Using Hypnotherapy to Treat Postoperative Pain and Anxiety

Using Hypnotherapy to Treat Postoperative Pain and Anxiety Friday, June 12, 2009 by: Steve G. Jones, M.Ed.

(NaturalNews)

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 46 million inpatient surgeries were performed in 2006. This statistic does not include outpatient surgeries where people are released within 24 hours after surgery.

Preoperative surgery often causes anxiety because people have a fear of the unknown. People tend to fear the worst before surgery and this can cause stress and can actually have a negative effect on postoperative recovery. Hypnotherapy has been found to reduce stress, anxiety, and pain in patients recovering from surgery.There have been numerous studies showing that adults who have a great deal of preoperative anxiety, have a harder time recovering from surgery post-operative. In 2006, a study looked at children to see if the same was true.

The study involved 241 children ages 5-12 who were scheduled for outpatient surgeries. Before the surgery, all children were evaluated based on anxiety. All children remained in the hospital for 24 hours and their pain was assessed every 3 hours. They were evaluated for 14 more days and pain medication was standardized for all children.The results of the study showed that the children who were more anxious reported significantly more pain in the 3 days of recovering from the surgery. The more anxious children consumed more pain medication and had more anxiety and sleep problems post-operative.

This study shows that preoperative anxiety is a serious issue that needs to be addressed in both adults and children to help them in the surgery recovery process. Increased anxiety before surgery leads to more anxiety, pain, and slower recovery time post-operative.Another study looked at the effects of hypnosis and stress reducing techniques in reducing pain and anxiety in surgical patients.

The study consisted of 60 patients undergoing elective plastic surgery. They were randomly selected: a control group received stress reducing techniques and a group received hypnosis to reduce anxiety. Patients' pain and anxiety were measured before, during, and after the surgery.

Results showed that the hypnosis group reported significantly lower levels of pain and anxiety before and after the surgery. The hypnosis group also required less pain medication following the surgery and their vital statistics were more consistent during the surgery. The patients also reported greater satisfaction with their surgical experience.

This study shows that hypnosis is a highly effective form of reducing pain and anxiety for people undergoing surgery. This also leads to improved recovery after the surgery due to less anxiety and pain associated with the procedure.

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