HYPNOTIZE AWAY PAIN
Hypnosis often brings up thoughts of people clucking like a chicken. In the health area, it's often used to help people quit smoking. Now an anesthesiologist is using it for another reason -- to help his patients who struggle through numerous drugs and therapies without getting relief.
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Every day, Jay Butler goes through the same routine.
Jay Butler
"I imagine a room with a really, really comfortable chair. The room is usually a blinding white. I usually do deep breathing. Then, I start trying to re-color the room."
It's how she deals with chronic headaches -- 20 a month -- some severe.
Jay Butler
Suffers chronic headaches
"Those feel like someone is stabbing my eye from the inside, and that really hurts."
When headache specialists couldn't help, she took an alternative approach.
University of Iowa Anesthesiologist Sebastian Schulz-Stubner uses hypnosis to ease chronic pain.
Sebastian Schulz-Stubner, M.D., Ph.D.
Anesthesiologist
University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics
Iowa City, IA
"Hypnosis is effective probably in the range of 65 to 70 percent."
Recent research suggests hypnosis may work by changing the way the brain receives impulses.
Sebastian Schulz-Stubner, M.D., Ph.D.
"When I pinched Ms. Butler, you would expect an activation in the so-called pain network, and if you would do an MRI under hypnosis, you don't see that activation in those areas, and you see other areas lightening up."
Doctor Schulz-Stubner even uses hypnosis as an alternative to anesthesia for regional pain blocks.
Sebastian Schulz-Stubner, M.D., Ph.D.
"We actually did some studies looking at that, you know how effective it is, and it proved to be a rather successful method."
For Jay, hypnosis means she's no longer a prisoner to her pain.
Jay Butler
"It helps me control the migraine, so I get it when I can deal with it as opposed to at work."
So, while it's not a cure, it's a drastic improvement Jay will take.
Doctor Schulz-Stubner believes it's not widely practiced in U.S. medical centers because lack of research means lack of training. Also, many people fear they're being manipulated when they undergo hypnosis.
EASING PAIN NATURALLY: Sebastian Schulz-Stubner, M.D., an anesthesiologist at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, is taking a somewhat unusual approach to help his patients who struggle to find relief from their chronic pain. He uses hypnosis. Dr. Schulz-Stubner says the treatment is not often used by medical doctors because few formal studies have been done on its benefits and therefore few physicians are trained in using it for pain relief. He says, while no one knows for sure how hypnosis helps with pain relief, "We know that hypnosis shifts attention and the way certain impulses are perceived by the brain." Imaging technology has given doctors a better idea of what is happening. He explains that when a pain stimulus is applied, "you would expect an activation in the so-called pain network and if you would do an MRI under hypnosis you do not see that activation in those areas and you see other areas lighting up." He goes on to explain that while they do not know what cells or neurotransmitters are involved, it is clear that something is happening in the brain.
Dr. Schulz-Stubner points out that in some European countries hypnosis is a well-accepted mass of evidence of psychotherapy and psychiatry and many more physicians are trained in it.
UNDOING MISCONCEPTIONS: Dr. Schulz-Stubner says the biggest misconception and cause of uneasiness of hypnosis is that people think the hypnotist is doing something to them. Instead, he says, it is just the opposite. "The hypnotist is only helping them with the suggestions, giving them a type of cooking recipe, how to achieve that state, but it is not really him doing it," he says.
SUCCESS THROUGH THE POWER OF HYPNOSIS: According to Dr. Schulz-Stubner, "Studies done comparing people with hypnosis versus people without hypnosis showed that hypnosis is effective probably in the range of 65 percent to 70 percent." He says this is something you would see with many different treatment options for pain, so it gives patients who cannot find relief with other treatments or who want a more natural approach another option to choose from.
While Dr. Schulz-Stubner is not implying hypnosis is a cure for chronic pain, he says it does give patients control over their pain. One patient who suffers from chronic headaches says hypnosis allows her to control when the pain is more likely to strike so that she experiences it at a time when she can deal with it rather than at work or while she is out of the house.
HYPNOSIS IN THE ER: Dr. Schulz-Stubner took this approach into the operating room as an alternative to drug-induced sedation in patients who require regional anesthesia to numb one part of the body while the patient remains awake. In a study while at the Aachen University in Germany, Dr. Schulz-Stubner treated 48 patients this way. He reports the technique was effective when used in the right setting where, prior to surgery, the patients met with an anesthesiologist who explained the procedure. On the other hand, when used in emergency cases, only two of 12 patients were successfully hypnotized.
Jennifer Brown
Associate Editor
Health Science Relations
University of Iowa
(319) 335-9917
Copyright © 2004 Ivanhoe Broadcast News, Inc.
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