Empowering the Patient: Hypnosis in the Management of Cancer, Surgical Disease and Chronic Pain

Abstract

In the past decade, the increasing acceptance of hypnosis as a therapeutic adjunct by physicians and health care professionals both within and outside of the mental health community has resulted in broader use of the technique with patients in both hospital and outpatient settings. In our recent experiences with urologic patients, our staff has found that many bring a surprisingly sophisticated knowledge of clinical hypnosis to the office and often have had experience with some form of therapeutic hypnosis prior to consulting us. Consequently, we find we often encounter a surprising openness to the use of hypnosis as a part of the treatment programs we employ. As a result we have been able to utilize clinical hypnosis successfully in several treatment areas to the benefit of our patients. This paper will describe several programs in place at our practice which utilize clinical hypnosis as an adjunct to treatment.