Hypnotic Pain Control
By Dick Sutphen

In the News section of Soaring Spirit #73, we included a notice about actor Garrett Morris using self-hypnosis for pain control. This mention generated considerable response from our readers, so I'll begin this article by repeating the story:

"Parade Magazine recently reported on Garrett Morris, a member of the original Saturday Night Live cast who currently appears on the Jamie Foxx Show. Morris was left in critical condition after being shot during a mugging. The bullet lodged in his spine. At first the doctors were not sure the comedian would survive, much less walk again. Morris has had eight operations and developed severe arthritis.

"Today he is able to walk with a cane and manages his chronic pain with self-hypnosis. Even in the light of all modern pain-management technology, self-hypnosis remains the ultra-powerful, drug-free, dependable method to block pain."

Way back in January, 1954, Life magazine ran an article entitled, "The Use of Hypnosis in the Case of the Cancer Patient." I was teenager at the time, but I can still remember reading the story and talking with my parents about it. At about the same time, hypnosis was in the news because of The Search for Bridey Murphy -- the first national publicity for past-life hypnotic regression. I was intrigued. After attending a hypnotic stage show, the seeds of a future career were planted deep in my subconscious mind.

In response to the interest and altered-state-of-consciousness explorations during this period, hypnosis was adopted by the Council of Mental Health of the American Medical Association, and was adopted by the British Medical Association.

It wasn't until the mid 70s that I took self-hypnotic training. But even before the four week class was complete, I had a chance to judge the effectiveness of the technique. While boating with friends, I became seasick and was about to throw up. In a panic, I turned to self-hypnosis. Turning away from the others on board, I pretended to lean on the rail and look at the sea. Closing my eyes, I counted myself down into an altered state of consciousness, and began to think suggestions. Your stomach is now feeling better and better. You easily adjust to the pitch and roll of the boat and enjoy it. Your head is clear, your stomach feels perfectly normal and you're glad to be out on the sea. I also visualized myself opening my eyes and feeling fine.

The whole process took five minutes and upon awakening to full beta-consciousness,  I felt perfectly normal. No more sea sickness.

I decided on the spot that hypnosis was something I needed to further explore.

I used pain control suggestions for headaches, but I didn't have any real personal pain to experiment with . . . until it was time to have a cavity filled. I told my dentist, "Just give me about three minutes. By then I'll be in deep hypnosis and I'll block any pain from the drilling. Just tell me what you want me to do and I'll respond."

My dentist didn't believe it would work. "It's a deep cavity," he said. "When it starts to really hurt, tell me and I'll give you the shot."

For the next forty minutes I imagined myself exploring an imaginary world while my dentist worked on my tooth. No pain killers were needed.

"I don't believe you did that," he said, when it was over.

I blocked pain while receiving stitches a few months later. Again, self-hypnotic pain control worked.

After more hypnotic training, I began to work with others. I made a pain blocking and healing acceleration tape for a friend who was in a terrible motorcycle accident. He said later that it saved his life. When I knew of people needing surgery, I made them pre-surgery and post-surgery tapes. The responses were so positive, I began to take the study of hypnosis very seriously.

In the seventies, I read an article titled "Hypnotic Control of Menstrual Pain" by Drs. William S. Kroger and S. Charles Freed. In one of the case histories, the 17-year old patient was taught self-hypnosis to deal with menstrual problems she had experienced since age nine. Always irregular, she experienced so much pain that the first 24 to 36 hours of her period were spent in bed. The pain consisted of acute lower abdominal cramps accompanied by considerable nervousness, nausea and tension. She had received extensive therapy including dilatation and curettage, analgesics and endocrine preparations.

When nothing else was successful the doctors tried hypnosis and positive suggestions. The girl was taught self-hypnosis and told to reinforce the hypnotist's suggestions at bedtime. Over the next 27 days the girl visited the hypnotist seven times. A week after her last appointment, she started her period and was remarkably free of pain although she still experienced minor leg cramps. Over the next month, she visited the hypnotist weekly and when her next period arrived, she was entirely normal in every respect. For the following year, without further hypnotic sessions, she was free of menstrual pain, nervousness and discomfort, and her periods became regular.

Case histories like this encouraged me to explore the use of hypnotic tapes. For many situations, a tape could accomplish the same thing at home that a hypnotist would do in his office. The response from people who used the tapes was phenomenal.  My interest in hypnosis soon became my career.

Now, twenty-some years later, hypnosis has been accepted by medical and holistic practitioners around the world. The techniques have been used successfully for open-heart surgery, dentistry, childbirth, stomach ulcers, skin disorders, and to accelerate healing.

The only danger in using pain-control hypnosis, is that a subject may block the pain and avoid going to the doctor. Because of this, I include a hypnotic suggestion that the listener will go to the doctor if the pain continues. If the suggestions are strong enough to alleviate the pain, they will be strong enough to motivate a visit to the doctor if the condition persists.

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