary or alternative medicine. It is estimated they spend almost $28 billion a year on them – more than they spend out of pocket for conventional medicine.
An American Medical Association study from 1998 showed U.S. adults made over 600 million visits to alternative practitioners – exceeding the number of visits made to primary care physicians.
Dr. Gabor offers private Medical Hypnotherapy sessions, workshops and classes to help with managing or overcoming pain, resolving the real sources of pain and other medical conditions. She also offers private session for learning self-hypnosis, guided imagery, interactive guided imagery and visualization techniques for the following medical challenges:

OVERCOMING SLEEP DISORDERS: INSOMNIA, NIGHTMARES, SLEEP PARALYSIS

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Since 1995 the National Institute of Health has strongly recommended hypnosis to treat insomnia. (‘Integration’ 1995)
According to dr. Gabor’s monitoring thousands of her clients, hypnotherapy is the fastest and most efficient way to help people overcome sleep disorders. Insomnia, light sleep, restless sleep, unpleasant dreams,  nightmares (including recurrent nightmares), waking up tired in the morning and sleep paralysis are closely linked to stress and negatively-oriented thinking. These issues are many times experienced by people who suffer from depression, anxiety and panic attacks.
Insomnia exhausts the mind and body. All of us need to sleep well at night. Hypnotherapy, Guided Imagery, Visualization techniques, Suggestion Hypnosis and Regression Hypnotherapy (age regression and past life regression therapy and analysis)  can help release the stress, quiet the mind and  improve our programs of thinking in order to rest properly at night.
The program dr. Gabor developed for people with sleep disorders is very effective. Over the years, she has helped thousands of people challenged by insomnia through private sessions and providing them hypnotherapy audio recordings, created during the session, that guide them into deep, restful sleep, a state that is essential for human life. Read more…

CHRONIC PAIN MANAGEMENT

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“If you get rid of the pain before you have answered its questions, you get rid of the self along with it.” –Carl Jung (1875-1971)
Hypnosis is an effective adjunct in alleviating pain.” –National Institute of Health, 1996
Though often denigrated as fakery or wishful thinking, hypnosis has been shown to be a real phenomenon , with a variety of therapeutic uses especially in controlling pain.“-Scientific American, July, 2001
Hypnosis can be used very effectively for pain reduction.  It has taken us a century and a half to rediscover the fact that the mind has something to do with pain and can be a powerful tool in controlling it… It is now abundantly clear that we can retrain the brain to reduce pain.”… “float rather that fight.” -David Spiegel, M.D., Associate Chairman Of Psychiatry and Behavior Sciences,  Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA.

In 1955 the British Medical Association recognized the benefits of hypnosis as a treatment of different ailments and in the relief of pain.
In 2000, researchers at Beth Israel Medical Center in Boston found that hypnosis reduces pain and surgery time and improves safety. The trial of 241 patients showed that patients who used hypnosis during surgery needed less medication, had more stable vital signs and left the operating room sooner.
A large number of hospitals around the world use hypnosis to reduce pain and discomfort, accelerate healing and to reduce the cost of surgery. Pain relief through hypnosis is also used in burn units in major hospitals.
For managing pain one can use painkilling drugs that are often effective but have side effects, or can use hypnosis. The advantage of hypnosis that it has no side effects at all. 
Because hypnosis is so powerful, dr. Gabor uses hypnotherapy for pain management only when the pain producing condition is diagnosed by a physician. She wants to make sure the pain does not hide any undiagnosed health problem. Pain is the body’s alarm that something is wrong.
Pain is a messenger. It reveals resistance to the true, natural self.
With the complementary program for managing pain dr. Gabor has created, clients work on identifying the real root causes of the pain and remove it, or work on the symptom itself (the pain) and reduce its intensity. This powerful program is based on a combination of techniques: Medical Hypnotherapy, Guided Imagery for Healing, Interactive Guided Imagery, Regression Hypnotherapy (Age Regression and Past Life Regression Therapy and Analysis), Suggestion Therapy, NLP and Parts Therapy. Clients also receive hypnotherapy audio recordings for pain management, created during the hypnotherapy sessions, as well as learn self-hypnosis for pain management. This program helps clients activate the inner mechanism of healing and use the power of the mind to heal the body.  Some of the most important goals of hypnotherapy are to help clients return to a feeling of control, have a greater understanding of the mind-body connection, and become aware of the roles the conscious and subconscious thinking and belief systems play in healing and in creating our physiology.
The hypnosis audio recordings created during the hypnotherapy sessions are designed to be played every night before going to sleep. Falling asleep while listening to the recording does not affect the outcome in a negative way, because the subconscious mind never sleeps and will follow the guidance and adopt the suggestions included in the recording.
Throughout the years, dr. Gabor has witnessed amazing results in many of her clients. Hypnosis naturally leads to the production of endorphins, which have been shown to be up to 20 times more effective than morphine. Read more….

