Blog Articles

I had expected to have several more sessions with DJ in order to continue our post-transition work. However, we met on only two other occasions to discuss his career development path, and then he felt he no longer needed to return.

After living in Syracuse for a number of years, my wife said that she was tired of the difficult winter weather there, which affected the city nearly half of each year.

During the summer prior to medical school I met with the Cantor at my parents’ synagogue and asked him to help me to continue to learn how to chant from the Torah.

The amazing events with DJ reinforced ideas and feelings about life that I had been developing for a couple of decades. Thus far I have shared how my involvement with the world of medicine helped instruct me about how life can work.

During the following two weeks until DJ’s next appointment with me, I kept thinking about the remarkable lessons that DJ and his subconscious were teaching.

DJ brought a copy of “Dharma Bums” to his next visit with me two weeks later. “You were right!” he exclaimed. “The part about the paths was not in the book.”

I looked out my office door at 4:59 pm on Sunday, December 23. And precisely at 5 pm DJ walked down the darkened hall towards my office. (For some reason, no one else was seeing patients at that time.)

I waited eagerly for an e-mail on December 21. The world did not end. And there was no e-mail. There was no e-mail on December 22, either.

The Day Before

Our conversation had taken on a very profound turn. “Are you sure your subconscious said you are going to die in two weeks?” I asked.

During the six years after DJ learned about hypnosis he continued to use this technique on a regular basis in order to calm himself during stressful situations.

When DJ returned a month later he reported that he no longer developed shortness of breath. He said he had practiced going to the beach in hypnosis on a nightly basis for 3 weeks, and used the fist technique to calm himself before running.

DJ had just returned from his first formal hypnosis experience. “What happened?” I asked. “I was on the beach!” exclaimed DJ. “It felt really real.” “How long were you there?” “It seemed like a week!”

“Are you ready to experience hypnosis?” I asked DJ. “Absolutely!” “Great! Go ahead and make yourself comfortable,” I instructed.

“Do you like relaxing?” I asked DJ. “Sure!” he replied. “So, I am going to teach you a relaxation exercise that involves putting together words and images.” He looked at me intently.

“First, I would like to teach you about the power of your words,” I told DJ when we met again. “This is a physical example, and so you get to stand up and face me.” We stood facing each other.

After I used hypnosis with patients for a number of years, I started lecturing widely about the benefits of such therapy and publishing about my experiences in the medical literature.

For much of my career as a pediatric pulmonologist great strides were being made in our fight against cystic fibrosis. Several new discoveries had extended the average life span of patients with cystic fibrosis to 30 years by the late 1990’s.

Sometimes words might have an unintended harmful effect. To evaluate the health of my patients’ lungs, I often ask them to undertake lung function testing.

The field of pediatric pulmonology involves taking caring of patients with many different lung problems. Many of the patients I have taken care of have asthma.

I met Henry during my second month of residency. He was a blonde, tall, thin, 15-year-old who was in the hospital because of his cystic fibrosis. Henry was hungry for attention because his family rarely visited him in the hospital.

Medical training after medical school continues within a residency. I decided to pursue training in pediatrics because I had always enjoyed working with children, and I felt that helping a child allowed for improvement that could impact a lifetime.

My questions regarding the limits of medicine continued as I neared completion of my medical school education. I recognized that I had received outstanding training to employ many tools of modern medicine.

On a cold, snowy day in January, 1982, I received a telephone call from Larry’s mother. “I’m sorry to have to call you,” she said. I held my breath.

Larry came to visit me from California during my second year of medical school. He was proud to tell me that he had received his driver’s license, and that he was thinking about a science-related job to take after high school.

Toward the end of my third year in college at the University of California, San Diego, I was struggling with a decision regarding a career.

“Hi!” said the thin young boy, who appeared to be approximately eight years old. “I’m Larry.” “Hi Larry,” I replied. It was my first day as a volunteer with the Child Life Program at the Children’s Hospital at Stanford.

As part of my hypnosis work, I was privileged to work with Pam, a young lady with anorexia nervosa.

As I gained experience in interactions with the subconscious of patients, my views regarding its role have evolved greatly.

“I have had bad migraines for the past three years,” explained Sarah, a 12-year-old who was referred by a pediatric neurologist. “But last year they got really bad.”

Thus far this blog has reported events during my first two years of using hypnosis. In this week’s edition, in order to complete Brian’s story arc I would like to share a story from 16 years after he first learned to use hypnosis.

Brian continued to use hypnosis on a regular basis for many months. Not only did his behavior greatly change following the insight he gained for hypnosis, but I noticed that his mother’s behavior also changed.

I have shared several examples in this blog about patients who gained insight from my discussions with their subconscious. I realized that patients could benefit from improved interactions with their subconscious on their own.

As part of my work as a pediatric pulmonologist, I took care of patients with cystic fibrosis whose lung disease progressed to the degree that their lives were in danger.

I first met Lori in the spring of 1999 when our pediatric oncologist referred her, for help to control her vomiting which was associated with chemotherapy.

Three months after Paul’s death I attended an hypnosis workshop sponsored by The American Society of Clinical Hypnosis. In one of the sessions of this workshop we were to practice helping patients deal with traumatic events.

Ian’s subconscious asked to share a love song so that Ian would become aware of it.

Several months later I again met with Ian. He was so much more relaxed than when I first met him.

Over the subsequent week Ian had five pain-free days as he regularly employed hypnosis. I congratulated him on the great improvement in his symptoms. Ian was very interested in learning other uses for hypnosis.

