Hypnosurgery

Hypnosurgery is the term given to an operation where the patient is sedated using hypnotherapy rather than traditional anaesthetics. It is still in its experimental stages, and not widely used. Only a few successful cases have been reported. Chemical anesthesia is still the standard of care, mainly because of its high reliability and the fact that it's more complete, i.e. while hypnosurgery patients will almost always feel some pain, patients under general anesthesia are completely unaware of the operation.

During hypnosurgery, a hypnotist helps the patient control their subconcious reflexes so that they do not feel pain in the traditional sense. Patients are aware of sensation as the operation progresses and often describe a tingling or tickling sensation when pain would normally be expected.

The main benefit of hypnosurgery is that there are fewer side effects, and generally a patient can leave hospital sooner than if normal anaesthetics are used. A reduction in blood loss and post-operative nausea have also been recorded. It should be noted, however, that further studies are being performed and that hypnosurgery is not suitable for all patients.

In April 2006, the British television channel More4 broadcast a live hernia hypnosurgery operation.