Chronic Pain

Can Hypnotherapy help with Chronic Pain?

 Chronic pain conditions can have a detrimental impact on both the body and mind, affecting emotional, cognitive, behavioural and physiological reactions. And many factors, such as focusing on the pain, stress and tension in the body, insufficient sleep, and rumination, can all exacerbate the condition.

Hypnotherapy isn’t about convincing you that you don’t feel pain; it’s about helping you to manage any fear and anxiety that you may have relating to the pain, and helping your nervous system to relax in order for it to become less reactive to the pain. It will help you by:

• Reducing stress and anxiety,

• Shifting your focus to the more positives things in life,

• Relaxing your nervous system,

• Improving your sleep cycle,

• Improving your ability to cope with life’s challenges.

 In chronic pain conditions such as fibromyalgia, endometriosis and symptoms of long COVID, nerve fibres synapse with “T” neurons, carrying pain messages which loop from your body to your brain and back again. When we experience stress and anxiety, we release adrenaline and other stress hormones such as cortisol, which stimulate these nerve fibres, heightening those pain messages.

 However, when we produce feel-good neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine, these will also synapse with those “T” neurons, inhibiting the pain signal.

 Numerous studies have shown that “hypnosis interventions consistently produce significant decreases in pain associated with a variety of chronic-pain problems” (NCBI).

 If you are experiencing pain, you are advised to consult a medical professional in the first instance.