Hypnosis used in pain relief

Hypnosis Pain Relief

Headache pain

 

 

 

Hypnosis – a couple of articles here from the press submitted by a GHR (General Hypnotherapy Register) member Michael O’Sullivan relating to the current use of hypnosis in pain relief and some of my own experiences in this area.

A French hospital used hypnosis to block pain in 150 cancer surgeries

And another from the USA (Hamilton, USA not Scotland) from Dr Jeffrey Ennis who has published a book on the subject.

https://www.hamiltonnews.com/community-story/8150166-dr-jeffrey-ennis-publishes-book-hypnotherapy-for-pain-control-/

Also another article from the Daily Telegraph illustrating the power of hypnotherapy to achieve anaesthesia for what would normally require a local or general anaesthetic.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/expat-health/4197328/Look-into-my-eyes…-You-wont-feel-a-thing.html

Historically mesmerism was a form of hypnosis used to achieve from partial to complete anaesthesia well documented by Dr James Esdaile in “Mesmerism in India – and Its Application in Surgery and Medicine” published as early as 1846 and then hypnosis itself was employed in dentistry and medicine.

I have used mesmerism with e.g. severe migraines and hypnosis for back pain- sometimes severe and on a scale of 1-10 around 9 reducing to a more bearable 2 or 3. In the field of dentistry major problem for pracititioners can be that of gagging or oversensitivity in the mouth and throat which means that treatment is effectively stopped until the problem is overcome. This can be done with a combination of suggestion therapy and self-hypnosis to desensitise the area so the dental practitioner can gain access either by insertion of fingers or instruments. This can be very severe so I have examples of patients who had not had treatment for up to 15 years. Needless to say sometimes unless great care was taken with dental hygiene this can result in multiple fillings and probably extractions. Then the problem becomes one of – does the patient accept dental pain relief by injection or can they accept it at all? Normally it can take several sessions to deal with this but makes an enormous difference to both patient and practitioner.