Hypnosis Can Help Ease Pain

Hypnosis is a psychological tool that is used to explore the human mind but it has now been highlighted by experts that this technique may also be employed to relive pain.

 Hypnosis has,all along, suffered a dubious reputation; mainly because the average man seesit being employed in movies, to control the mind against the wishes of theperson concerned.

 But according to Dr Bob Large, a Perth-based psychiatristand pain medicine specialist, hypnosis could be employed to control pain, evenin those who are undergoing surgery. It has been observed that some patientscan be deeply hypnotized to enable them to undergo surgeries such as thyroid orgall bladder removal, without the use of any anesthetizing drug.

 Dr Large claims that about 15 percent of peoplecan be easily hypnotized. The best response comes from those with an activeimagination, those who are pliable and from children in the age group of 8-12as they are naturally blessed with vivid imagination. 

 It has been observed that some sort of paincontrol is possible by   engagingthe patient in a good 'clinical interaction' using a reliable hypnotictechnique. This indicates that anesthetists and other clinicians can interactwith the patient during the pre-operative period using a set of instructionsand suggestions that are capable of creating positive vibes in the patient ratherthan alarming the patient.

 ClinicalHypnosis is perfectly ethical; it involves motivating the patient to be incontrol rather than controlling the patient. The technique has been used inmany fields of health care involving chronic pain including cancer care andalso in dentistry, childbirth and surgery.

 Hypnosis begins by asking the patient to gaze ata particular spot on the wall and go easy on everything else. 

 Childbirth isa promising area where hypnosis can be used effectively. Women were able to deliverwith greater comfort and required less anesthetic drugs. Some did notrequire drugs at all. Another plus was that the baby thus delivered was lesssedated.

 Dentistry isanother area that could potentially benefit from hypnosis. Some dentists usehypnosis as a method to reduce anxiety among dental patients.

 Dental Association president Dr Geoff Lingardsaid "You get patients who are more anxious than average. In those cases hypnotherapycan certainly be an effective aid to relaxing them and providing them withcomfortable, pain-free dentistry."

 There is nothing extraordinary about the role ofhypnosis in pain relief as it just taps into our inner potential to be able toslip into an altered state of awareness.

 In some parts of the worldhypnosis has been employed on patients before a surgery. Experts believe thatin future, hypnosis will be used widely around the world as a form of analgesiaand anesthesia.