Narcosis: Is it better with hypnosis or can it even be done with hypnosis alone?

Narcosis is actually short for "being under anesthesia." It means you are completely sedated so that a surgeon can operate on you without causing you pain. Narcosis is given with narcotic medication that causes you to become unconscious and unable to move during surgery. This prevents sudden movement and the objects used during surgery from accidentally causing serious damage. In the process, you won't remember anything about it either if it is performed correctly. In this blog I go into more detail about what anesthesia is, how hypnosis can help and if hypnosis can even replace it altogether

How does hypnosis work?

There are two types of anesthesia: local and general. With local anesthesia, the signals transmitted by your nerves are blocked, so you feel nothing in that area. This is often used at the dentist’s office and as an epidural during childbirth, making the experience relatively painless.

There are also surgeries where it’s better to be under general anesthesia. In that case, you’ll be given medication that puts you unconscious and prevents you from having a psychological reaction when you’re being cut open. This way, your body produces less or no stress hormones, and your blood pressure and heart rate remain stable.

Because you become so unconscious that you may eventually stop breathing during surgery as well, you are usually put on life support so that you can easily survive the surgery. You will be given a flexible tube in your airway for this purpose, because of this you may have some discomfort in your throat after surgery[1].

Generally, propofol is used for general anesthesia, for inducing and keeping anesthesia. In the process, you may also be administered sleep aids and muscle relaxants. These are usually beta blockers.

If you are allergic to the narcotic, you can also get ketamine, but that can cause you to trip (generally a fun trip, especially in children).

After surgery, you will experience pain from the incision; you’ll usually be given morphine to manage it.

Side effects of anesthesia

Once you have recovered from anesthesia, you may continue to experience side effects for a while, which include:

• Dizziness
• Confusion
• Memory loss (amnesia)
• Difficulty urinating
• Bruising or pain where you had a drip
• Nausea
• Vomiting (almost immediately after waking up)
• Vibrate
• Feeling cold
• Sore, hoarse throat due to ventilation

Local anesthesia through an epidural can leave you partially paralyzed if it is inserted incorrectly.

Long-term side effects

If you happen to be one of those 30,000 people who are somewhat aware of what’s happening during the surgery—usually just hearing sounds and nothing else—you may still end up with trauma as a result. Of course, you don’t expect that to happen, so it can be incredibly shocking.

Narcosis with hypnosis

James Braid was the first man to use hypnosis during surgery around 1840 when mainly liquor and opiates were used as anesthesia. Since this was not always available, such as during an emergency job, he experimented with the mental state people are in and whether he could somehow change it. This was incredibly successful.

Because there are now other narcotics, hypnosis has again become somewhat "off," but as more and more people do not want to be under the influence of medication or suffer from side effects, it is becoming more popular again. The fact that hypnosis itself does not cost any money also helps.

Hypnosis is already used in hospitals to help you stay calm before surgery and to promote recovery after surgery.

During childbirth, it is also recommended to use hypnosis for greater control and pain management. This can, of course, be used in addition to other forms of local anesthesia[2].

Children are often put under full anesthesia because they often have difficulty sitting still. However, research shows that local anesthesia with hypnosis for children between the ages of 6 and 16 can also work very well against anxiety and to control pain. The more beneficial the treatment was, the more hypnotizable the children were[3].

Hypnosis can be used very well before and after general anesthesia and in addition to local anesthesia.

Hypnotic Anesthesia

For minor surgery and people who are well hypnotizable, you can even perform the surgery using only hypnosis as the "anesthetic"[4].

Anesthesiologists and hypnosis

So hypnosis in surgery is certainly an option, but how do the people who would then have to induce the anesthesia or hypnosis view it? A survey of anesthesiologists, trainers and anesthesiologist assistants found that about 30% had knowledge of hypnosis and 70% said their knowledge was below average or simply nonexistent.

About 42% of respondents felt that positive hypnotic suggestions have a place in clinical anesthesia. Some 41% indicated that reasons for not applying hypnosis in anesthetizing people was that it takes too much time and that you need special training to do so. But 2% of the respondents indicated that hypnosis could not be used in anesthesia.

The survey does show that a very large majority of anesthesiologists are open to positive suggestions, even more than hypnosis even[5]. But of course, this can come across better with hypnosis.

How does hypnosis for anesthesia work?

Before anesthesia, hypnosis primarily helps alleviate the fear of anesthesia. This is achieved, among other things, through positive suggestions. What these suggestions are depends on your beliefs about anesthesia or the surgery.

These suggestions help you stay calm and reduce stress, making the anesthesia more effective and numbing you better. You then often need less medication, have less nausea after surgery and experience less fatigue.

Suggestions may include:

"Your body will do anything to get better."

"Surgery helps your body get better."

"Being sick means your body is working hard to make you healthier."

These are just examples of positive suggestions. Depending on your beliefs about your condition, surgery or anesthesia, you may receive other suggestions for surgery.

In addition, hypnosis before surgery can help you relax. This is done, for example, with a guided visualization about falling asleep and being in safe hands.

How does hypnosis work as anesthesia?

With hypnosis as anesthesia or in combination with anesthesia, it is very important to have good focus to stay in self-hypnosis. The main goal now is to stay still and exercise control over your sense of pain.

For self-hypnosis, it is important to relax properly. You consciously relax your muscles, ensure even breathing and close your eyes. Some people notice in their trance that they are actually looking upward while having their eyes closed.

You can also often listen to an mp3 to better retain the self-hypnosis.

In addition, you can visualize how to still have control over pain. This is often done by practicing controlling some sort of volume knob or something similar.

This is something you can combine well with surgery with local anesthesia.

Hypnosis after anesthesia

After anesthesia, you recover and may be disoriented for a while. That disorientation can be quite exciting, in which case hypnosis can help you stay calm. This is often done through a guided visualization where you wake up in a pleasant place where you feel completely safe.

So hypnosis and anesthesia is a combination that makes quite a bit of sense for many anesthesiologists. At the moment, however, it is still recommended to always have minimal local anesthesia, and for some larger surgeries, full anesthesia is simply best.

However, if you would rather not have anesthesia or not be completely sedated, it is best to ask the hospital if they are familiar with hypnosis and if it can be used.

Would you like to learn more about how hypnosis works and whether you can put people under hypnosis? Then come to the hypnosis workshop. Would you like to learn techniques right away that will help you assist people in coping with pain or other problems? Then sign up for one of our training programs right away. Ask about the online options if that suits you better.

[1] https://www.livescience.com/33731-anesthesia-work.html

[2] https://journals.lww.com/mcnjournal/Abstract/2002/11000/Self_Hypnosis__Alternative_Anesthesia_for.7.aspx

[3] https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2006-05891-007

[4] https://europepmc.org/abstract/med/27575449

[5] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00029157.2015.1136589