Hypnosis for Pain Relief – You’re likely familiar with hypnotherapy being used for quitting smoking and losing weight. But did you know the power of hypnosis for pain relief and trauma?
While hypnotherapy is not a replacement for medical treatment, it can be a great adjunct treatment on your deep healing journey, getting to the roots of those irritating aches and pains, preparing you for surgery or aiding in recovery, and reducing the severity of certain conditions. Similarly, hypnotherapy is remarkably effective in addressing and reducing the effects of traumatic events.
In this post, I’m happy to share with you how hypnosis can help with pain relief and reduce the effects of trauma.
Hypnosis for Pain Relief
You or someone you know may be suffering from fibromyalgia. According to the Mayo Clinic, “Fibromyalgia is a disorder characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain accompanied by fatigue, sleep, memory, and mood issues. Researchers believe that fibromyalgia amplifies painful sensations by affecting the way your brain and spinal cord process painful and nonpainful signals.”
Fibromyalgia can be crippling, and while there is currently no cure, there are ways to address both the physical and emotional symptoms brought on by this disorder.
In addition to the medical protocol, many doctors accept hypnotherapy as a viable adjunct support to access and address the underlying psychological and emotional causes of these symptoms.
As is well-documented, hypnotherapy is effective in treating several medical issues, including fibromyalgia. Hypnosis for pain relief and emotional symptoms has become popular. Also, according to the Mayo Clinic website, hypnotherapy is effective for:
- Pain control. Hypnosis may be beneficial for pain associated with cancer, irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, temporomandibular joint problems (TMJ), dental procedures, and headaches.
- Hot flashes. Hypnosis may relieve symptoms of hot flashes associated with menopause.
- Behavior change. Hypnosis has been used with some success in the treatment of insomnia, bed-wetting, smoking, obesity, and phobias.”
In a session with a client who had been diagnosed with fibromyalgia about 17 years earlier, we discovered some very interesting emotional and psychological factors that were contributing to her pain, anxiety, depression, and fears.
During the 90-minute session, we used several hypnotherapy techniques: Core Transformation, EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), NLP and psychological protocols, Reverse Metaphor, and Empowerment Symbols, along with a lengthy discussion and debriefing.
Very rapidly, my client was able to control or eliminate her levels of pain. Her subconscious mind had several opportunities to communicate directly with her about the source of her condition and what would be required to continue on a healing path.
An agreement was created between the client’s conscious mind and her subconscious to use her physical body sensations as a conduit to deliver a warning if she was engaging in activities or mental processes that were worsening the fibromyalgia.
With her newfound awareness and techniques, she could continue practicing on her own, and my client maintained conscious control over her condition. If she falls back into old patterns, she has a known sensory signal that will remind her to take steps to decrease the severity of the disease and its painful symptoms.
How to Reduce the Effects of Trauma
By enlisting the services of a hypnotherapist, you can pinpoint old patterns, traumas, and pains that may have been buried in the recesses of your mind. Accessing these old memories can drastically shift your current life. Working through your past trauma can decrease its effect on you in the present moment.
If you are aware of a past hurt or trauma, try the following technique to aid the process:
Desensitization as a Tool for Healing Trauma
Some people believe time heals all wounds. While time certainly reduces the intensity, some experiences are just too impactful. Experiences of trauma can have a cumulative effect and even be carried with us as physical and emotional “baggage” from lifetime to lifetime.
Often manifesting as psychological pain and discomfort, or as feelings of unease and insecurity, these latent memories can significantly affect our effectiveness and success in modern life.
In the most extreme cases, these feelings can lead to experiential avoidance. In this psychological condition, people experience distressing feelings or images and then try to suppress their recurrence–an act that has been directly linked to anxiety and depression.
Desensitization is one of the numerous tools I use for dealing with these past traumas in a hypnotherapy session. It’s been helpful to countless clients bothered by emotions such as rage, anger, grief, fear, and other strong feelings.
The key to its success is its ability to temper the intensity of emotional triggers, restoring a better sense of balance in life and reducing the time it takes to heal from past trauma.
At the same time, the technique has the added benefit of helping us overcome stressful situations and knee-jerk fears and phobias in our everyday lives by addressing many of the psychological stumbling blocks that keep us from achieving our goals. Popular uses for this application include overcoming fear of public speaking or shyness and awkwardness in social situations.
How Desensitization Works
Begin by recounting a stressful or frightening episode. Describe the event in detail, beginning just before it began and ending when you realize that you’re once again safe and comfortable afterward.
Now, go back to the beginning and start the story again. And again. And again. You can even update some details or add stress-relieving or humorous elements. Continue telling the story until you notice diminished interest or a different perception of the experience.
Coping Technique: If the association or memory is too stressful to even consider, try incorporating a repetitive physical action while recounting the event. Examples include tapping your foot, repeatedly touching the tip of each finger to your thumb, or tapping your wrist. Let this physical task distract your conscious mind. Alternatively, work through your worst traumas with a qualified hypnotherapist.
The goal is to create a sense of “boredom” in your recollection, gaining comfort and understanding with each retelling. Eventually, the story loses its intensity, and stress is reduced because there is no longer a need to suppress the memory’s recurrence. The emotional charge has dissipated, and you no longer rely on time to heal.
Ending Thoughts
Life can bring us experiences that lead to pain, suffering, and emotional triggers. These can be as simple as a misspoken word or as devastating as being the victim of a traumatic experience. While these things may happen, we have ways to mitigate their effects. Whether you are experiencing pain or illness or have recurring triggers to past traumas, hypnosis may hold the key to relief.
