Modern doctors are looking at the danger of addiction and overdose when they use drugs as a form of pain control and turning to other than mainstream methods. For many years, hypnosis was part of the birthing process for women that didn’t want to experience pain, wanted to remain alert and didn’t want the risk that a spinal block posed. They practiced hypnosis for several months during their pregnancy and when the time came for delivery, the hypnotherapist, often a nurse with a specialist degree, accompanied the women into the labor room. The therapist guides the soon-to-be mother into a blissful hypnotic state so she remained aware of the process and participates in the birth, but there is no pain during the process.

The achievement of pain control comes through the use other methods of mind control. The image of yogis sleeping on a bed of spikes springs forth in the mind when one mentions yoga and pain control. Since pain is a function of the brain and central nervous system, it only makes sense that those trained enough to lower their heart rate to a point of stopping and remain in a trance like state for hours, could easily interrupt the message to and from the brain indicating pain.

Pain is an indicator of the mind that there’s a problem that needs attention. It serves an important function for the body and alerts you to areas needing attention. Some pain, however, continues even though the person can do nothing about the situation. In these cases, finding a way to relieve the pain and interrupt the signal is important. It allows the patient to continue to function even when pain might otherwise incapacitate them. More physicians today find that pain management is easier using alternatives like hypnosis, rather than the use of drugs. Frequently those taking pain medication must continually increase dosages to receive the same relief that the medication originally gave. Often the medications interfere with the normal functioning of the person in pain. Occasionally the drowsiness it creates is as incapacitating as the pain originally was.

Experiments with using hypnotism in the healing process also may prove beneficial. There are two different techniques for healing. In one case, the subject is hypnotized and then the hypnotist relays a visual picture of healing to the subject. The hypnotized patients body responds to the vision placed in the mind of the patient. In the second instance, no verbal command is given or suggestion imparted. The practitioner of hypnotism simply focuses on healing the person and making mental contact with the body and mind. The mental suggestion given stimulates the body to heal. Studies done on healers that use this technique show increased activity in parts of the brain that normally remain dormant.

Further studies into the area of pain management and healing may prove to change the way doctors work with their patients. Imagine the sufferer of chronic back pain suddenly relieved after a few sessions of hypnotherapy. Consider the amount of money saved by individuals and health insurance companies if these non-invasive, chemical free methods were mainstream techniques and available to all people in pain.

Conrad Raw