CBS Photo Gallery: Hypnosis: The new anesthetic?

CBS News has added a nice 10-photo gallery of a patient undergoing thyroid surgery using hypnosis instead of a general anesthetic.

It's wonderful to see mass-media mentioning hypnosis, especially in such useful and close proximity to doctors and hospitals. It's also sobering to see the minimal commitment that is often made to hypnosis. This nice gallery of photos is quick to mention that "if the patient ever feels any pain, they are immediately given a shot," and "hypnosis is used only in low-risk operations that are also using local anesthetic". It fails to mention, for example, that hypnosis has been a life-saving alternative for even major surgeries in cases where general anesthetic could not be used.

One doctor is quoted as saying, "If we could get more research on the right patient groups that would benefit from (hypnosis), that would be wonderful."

For hypnotherapists and doctors interested in learning more about using hypnosis for all kinds of pain control, the book, "Clinical Hypnosis for Pain Control" by David R. Patterson, Ph.D (published in 2010) does an excellent job of summarizing the last twenty years of studies and clinical trials of using for hypnosis for pain control under various conditions and patient groups. He presents charts and does a nice job of bringing an understanding of what the technical jargon of the studies results means in real applications. This is a great and recommended read for any hypnotherapist wishing to add pain control to their range of services.

On p.37, Dr. Patternson says, "The good news is that over the past 20 years, a significant body of scientific research has grown to support hypnosis for the treatment of pain, and in general, skepticism from a scientific standpoint is no longer warranted (Barabasz, Olness, Boland & Kahn, 2006)."

And even while this book was being published, fMRI studies on hypnosis revealed amazing changes in the brain while under hypnosis. The question, "Is hypnosis real?" is now answered by medical science: fMRI shows areas of the brain activated uniquely under hypnosis and affecting patient perceptions, performing remarkable filtering and controls.

Of course doctors and medical professionals suffer from information overload... this book was only one of literally hundreds of medical books published in 2010 that would be a "should read" on a doctor's reading list. So, it's up to us as professional hypnotherapists to make sure the local doctors and medical professionals we work with or that we know in our community are aware of the progress being made in the field of pain control with hypnosis. If you want to do a little something to help the entire industry, give a copy of Patterson's book to a medical professional in your community that expresses interest in learning more about hypnosis.

Pain control is one of the most startling, convincing and practical uses of hypnosis. Hypnotherapists that are skilled in pain control are always in demand, and the life-changing aid it can give chronic pain suffers, for example, is a wonderful thing. If you would like to know more about hypnosis for pain control, I encourage you to pursue learning it.