Herbert Spiegel: Difference between revisions
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Born in [[McKeesport, Pennsylvania]], Spiegel attended the [[University of Pittsburgh]] and the [[University of Maryland|University of Maryland Medical School]]. He first learned hypnosis while he was a resident at [[St. Elizabeths Hospital]] in Washington, D.C.<ref name=NYT/> |
Born in [[McKeesport, Pennsylvania]], Spiegel attended the [[University of Pittsburgh]] and the [[University of Maryland|University of Maryland Medical School]]. He first learned hypnosis while he was a resident at [[St. Elizabeths Hospital]] in Washington, D.C.<ref name=NYT/> |
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During [[World War II]], Spiegel used hypnosis as a treatment for pain control while serving as a battalion surgeon in North Africa. With the use of hypnosis, Spiegel was able to reduce the use of morphine in treating soldiers wounded in battle.<ref name=UPI/> He later wrote, "I discovered that it was possible to use persuasion and suggestion to help the men return to previous levels of function" after sustaining severe combat stress.<ref name=NYT/> |
During [[World War II]], Spiegel used hypnosis as a treatment for pain control while serving as a battalion surgeon with the First Infantry in North Africa.<ref name=Mc>{{cite news|author=Patricia McCormick|title=Doctors' view of hypnotherapy|newspaper=Delta Democrat-Times (UPI story)|date=1977-01-19}}</ref> With the use of hypnosis, Spiegel was able to reduce the use of morphine in treating soldiers wounded in battle.<ref name=UPI/> He later wrote, "I discovered that it was possible to use persuasion and suggestion to help the men return to previous levels of function" after sustaining severe combat stress.<ref name=NYT/> |
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For many years, Spiegel was a clinical professor of psychiatry at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at [[Columbia University]], where he continued his research and study on hypnosis and taught post-graduate courses on the subject.<ref name=NYN/> He was a pioneer in the use of hypnosis as a tool to help patients control pain, stop smoking, eat less, shed phobias and ease anxieties.<ref>{{cite news|author=Barbara Leon|title=Keep your eyes open for a hypnotist|newspaper=The Record Eagle (Traverse City, MI) (from the Ottaway News Service)|date=1977-12-12}}</ref> In 1969, Spiegel reported to the American Medical Association's 118th annual meeting on his clinical technique for teaching patients to use "self-hypnosis" that helped one out of five "hard-core" cigarette smokers to give up the habit, and offered some help to many others. Spiegel reported on the theory underlying his "positive" approach to self-hypnosis with an emphasis on respecting and protecting the patient's body:<blockquote>"To concentrate on not having an itch on your nose is to increase the likelihood of an itch. Likewise, to concentrate on not smoking is to increase your preoccupation with smoking. But, committing yourselves to respect and protect your body distracts attention away from the urge to smoke. It is a way to ignore the urge. When this urge is repeatedly not satisfied by ignoring it, it eventually withers away."<ref name=AP>{{cite news|title=Quickie Antismoking Hypnosis Treatment Reported|newspaper=Danville Register (AP story)|date=1969-07-15}}</ref></blockquote> |
For many years, Spiegel was a clinical professor of psychiatry at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at [[Columbia University]], where he continued his research and study on hypnosis and taught post-graduate courses on the subject.<ref name=NYN/> He was a pioneer in the use of hypnosis as a tool to help patients control pain, stop smoking, eat less, shed phobias and ease anxieties.<ref>{{cite news|author=Barbara Leon|title=Keep your eyes open for a hypnotist|newspaper=The Record Eagle (Traverse City, MI) (from the Ottaway News Service)|date=1977-12-12}}</ref> |
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In 1965, Spiegel's research on hypnosis using closed-circuit television as a means of mass education or group treatment raised concerns that "unscrupulous operators might confuse and exploit viewers at home" through use of hypnosis by television.<ref>{{cite news|author=Alton Blakeslee|title=Doctors Say Hypnosis Via TV Is Possible|newspaper=Albuquerque Tribune (AP story)|date=1965-06-24}}</ref> |
