Hypnosis to reduce general anaesthetic use

The benefits of using hypnosis in the NHS was in the headlines last week and this week there is evidence of how it has been used successfully in surgery in Belgium.

Local anaesthetic and hypnosis were used in some surgical procedures where general anaesthetic is usually used. The patients were in surgery for a few more minutes than patients who had general anaesthetic but their recovery time and hospital stay were shorter and use of pain killers was reduced.

These are not isolated cases - though hypnosis is not used nearly as much as it could be.

From my own experience I know people who have used hypnosis before and even during surgery and have had good recoveries. One of my clients who was very nervous about going into hospital for a major operation had a couple of hypnotherapy sessions before going to hospital and listened to CDs and used self hypnosis whilst in hospital. She felt much more comfortable being in hospital, her post-surgery recovery time was faster than normal and she left hospital earlier than expected.

Photograph courtesy of Carlos Paes