        WEIGHT LOSS

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“Hypnosis has been shown to be effective in helping people to stop smoking and controlling overeating.” -David Spiegel, M.D.,  Stanford University
Hypnosis has been scientifically proven to be a safe, natural and effective way to lose weight.  Researchers have found that people who used hypnotherapy lost significantly more weight than those who did not and, more importantly, they kept it off years later.  Here are a few published reports:
In a study of 60 females at least 20% overweight, hypnosis was over 30 times more effective for weight loss than the control group.  The hypnosis group averaged a 17 lb. weight loss while the control group averaged only a 0.5 lb. loss. (Gordon Cochrane and J. Friesen, “Hypnotherapy in Weight Loss Treatment”- Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.)
In another study of 109 people who completed behavioral modification for weight loss both with and without hypnosis over a 9 week period, follow-ups at 8 month and 2 year intervals showed that the hypnosis subjects continued to lose significant weight while the others showed little further change. (Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1985)
In an analysis of 18 studies comparing cognitive behavioral therapy both with and without the addition of hypnosis, those who received hypnosis lost more weight than 90% of those who did not, and maintained the weight loss two years after the treatment ended. (University of Connecticut, Storrs, Allison DB, Faith MS., Hypnosis as an adjunct to cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy for obesity: a meta-analytic reappraisal.) Read More…

SMOKING CESSATION

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“The easiest way to break bad habits is through Hypnosis!– Newsweek Magazine  
One of the most common therapeutic uses of hypnosis is to help people quit smoking.  Scientific studies have demonstrated that hypnosis has been shown to be three times more effective than other methods of smoking cessation.  Hypnotherapy not only deals with the addiction of nicotine, but also optimizes the conscious and subconscious patterns of thinking related to smoking cigarettes, and stops the habit of smoking by breaking the links between the trigger activities associated with smoking cigarettes (drinking coffee or alcohol, stress, boredom, etc.)
Most Dr. Gabor’s smoking cessation clients needed only one hypnotherapy sessions to let go of the unhealthy habit of smoking cigarettes. Clients who smoke more than one pack of cigarettes/ day or have, in addition to smoking cigarettes,  other challenges such as depression, anxiety, panic attacks, anger, and so on, may require 2 or more sessions.
There have been many clinical trials comparing the effectiveness of hypnosis for smoking cessation to other methods.  The following are just a few:
According to the largest scientific study ever conducted, a meta-analysis combining statistical results of more than 600 studies of 72,000 people from the US and Europe comparing various methods of quitting smoking showed that on the average, hypnosis was over 3 times as effective as nicotine replacements and 15 times as effective as trying to quit alone. (University of Iowa, Journal of Applied Psychology, How One in Five Give Up Smoking)
A study of 71 smokers showed that after a two year follow-up, those who used hypnosis were twice as likely to remain smoke-free. (New Scientist, October, 1992 ,and also, Guided Health Imagery for Smoking Cessation an Long-Term Abstinence, Wynd, CA. Journal of Nursing Scholarship) 

