Avon health center offers acupuncture, hypnosis to quit smoking, lose weight
AVON —
If you find yourself wanting to eat junk food or smoke a cigarette, can pressing an acupuncture point on your body turn off those cravings?
The medical director of a health service center in Avon says yes.
Good Samaritan Occupational Health Services in Avon has started a new program to help people quit smoking and lose weight through acupuncture and hypnosis.
“It’s reasonably well established that these practices work well on their own in terms of results,” said Robert Naparstek, medical director at the facility, which is part of the Caritas Christi Health Care system. “We have already found that the combination is having a profound impact.”
Naparstek said the treatment is “completely needle-free,” relying instead on tiny acupressure magnets. The magnets are applied to the patient’s ears, which help detoxify and calm, said Naparstek, and then the hypnosis reinforces positive messages.
Good Samaritan Occupational Health Services already had an acupuncturist and a hypnotherapist on site for providing care to injured workers, both of whom had experience helping people quit smoking. Naparstek said it’s rare for an alternative treatment program to be overseen by a medical doctor.
The treatment is a one-time session. Eight to ten people gather in the evenings for 90 minutes and are led to a board room, where plush chairs are aligned along the walls and a small fountain and soothing blue walls help relax them.
When they leave, the patients receive acupuncture magnets, a hypnotism CD, and a packet of information, like pressure points mapped out on the body.
The pressure points, reinforced with the hypnosis, serve as “on/off” switches for cravings, according to Naparstek. Patients are told that if they find themselves wanting unhealthy food or a cigarette, they should press into those points to turn them off.
Erika Bardford, primary care physician of internal medicine at Bridgewater’s Signature Healthcare, said she didn’t know of any studies of the effectiveness of acupuncture in helping stop smoking or weight loss, but said there is documented improvement in drug addicts who have tried acupuncture. Bardford said the results may also apply to smoking and overeating.
“Ear acupuncture is especially successful,” she said. “It certainly is effective. As a physician, I usually recommend it as part of a larger program.”
Bardford said it is difficult to explain the benefits of acupuncture from a medical standpoint, but studies demonstrate that it works. “There’s no easy explanation,” she said. “But the studies indicate that it definitely works.”
Naparstek said the public health facet of this program is only half the goal. He also wanted to program to help people save money.
“A pack a day costs $2,500 per year,” he said. “So for a low-income family with two parents that smoke, that can be 12 to 15 percent of the income. It’s horrendous. It locks children into poverty, not to mention the health risks of living with smoking parents.”
Naparstek’s staff applied for a grant from the Caritas Christi mission office, and received $10,000 to help the poorest Brockton-area residents.
The cost of the program without the grant is $99 per person.
According to Mark Hall, a licensed clinical therapist at Good Samaritan OHS, who heads up the hypnotherapy, the key to the program is relaxation. That’s why the CD is so important.
“Many people are guarded,” said the therapist, who has been practicing hypnotherapy for 25 years. “They’re not sure about hypnotherapy or about me. But after they hear this with their conscious minds and can have it in the comfort of their own homes, then the repetition reinforces the positive messages.”
Even though the program has just started up, the therapists have already received good reports. According to Shelley Sullivan, the licensed acupuncturist, one weight-loss patient called in saying it was like a spell. She was now having excellent results controlling her food cravings.
“When we combined these two treatments, it’s not just one plus one equals two,” she said. “It’s a hundred-fold. It really is a profound, dramatic effect.”
Naparstek, who does not smoke and is in good shape, tried out the treatment himself when they were first starting it up. He was somewhat skeptical, but it was one of the most deeply relaxing experiences he had encountered.
“That’s the least case scenario,” he said. “Best case, they can quit smoking or lose weight. They can have a healthy life and feel much better about themselves. But at a minimum, they come in here and get the most relaxed they have been in years.”
By Peter Cox, Enterprisenews