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In 1969, Spiegel reported to the American Medical Association's 118th annual meeting on his clinical technique for teaching patients to use "self-hypnosis" that helped one out of five "hard-core" cigarette smokers to give up the habit, and offered some help to many others. Spiegel reported on the theory underlying his "positive" approach to self-hypnosis with an emphasis on respecting and protecting the patient's body:<blockquote>"To concentrate on not having an itch on your nose is to increase the likelihood of an itch. Likewise, to concentrate on not smoking is to increase your preoccupation with smoking. But, committing yourselves to respect and protect your body distracts attention away from the urge to smoke. It is a way to ignore the urge. When this urge is repeatedly not satisfied by ignoring it, it eventually withers away."<ref name=AP>{{cite news|title=Quickie Antismoking Hypnosis Treatment Reported|newspaper=Danville Register (AP story)|date=1969-07-15}}</ref></blockquote> |
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Spiegel was also a co-director of the Hypnosis Research and Training Foundation in [[Orlando, Florida]], conducting seminars on therapeutic hypnosis for healthcare practitioners. Spiegel and his son, David Siegel, co-authored the medical textbook, "Trance and Treatment", in which they defined hypnosis as "an alteration of human awareness."<ref name=UPI/> They wrote, "No absolute dividing line exists between non-hypnotic and hypnotic alterations in consciousness, but altered, dissociated or hypnotic-like experiences clearly occur, in everyday life and provide a backdrop for understanding the hypnotic experience."<ref name=UPI/> |
Spiegel was also a co-director of the Hypnosis Research and Training Foundation in [[Orlando, Florida]], conducting seminars on therapeutic hypnosis for healthcare practitioners. Spiegel and his son, David Siegel, co-authored the medical textbook, "Trance and Treatment", in which they defined hypnosis as "an alteration of human awareness."<ref name=UPI/> They wrote, "No absolute dividing line exists between non-hypnotic and hypnotic alterations in consciousness, but altered, dissociated or hypnotic-like experiences clearly occur, in everyday life and provide a backdrop for understanding the hypnotic experience."<ref name=UPI/> |
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Spiegel's work in the field of hypnosis has been credited with establishing the practice as a legitimate medical therapy. In 1976, the ''New York News'' wrote that Spiegel was "one of the people whose work over the past few decades has helped strip away the aura of charlatanism and make hypnosis a respectable medical tool."<ref name=NYN>{{Cite news|author=Edward Edelson|title=Hypnosis: Two centuries later, it's still a mystery|newspaper=Chronicle Telegram (reprinted from the ''New York News'')|Date=1976-12-06}}</ref> |
Spiegel's work in the field of hypnosis has been credited with establishing the practice as a legitimate medical therapy. In 1976, the ''New York News'' wrote that Spiegel was "one of the people whose work over the past few decades has helped strip away the aura of charlatanism and make hypnosis a respectable medical tool."<ref name=NYN>{{Cite news|author=Edward Edelson|title=Hypnosis: Two centuries later, it's still a mystery|newspaper=Chronicle Telegram (reprinted from the ''New York News'')|Date=1976-12-06}}</ref> He told a reporter in 1977 that he had used hypnosis to |
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help 4,000 patients control obesity, phobias or addiction to cigarettes over the past ten years.<ref name=Mc/> |
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In 1981, the UPI ran a feature story on Spiegel's advocacy of hypnosis in which Spiegel was quoted as saying:<blockquote> |
In 1981, the UPI ran a feature story on Spiegel's advocacy of hypnosis in which Spiegel was quoted as saying:<blockquote>"The prevalent and wrong attitude in the practice of medicine is use a pill or scalpel or a gadget for problem-solving. Modern medicine puts such extreme emphasis on high technology and drugs that it often overlooks the oldest, and at times the most effective, therapeutic instrument that humans possess — the mind. Medicine resorts to it last instead of first. Hypnosis — which accomplishes alterations in human awareness — is a great way to very directly and quickly get people to alter pain."<ref name=UPI>{{cite news|author=Patricia McCormick|title=Hypnosis: Alternative to pills/scalpel|newspaper=Pacific Stars and Stripes (UPI story)|date=1981-01-06}}</ref></blockquote> |
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==Notes== |
==Notes== |
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Revision as of 23:10, 14 January 2010
Herbert Spiegel (June 29, 1914 – December 15, 2009) was an American psychiatrist who popularized therapeutic hypnosis as a mainstream medical treatment for patients suffering from pain, anxiety and addictions. He also gained notoriety for his treatment of the the woman known as Sybil, whose case became the subject of a book, 1976 television miniseries and 2007 television movie.[1]
Life
