‘add hypnotherapy to its list of approved therapeutic techniques for the treatment of conditions ranging from allergies and high blood pressure to the pain associated with cancer
treatment and bone marrow transplantation.’

This article in The Telegraph today reports that Professor David Spiegel, of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences at Stanford University, wants (NICE) to ’sanction sweeping changes.’

The article reports Professor Spiegel as saying:

“It is time for hypnosis to work its way into the mainstream of British medicine.”

“There is solid science behind what sounds like mysticism and we need to get that message across to the bodies that influence this area.

“Hypnosis has no negative side-effects. It makes operations quicker, as the
patient is able to talk to the surgeon as the operation proceeds, and it is cheaper than conventional pain relief. Since it does not interfere with the workings of the body, the patient recovers faster,
too.

“It is also extremely powerful as a means of pain relief. Hypnosis has been accepted and rejected because people are nervous of it. They think it’s either too powerful or not powerful enough, but,
although the public are sceptical, the hardest part of the procedure is getting other doctors to accept it.”

It is certainly wonderful for well-trained and experienced hypnotherapists everywhere to have this kind of support. In fact, as the article points out, NICE has already sanctioned the use of hypnotherapy in the treatment of IBS, an issue that I work on with many clients each year.

As regular readers of my blog will know, my mother recently used hypnotherapy and self-hypnosis to overcome the fear and anxiety surrounding her recent hip peration. She also used a self-hypnosis audio programme before, during and after the procedure (undergone with a local spinal injection) and has, I am delighted to report, made an unusually speedy and excellent recovery.

She spent only 15 minutes in the recovery room, was in hospital for just two nights after the major operation and is now at almost full mobility after only eight weeks. Her progress is something that everyone involved in her care has remarked upon, from the surgeon and anaesthetist to the nursing staff and her GP. She is a brilliant example of how hypnosis represents opportunities for genuine cost-savings to the NHS, reducing time in hospital and aiding post-operative recovery time and healing.

It’s disappointing, therefore, to read in the same article that Professor Steve
Field, who chairs the Royal College of General Practitioners, has described hypnosis in the following way:

“It is a useful tool used by some GPs and patients for relaxation, but I don’t think it is something that we should support being rolled out to all medical students and all doctors,” he said.

“We can’t call on the NHS to support it without there being a firm medical and economic
basis, and I’m not convinced those have been proved to exist.”