MAY 2001, VOLUME 29, NUMBER 1, Abstract 6
Hypnosis Used in the Treatment of a Chronic Pain Condition
Wendy Nield, Psychologist
Joan was 24 years old and had worked for a government agency for three years. She self-referred for pain management treatment in January 1999, through an employee assistance programme (an agreement between an employer and a counselling service to fund the provision of a set number of confidential sessions to any employee regarding any issues they wish to discuss). Treatment took the form of a cognitive behavioural approach over six sessions, four of which utilised hypnosis and teaching self-hypnosis for effective future self-management. After treatment, Joan reported a decrease in her level of pain and an ability to better manage the level of discomfort she continued to experience. On scale of 1 to 5, her reported pain went form a range of 0 to 4, to a range of 0 to 2; Digesic medication reduced from 10 tablets to 4 per day; and she reported the ability to better manage feelings of discomfort.