I read with a fellow sufferer that she benefits from hypnotherapy. She wrote that she was treating herself. I don’t have a complete picture of that, but if it helps her then that is of course a good thing.
Someone close to me is also studying this subject. Hypnotherapy could help with all kinds of complaints, and possibly restless legs. I have no experience with it myself, but list here what I can find about it.
As usual, I ask a few questions:
- What is hypnotherapy?
- Could hypnotherapy help with RLS?
What is hypnotherapy
Hypnotherapy is a therapy in which someone is brought into a light trance. The patient remains in control of the situation. The therapy can be a good addition to regular medicine. It is applicable to both adults and children. Severe psychiatric illness is a contraindication. In that case it is better to look for other solutions.
The patient comes to the hypnotherapist with a request for help. The purpose of a treatment is to reduce or resolve the complaints. Hypnotherapy is also used as a method of pain relief. There are various techniques for inducing a trance in hypnotherapy. Examples of this are NLP, regression therapy and self-hypnosis.
According to the theories of hypnotherapy, much of what we experience as humans has to do with unconscious drives. During the therapy, imagination and self-suggestion are used. The idea is that trance puts a person in a state of mind that makes contact with the subconscious easier. Through this route, the therapist and patient look together for a better insight and, in this way, for an improvement in someone’s situation.
Hypnotherapy is used for a wide range of complaints, both psychological and physical. Examples include: anxiety, depression, poor sleep, physical complaints and stress. The therapy seems to be especially suitable for vague, misunderstood complaints. You can think of psychosomatic complaints or MUS (Medically Unexplained Symptoms), about which I also wrote a blog before.
Restless legs
In my blog about MUS (or SOLK) I suggested that RLS might be a form of MUS. Hypnotherapy may therefore be an interesting option to explore further. In recent years I have read from various therapists the suggestion that restless legs are related to subconscious processes in the body. I have no further opinion on this. My suspicion, however, is that restless legs are not so much caused by the subconscious, but perhaps exacerbated.
At the beginning of this blog, I wrote that I was reading about a fellow sufferer treating himself with hypnotherapy. I think she is using some form of self-hypnosis. These types of techniques are strongly based on the malleability of a person’s mental state. Personally, I think that malleability should not be overestimated. Again, if it helps then that is a good thing.
Learning how to deal with the situation is an important skill in RLS. No cure has been found for this progressive condition so far. Anything that helps to improve the situation is therefore a bonus. I personally believe that lifestyle adjustments and acceptance make a world of difference in how you experience your symptoms. The same goes for a positive attitude to life. By this you make the situation a bit more bearable and at least do not make it worse by things like stress.
