Does Hypnotherapy Work For Chronic Pain?

Many people believe that pain is a part of everyday life as you get older. Some pain occurs suddenly, and other pain tends to last for long periods. Does hypnotherapy work for chronic pain?  This article looks at hypnotherapy and its usage to overcome chronic pain.

Acute Pain Versus Chronic Pain

Some will experience pain that can be excruciating following an injury. This type of pain can be felt almost immediately. It can also be experienced due to a specific recurring activity. Weekend Warriors come to mind when they hobble into the office – when we used to work from the office – on Monday mornings.

Acute pain is not long-lasting, as compared to Chronic pain. This type of pain will generally not exceed six months. Acute pain is also associated with surgeries (post-surgical pain management) and pain invoved with recovering from broken bones, etc.

Chronic pain is a nagging pain that generelly lasts over six months. It may feel like the pain is never going to go away. Chronic pain may be associated with past activity. People that experience back pain and arthritis sometimes accept chronic pain as something that they may seem like something that have to live with. Not necessarily so.

Physical and Emotions Associated with Chronic Pain

In addition to the physical effects that the body experiences, there are also associations with emotions seemingly related to pain. These emotions might range from feelings of anger, depression, and fear. The fear can be a mental obstacle that physical activity would exacerbate that pain. There can also be a fear of not being able to go back to the regular life that once was.

Does Hypnosis Work For Chronic Pain: Combining Therapies

Researchers in this study combined clinical hypnotherapy along with pain education with over a hundred patients experiencing chronic pain in the lower back. They were split into two groups. The first group only received pain education. Those in the second group received a combination of clinical hypnosis in pain education.

Outcomes were measured after fourteen days from the initial introduction to hypnosis and pain education. There were additional methods to measure outcomes after ninety days as well. The participants had to report whether they experienced a lower back pain but was average, felt that their e had excruciating pain while the third outcome was reporting a severe disability.

The patients that that had received the combination of clinical hypnotherapy along with pain education had reported a lower pain threshold with regards to their lower back pain. They had the same level of lower pain thresholds at the three-month mark as well. This was significantly lower than the patients that had only received pain education alone.

Hypnosis Treatment For Chronic Low Back Pain

The improved levels of lower pain garnered favorable returns for this study. Patients were able to show that they could take the hypnosis instructions home and apply them whenever they felt nagging pain. The added benefit of the study also highlighted the low cost of treatment along with the ability to apply these methods two groups as well as giving individual attention. 

Since this was the first trial ever done using a combination of the two therapy, researchers concluded that additional research would need to be conducted.

Hypnotherapy For Chronic Pain Relief: Spinal Cord Injury

This recent study was conducted to determine whether hypnotherapy could be used to address hey chronic pain experienced by a 28-year-old male that had experienced spinal cord injury. This individual was paralyzed from the neck down and he was on a respirator as well. Specific treatment over the course of eight sessions had been recommended to address his immediate needs.

The eight ninety-minute therapy sessions were split into two groups of four. The initial sessions gave the individual training and how to restructure his thoughts. These training sessions were recorded as MP3 so that he could use them at his leisure. He was given the additional suggestions to practice the sessions when he was alone so that he could master self-hypnosis.

The audio files were used so that he could measure his level of pain after each session. He was also instructed to you report the quality of his sleep after he finished each session. There were significant improvements in both his sleep quality along with lessening levels of pain in the body.

Levels of Consistency Is the Key

The patient reported that the continuous level of consistency contributed to the success of this study. These improvements have the same level of improvement at the follow up twelve months later. In addition to the improvements, the patient did not experience any level of side effects from using the self-hypnosis techniques to help him with his chronic pain.

Researchers concluded that applying a protocol that includes hypnotic induction can be quite promising to individuals that are dealing with complex levels of chronic pain. These therapies help the patients cope with their circumstance and they are empowered to manage varying levels of pain without any side effects.

Some people feel very uncomfortable (soreness) on most days of the week for a few days at a time. This type of pain is called “chronic pain,” and it can continue for several months or many years.

Instead of insisting that this is one of the downfalls that come with age, individuals can now become empowered to find ways to improve their situation. Does hypnotherapy work for chronic pain?  Schedule a Telehealth session with a licensed clinical hypnotherapist and they will be able to get you sorted on the right path to recovering from chronic pain.