Hypnosis for Migraines: How Can Hypnotherapy Help?

There are many different types of headaches. Migraine headaches are probably the worst of them.

When a migraine headache comes, it becomes almost impossible to do or concentrate on anything else. View becomes foggy, attention goes to the discomfort and isolation becomes the only way out. If you have a migraine, you may feel like these headaches take control of your life even if it’s momentarily.

Hypnotherapy has been a helpful holistic technique that addresses migraines subconsciously by strengthening mind-body communication, finding the root cause, and training the mind for relaxation.

Migraine headaches

Migraine headaches are intense, one-sided throbbing pains accompanied by symptoms like nausea and sensitivity to light. Triggers include stress, lack of sleep, and certain foods. Managing migraines involves understanding and addressing these triggers.

When a migraine comes, it may feel like nothing is helpful. Some individuals find their own solutions such as sleeping, coffee, or resting in a dark room. However, none of these solutions are long-term. Medications don’t seem to be very helpful as well, leaving room for improvement with holistic approaches.

Hypnosis for migraine headaches

Hypnotherapy, as an alternative approach, focuses on relaxation, mind-body connection and stress reduction. Some people explore hypnosis to alleviate migraine symptoms and improve overall life quality. It's crucial to consult with healthcare professionals for a comprehensive migraine management plan that may include hypnotherapy as part of a holistic approach. 

Managing tensions effectively with hypnosis

Oftentimes, people get migraine headaches after a long day of work or after a very stressful day. This is because anxiety and tension can trigger migraine and affect physical well-being. Whether it’s about managing daily stress or ongoing stress about an important topic, hypnotherapy can help release these tensions.

During hypnosis, we get a chance to view events from a different perspective. Moreover, hypnosis facilitates dissociation from the stressors, making it easier to let go of overwhelming thoughts. Your hypnotherapist can use release techniques, imagery journeys, or direct suggestions to accomplish this.

Relaxation with hypnosis

Physical tension and stress go hand in hand. When we are stressed, we tend to squeeze our muscles more and the body is tense as well, triggering migraine headaches. Often deep physical relaxation can help with migraine relief.

Hypnosis, itself is a very relaxed state. When deeply comforted during hypnosis, we can recondition the mind for a relaxation response rather than building and holding on to tensions. Additionally, hypnosis is also helpful to train the mind to create inner relaxation.

Hypnosis can help with long-term migraine relief by retraining the mind and conditioning the subconscious mind for a relaxation response.

Reconditioning the triggers with hypnosis

Everyone has a different trigger for migraines. Sometimes they can even sense that migraine headaches will settle in very soon. Long-term migraine relief is possible by eliminating these triggers.

Whatever your trigger is, it’s certainly embedded in the subconscious mind. This is why subconscious work like hypnosis can be very helpful. Identifying those triggers and replacing them with positive and more helpful responses can lead to long-term migraine relief.

Improving mind-body connection

The mind is capable of controlling, and healing the body. How many times did you feel like you were going to get sick, and you got sick?! Or how many times you didn’t expect pain, and you did not feel pain in return? These are all examples of how we constantly affect our physical well-being with our mind power.

When someone experiences migraines, most likely, there has been mind-body disconnection. Hypnosis allows us to take back control subconsciously. By using powerful hypnotic techniques such as visualization, we can imagine improved connection and a sense of control over migraines.

Finding the root cause with hypnosis

If your body is triggering migraines for no apparent physical cause, the reasoning may be deeper, in the subconscious mind. The body can hold on to emotional tensions and reflect them as physical symptoms. These tensions disturb the energetical regulation of the body, causing disruptions in the natural flow of energy.

Most of the negative tensions, events, or trauma eventually get suppressed subconsciously, especially if they are not processed effectively. Whether you are aware of it or not, hypnosis can help identify the cause of the issue and help process it effectively. In the end, the natural energetical and emotional flow of the body can be restored.

Self-hypnosis for migraine

Self-hypnosis is a powerful hypnotic technique that’s similar to meditation. It is a light state of hypnosis, one induces in themselves. Especially if it’s used regularly, it can be really helpful with many issues such as pain management, stress reduction, improving habits, or sleeping better. You can read more about how self-hypnosis can help you in my previous article by clicking here. 

Self-hypnosis is also a very effective tool for migraine relief. It can be used in a variety of ways. One is to manage daily stress more effectively to avoid migraine headaches. Another way is inducing physical and mental relaxation during the onset of migraines. And finally, it can be used to improve the mind-body connection subconsciously.

Keep in mind that self-hypnosis is not a one-and-done game. Especially since you are the one who is working on yourself, it’s important to be on top of your practice and use your tools regularly. There are a few different ways of doing self-hypnosis. You can join one of my self-hypnosis classes by clicking here!

Success rates of hypnosis for migraines

The effectiveness of hypnosis relies on a few variables such as one’s belief about hypnosis, the hypnotherapist, willpower, commitment to the process, and ability to allow hypnosis as a technique to help. Therefore, hypnosis is a technique that works on the majority of people but may not work on some.

There is plenty of research about how helpful hypnosis can be for migraine headaches. For example, in one systematic review, 8 studies that included nonpharmaceutical techniques such as hypnosis, visualization, and relaxation, were reviewed. The review concluded that these holistic techniques are very promising and can be very helpful for long and short-term migraine relief.

Another review that was published in the Journal of Clinical and Experiential Hypnosis, reported hypnosis as an effective treatment for migraines and added that it poses no side effects, no risk for adverse reactions, and no ongoing expense for medical interventions.

The list goes on and on. Overall, it’s fair to say that hypnotherapy is an effective technique for long and short-term migraine relief without any side effects.

All in all

In conclusion, managing migraines in the long term requires a holistic approach, and hypnotherapy can be a valuable element in this journey. By addressing both symptoms and underlying factors, hypnotherapy offers a unique approach to creating inner relaxation and reducing stress. Consulting healthcare professionals for a comprehensive management plan is essential, but integrating hypnotherapy can provide a holistic outlet for enhancing overall well-being in the face of migraine challenges.