Benefits Of Using Medical Hypnosis During Surgical Procedures

It may be fun to watch exciting medical television shows like Grey’s Anatomy or Chicago Med from time to time. While it can be enjoyable to watch the energy and suspense on the television, it can be an altogether different experience when considering undergoing the surgical knife yourself. This article will explore clinical research that has been conducted where hypnotherapy had been used to overcome the fear of surgery and it’s associated postoperative pain afterward.

Technically, a surgical procedure is when a medical doctor uses surgical instruments combined with technical expertise to treat a patient that has an existing condition. Conditions could include injury to the body or disease and a surgery can be used to help improve a person’s bodily functions in addition to repairing necessary issues. It is also important to remember that smoking is significantly associated with wound infection. The fear associated with these procedures is when a person thinks of and imagines worst-case scenarios that can overwhelm them to not having a surgical procedure at all.

Post Surgery Hypnosis Treatments

Two-hundred and forty patients in this study were all scheduled to undergo either renal procedures or cutaneous vascular procedures. They were split up into three separate groups. In addition to receiving sedation, one-third of the group had received hypnotherapy as their recommended treatment. The second third of patients had additional physical manipulation while the third group was identified as the control group.

After their scheduled procedures, the candidates that had the additional medical hypnosis treatment had also reported a procedure time that was lower than the other two groups. They also reported having lower levels of anxiety associated with the pre and post procedure than those that participated in the control group.

In a separate study, over 200 women that were dealing with breast biopsies, as well as lumpectomies, were randomized into two groups. The women in the first group had gotten the standard care as well as hypnosis treatment from a licensed hypnotherapist. Those that were in the second group were assigned the control group. Both groups had the same amount of time spent on them prior to the operation so that it could be measured whether or not those in the hypnosis group would experience similar results.

Researchers in this study uncovered the fact that there was less pain reported and the candidates that were a part of the hypnotherapy group. In addition, they needed less anesthesia and had a balance emotional state that surpassed the anxiety levels of the control group.

Researchers also noted that there was almost $800 in savings identified within the hypnotherapy group as well. The savings were attributed to the reduction of prep time that was needed before the actual procedure took place. After the actual surgery, it should also be noted that the same hypnotherapy candidates had lower levels of dealing with vomiting or nausea associated with pain post operation.

Friedberg’s Triad Approach To Surgery

Friedberg’s Triad is sciences’ way overcoming persistent problems that are associated with surgery. The Triad can be seen as for whether or not a person has been over or under medicated during the surgery process. The second part is whether or not a person can manage existing or perceived pain, while the third deals with vomiting and nausea that is associated with issues an individual will deal with after the surgery process has been completed.

For over twenty years, the Friedberg Triad has been seeking to address issues in the brain and its effects during surgery and afterward via a real-time EMG monitoring approach. Although there have only been less than .1% of patients that have been under medicated during surgery, such an unpleasant experience can have long-lasting post-traumatic stress. Conversely, over medication would contribute to brain fog which also is associated with a negative experience with surgery.

What happens if a patient happened to move during the surgery process? This is an instance that potentially happens when they are under medicated prior to the actual surgery. If this happens, all parties involved have historically had to overcome this stressful situation. How much additional medication is needed to sedate the patient? There could potentially be a back and forth between the surgeon and the anesthesiologist. The Triad pinpoints that having an EMG ready to measure movement can prevent these issues while minimizing risk during the surgical process.

This Triad also wanted to address the plain fact that surgery can be quite painful. The job of the surgeon initially is to prevent excessive pain during the actual surgical process. The Triad approach would address using hypnotherapy prior to the surgery so that there can potentially be a disassociation with the patients with anxiety before actually having the surgery. Using an EMG machine to monitor would be ideal to properly calculate what was working and to what extent.

Researchers concluded that addressing these three pressing issues that are associated with surgery can, in fact, improve the overall experience of the patient. By incorporating the less is more ideology, providing a personalized treatment to each patient individually to include hypnosis and provide lesser opportunities for dealing with over and under medication.

Lastly, pain management associated with postoperative surgery would also decrease. By incorporating this process for the last twenty-five years, the initial issues associated with surgery problems with patients has become less of a problem.