Hypnosis as an intervention in pain management: A brief review

While there is a consensus that psychosocial factors play an important role in the experience of pain, clinical interventions for acute and chronic pain remain primarily biomedical. This pattern persists despite a body of recent empirical work supporting the effectiveness of a number of behavioral and relaxation interventions for these problems. One of these interventions is hypnosis. We briefly discuss hypnotic analgesia and describe how hypnosis can be integrated into biomedical treatment for acute and chronic pain. Special attention is given to indications and contraindications, preparation of patients, and technique.