Many well-known actors have used hypnosis/hypnotherapy to quit smoking

 .Ellen Degeneres quit smoking using Hypnosis, live, on the “Ellen Show”. Read more…

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DRUG AND ALCOHOL ABUSE

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Studies showed that almost 80% of physical and psychological problems are stress related.
Hypnosis has been successfully used for drug and alcohol abuse and addiction in association with other forms of treatment. The underlying causes of alcoholism and drug abuse are deeply rooted in the subconscious mind, are very complex, and can include the devaluation of the self (low self-esteem, self-confidence, self-love and self-worth), depression, anxiety, guilt, self-sabotage issues, relationship problems, etc.
Dr. Gabor’s complementary program for alcohol, drug abuse and addiction includes Medical Hypnotherapy, NLP, Guided Imagery, Regression Therapy (Age Regression and Past Life Regression Therapy and Analysis), as powerful tools for strengthening the determination to undergo treatment and removing the urge for drinking or taking recreational drugs. These powerful tools help identify and remove the real root cause (the subconscious root causes) of the alcohol or drug abuse or addiction. This psychological program also helps the client overcome depression, anxiety and sleep disorders, and become mentally and emotionally balanced by optimizing the conscious and subconscious programs of thinking. It helps the client create a healthy relationship with himself/ herself, gain self-confidence, self-respect and a positive and optimistic outlook on life.
According to studies conduced at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College in London, suggestions given to people in a hypnotic state produce actions that are the same type of actions that would have resulted from more long term conditioning and practice.
In a research study on hypnosis for relapse prevention with chronic drug & alcohol abusers, individuals who used hypnosis 3 to 5 times a week, who were seen at their 7 week follow up, reported the highest level of self-esteem and serenity, and the lowest level of anger and impulsivity in comparison to the minimal practice and group control. Read more…

        DEPRESSION

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In the U. S., Dr. Gabor accepts clients diagnosed with depression only by referral from their psychiatrists or psychotherapists. From the hypnotherapy perspective, depression is the result of operating from disempowering, negatively-oriented and fear-based belief systems, at the conscious and the subconscious levels of the mind. Depression implies the devaluation of the self. Thus, people with depression don’t recognize their own value anymore, lack self-confidence, self-esteem and self-love, and most of them have lost hope. They don’t feel love anymore.
“Depression is a spiritual crisis” according to psychiatrist Stanislav Grof, MD.
Most of the times, depression is associated with loss of interest, sleep disturbances, unpleasant dreams or nightmares, fatigue, weight changes, agitation, lack of concentration, low sex drive, headaches and various levels of anxiety. Clients with depression need to be reminded of the benefits of positive thinking and that we create our life and physiology with our thoughts and beliefs.
Studies show that the way we think determines what we feel and influences our health. Thinking pleasant, optimistic and happy thoughts causes the body to release endorphins and dopamine, the so-called “happiness hormones,” which determine a state of well-being. At the same time, the number of the immune system cells increases and the human body becomes more resistant to diseases. The state of meditation or self-hypnosis has the same effects. When we think negative thoughts, the brain produces catecholamines, the “fight-or-flight hormones” or “stress hormones,” and we feel accordingly. The number of the immune system cells decreases below normal limits, causing a lower resistance to diseases. Read more…

