Vitality News Health Articles

Pain is explained as an annoying feeling that can range from slight, localized discomfort to unrelenting torment. This sensation consists of both physiological and psychological aspects. This experience frequently causes a lack of activity and energy. People experience exhaustion and psychologically miserable. The pain response can adversely affect work, home, and interpersonal relationships.

When injury occurs, the body releases hormones that tell the brain that something is wrong. The brain receives this message as injury, and warns the body of the injury. The individual then acts in response to the painful signal, and acts to relieve it. Often, however, the brain receives a painful signal when there is no physical injury. This happens when the sensation has a psychological, rather than a real, origin.

One way to relieve painful feelings is with medications. Non-narcotic medications, such as Tylenol or Aspirin, stop the body from discharging messages responsible for notifying the brain of physical injury. Narcotic medicines, in comparison, signal the brain and tell them that the injury has been addressed. Narcotics, like Demerol and codeine, are sometimes very addictive and result in dependency in those who take them for long periods as pain management strategies.

The body also releases substances called endorphins. These are natural painkillers, given off by the brain’s cells to advise the body that it does not hurt. Runners, for instance, release endorphins while running long distances; this is where the “runner’s high” sometimes referred to originates. People who like to participate in other sports report the same endorphin high. On occasion, athletes can compete despite pain because of the existence of these endorphins in their bodies.

Painful experiences can also be treated by through the use of distraction, or guided visualization. Persons are helped to concentrate on a mental picture or to think of a secure and comfortable setting that offers freedom from the hurt they are experiencing. Another distraction technique involves the use of music or other activities. These approaches can be used to help patients experiencing ongoing lower back pain.

Clients frequently experience relief with hypnosis and Neuro-Linguistic programming approaches. These natural pain relief procedures often help people to obtain relief from many long-term conditions, such as migraines and other chronic, disabling headaches or throbbing neck pain. A large number of people can significantly decrease, or completely stop taking medications as a result of these techniques.

Traditional hypnotherapy pain alleviation techniques work best for persons who respond to post-hypnotic suggestions. A skilled hypnotist helps the person to go into a very relaxed state. During this time, the client is very aware of the suggestions being offered by the professional.

The hypnotherapist can encourage the client to focus on other activities or tasks, and that distraction will diminish any feeling of unease. Indeed, just the use of the word discomfort during a hypnotic session instead of the use of the word pain can greatly reduce any perception of pain. Most clients report amazing outcomes, and they can be coached to practice self-hypnosis for pain relief to gain personal control of their situations.

More analytical persons usually require either Ericksonian hypnotherapy or NLP to bypass their conscious resistance to suggestion.

The hypnotherapeutic approach to pain treatment can also be employed to train the brain to discharge endorphins that can induce light anesthesia, sometimes known as analgesia. This state can also be used to coach women to have their children through natural childbirth without the use of medicines that may hurt the baby. It also can help provide natural arthritis pain relief in chronic sufferers.

Hypnosis may also be used to induce total anesthesia in some individuals. This is referred to in medical literature as hypnoanesthesia. Long before general anesthesia became popularly available to patients, many surgeons performed major surgery using hypnoanesthesia.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) can be used to assist people who think critically and analytically. Professionals help clients to perfect a very beneficial technique used by NLP, called the ‘Flash’. This technique permits people to train their subconscious minds to automatically avoid a painful feeling, and to focus on thoughts that will create peace and calm. Those who have learned this strategy discover that they are no longer capable of focusing on the pain, because their thoughts instantly replace it for thoughts that produce comfort.

Both NLP and hypnotherapy are new treatments that offer entirely natural strategies for relieving pain. They assist people to avoid taking pain medicine or reduce their dependence on these drugs. Both persons who are very open to suggestion and clients who are critical thinkers can be treated with these types of programs. Furthermore, both have been found to be very useful in assisting people to experience respite from their pain.

Currently, many approaches can be used to this manner of therapy. Experts routinely charge between $150.00 and $200.00 per hour. Any person who has sought out this type of healing approach can verify that the price required was definitely worth it. A more affordable treatment strategy, however may be purchasing one of the highly reputable hypnotherapy CD programs that are available.

Summary: People experience both physiological and psychological pain. Multiple treatments can be considered; including narcotic and non-narcotic pain medicines, as well as guided visualization and distraction strategies. The most consistently effective techniques for relieving pain, however, are Neuro-Linguistic Programming and hypnosis.

Alan B. Densky is an NGH certified Hypnotherapist. He has developed a very effective migraine and headache relief self hypnosis program. His Neuro-VISION NLP site also offers a free video self-hypnosis blog, MP3 downloads, and a comprehensive hypnosis article repository.

- Alan B. Densky, CH