Americans today are suffering from a serious pandemic of diseases associated with dysfunction of the immune system. The most publicized of these diseases and the most lethal is AIDS, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. While this illness shows many unusual features for an infectious disease, it can nevertheless be understood as a viral sexually transmitted infection. Far more common, though not as lethal, are a host of other immune system related conditions which are not communicable and appear to lack any specific microbial cause. These include asthma, food and pollen allergies, mold, dust and chemical allergies, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, eczema, and atopic dermatitis, multiple sclerosis, lupus, type one diabetes, and a host of other conditions including chronic arterial inflammation, which is considered a more important causative factor in heart attacks and strokes than cholesterol.

While the symptoms of these conditions vary enormously, all of these conditions have one thing in common: all are the results of the immune system targeting the wrong enemy. Instead of confining their vicious attack (inflammation) to the dangerous microorganisms that truly endanger our lives, the white blood cells and cellular battle chemicals of the immune system exhaust us in a futile assault either upon harmless pollens or food proteins, or on the very cells of our own bodies. Read the list again of these conditions. Notice that all of them are growing rapidly in western civilization. All may be regarded as pandemic. Is there anyone among my readers who has not suffered from one or more of these conditions? And in the next three articles, I will explain the surprising, little known, yet scientifically proven sources common to modern society that are the cause of these pandemic diseases. Furthermore I will demonstrate how the technology of hypnotherapy can help defeat this growing pandemic and restore our immune system to its proper function. Given the emerging dangers of real pathogens, such as bird flu, TB, and other drug resistant organisms that could readily overwhelm billions in this crowded, fast moving world, our immune system must be prepared for the real battles that lie ahead!

These articles do not attempt to spell out the complete etiology (symptoms and signs) of this wide variety of diseases, or to summarize the wide variety of treatments available through medical science. While the hypnotic approaches defined in these articles have good success with many clients, there are none that can be guaranteed successful for all clients. They are no substitute for proper medical treatment, when called for. These methods are at best a powerful adjunct to medical treatment, dietary changes, and a proper program of exercise, rest, and healthy relationships and lifestyle.

This first article in our series will focus on answering the big question about these disease processes. Why is it happening to US? We live in a society in which most people are well fed and live in a comfortable and prosperous world, in which most of the great diseases of the past have been defeated. So why are so many of us being assaulted by our own immune system? Some researchers blame this very condition of safety for the new pandemic, suggesting that in the absence of real microbial enemies, a “bored” immune system decides to mount any old campaign to justify its existence. While this model may have some merit I know the answer is a bit more complex.

For starters, my research indicates that our increasing alienation from the natural world, trapped inside four walls that would have driven our tribal ancestors crazy, breathing a host of strange chemicals, and eating foods transformed in subtle ways by agribusiness and its combination of chemical pesticides, fertilizers, and genetic engineering, are a primary reason that our bodies don’t feel safe at a cellular level. Only concerted action against these destructive lifestyles and business interests can change these ugly circumstances, action which may be essential for the survival of our species. While such action is critical, it is not the subject of these articles. Rather, I will show in this article how we can use hypnotic techniques to stop the body from overreacting to these environmental toxins in an allergic reaction. For example, while all agree that the poisons in a bee sting are dangerous, a person who is stung usually finds it a brief nuisance, while the allergic individual may die within minutes as a result of the body’s largely unconscious reaction to this poison. I will show in the second article how hypnotic techniques can teach the client’s immune system to react much less aggressively to any of these toxins in our environment, or our diet.

A second factor that affects the immune system in this way is the pressures of stress in our mainly sedentary lives. In the old days…during most of the last million years of the evolution of our species, stress was as common as it is today. But most stressors demanded physical action from us. Starving? Chase down some animals. Chased by a saber-tooth? Fight or run. Now these same stress-created hormones which prepare us so well to move our bodies for fight or flight arrive in circumstances in which NO physical response is available. It seems only natural that under these circumstances, the cells of the body would eventually start a battle against any enemy they can find. In our third article, we will learn how hypnosis can relieve these reactions, and help us create a life that is more capable of dealing with stress.

A third factor that affects these reactions is a lack of infant bonding to mother’s biochemical immune system programming. This chemical programming is contained in the colostrom that is the essential formula for informing the new born infant’s rapidly developing immune system with the innate wisdom of mother’s own immune system. Mother’s colostrum conveys her body’s knowledge to her newborn infant of what environmental chemical signatures are harmless and which ones require the immune system to be alerted to a microbial invader. It was this essential communication through mother’s breast that prepared British immigrant’s children to survive the smallpox epidemics that ravaged Indian tribes in the early years of the settlement of America, sometimes killing nearly everyone in many tribes. These Indian mothers had no exposure to the virus prior to the epidemic’s arrival, thus no way to resist the disease themselves or to communicate resistance to their infants.

Alas, with the widespread use of infant formula as an “acceptable” and convenient substitute for the breast (due to propaganda funded by the pharmaceutical industry, according to no less an authority on infant care than Dr. Spock) we have all become guinea pigs in a vast pharmaceutical experiment that has deprived us of this essential programming, and left us all at risk for immune deficiency diseases. The long term solution to this problem is also largely political and educational. But that is too late for adults living today with this terrible loss. Yet here too hypnotherapy has answers. Our fourth article will spell out how hypnotic techniques can be used to inform the immune system of this important distinction between biochemical friend and foe by accessing the mother archetype within the client’s subconscious mind, and using that archetype in very specific ways to restore the body’s sense of biochemical safety.

Between them, these articles outline a new and potentially powerful collection of resources which show promise to stop this growing pandemic in its tracks, with treatments that have none of the expense or side effects characteristic of so many modern drug oriented approaches, and increasing the effectiveness exponentially of the drugs we may need to take on our doctor’s advice. This is the revolution in treatment that could relieve the suffering of millions. Keep reading.

The techniques I describe in these four articles for working with allergies and immune disorders are complex and, in my opinion, not particularly useful for amateurs. Many health professionals choose to refer clients only to medical doctors or licensed psychologists who practice hypnosis. This is a mistake, since most licensed practitioners do not have the advanced skills in hypnosis needed for the kind of work I am describing. You need someone with Alchemical training or the equivalent.

Author's Bio: 

David Quigley is the founder of Alchemical Hypnotherapy and author of the popular textbook "Alchemical Hypnotherapy". He is a graduate of Duke University in comparative religion and transpersonal psychology, and of the Hypnotherapy Training Institute in Corte Madeira, California. David has extensive training in Gestalt, primal therapy, group process and Jungian psychology, as well as courses in Ericksonian and clinical hypnosis and NLP. David teaches throughout the United States and Europe, including speaking at the United Nations Enlightenment Society and numerous hypnotherapy conferences. As the Director of the Alchemy Institute of Hypnosis in Santa Rosa, CA David has trained and certified well over 2,000 professional hypnotherapists since 1983. In addition to teaching workshops, intensives, retreats and weekend training, David maintains a busy private practice in Santa Rosa.