Ian’s mother accompanied him to our Center. Ian was a tall, thin young man who told me about his story with an occasional bemused expression. Since he was 3-years-old Ian developed recurrent abdominal pain.

I met Steve when he was 14-years-old and terribly abusing his asthma medications.

In my first year of using hypnosis with patients, approximately a fifth of the time patients indicated to me that hypnosis was not helpful for them. It is important to share these experiences because they illustrate examples of why hypnosis might not work

Scott asked about “somnambulism.” (His word!) I explained to him that this is the ability that some people have with hypnosis that allows them to act without being consciously aware of their actions.

Scott was a lanky 14-year-old referred to me by another pulmonologist for hypnotherapy. When Scott was 3-years-old he began to develop coughing whenever he had a cold. This coughing was especially pronounced in the fall.

I called Paul’s family on the following day. “I am so very sorry to hear what has happened,” I said. “We meant to call you,” said his mother. “But there has been so much on our minds.”

Two weeks later, on a rainy Thursday, I received a call from Dr. George Byrd. “I have very bad news to tell you,” said Dr. Byrd. My heart sank. “Paul is on a ventilator at his local hospital,” said Dr. Byrd.

In early March, 1999, I met with Paul for further work with hypnosis. He complained that he was not feeling well, because during the previous several weeks he had had inexplicable vomiting.

A month later Paul again ended up in the Emergency Department after developing an allergic reaction to something he ate. This time, because of his problems breathing he developed an air leak around his heart and under his skin in the upper chest

In the fall of 1998 Paul began experiencing increased allergic reactions. It was unclear whether this was due to his ingestion of milk products, or whether he had developed new allergies.

Peter returned two months later in order to be monitored for his asthma, as well as to learn more about hypnosis. He reported that use of hypnosis helped him very much with lacrosse.

Thirteen-year-old Peter who came to see me because of his asthma, told me that he was very afraid of blood tests. He explained that needles caused him a lot of pain.

As part of my role as a pediatric pulmonologist, I directed a pulmonary function outreach program through which our respiratory therapists take portable equipment to pediatricians’ offices, where they check children’s lung function...

Paul often talked about his plans for his life. He wanted to help people. I suggested to him that perhaps his teaching me about hypnosis was part of his role in life. Paul agreed.

On another hypnosis “adventure” I suggested to Paul that he imagine meeting a fictional character. Paul chose Captain Hook. I commented this might be “dangerous.” (I wondered why Paul would want to interact with such an unpleasant fellow such as Hook.)

I asked Paul’s subconscious whether it was ready to talk more about the “shadow’s depth” that he had written about. “Do you remember? You said that you would have ‘more later’”? He wrote, “I want to finish that poem now.”

Paul was fascinated by his ability to do hypnosis, and looked forward to learning more about how his mind works.

Paul was fascinated by his ability to do hypnosis, and looked forward to learning more about how his mind works. As I learned that I did not need to be directive in helping Paul do hypnosis, my instructions to him became vaguer and vaguer.

The more I learned about hypnosis in that first year, the more exhilarated I became. Here I was discovering new facets of the human mind that I never realized existed. I was reminded of the movie “Bedknobs and Broomsticks.”

“Paul,” I said on one occasion. “Would you rather allow your subconscious to write instead of speak?” “I’d like to write.” “Do you want to be hypnotized first?” “Yes.” “How do you want to be hypnotized?”

Paul and I continued to meet through much of 1998 to work on hypnosis. Even though I knew he was an outstanding hypnosis subject, I was always impressed and amazed by what he was able to accomplish at each of our sessions.

As my work with hypnosis progressed it became clear that I would benefit from finding a mentor with whom I could review my progress on a regular basis.

Monica, a thin, blond, 9-year-old young lady, came to my Center because of her asthma. Once I finished evaluating her, I recommended that she begin therapy with an inhaled medication. “This medication comes in two flavors,” I explained to her.

As I continued to learn about hypnosis with Paul, I began applying what I learned to help treat other patients of mine. Quickly I came to realize that many patients benefit from application of hypnosis to various issues in their lives.

This week’s blog addresses health care professionals who have an interest in hypnosis. My story about my patients' adventures with hypnosis will continue in next week’s blog.

I think it is important to stress that I encountered and learned about hypnosis in an unorthodox fashion. I want to share with you some of what I have learned, in the hopes that you will be inspired to find applications for hypnosis in your own life...

Paul was very interested in knowing what had happened when he was seven years old and needed to be placed on a ventilator for the first time. When I obtained the hospital records for him from that year, he continued to have many unanswered questions.

In order to help my patient, Paul, I asked around my Medical Center whether anyone there practiced hypnosis. I could identify no one. I went to my local bookstore, and purchased a couple of books about the subject.

When Paul returned the following week, it was one of those days with a clear blue sky that seems to extend to the heavens. It was much too nice of a day to meet inside the small examination room in my clinic.

A year later, in the spring of 1998, Paul returned for an appointment at the Pediatric Pulmonary Center. Earlier in the year Paul’s asthma had been under control.

A week later I received a phone call from Paul’s mother. “I didn’t know who to call,” she apologized, “but Paul has been having an awful lot of pain at the site where the tube was in his chest."

I met Paul in our clinic where he was sitting with his parents. Paul and his mother appeared to be nervous. As he rose to meet me, Paul grimaced but nonetheless extended his hand to me in greeting.

Many times in life big things start from small events. Sometimes, different resolutions of small events can lead to very different courses of life. One small event in the spring of 1997 fell into this category of being pivotal in my life as a physician.