Hypnosis for Chronic Pain Management

Abstract

Recent psychophysiological data supports the concept that hypnotic interventions for pain management are beneficial. The aim of this study was to evaluate pain relief induced through hypnosis in two chronic pain conditions: fibromyalgia (FM) and chronic migraine (CM). Participants were treated during 5 weekly hypnosis sessions, each lasting 60 minutes. A battery of self-reported questionnaires assessing quality of life, pain intensity, and depression levels were administered at the beginning and at the end of treatment. We observed important group differences in outcomes, in particular for CM patients.

Individual Traits and Pain Treatment: The Case of Hypnotizability

“…In highs, suggestions-induced analgesia, which can be focused on the sensory and/or emotional dimension of pain, is not accompanied by release of endogenous opiates, but is sustained by the modulation of the activity and connectivity of the pain matrix (Faymonville et al, 2006;Casiglia et al, 2020). Interestingly, the suggestions for analgesia have been found effective also in healthy mediums undergoing nociceptive stimulation (Fidanza et al, 2017) and in chronic pain patients independently from hypnotizability (Elkins et al, 2007;Jensen, 2011;Jensen and Patterson, 2014;Mazzola et al, 2017;Facco et al, 2018;Sandvik et al, 2020). This can be accounted for by expectation of/motivation to analgesia (Milling et al, 2005;Krystek and Kumar, 2016;Montgomery et al, 2018;Perri et al, 2020) leading to placebo responses (Benedetti, 2013) which can reduce pain and pain-related psychological symptoms in the general population (Liossi et al, 2006;Brugnoli, 2016;Wortzel and Spiegel, 2017;Rousseaux et al, 2020).…”