Hypnosis Improves Academic Performance and Reduces Test-Anxiety for College Students

New age college students are in a very competitive and stressful environment. Pressure for academic success is placed on their heads by themselves, teachers, parents and co-students.

This causes a lot of stress in student which doesn’t allow them to perform their best in the college. Since the students’ careers and futures depend on what they score in college, they have a lot of anxiety about it. Natural methods like hypnotherapy can be used by the students to cope with this kind of stress and achieve what they want to.

Some of the college students are getting overly impacted by the academic stress. The results of this could be low grades, insufficient GPA or even dropping out of college. The following was observed in the 2000 census conducted in United States,

• 50% of the population over the age of 25 attended college
• Only 60% of those who attended college earned a graduate degree
• This means that 40% did not finish college

The alarming numbers make it more important to help students cope better with the college related stress.

In 1990, a study was done by Sapp, to see the effects of hypnosis on college students having test related stress. The participants were divided into 2 groups, where in, one group received cognitive-behavioral hypnosis and the other group received no treatment.

All the participants were into a tough course related to psychology. The midterm grades and the test anxiety levels of the students were measured. The group who got hypnotherapy managed to get good grades and also was able to reduce the test anxiety. Evaluation continued for the 6 weeks after the course completion. Hypnosis group still enjoyed the benefits of the therapy. The conclusion was that the students receiving cognitive behavioral hypnosis improve academically and would have decreased levels of test anxiety consistently for a long term.

The researcher Carrese, in 1998, delineated the advantages of self-hypnosis to the college students. Varieties of relaxation techniques and imagery usage were advised by him. Many students were benefited by the use of self-hypnosis. It helped them to cope with the college pressure.

For the college students, hypnotherapy either in the form of cognitive behavioral hypnosis or self hypnosis is very useful in depleting the stress and anxiety that they undergo. This in turn helps them to excel in their academics and also gives them the necessary tool to handle various other situations in their lives.

Sources:

• 2000 Census. Census Scope. Retrieved on May 15, 2009: http://www.censusscope.org/us/chart_education.html
• Carrese, M.A. (1998). Managing stress for college success through self-hypnosis. Journal of Humanistic Education and Development, 36(3), 134-142.
• Sapp, M. (1990). Hypnotherapy and test anxiety: Two cognitive-behavioral constructs. The effects of hypnosis in reducing test anxiety and improving academic achievement in college students. Report. ERIC ID: ED328163.