Effect of different therapeutic suggestions presented during anaesthesia on post-operative course

A double-blind, randomized study was conducted to examine the effect of different types of therapeutic suggestions, administered during general anaesthesia, on post-operative course. Eighty-two patients undergoing cholecystectomy were intra-operatively exposed to either affirmative and non-affirmative suggestions, affirmative or non-affirmative suggestions separately, or some irrelevant text. Patients who had received both affirmative and non-affirmative suggestions spent less time in hospital than patients in the other three groups. No significant differences were demonstrated for subjective well-being measured on the third and sixth days.