Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill developed and tested a user-friendly, inexpensive, home-based, guided imagery audio protocol for children with functional abdominal pain and found it much more effective than treatment as usual.

Thirty-four children, 6 to 15 years of age, with a physician diagnosis of functional abdominal pain, were assigned randomly to receive 2 months of standard medical care with or without home-based, guided imagery treatment.

Children who received only standard medical care initially received guided imagery treatment after 2 months. Children were monitored for 6 months after completion of guided imagery treatment.

Subjects found the treatment materials self-explanatory, enjoyable, and easy to understand and use. The compliance rate was high at 98.5%.

The multi-talented Margaret Dubay Mikus shares her poetry in her inspiring new blog, Space of Grace.

Twice I have had breast cancer, in 1996 and in 2007. I learned a great deal about healing body, mind, emotions, and spirit. And each time I was cracked open--in a good way--breaking through old defenses, encouraging me to bloom. Even my relationships were healed. Writing saved me, allowing me to access inner wisdom about my healing process. This poetic journal, begun after healing from MS in 1995, continues still.

When in Chicago for our Surviving and Thriving beyond Cancer workshop (offered next in Alexandria, VA on Nov 6-8, by the way), who should be in the audience but the awesome Martha Howard MD, Medical Director of Wellness Associates of Chicago and an old friend who, long before it was the chic thing to do, was integrating Chinese medicine, acupuncture, guided imagery and herbal medicine into her Family Medicine practice. I met her at NICABM, where she taught Qigong. She speaks perfect Chinese, having gotten a degree in Chinese language at Harvard before she became a doc.  And she’s really, really nice – I’m not sure if that’s because of or in spite of her many accomplishments.

Hats off to innovator and physician-pioneer, Martha H. Howard MD, the founder and Medical Director of Wellness Associates of Chicago, a practice that integrates Chinese medicine, acupuncture, guided imagery, sound-based therapy and herbal medicine with state-of-the-art Family Medicine. 

Practicing since 1982, she has a Master's Degree in Chinese Language and Literature from Harvard University, and an M.D. from Loyola University. She’s also the creator of a wellness audio series (we carry several of her titles), and is a teacher of Tibetan Yoga.

Wellness Associates was founded in 1989 and is one of the earliest and most innovative centers of integrative medicine in the Windy City. The focus is on prevention, healthy aging, allergy and environmental medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, and guided imagery for health.

For decades, Dr. Howard has inventively and productively treated chronic illnesses associated with undiagnosed allergies – Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Gastro-esophageal Reflux Disease, Chronic Sinusitis, ADD/ADHD, Migraine Headache, Fibromyalgia, eczema, acne, restless leg syndrome, and various autoimmune diseases. 

Kudos to her for treating these baffling conditions with a fresh approach, open mind, skillful hands and ingenious methods, long before “integrative medicine” was a household word!!  

Researchers from the University of Washington in Seattle randomly assigned 37 adults with spinal-cord injury and chronic pain to receive 10 sessions of self-hypnosis (HYP) or EMG biofeedback relaxation (BIO) training for pain management. Participants in both treatment conditions reported substantial, but similar, decreases in pain intensity from before to after the treatment sessions.

Dear Belleruth,
I use several of your tapes. I have difficulty when reading to concentrate on what I'm reading.  My mind continues to wonder and cannot remember what I have read. This has been going on for years. So, if I would ever have to take a test, I would panic. Is there a tape that you could recommend? At the moment I have been using your tape of self confidence.
Thanks,
Cathy

Dear Cathy,
The Self-Confidence imagery is a good choice, as would be the imagery for Panic Attacks, which teaches basic self-regulation and relaxation skills, as well as offers imagery that reframes panic to a physiologically similar but far pleasanter condition: exhilaration, as the result of mastery (your heart pounds either way).

This comment about the impact of guided imagery was posted by an Iraq veteran with PTS, and it means a lot to all of us here in the office.  Getting this kind of considered feedback makes us feel like we’re helping – among many others - to make a dent in the suffering generated by all the ugliness our troops endure while doing their service.  She writes:

A few years ago, I was deployed to Iraq with the Armed Forces.  During my deployment, I saw and was involved in many things that still haunt me.

Hey, you Brits and UK’ers!  The Piatkus printing of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Reduce and Overcome the Symptoms of PTSD has just been released on your side of the Pond.  It’s actually Invisible Heroes – same exact thing on the inside – but for some reason, they didn’t like my title and changed it to what you see above.  Plus, I guess you guys spell posttraumatic stress differently. In any case, the Amazon link offers 3 sellers who carry this version, plus I imagine you can pick it up in your bookstores.

Well, last week we were delighted by the bonanza of INK Health Journeys got.  In Heart Healthy Magazine, Mehmet Oz says that he’s “fallen in love with guided imagery”, and he recommends people check out our site.  We actually made our Cardiac Rehab CD at his request, about a decade ago, for use with his open heart surgery patients at Columbia Presbyterian. I have some funny Mehmet stories about that collaboration (hint: young female interns drooling over Dr. O in staff meetings, and Dr. O not even noticing, because he’s so absorbed by his work… and more!), but I’ll save them for another time when I have more space. Suffice it to say, he’s a good guy and the real deal.

Hot damn, I knew this was true.  My guess is, it’s even more true for women in childbirth.  But I digress.  Researchers from Women's & Children's Hospital in Adelaide, Australia investigated whether there was a difference in hypnotizability between pregnant and nonpregnant women.  (Hypnosis during pregnancy and childbirth has been shown to reduce the use of pain medication during labor and other medical interventions.)

Study participants had hypnotizability measured by the Creative Imagination Scale (CIS) in the third trimester of pregnancy and subsequently between 14 and 28 months postpartum and again, further beyond that.