Pain is real and thinking about it just makes it worse. The number one reason patients seek help from physicians is PAIN. Hypnotherapy offers a drug-free, natural approach to get relief that you can control.
Pain is everywhere and we’ve all experienced it. Multiple articles and research studies indicate that 20% of Americans suffer from chronic pain. About 7% of those have pain to such a degree that it has significant impact to work and lifestyle.
Pain isn’t necessarily all bad though. It is an important signal from our body, alerting us to pay attention to some part of our body to take steps to relieve something wrong or to prevent us from making an injury worse, or even to avoid using a body part while it heals.
Pain can be from a simple insult to the body, like a splinter in the finger, or it can be complex like chronic migraines where the cause is not readily apparent. Other types of pain baffle modern science with their complexity, like fibromyalgia or nerve pain for which there is no cure. Patients often become frustrated with a lack of results of many remedies that might include medication (pills or injections), physical therapy, electrical stimulation, or even psychiatric medication. They also are often frustrated with lack of understanding from family members, friends, and even healthcare providers.
One thing is certain about ALL pain: The more you think about it, the worse it feels. Focusing on pain can trigger anxiety which makes people hypersensitive to their pain. More pain means more focus and anxiety, and even worse pain. The anxiety can even trigger its own pain like chest pain of an anxiety attack, stress headaches, or muscle aches from the constant tension that comes along with anxiety.
If ALL pain can be made worse with the focus on it, leading to anxiety about it, then a logical solution would be a therapeutic strategy that involves changing the PERCEPTION of pain. Hypnotherapy for pain is targeted at that perception of pain and how we react to it. There are certainly studies and anecdotes about people who have healed themselves with their minds. There is also a huge amount of information about the placebo effect helping people feel better. Hypnotherapy for pain relief is something different.
Hypnotherapy is aimed at changing perception about pain and remaining relaxed in spite of pain. Hypnosis does not control your brain to convince you that you can’t feel the pain. Rather, it helps you with the fear and anxiety that can be escalated with pain. You can take control of your mind to be more relaxed at any time. This is the goal of my own hypnotherapy practice in working with pain in my clinic. My goal is to empower you to essentially “hypnotize” yourself into a wonderful state of relaxation and pain relief. In such a relaxed state, your perception of pain does not trigger a cascade of fear and anxiety. Effective, long-lasting success with lessening pain is typically accomplished in 3-6 session with some relief and strategy after just one session.
In summary, pain is a part of life and it can be simple or complex. Pain can be a good thing because it alerts us to some condition requiring attention. However, chronic pain itself has its own “side effects” that include fear, stress, and anxiety which are all detrimental to our health. Hypnosis, has been shown to provide moderate to superior results when compared with drug or other psychological interventions. The NIH, Arthritis Foundation, American Psychiatric Association, American Cancer Society, to name just a few, all acknowledge hypnosis can be an effective, non-drug means of treatment for pain, and is often part of a wholistic plan for chronic and debilitating conditions.
If you would like to know how hypnosis can help you with chronic pain and whether or not you are a candidate, please call or text me for a free consultation: 480-712-1400
Comments