Medical Hypnosis Essay

Medical Hypnosis Most people are familiar with hypnosis as a theatrical act that involves putting people into a state of artificial sleep and making them perform comical acts by command. However, hypnosis is also a substantial psychological and medical way to treat patients in mental and physical distress. Hypnosis is a mind state of high attention, relaxation, and suggestibility. When hypnotized, people are often more willing to comply with helpful suggestions than if they were not. These suggestions are what makes hypnotism perfect for breaking bad habits, or learning repressed information from a patient. Even though patients are generally more complying under hypnosis, they still have control over their body and would not perform anything
Hypnotic analgesia involves a reduction in pain in patients that have undergone hypnosis in which they received suggestions that promoted relaxation and reduced stress. Hypnotic analgesia is most commonly used before and after medical procedures where a patient has to cope with severe pain. Other common uses are for cancer-related pain, arthritis, child labor, fibromyalgia, migraines, and dental surgeries. PET scans, used by researchers, show how much hypnosis reduces the pain in patients. Hypnotic analgesia, unlike other “natural” forms of pain relief, is not dependent on endorphins, imagery, or relaxation. It is primarily dependent on suggestion alone. People who use hypnosis as medical treatment use less medicine and have a faster healing time, making hypnotic analgesia a cheaper and shorter way to receive treatment. Many researchers have put forth their own ideas on what hypnosis is and how it works, but there is yet to be a generally accepted explanatory
In every treatment, the patient has to be comfortable and trusting of their hypnotherapist. Patients are often told to try to relax and fixate their attention and focus on an object in the room. The hypnotherapist will then start to slowly ease them into artificial sleep using a low, quiet voice. Eventually, the patient’s eyes will show signs of fatigue, which the hypnotherapist will suggest for them to close. Once the patient’s body goes almost limp, and they have heavy breathing, they are officially hypnotized. Ordinary suggestions given to the patient at first are noncontroversial, simple, and inevitably complied with. Then, gradually, the hypnotherapists’ suggestions become more complex and relative to the patient’s issue. This process can take hours or just a few seconds, depending on the compliance of the patient. Once the hypnotherapist feels as though the patient has been worked with enough, the process of being brought out of hypnosis begins. Hypnotherapists first start by coaxing the patient out of the hypnotic trance, instead of waking them up immediately. This insures that the patient will not entirely forget what they were just taught. Slowly, with commands, the patient will regain awareness. Once the patient is fully aware, the hypnosis is complete. Hypnosis works because it puts the body into complete and utter vulnerability. Reasoning in the brain shuts down, and allows