Common Uses of Medical Hypnosis
Have you ever thought about how did the doctors perform surgery before anesthesia? They used things like opioids or methods like nerve compression around the 1700s. But all of these techniques were risky and their effectiveness varied.
Around the same time, a physician named Franz Mesmer talked about something called “Mesmerism”. He described this as humans having a liquid that is charged with energy within the body. He claimed that with animal magnetism, he could move this liquid within and around, and helped patients relieve symptoms for several hours.
Although Mesmer was later discredited, his techniques were still used during surgical operations to produce body anesthesia, and with his “mesmerism” many people were able to be relaxed during surgery! His work created the foundations of hypnosis.
Today, we have safe and secure access methods of anesthesia. However, hypnotherapy is still used with a variety of medical conditions, including anesthesia, as a holistic approach for reducing pain and emotional distress.
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What is Medical Hypnosis?
Medical hypnosis is a complementary technique that can help with strengthening the mind-body connection, eliminating stressors due to medical problems as well as other reasons and pain relief.
An article from Deutsches Arzteblatt International, an online journal of clinical medicine and public health, summarizes the use of medical hypnosis pretty well:
“Medical hypnosis techniques can be distinguished:
· Alleviation of somatic symptoms
· Reduction of mental stress during medical treatment
· Facilitation of physiological/biochemical healing processes” (Häuser et al., 2016)
What can medical hypnosis help with?
If you ask me, I will say that hypnosis can potentially help with pretty much anything. After all, the human body is capable of healing naturally and equipped with the necessary hormones, strength, and nerve changes to endure any physical hardships. Hypnotherapy allows us, humans, to reconnect with our natural powers.
Of course, there are more common problems one may seek hypnosis for. For most of these problems, hypnosis has been used as a therapeutic technique and found to be helpful in the majority of them. Here are the most common medical problems that hypnotherapy can be helpful with:
Dermatology with hypnosis
Hypnosis has been found to be helpful with skin problems from psoriasis to skin picking. Skin is our first contact with the world. Subconsciously this can signify that when we are not comfortable as who we are, this can reflect the body and especially the skin as well.
There have been multiple research studies about how hypnosis can be a successful alternative method for healing skin problems. One article from PracticalDermatology.com about hypnosis and skin problems summarizes that “Hypnosis has been shown to alter the activity of the autonomic nervous system, which in turn affects immunologic processes that lead to lymphocytic actions that make patients vulnerable to dermatologic disease like psoriasis.”
Another research that was published in the National Library of Medicine, titled Hypnosis in Dermatology, reported that hypnosis is a proven alternative therapy that can help the healing of a variety of skin diseases including acne excoriée, alopecia areata, atopic dermatitis, congenital ichthyosiform erythroderma, dyshidrotic dermatitis, erythromelalgia, furuncles, glossodynia, herpes simplex, hyperhidrosis, ichthyosis Vulgaris, lichen planus, neurodermatitis, nummular dermatitis, postherpetic neuralgia, pruritus, psoriasis, rosacea, trichotillomania, urticaria, verruca Vulgaris, and vitiligo.
Surgery preparation and recovery with hypnosis
How can a subconscious method like hypnosis help with surgery, right? When it comes to surgery preparation, the power of hypnosis catches you off guard. Hypnosis can actually be the one tool you need to have a successful surgery, with significantly less chance of complications, faster healing, and significantly less use of pain medicine after the surgery.
First, imagine going into any surgery. As you arrive at the hospital you may feel nervous or tense; all the things that can go wrong start floating in the mind. Hospitals usually have negative associations in the subconscious mind. When you enter surgery with nervous and tense feelings, your body is in the fight/flight/freeze mode, tensing all the muscles and sparing all the energy to survive.
On the other hand, imagine entering the hospital with a calm feeling like floating, knowing that you are in the best hands, and feeling like you are just about to go into a dreamy healing journey. Changes are significant! When relaxed and calm, your nervous system signals “rest and digest” to the body. The body’s healing powers are activated and all the resources are spread around the body for healing. What magic!
Nowadays, there is mounting evidence that hypnosis definitely should be considered for surgery preparation and surgery recovery. One profound research that was shared by the European Society of Anesthesiology reported that hypnosis along with local anesthesia can help the healing process, and reduce drug use and time spent in the hospital. Additionally, they reported that this combination can help avoid cancer recurrence.
