Updates on Innovative Hypnotic Interventions for Pain Management

Gabriel Tan, PhD, ABPP

Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, TX

Meta-analysis of studies addressing hypnotic analgesia for both clinical and laboratory pain suggest that this modality is highly efficacious compared with standard care or no treatment. Yet despite its proven efficacy, hypnosis has not been widely used for the treatment of pain. This is in part due to the limited availability of skilled and highly trained providers. To address the lack of accessibility, recent research has focused on innovative methods to teach and deliver hypnosis services. A symposium at the 2010 Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Pain Society explored three such approaches, including two that focused on self-hypnosis through manualized protocols delivered during no more than 8 sessions. Each of the sessions incorporated recordings of inductive and hypnotic suggestions on compact discs. Dr Tan has undertaken a clinical trial to assess the benefits of this approach to hypnotic analgesia for chronic low back pain.

References

Tan G, Fukui T, Jensen MP, Thornby J, Waldman KL. The use of virtual reality for pain control: a review. Int J Clin Exp Hypn. 2010;58(1):53-68.
Elkins G, Jensen MP, Patterson DR. Hypnotherapy for the management of chronic pain. Int J Clin Exp Hypn. 2007;55(3):275-87.
Montgomery GH, DuHamel KN, Redd WH. A meta-analysis of hypnotically induced analgesia: how effective is hypnosis? Int J Clin Exp Hypn. 2000;48(2):138-153.

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