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Audio Program 100 Sessions
The IBS Audio Program was developed through ten years of
ongoing IBS research by Michael Mahoney, one of the United
Kingdom’s leading clinical hypnotherapists. Mahoney has over 13
years experience as a hypnotherapist, now specializes in treating
IBS patients, and is regularly referred patients by
gastroenterologists and family care physicians. He is an
associate member of the Primary Care Society for
Gastroenterology, a worldwide organization.
The IBS hypnotherapy program follows a scheduled 100 day
treatment period and is conducted on your own time in your own
home. The program is successful for over 80% of the patients who
use it, and the reduction in symptoms and their severity averages
80-90% for these users. It’s interesting to note the significant
difference in success rates for the IBS-specific hypnotherapy tapes
versus general hypnotherapy tapes. In contrast to Mahoney’s
80-90% success rate, general hypnotherapy tapes featuring standard
relaxation techniques and visualization exercises have only
produced an average 57% improvement rate for IBS
patients.
While any improvement is certainly better than none at all, it’s clear
that the benefits are far greater from a hypnotherapy program
specifically developed for and aimed at IBS.
Most impressively, Mahoney’s statistics arise from studies with
patients who were given no relief whatsoever from conventional
medical therapy – people who were, in fact, referred by
gastroenterologists who had exhausted all other potential avenues of
help. The incomparable success rates for the tapes are likely due to
Mahoney’s in-depth study and understanding of both IBS and
hypnotherapy, which results in reducing anxiety, stress and fears
directly related to IBS attacks, and increasing patient confidence,
self esteem, and management of IBS-specific symptoms.
The IBS method of hypnotherapy developed by Mahoney is
gut-specific, and termed “on-going progressive session induction.”
This method was created upon the basis that as a patient responds
and improves, something new must continue to happen in therapy to
help the patient achieve further results. Experience has shown that if
the process remains the same, the patient is more likely to become
stalled at some stage of the treatment. Particularly, the sounds and
words used in therapy initially, when IBS symptoms are present,
can become associated with this negative state of health and mind.
These same sounds and words should not continue to be used
throughout the therapy because the negative associations can then
become anchored onto the healing methods, which will eventually
limit the progress of the patient.
The IBS method of hypnotherapy allows the patient to continue to
progress throughout the entire course of treatment, and beyond. As
patients learn new ways of thinking, they have more internal
resources available to use in overwriting their previous negative
beliefs. This then leads to further progress, more free mental
resources, more progress, and the resultant reduction of IBS
symptoms. Hypnotherapy works on the basis that everyone is
continuously developing in one way or another, as every day
involves learning, making decisions, experiencing emotions, etc.
The IBS method of treatment takes advantage of this development
and encourages it by changing the sessions and mental suggestions
in ways that help carry the patient continuously forward.
This approach is based on the belief that everyone throughout their
lives has to keep looking for ways of moving forward, and that
continuous personal development should be second nature to us all.
As change is a natural part of life, we should view it as an
opportunity and not a threat. The IBS method reduces the
subconscious negative perceptions of change, allowing the embrace
of new thoughts and beliefs, with the resultant improvement in IBS
symptoms. Typically patients begin to feel much better as a result of
changes in the way they think, their outlook on life, and its events,
though rarely can someone pinpoint the precise moment
improvements begin. These results stem from the subconscious
mind, which controls the digestive system, very gently beginning to
realize that the thought patterns of IBS are no longer needed. The
subconscious reminds the individual as a whole that they existed
very well, thank you, without IBS, and can do so again.
The audio program is complex in its make up, but quite seamless
and simple for the patient as the learning process is made easy
through the use of enjoyable imagery and suggestions. The therapy
itself allows changes, both physical and emotional, to occur without
difficulty. Mahoney believes that just dealing with the symptoms of
IBS is not enough, that the individual must learn to rebuild internal
energy. Many people with IBS feel drained emotionally by the
stress of living with the disorder, and the resultant crises and
responsibilities in their lives continually deplete their inner
emotional strength and reserves, often leading to anxiety or even
depression. Before a patient can begin the process of working
through their IBS, they frequently need an emotional ‘top-up’ of
these inner reserves.
