Hypnotherapy is a very effective method of preparing for surgery, calming fears and anxieties, encouraging the mind/body to engage in rapid healing, releasing stress and tension to support a successful surgery, and even preparing the mind/body to endure and transcend pain when an anesthetic cannot be used.
Here is further information of interest:
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.”
