Hypnosis: why does it work?
All parents know that when a child is distracted, it hurts less. Well, that common sense, the basis of hypnosis, is beginning to be backed up by neurophysiological evidence. Thanks to images taken (MRI) on the brains of volunteers, the team of Pr Marie-Elisabeth Faymonville, in Liège, has shown that hypnosis modifies the entire pain network. Certain areas of the brain are activated, modulate each other, and these chain reactions reduce the sensation of pain.
Hypnosis: the end of general anesthesia
At the Saint-Grégoire hospital centre, colonoscopies have been performed under hypnosis for ten years. “The satisfaction is such that the people who have to go through it again are asking for it,” says Laure Martin, anesthesiologist. As a result, the number of examinations carried out in this way is increasing each year: 8% of colonoscopies in 2007, only 1% five years earlier. It must be said that undergoing general anesthesia, even brief, for an admittedly invasive examination may seem disproportionate. Especially if they are poorly tolerated.
In this establishment, nearly 30,0000 patients have benefited from the help of hypnosis for three years for various medical procedures, such as carpal tunnel surgery, varicose veins or even sterilization by the Essure method (implant placement in the fallopian tubes to block them).
Other women, in oh so much more difficult situations, discover the virtues of this particular medical support. Hypnosis is indeed proposed to patients who must be operated on for breast cancer. Having a breast removed under hypnosis can also be a way of getting support in accepting the disease and the resulting mutilation.
Intervention under hypnosis: how does it work?
The future patient meets the anesthesiologist, after the surgeon’s agreement, who informs him of the course of the operation, explains Dr. François Ginsbourger. Both then agree on the theme (beach, forest, music, etc.) which will serve as a support for the imaginary “journey” that the anesthetist will instigate through various suggestions.
On D-day, you must be fasting, in case general anesthesia becomes necessary (this is very rare). A sedative is also administered to relax, then an infusion is placed (always in case…).
Relaxation breathing exercises, background music, and the anesthetist’s voice that makes you think of such and such a thing… Little by little the journey begins. In ten minutes, the patient is somewhere else, as if disconnected.
Local anesthesia is performed before incising the skin, and repeated if necessary. Then it’s over. At the end of the intervention, the patient is invited to regain consciousness of his environment. Simply.
What is hypnosis?
Despite its name coming from the Greek word “hypnos” which means sleep, hypnosis is not sleep. This is a particular state of wakefulness during which the person, although appearing drowsy, is subject to mental images that invade his consciousness.
“We experience this kind of state when we arrive at home by car without having the slightest memory of the path taken”, explains Dr. Claude Virot, psychiatrist. This modified state of consciousness is therefore a natural functioning of the body and the mind that the practitioner will amplify and direct so that a painful intervention can be endured without any problem. But the help of a calming drug being used, it is rather called hypno-sedation.
