Clinical Hypnosis for Pain Control

Book excerpt: This is the most important volume on hypnosis and pain since the 1970s. It is a must-have for practitioners and researchers.---Arreed Barabasz, PhD, ABPP, Professor and Editor, International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis; author of Hypnotherapeutic Techniques, Second Edition; and Editor of Medical Hypnosis Primer: Clinical and Research Evidence The strain in pain lies mainly in the brain. Patterson shows us how to take advantage of that fact in clear and evidence-based language. If you want to add hypnotic analgesia to your set of psychotherapeutic skills painlessly, read this book. Your patients will thank you.---David Spiegel, MD, Willson Professor and Associate Chair, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine; coauthor of Trance and Treatment: Clinical Uses of Hypnosis Today, hypnosis and hypnotic phenomena are in the mainstream of clinical, cognitive, and social psychology, and practitioners can benefit from a wealth of research to guide their interventions. In this second edition of a landmark book, Lynn, Rhue, and Kirsch have undertaken a significant revision to their classic text, first published over 15 years ago. Through session transcripts, illustrative case examples, and step-by-step procedures, this highly readable volume explores the benefits of incorporating hypnotic methods into treatment plans for such common disorders and conditions as anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, pain and medical conditions, smoking, and eating disorders. This book lays out an empirically documented program for treating patients experiencing acute and chronic pain, two of the most common symptoms in modern society. Going beyond traditional biomedical remedies, Gatchel offers a comprehensive viewpoint that takes into consideration not only biological but also psychological and social variables. Clinical Hypnosis for Pain Control is a compelling argument for the use of hypnotic analgesia as a viable alternative to psychopharmacological interventions for controlling acute, chronic, and postoperative pain, as well as pain from nonsurgical procedures. Yet clinical hypnosis is not an "alternative" medicine, Patterson argues; rather, it is an innovative way of using a patient's subconscious resources to distract, dislocate, or reduce pain in a variety of clinical settings---from the ER to the hospital's rehabilitation wing. As the staff psychologist at a bum center, Patterson draws on his experiences---and many hypnotic inductions---in helping patients deal both with severe pain and with other types of acute and chronic pain, such as headaches, fibromyalgia, cancer, and neuropathy. Written for a general clinical audience---but particularly for pain specialists---this volume also provides a masterful survey of the different types of pain as well as a variety of easy-to-follow induction examples (with instructive commentary) for the major types of pain syndromes. The book is also an excellent resource for students and researchers who want to explore hypnotic analgesia's scientific basis and its growing acceptance as an evidence-based practice. In the penultimate chapter, Patterson outlines a groundbreaking approach of combining brief counseling techniques and Ericksonian hypnosis for long-term pain management.