The media and popular culture frequently portrays of Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy as something strange or unreal. Despite this, many people in the know use this powerful set of techniques to cure themselves of phobias, ailments and other problems.
Below are a set of case studies where notable people have used Hypnotherapy to help with various ailments.
Kevin Costner
Kevin Costner is an American Actor, Producer and Director.
In 1994, while filming the movie ‘Waterworld’ of the coast of Kona (Hawaii), seasickness among the cast and crew was a real issue. So, he flew his personal hypnotherapist to Hawaii to cure this ailment. A combination of deep breathing exercises and the use of hypnotic suggestion was used to reduce discomfort and increase filming time.
Martha Stewart
Martha Stewart is an American businesswoman, writer, and television personality.
After a high profile six week criminal trial, Stewart was found guilty in March 2004 of felony conspiracy to obstruct, obstruction of an agency proceeding and making false statements to federal investigators. In July 2004 she was sentenced to five-months in a West Virginia prison followed by a two-year period of supervised release.
Her incarceration was extremely traumatic and after her release was plagued by nightmares. She successfully underwent hypnosis for this as well as stress. Subsequently she has become an strong advocate for hypnotherapy and even promotes self-hypnosis for seasonal allergies on her website.
Eric and Julia Roberts
Julia Roberts is an Academy Award-winning Actress and former Fashion Model.
She has mentioned several times that she stuttered as a young girl and used hypnotherapy as part of speech therapy to help overcome it. Interestingly her brother, actor Eric Roberts, also had a stutter when he was younger.
Eric has also spoken candidly about his childhood speech problems. He was featured in Interview magazine in October 1986. In the article he said, “I read a lot when I was little because I had the worst stutter in the world… The the the wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-water is cold’. And the class cracked up. I suppose it was funny, but it was so painful for me. So I read because it was a solitary thing where I didn’t have to be cracked up at.”
In the 2004 biography Julia: Her Life by James Spada, Julia goes into detail about Eric’s stuttering several times. Spada wrote, “Eric had not uttered a word until he was five, then suffered from a nearly crippling stutter.” Spada goes on to quote a family friend as saying, “When I knew Eric, he was so eager to please, he was a delight – he was this really cute kid who stuttered and who tried so hard.”
James Earl Jones
The legendary actor James Earl Jones is the voice behind Darth Vader in Star Wars and Mufasa in the 1994 Disney animated film The Lion King.
He didn’t like to speak as a child because of his stammer. Talking to the Daily Mail in 2010, he said, “As a small child, I would communicate to my family, or at least those who didn’t mind being embarrassed by my stutter or my being embarrassed. I did communicate with the animals quite freely. They don’t care how you sound, they just want to hear your voice. But by the time I got to school, my stuttering was so bad that I gave up trying to speak properly”.
He used hypnosis to overcome his stuttering and stammering.
Catherine Middleton
Princess of Wales and former Duchess of Cambridge and member of the British royal family.
In December 2012 it was announced that Catherine was pregnant with her first child. She suffered from hyperemesis gravidarum, (a severe form of morning sickness). She also suffered with it during subsequent pregnancies.
It was Prince William who suggested using a hypnotherapist. The then Duchess of Cambridge used hypnotherapy to control symptoms of this morning sickness. Hypnotherapy was used to encourage her to respond to healthy, nutritious food. It also took away any unwanted or negative responses to foods causing the morning sickness. She was reported to be eating foods such as berries, broccoli and oatmeal as a result of her sessions which helped prevent further bouts of morning sickness.