In essence, they need their emotional batteries charged, as they have
likely endured years of unstoppable pain and discomfort, of being
told by various medical professionals that there is nothing that can
be done, and intrusive or painful examinations and tests. In addition,
family and work relationships may have been strained or eroded by
living with an incurable illness, social and love lives may have
dwindled to non-existence, and confidence and self-esteem may be
at low ebb. With all of these additional stress factors the ability to
put IBS in perspective is drastically reduced. If a patient begins
therapy at this point, they will be completely unprepared for the
process and unable to act upon the instructions, and failure is likely
if not certain. Mahoney’s program takes these IBS-specific
circumstances into account, and tailors the hypnotherapy tapes to
increase confidence and self-esteem first, in order to allow the
patient to begin a journey of physical and emotional improvement
and management. Then begins the change in their thoughts, the
exchange of negative beliefs and feelings for positive ones, and the
ability to move away from the symptoms and thoughts of IBS and
forward towards a life without the disorder. Mahoney believes that
this IBS-specific method of hypnotherapy is the best, and his patient
trial results support this.
The IBS Audio Program itself is structured over a 100 day period,
with a listening schedule for each day (including 20 days off). The
program consists of 3 double-sided audio cassettes or CDs, which
contain an introduction and five different hypnotherapy sessions,
each building on the preceding one. Sessions vary in duration but
average 25-35 minutes. The program also includes a progress
log/symptom check list. All that is required for participation is to
find a set time each day when you can listen quietly and be
undisturbed. Simply fit your listening time into your daily schedule
at your own convenience.
The introductory and five discrete sessions are as follows:
Introduction
* Provides detailed information about hypnotherapy, the specific
process being used for the audio treatments, and information about
IBS.
* Acknowledges the physical and psychological combination that
characterizes IBS pathology, triggers, and symptoms.
* Aims to treat both IBS and the problems in a person’s life that
have resulted from IBS, including anxiety, social fears, depression,
fatigue, worry.
* Sets a stopping point for the emotional drain of IBS; from this
point on IBS symptoms will not worsen but will improve.
Subconscious begins to be affected and physical changes will
follow.
* Emphasis on the safe, gentle, non-invasive aspects of therapy and
its record as a safe form of treatment for many conditions for many
years.
First Session
* The foundation session. Allows listeners to take the time to
reduce their stresses and apprehensions, to become familiar with
the hypnotherapy process, and to learn that they are in control at all
times.
* Offers a gentle introductions to reduce anxieties and emphasize
calming thoughts, thus reducing the negative thought patterns which
trigger IBS physical responses.
* Helps manage IBS symptoms and let users begin to understand the
benefits of allowing both mind and body to work together towards
the goal.
Second Session
* Begins to address the subconscious and conscious thoughts which
can trigger IBS symptoms.
* Teaches users, through creative imagery, to exercise control over
these thoughts.
* Uses the power of suggestion to enable listeners to learn to
control the speed of peristaltic waves of the GI tract, leading to
normal bowel movements.
* Uses the mind to regulate the body.
Third Session
* Uses visualization to control the entire digestive process, from
start to finish.
* Begins to allow user to take control and mentally search for areas
within the GI tract where there is IBS pain or discomfort, and then
reduce these symptoms while continuing to use positive thoughts.
* Negative thoughts should be decreasing and replaced by positive
thoughts, which will help develop new coping strategies.
Fourth Session
* Uses metaphor to help view the journey through IBS as a trip that
is nearing an end.
* Acknowledges struggles of the past, the many steps the journey
has required, and that while there may be a step back occasionally
the progression forward will remain.
* Acknowledges old thought patterns and allows them to be
released; enhances positive thought patterns to achieve continued
improvement.
* Emphasizes that while memories of old thought patterns may
remain, we don’t live in the past. We live in the moment. From this
moment on IBS will steadily improve, a sense of order has been
reached, and progress will now continue on its own.
Fifth Session
* Encapsulates positive moments from the five previous sections.
* Reaffirms the effects of the program.
* Listeners are encouraged to review this session occasionally
after the program ends to optimize their positive changes.
Of the five sessions, some are listened to once while others are
repeated a dozen times. Content and order are both important. The
program gives people the structure necessary to allow a progression
to the end of IBS in their lives, with the final result of the
reintroduction of both previously forbidden foods and stressful
activities. These factors are meant to be reintroduced into patients’
lives in a controlled and structured way, with a subconscious and
conscious mindset that prevents the suffering of physical problems
from these formerly attack-inducing elements. After the program is
concluded, patients are encouraged to listen to the final tape for an
additional period of time to ensure the learned processes are
embedded into their subconscious.
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Program page
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