Research has shown that clinical hypnotherapy can significantly reduce pain after an injury or surgery, and promote faster healing. One medical study reported faster tissue healing in patients using hypnosis, and several others established a psychological link between clinical hypnotherapy and faster healing and recovery.
Several hospitals affiliated with Harvard Medical School are now using hypnosis to help speed up post surgical recovery time. In one of the most persuasive studies yet, a Harvard researcher reported that hypnosis quickened the typical healing time of bone fractures by several weeks, or up to 41%. (Source: Altern Ther Health Med. 1999 Mar; 5(2):67-75).
Hypnosis is believed to boost the immune response of the body, a critical factor in the speed of healing. By contrast, stress weakens the body’s immune function and slows the healing rate.
Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York proved that a 15-minute hypnosis session reduced the side effects of breast cancer operations. Two hundred women participated in the study. Those in the hypnosis group experienced less pain, nausea, fatigue, discomfort, and emotional upset following surgery than their counterparts in the control group, and the differences were substantial. Not only did hypnosis reduce the side effects of surgery, but it also reduced the amount of anesthesia used during surgery, and cut the time in surgery by as much as eleven minutes.
If you, or someone you love, is about to have surgery, or has recently had surgery, and you would like to know more about how clinical hypnotherapy can help speed the healing process, please contact me.
You can also try out one of my free hypnotherapy recordings especially aimed at preparing clients for surgery. To listen to the recording click here.
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