El empleo de las técnicas de sugestión e hipnosis en el control y reducción del dolor: implicaciones para la psicooncología

Abstract

Acute and chronic pain control and relief is one of the best documented areas of application for techniques of suggestion and hypnosis. Hypnotic analgesia, the use of specific hypnotic suggestions for reducing and relieving pain, is effectively used both for decreasing experimentally- induced pain (experimental pain) and acute and chronic clinical pain. In this paper, applications of hypnosis for acute and chronic clinical pain are discussed in terms of its effectiveness. Psychophysiological and neurophysiological aspects of hypnotic analgesia are also addressed in order to explain up to now the possible efficacy of hypnosis in pain relief. Finally, controlled studies focused on reducing and relieving cancer pain are also described and commented.