Born in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, Spiegel attended the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Maryland Medical School. He first learned hypnosis while he was a resident at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C.[1]
During World War II, Spiegel used hypnosis as a treatment for pain control while serving as a battalion surgeon with the First Infantry in North Africa.[2] With the use of hypnosis, Spiegel was able to reduce the use of morphine in treating soldiers wounded in battle.[3] He later wrote, "I discovered that it was possible to use persuasion and suggestion to help the men return to previous levels of function" after sustaining severe combat stress.[1]
For many years, Spiegel was a clinical professor of psychiatry at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University, where he continued his research and study on hypnosis and taught post-graduate courses on the subject.[4] He was a pioneer in the use of hypnosis as a tool to help patients control pain, stop smoking, eat less, shed phobias and ease anxieties.[5]
In 1965, Spiegel's research on hypnosis using closed-circuit television as a means of mass education or group treatment raised concerns that "unscrupulous operators might confuse and exploit viewers at home" through use of hypnosis by television.[6]
In 1969, Spiegel reported to the American Medical Association's 118th annual meeting on his clinical technique for teaching patients to use "self-hypnosis" that helped one out of five "hard-core" cigarette smokers to give up the habit, and offered some help to many others. Spiegel reported on the theory underlying his "positive" approach to self-hypnosis with an emphasis on respecting and protecting the patient's body:
"To concentrate on not having an itch on your nose is to increase the likelihood of an itch. Likewise, to concentrate on not smoking is to increase your preoccupation with smoking. But, committing yourselves to respect and protect your body distracts attention away from the urge to smoke. It is a way to ignore the urge. When this urge is repeatedly not satisfied by ignoring it, it eventually withers away."[7]
Spiegel was also a co-director of the Hypnosis Research and Training Foundation in Orlando, Florida, conducting seminars on therapeutic hypnosis for healthcare practitioners. Spiegel and his son, David Siegel, co-authored the medical textbook, "Trance and Treatment", in which they defined hypnosis as "an alteration of human awareness."[3] They wrote, "No absolute dividing line exists between non-hypnotic and hypnotic alterations in consciousness, but altered, dissociated or hypnotic-like experiences clearly occur, in everyday life and provide a backdrop for understanding the hypnotic experience."[3]
Spiegel's work in the field of hypnosis has been credited with establishing the practice as a legitimate medical therapy. In 1976, the New York News wrote that Spiegel was "one of the people whose work over the past few decades has helped strip away the aura of charlatanism and make hypnosis a respectable medical tool."[4] He told a reporter in 1977 that he had used hypnosis to help 4,000 patients control obesity, phobias or addiction to cigarettes over the past ten years.[2]
In 1981, the UPI ran a feature story on Spiegel's advocacy of hypnosis in which Spiegel was quoted as saying:
"The prevalent and wrong attitude in the practice of medicine is use a pill or scalpel or a gadget for problem-solving. Modern medicine puts such extreme emphasis on high technology and drugs that it often overlooks the oldest, and at times the most effective, therapeutic instrument that humans possess — the mind. Medicine resorts to it last instead of first. Hypnosis — which accomplishes alterations in human awareness — is a great way to very directly and quickly get people to alter pain."[3]
Notes
- ^ a b c Benedict Carey (2010-01-09). "Herbert Spiegel, Doctor Who Popularized Hypnosis, Dies at 95". The New York Times.
- ^ a b Patricia McCormick (1977-01-19). "Doctors' view of hypnotherapy". Delta Democrat-Times (UPI story).
- ^ a b c d Patricia McCormick (1981-01-06). "Hypnosis: Alternative to pills/scalpel". Pacific Stars and Stripes (UPI story).
- ^ a b Edward Edelson. "Hypnosis: Two centuries later, it's still a mystery". Chronicle Telegram (reprinted from the New York News).
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|newspaper=(help); Unknown parameter|Date=ignored (|date=suggested) (help) - ^ Barbara Leon (1977-12-12). "Keep your eyes open for a hypnotist". The Record Eagle (Traverse City, MI) (from the Ottaway News Service).
- ^ Alton Blakeslee (1965-06-24). "Doctors Say Hypnosis Via TV Is Possible". Albuquerque Tribune (AP story).
- ^ "Quickie Antismoking Hypnosis Treatment Reported". Danville Register (AP story). 1969-07-15.