Yesterday’s Today Show had a segment on hypnosis for pain relief. It was really a good segment, I was pleased. It was not that long ago, you see that the Today Show totally ignored the role that hypnosis played in the helping a young client of mine stop a long term physical ailment. (See my previous blog on Secondary Gains.)

Ironically, I just had a client come to me with a prescription for hypnosis from her doctor, for pain relief. (A good hypnotist will not do pain relief without a doctor writing a prescription for the best interest of the client.) The doctor was delighted to write the ‘script. She sat in the chair in my office and said she couldn’t take much more pain. On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being the least and 10 being the most) she rated her pain right up there at a 10. Slowly, we reduced the pain, until we were able to reach a level of 1! Then she enjoyed the feelings of being pain free. Really enjoyed it. The messages of pain were replaced with messages of comfort in her mind. We gave her the ability to recall this comfort whenever it was needed and appropriate. She practically danced out of my office. I record sessions and give the recordings to my clients for use at another time.

Dr. Nancy Snyderman summed up the segment by saying that when she went to medical school the body – mind connection was ignored, but now that has changed. Medicine has come full circle, she said. Through hypnosis we separate the pain center from the “inner being”. Thank you, Today Show!