There is so much more research about the benefits of surgery prep and healing with hypnosis that can be found in my article “Getting ready for a surgery? Consider hypnosis” also.
Psychosomatic disorders with hypnosis
Psychosomatic disorder means a psychological condition that leads to physical symptoms as well. High blood pressure, migraines, fatigue, or erectile dysfunction are just a few examples. Hypnosis can be very helpful with psychosomatic disorders because it helps with the psychological part which in turn helps with the elimination or ease of the physical symptoms.
One review from Psychological Bulletin reported that hypnosis influences autonomic functioning which can lead to changing one’s perspective on their disease and how their lives function with the disease.
Another review by Torres Godoy and Pedro H., in their article “The use of hypnosis in anxiety, phobia and psychosomatic disorders: An eight-year review (part one)”, explained hypnosis as “an interpersonal exchange, or a special type of communication. This allows the access and subsequent use of hidden or poorly developed personal resources”.
Anesthesia (Hypno-anesthesia)
One of the most important areas hypnosis has been known for is anesthesia. For centuries, hypnosis has been used to induce dissociation from the body for a painless or minimum pain surgery, even before western science developed reliable anesthesia techniques. Nowadays, it even has a cool name: Hypno-anesthesia.
To this day, anesthesia with hypnosis is being used widely, especially in the cases of negative reaction to anesthesia or when side effects of anesthesia need to be avoided.
In the article “Hypnosis and anesthesia: back to the future”, the author Enrico Facco, concludes that “an increasing number of studies on hypnosis has shown its capacity to modify the activity of the prefrontal cortex, default mode network and pain neuromatrix (including the anterior cingulate cortex, amygdala, thalamus, insula, and somatosensory cortex) and increase pain threshold up to the level of surgical anesthesia.”
Hypnosis prevents pain-related cardiovascular response, which protects the patient from stress. During hypnosis, a person’s pain perception changes. Additionally, hypnosis anesthesia doesn’t involve any drugs or any other invasive techniques. It relies on solely one’s mind power!
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Childbirth with hypnosis (Hypno-birth)
Childbirth with hypnosis is a technique that has been popularized in the last decade more and more. Now that we understand hypnosis for anesthesia and surgery preparation, we can comprehend better how hypnosis for childbirth works.
You may know about childbirth hypnosis by hypnobirthing which was invented by Marie Mongan (or Mongan Method) or as hypnobabies. These are just two techniques that involve labor training with hypnosis. But there are so many different techniques that can help mothers have childbirth with minimum to no pain.
A research study that was published in the European Journal of Translational Myology reported that the use of hypnosis during delivery can help pain reduction more than other medical interventions at times. Additionally, autohypnosis can help with analgesic faculties, especially during delivery.
Autoimmune disorders and hypnosis
The immune system is our internal protection for the outside forces. What happens when the immune system decides to attach its own body due to mis-mind-body communication? This is when we encounter autoimmune disorders.
One of the crucial steps to reverse the symptoms of autoimmune disorders is re-establishing the mind-body connection. Hypnosis has been found to be one of the most effective holistic methods to help with strengthening the mind-body connection.
In 1998, German researchers wanted to understand the effects of hypnosis in helping with rheumatoid arthritis. Out of 66 patients, 26 were taught hypnosis, 20 were in the relaxation control group and 20 were on the waiting list. At the end of the research period, they concluded that the patients who received hypnosis improved significantly more than the groups who received relaxation or medication.
Dental hypnosis
I don’t think I am the only one who gets seriously nervous going to the dentist. Going to the dentist is one of those experiences that we don’t really look forward to. As a result, most often, we enter the dental office in fight-flight-freeze mode.
Hypnosis has been used for dental purposes not only to overcome the fear of going to the dentist but also for patients who don’t want to use anesthesia during their dental procedure. After using hypnosis for dental purposes, many people leave with a positive idea about their dentist and they report having significantly less discomfort.
A review that was published in the Journal of International Society of Preventative & Community Dentistry summarizes the role of hypnosis in dentistry well:
“Hypnosis is effective in pain management and dental anxiety. It can also be used for improving compliance in patients who are wearing orthodontic appliances and reducing salivary flow during dental treatment.”