People are living longer due to better exercise, food, and health awareness.  As a result of living longer, dementia or Alzheimer’s disease is becoming more prevalent.  There is significant research being done to find pharmacological answers to dementia and yet, there may be hope from a different, more holistic area.

There have been some recent studies that indicate that people suffering with dementia are gaining benefit from hypnosis.  A scientist at the University of Liverpool has found that hypnosis can slow down the impacts of dementia and improve quality of life for those living with the condition.

Forensic psychologist, Dr Simon Duff, investigated the effects of hypnosis on people living with dementia and compared the treatment to mainstream health-care methods. He also looked at how hypnosis compared to a type of group therapy in which participants were encouraged to discuss news and current affairs.

They found that people living with dementia who had received hypnosis therapy showed an improvement in concentration, memory and socialization compared to the other two treatment groups. Relaxation, motivation and daily living activities also improved with the use of hypnosis.

Dr Duff said: "Over a nine month period of weekly sessions, it became clear that the participants attending the discussion group remained the same throughout. The group who received 'treatment as usual' showed a small decline over the assessment period, yet those having regular hypnosis sessions showed real improvement across all of the areas that we looked at.

"Participants who are aware of the onset of dementia may become depressed and anxious at their gradual loss of cognitive ability and so hypnosis – which is a tool for relaxation – can really help the mind concentrate on positive activity like socialization."

Further research will now take place to establish whether hypnosis maintains its effects on dementia as the illness progresses, over longer periods of time.

Dr Dan Nightingale, co-author of the research and the leading dementia consultant at the Abacus Clinic in Newark, added: "Evidence to date has shown that we can enhance the quality of life for people living with dementia through the correct use of hypnosis. We have now developed a course for clinicians who wish to incorporate hypnosis into health care plans."
Further research was conducted a year later to measure the longevity and continuing efficacy of the original therapy and it was found that in all cases the effects were still present and in some cases had continued to improve without further therapeutic intervention.

While there is still more work to be done in this area, hypnosis does help people to improve in significant ways.  Our minds are like any other muscle in our bodies, we need to exercise it.

There are seven areas where hypnosis can have direct benefit to the Alzheimer’s patient and, for that matter, the non-Alzheimer’s patient.  They are:
 

Hypnosis is a non-invasive alternative that may give significant relief for the dementia patient.