CANCER TREATMENT SUPPORT

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In 1995, the National Institute of Health announced it’s support of Hypnosis for cancer pain and other painful conditions.
Hypnosis, Guided Imagery, Interactive Guided Imagery, Visualization techniques and Regression Hypnotherapy (Age Regression, Past Life Regression Therapy and Analysis and Life between Lives Regression) have been used as complementary treatment in conjunction with the classical medical treatment for many years. They are used for alleviating symptoms and side effects associated with chemotherapy, reducing stress, negative thoughts, depression, boosting the immune system and for managing cancer pain. During hypnosis the clients diagnosed with cancer are asked to visualize their immune system fighting and killing the cancer cells.
Studies show that the subconscious mind doesn’t know the difference between imagination and reality. During one of these studies, when a person was asked to imagine that they were holding an object in their hands, the same part of the brain lit up as if they were actually holding the object in their hands. Suggestions offered in hypnosis to the subconscious mind can have a powerful effect over the body.
Dr. Gabor works with clients diagnosed with cancer by addressing the symptoms and exploring the subconscious root causes of cancer.  The medical hypnotherapy program she has created benefits cancer patients by activating the mind-body healing mechanisms, optimizing the subconscious and conscious programs of thinking to redirect the thinking process toward positivity and optimism. She offers private sessions that address the subconscious root causes of cancer, the mental and physical reactions to cancer, and the side effects of cancer treatment. She helps clients diagnosed with cancer overcome:
•Negatively-oriented thinking and negative feelings
•Anxiety, stress and reduced immunity
•Insomnia and sleep disorders
•Pain, headaches and migraines
•Fatigue and loss of appetite
•Hot flashes and nausea
•Low self-esteem and self-worth
•Lack of self-love
•Fears and panic attacks
•Grief and helplessness
•Inability to focus
Dr. Gabor also offers sessions for:
•preparation for surgery
•post-surgical recovery
•preparation for cancer radiation therapy
Some of the most important goals of hypnotherapy are to help clients diagnosed with cancer return to a feeling of control, achieve a greater understanding of the mind-body connection, and become aware of the roles the conscious and subconscious thinking and belief systems play in healing and in creating our physiology. Read More…

PRE-OPERATIVE PREPARATION HYPNOSIS

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In a study conducted at Yale University on the effects of hypnosis right before outpatient surgery, the researchers described that the anxiety levels of those who underwent hypnosis were 68% lower after hypnosis. The hypnotic session lasted for 45 minutes with an anesthesiologist trained in hypnosis on hand, suggesting relaxation and well-being. Researchers emphasized the importance of reducing anxiety about surgery due to the fact that anxiety has been linked to increased need for painkillers and longer hospital stays.
“Guy Montgomery, Ph. D., of Mount Sinai School of Medicine in NYC and his colleagues conducted a clinical trial on 200 women to examine the effects of Hypnosis when given within one hour before breast cancer surgery. Patients in the Hypnosis group required less anesthesia than patients in the control group. They also reported less pain, nausea, fatigue, discomfort and emotional upset after surgery. They spent less time in surgery, about 11 minutes less,  and their surgical costs were reduced by about $773 per patient. – Journal of National Cancer Institute,  August 30, 2007
Dr. Gabor’s complementary program for preparation for surgery includes Medical Hypnotherapy, NLP, Suggestion Hypnotherapy and Guided Imagery, as powerful tools for preparing the mind and the body for surgery. This psychological program helps clients overcome anxiety and restless sleep and become mentally and emotionally ready for surgery. Dr. Gabor prepares the clients for a successful surgery and a fast recovery by offering empowering suggestions to  the subconscious mind.  Some of the most important goals of hypnotherapy are to help clients return to a feeling of control, have a greater understanding of the mind-body connection, and become aware of the roles the conscious and subconscious thinking and belief systems play in healing and in creating our physiology.

