The quest to control pain is mentioned in Egyptian papyri dating back to 4000 B.C, and despite advances in medical diagnostics, analgesic medications, and medical and surgical interventions, pain continues to be the most universal form of stress.
My work with Marie Curie hospice has given me extensive experience with dealing with this type of debilitating condition.
Why do clients with physical pain get referred to mental health professionals? Quite simply because at this time, there exists no medical or surgical treatment available that consistently and permanently alleviates pain for all clients (Gatchel & Turk, 1996).
Or simply, you may not want to take strong pain killers with their side effects.
Hypnosis is often more effective at pain relief than pain-relieving drugs such as codeine and morphine. The real advantage is that it is much safer, because hypnosis does not cause side effects which impair your ability to make judgements or operate machinery, and is non addictive.
There are many different strategies I can use to reduce pain through hypnosis.
The goal of hypnotherapy for pain management is to produce deep relaxation for the reduction or relieving of fear, tension and anxiety that is concomitant with pain. Suggestions for comfort and suggestions that aid with cognitive restructuring can help you to modify your experience of the pain and thus diminish or end the suffering. Imagery can provide distraction and relief from pain.
There is evidence for a change in brain activity which apparently mitigates pain sensations. Recent research provides us with substantial evidence that hypnosis is an effective pain management tool. The advantages of incorporating hypnotic strategies into a management plan for unremitting acute or chronic pain are the following:
- you can begin to regain a sense of control over your well-being.
- you may require less medication, and therefore avoid or limit undesirable side effects.
- you successfully learning to do self-hypnosis can independently alleviate your pain.
Thereby gaining a stronger sense of well-being by being able to “take charge” of your comfort..
In fact the Scottish doctor James Braid who coined the word “Hypnosis” used hypnosis for pain control for his patients.
Flickr Creative Commons image by Ende
Gatchel R.J., & Turk, D.C. (Eds) (1996) Psychological approaches to pain management. New York: Guilford
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