Pain Management: Olafur Palsson, Psy.D., clinical psychologist and director of the Behavioral Medicine Clinic at the Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Va., states that hypnosis can help you manage pain by changing your perception of the pain sensation. According to Palsson, hypnotism can help you block out pain. It can help change one sensation into another. It can let you turn down the intensity of pain, which may have a lasting, even permanent, effect. And it can be used to move pain to a place in the body where it’s more tolerable. (Natural Health, January 1999, “13 Ways to Wipe out Pain” by Claire Horn)
“Twenty-three experts in fields that included behavior medicine, psychiatry, and pain medicine presented to a National Institutes of Health panel both scientific and anecdotal evidence to support the use of behavioral and relaxation approaches to treat chronic pain. In particular, the panel found strong evidence for the use of hypnosis to alleviate cancer pain.” (Journal of the American Medical Association, July 1996).
Headaches: The January 2001 issue of Psychology Today references a 2000 study from the International Journal of Clinical Experimental Hypnosis in which self-hypnosis was largely successful in alleviating chronic tension headaches in 169 patients.
Pain & Grief: The National Hospice & Palliative Care Association (NHPCO) of Alexandria, VA in its reference manual Complementary Therapies in End-of-Life Care states “Hypnosis is an effective tool that empowers a patient to take control of her/his response to the physical pain and the psychosocial/spiritual pain of the dying process”.
Childbirth: The Journal of Family Practice (May, 2001) published Effects of Hypnosis on the Labor Processes and Birth Outcomes of Pregnant Adolescents which states “Hypnotherapy has been found to be effective in providing pain relief, reducing the need for chemical anesthesia, and reducing anxiety, fear, and pain related to childbirth. Hypnosis has also been helpful in both managing various complications of pregnancy (such as premature labors), and reducing the likelihood of premature labor and birth in high-risk patients.”