INTRA-OPERATIVE HYPNOSIS/ HYPNO-SURGERY

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Hypnosis trance has been used as a form of analgesia to carry out surgery on patients. It was used frequently before the discovery of anesthetics and it is used today for operations on certain cases.
Dr. Gabor trains physicians, psychologists as well as hypnotherapists in the use of hypnosis for sugery and hipno-sedation. Read more…
Dr. James Esdaile (1808-1859), a Scottish surgeon, used hypnosis for several thousand minor and approximately 300 major surgeries in India for hypo-anesthesia, including for amputations. Pain free surgery dramatically reduced the death rates. Then ether and chloroform started to be used for anesthesia. (Dr. Francis Brodie Imlach (1819-1891) became the first person to use chloroform on a patient in a clinical context, during the course of a dental procedure in Edinburgh.)
In the 19th century a tumor weighting more than 100 pounds was removed from a hypnotized patient, without feeling any pain.
In 1994, Andy Bryant, from Great Britain, used hypnosis for pain control for his vasectomy operation without anesthesia. He did not feel any pain during his surgery.
Studies show that sometimes people can appear totally unconscious during anesthesia yet upon awakening they can remember statements said during the actual surgery. Specific suggestions and healing statements can be offered by the hypnotherapist during surgery based upon the specific needs of the surgery. Muscles are more relaxed, bleeding is lessened and the body experiences less traumas. Based on these scientific studies, patients  require less anesthetic, wake up sooner after the surgery and heal faster.
For more information on Hypnosis for surgery watch Hypno-surgery Live – 1:41:07 – Nov 23, 2006
Read more…

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s5OFD8uTpU

 

POST-OPERATIVE RECOVERY/ HYPNOSIS FOR HEALING

 

.Hypnosis subjects healed significantly faster from surgery (41% faster)
Two small studies by C. Ginandes and her colleagues have indicated that hypnosis helps the healing of broken bones and recovery from wounds after breast reduction surgery and significantly reduces the time it takes to heal.
Study 1: “Carol Ginandes and professor D. Rosenthal, MD from Harvard Medical School published a report on Hypnosis to increase the mending of broken ankles. Ginandes hypnotized half of the patients once a week for 12 weeks while the other half received only normal treatment. “Those who where hypnotized healed faster than those who were not. 6 weeks after their fractures, those in the hypnosis group showed the equivalent of 8 1/2 weeks of healing.”   
Study 2: Three groups of people studied after breast reduction surgery. Hypnosis group healed “significantly faster” than supportive attention group and control group.
Dr. Gabor’s complementary program for healing/ post-surgical recovery includes Guided Imagery for healing, Interactive Guided Imagery,  Suggestion Hypnotherapy, Medical Hypnotherapy and NLP, as powerful tools for healing. This program helps clients activate the inner mechanism of healing, use the power of the mind to heal the body. Dr. Gabor prepares the clients for a fast recovery by offering empowering suggestions to  the subconscious mind.  Some of the most important goals of hypnotherapy are to help clients return to a feeling of control, have a greater understanding of the mind-body connection, and become aware of the roles the conscious and subconscious thinking and belief systems play in healing and in creating our physiology. Read more…                    

SEXUAL DYSFUNCTIONS

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“In a controlled study of 79 men with impotence from no known organic origin, only Hypnosis proved more effective than a placebo, boosting sexual function by 80%.” The British Journal of Urology

 

CHILDHOOD DISORDERS

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Children are very good hypnotic subjects because they have a vivid imagination, and they are often in a day dream state. NLP and Hypnotherapy is very effective in dealing with childhood problems such as bed wetting, thumb sucking, nail biting, recurring nightmares, stuttering, dyslexia, low self-esteem, fears, phobias, anxiety, attention deficit disorder, improving learning habits, and improving health conditions.             

IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME

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4.5 million Americans suffer from the discomfort and pain of the digestive system. Hypnosis is one of the most efficient and popular method to alleviate the symptoms, having a success rate of 80%, according to recent studies.
“Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS, or spastic colon) is a symptom-based diagnosis characterized by chronic abdominal pain, discomfort, bloating and alteration of bowel habits. As a functional bowel disorder IBS has no known organic cause” according to Wikipedia. Hypnotherapy has been proven to be the most effective method.
The National Institute of Health has recognized hypnosis as a method in dealing with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). One of the first studies of hypnotherapy for IBS was conducted by Dr. Peter Whorwell, a leading expert on IBS and hypnotherapy in the UK. A trial he conducted in the 1980s found that a group of patients diagnosed with IBS who had failed to respond to other treatments showed dramatic improvements when treated with a guy-directed hypnotherapy. He declared that over 20 years of study has shown that hypnosis improves symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome and can even alter the underlying physical problems that cause the symptoms.
In gut-directed hypnotherapy, Dr. Gabor takes the general techniques of hypnotherapy and applies them directly to the abdominal pain and digestive symptoms which IBS sufferers struggle with. This type of hypnotherapy has been clinically tested and found to be very helpful to many IBS patience.
Dr. Gabor’s complementary program for overcoming IBS includes Medical Hypnotherapy, Suggestion Hypnotherapy, NLP, Guided Imagery for Healing, Regression Therapy as powerful tools for eliminating the symptoms and managing the pain. This program also helps the client diagnosed with IBS manage stress, anxiety, pain, overcome depression and sleep disorders, and become mentally and emotionally balanced by optimizing the conscious and subconscious programs of thinking. Read more… 

OVERCOMING ALLERGIES

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There are many types of allergies, to certain foods, to pollen, to chemicals, to cats and so on. Hypnosis is increasingly used to reprogram the immune system’s response to the allergen by planting specific suggestions in the subconscious mind.

BIRTHING WITH HYPNOSIS 

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A study conducted at the University of Wisconsin in Canada, demonstrated that women who have been instructed in using Hypnosis for childbirth experienced less discomfort, reduced pain and shorter labors. Less medication is required and the recovery is much quicker. Hypnosis should be used as early as possible during pregnancy because it can help with discomfort, nausea, fatigue, and anxiety. 
Moya and James (1960) found that babies whose mothers used hypnosis to facilitate birth showed significantly greater ability to recover from asphyxia or deficient supply of oxygen which accompanies birth.
Mairs (1995) found that women trained in the use of hypnosis reported significantly lower rating of both pain and anxiety following birth.
Cyna, McAuliffe and Andrew (2004) found that women using hypnotic anesthesia for birth not only rated their labor pain as less severe, they generally required less opioid use, with some not requiring pharmacological analgesia at all in the labor process. 
Tania Lapointe declared after she gave birth to her third child using Hypnosis: “This was like heaven compared to the other two“.
Birthing with Hypnosiscourse taught by Dr. Gabor provides essential training in self-hypnosis that will help the mother-to-be to eliminate the pain during childbirth by breaking the cycle of fear-tension-pain. The contraction will be felt as surge, pressure or tingling sensation instead of agonizing pain. The birth companion has an important role in supporting the mother-to-be in practicing self-hypnosis by learning specific techniques for enhancing her hypnotic state, helping her to remain in and deepen her state of relaxation/hypnosis. This method is the easiest way to a comfortable pregnancy, an amazing bonding experience with the partner, a painless and shortened labor, a completely natural childbirth and the most gentle birth experience for the baby. Read more…

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RECOVERY FROM STROKE 

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Hypnosis/ Hypnotherapy could be very helpful in reminding the subconscious mind what the body used to be able to do and suggest that it can do it again. Dr. Gabor has developed efficient pioneer techniques that could help clients recover from stroke.                           

DENTAL HYPNOSIS AND HYPNOTHERAPY

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Between 1925 and 1947 the use of Hypnosis in dentistry was developed in the U.S. Hypnosis is often used to help people overcome their fear of going to the dentist. It can also be used for relaxation during procedures, for lowering pain, controlling the bleeding, and healing faster after an extraction or other surgical procedures. It is also used for overcoming needle phobia, bruxism, and TMJ dysfunctions and pain.
Hypnosis is very helpful in preparing for dental surgery, for post-surgical recovery, and during dental implant placements to reduce the bleeding, lessen the pain and the discomfort after the surgery, accelerate the healing, and reduce the chances of complications.

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For more information, to schedule a session or register for the certification programs please contact Elena Gabor at 310-614-9919 or email her at drelenagabor@yahoo.com. Read more about services…

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All rights reserved © 2008-2017 Dr. Elena Gabor, CMHt, CI