Patients 'should be HYPNOTISED before surgery to slash painkiller use'

05 May 2023 , 23:01

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Patients should be offered the option of hypnosis before surgery, experts say (Image: Getty Images)

NHS patients should be hypnotised before surgery to reduce reliance on strong painkillers, doctors say.

The Royal College of Anaesthetists has called for more patients to be given self-hypnosis recordings to listen to before going under the knife.

In a UK trial involving children having a catheter inserted into their hearts, those who listened to a nurse reading from a hypnosis script beforehand require a lower dose of sedatives.

Paediatrician Samantha Black helped develop hypnosis recordings for the RCoA. She told a Royal Society of Medicine conference that patients should be advised to listen to the recordings at home before a procedure.

Hypnosis is not part of medics' standard training (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

She said: “It’s not an alternative to anaesthesia. Sometimes patients can wait a couple of hours for their operations – it’s hard to relax in that kind of environment. It needs to become integrated into the medical curriculum.”

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There are no records of how often medics are using hypnosis, and it is not part of their standard training.

But hospitals and doctors’ professional bodies in many countries are increasingly providing training sessions in hypnotic techniques.

A US study of women who had a tissue sample taken from a breast lump found that hearing a hypnosis script reduced their pain and anxiety.

Dr Elvira Lang, a former professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School, has set up a company that provides hypnosis training to medical staff.

She said: “If it is less painful, women are more likely to get it done.”

Martin Bagot