Can Hypnotherapy Help With Nerve Pain? A Comprehensive Guide
We may often overlook how crippling nerve pain can be. Truth is, when you think about it, many chronic issues involve some kind of nerve pain. For example, when someone has Rheumatoid arthritis, nerve endings can have tingly, numb sensations. Or when someone has a sensitive gut, they may feel sharp shooting pain.
Nerve pain, also known as neuropathic pain, is a debilitating chronic condition that affects millions of people worldwide. The symptoms of nerve pain include burning, tingling, numbness, and sharp shooting pain, and they can be caused by nerve damage.
While conventional treatments such as medication, physical therapy, and surgery are available, they may not always provide the relief needed. That's why more and more people are turning to alternative therapies like hypnotherapy to help with nerve pain.
What is Hypnotherapy?
Hypnotherapy is a form of subconscious therapy that uses hypnosis to access the unconscious mind. During hypnosis, the client is induced into a trance state and the hypnotherapist provides positive suggestions to help change negative thought patterns and behaviors.
Hypnotherapy has been used to treat a wide range of conditions, including anxiety, depression, and pain.
How Does Hypnotherapy Help with Nerve Pain?
While the exact mechanism of how hypnotherapy helps with nerve pain is not fully understood, it's believed to work by changing the way the brain perceives pain. During hypnosis, you can focus your attention away from the pain, which can reduce its severity.
In addition, hypnotherapy can also help reduce stress and anxiety, which are often associated with chronic pain conditions and can worsen the perception of pain.
Finally, hypnotherapy can help with identifying the root cause of the nerve pain which is the core reason why the pain persists in the first place.
Hypnosis can help with pain management
We now know that pain is the perception of a sensation that is felt in the body. This perception can change from person to person. The mind has a significant contribution to how the body processes pain. Hypnotherapy can help with changing the perception of the pain, decreasing the sensations to the minimum, and eventually eliminating it.
Hypnosis can help manage emotions
When someone deals with nerve pain, there are usually lots of emotions involved such as fear of living in pain for the rest of life, worry that things will never be the same, anxiety caused by the pain, etc.
Hypnosis can help release these emotions subconsciously. So the mind can focus on the most important thing which is releasing the nerve pain.
Hypnosis can help with stress and tensions
All the emotions that surface during the healing process affect the subconscious mind. One may be overwhelmed with worry, fear, and the discomfort of not being able to comfortably live in day-to-day life.
Hypnotherapy can provide the necessary tools to deal with day-to-day stress. By strengthening the subconscious self-image, the person can reprogram the mind to feel and get back to old ways of being as well.
Hypnosis can help with the root cause
In some cases, nerve pain can be deeply rooted; tied to trauma, early childhood event or perhaps even your past life trauma. Meaning, the pain is caused by a deeper issue that is suppressed subconsciously. Whether it’s a traumatic memory, unprocessed emotions, or a significant life change; hypnotherapy can help with addressing the core issue in order to provide long-term relief.
Hypnotherapy can provide relief from nerve pain by managing the discomfort, negative emotions and addressing the root cause.
Research on Hypnotherapy and Nerve Pain:
There's growing evidence that supports the use of hypnotherapy as a treatment for nerve pain. For example, a study published in the Journal of Pain found that hypnotherapy was effective in reducing the severity of chronic neuropathic pain in patients with peripheral neuropathy.
Another study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology found that hypnotherapy was effective in reducing pain and improving the quality of life in patients with chronic pain conditions, including nerve pain.
One remarkable review that was published in the National Library of Medicine reported that “The current review indicates that hypnotic interventions for chronic pain results in significant reductions in perceived pain that, in some cases, may be maintained for several months. Further, in a few studies, hypnotic treatment was found to be more effective, on average, than some other treatments, such as physical therapy or education, for some types of chronic pain.”
Conclusion:
In conclusion, hypnotherapy may be a helpful complementary therapy for people who struggle with nerve pain. While more research is needed, the growing body of evidence is encouraging.
If you're considering hypnotherapy for nerve pain, it's important to speak with your doctor or a qualified hypnotherapist to determine if it's right for you. Remember, everyone's experience with nerve pain is unique and what works for one person may not work for another. However, with hypnotherapy, there's a chance that you or your loved one may find relief from this painful condition.