Observations placeholder
Green, Drs Elmer and Alyce – Hypnosis used in helping the body recover from surgery and other physical injury
Identifier
027379
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
Beyond Biofeedback – Drs Elmer and Alyce Green
Hypnosis used in a medical context, …. can be a valuable tool in the hands of a skilled therapist, especially in helping the body recover from physical injury. (It has not proven equally useful, though, with psychological problems).
One surgeon who attended a biofeedback workshop and seminar told us that for a period of time he consistently used post-surgical hypnosis to accelerate the healing process.
A standard hypnotic induction was not necessary, he said, because he visited the intensive-care ward at about the time patients would begin to recover from anaesthesia. After testing reflexes to make certain that the patient was coming to consciousness, he would begin talking in a very low voice, telling the patient how well the operation had gone, how nicely the body had responded, how well the repairs were made. He planted the idea that there would be little pain, and possibly none at all; the tissues would recover very quickly; there would be no infection; the patient would be walking in a very short time.
Nurses in intensive care soon noticed that his patients recovered more rapidly than others and asked him to work with other patients too. He did this to some extent, he said, and recoveries from surgery were generally rapid.