Hypnosis as an Option for Chronic Pain

Is hypnosis therapy beneficial for chronic pain? Many say it can be helpful, and it also offers a non-drug approach to help manage it. Its most significant benefit is that it can alter how your brain perceives the pain signal. This can help reduce the intensity of the pain and help to rewire the neural pathways. Learn more about how the brain perceives pain, the pain matrix, and the benefits of hypnosis therapy.

How the Brain Perceives Pain

Advances in science have taught us a great deal about how the brain perceives and experiences pain. One of the most interesting things we have learned is that our brains do not have a “pain center”. They have more of a “pain matrix” because multiple areas of the brain become active when you experience pain. We have also learned that input from outside of the brain can and often does play a role in how we experience pain. People living with chronic pain have often mentioned that stress can and often does increase their pain. Recently, science has been able to observe the direct effects hypnosis has on brain activity and how hypnosis can also affect the areas and structures within the pain matrix.

The Pain Matrix

It is made up of the following areas:

• Sensory cortex – the area of the brain that is active when we feel sensations
• Anterior cingulate cortex – the area of the brain involved with processing information about how the pain makes us feel
• The insula – the area that becomes active when something is perceived to be wrong with the body
• Prefrontal cortex – the area of the brain that is most likely involved in the meaning we give to our sensations and experiences

All these different areas of the brain can influence each other. So, for example, when we think that our pain may indicate something is broken or breaking, the pain can increase in intensity, or we can become more worried. This influence allows a new understanding of our brains and can explain how the same level of stimulation can be felt differently by different people. It also explains how hypnosis can also affect our experience of pain.

The Studies on Hypnosis Therapy

Controlled clinical trials have shown that hypnosis is consistently “more effective” than having no treatment and is either “more effective” or “as effective” as other pain treatments. According to the National Institutes of Health, a study shows both short-term and long-term relief. This proves that hypnosis has more than just a placebo effect. Hypnosis is not complicated. It is an induction followed by a suggestion or a set of suggestions. The induction focuses one’s attention on a voice, a point of light, or a mark on a wall. This focused attention or awareness has been shown to make people more receptive to suggestions that can change their experience.

In dealing with chronic pain, the induction is usually followed by suggestions to perceive pain sensations differently, to be less bothered by these sensations, to think about pain in a different way, to be better able to ignore pain or some combination of the above suggestions. Hypnosis sessions usually end with the “suggestion that provided relief” during the session, and will continue to provide relief beyond the session. Chronic pain requires a variety of modalities for its management. It is not recommended that hypnosis be your sole therapy for treatment, but it can work well in conjunction with a comprehensive pain management program. I have used hypnosis and positive visualization as part of my pain management program. I have found it to be very helpful in assisting me with relaxation, especially when I use the chi machine.