Reducing HEADACHES Using HYPNOSIS.

For almost five years in the mid-nineties, I was employed in the office of a couple of holistic physicians. They would refer patients to me for the "mind" portion of mind-body medicine. Although the sign on my door read Stress Management, I incorporated elements of relaxation, visualization, and self-hypnosis. In an average session, a portion would be assessing habits, current coping strategies and general state of mind, determining how open the client was to direct and overt hypnotic procedure. The following is a case involving the use of a hypnotic intervention for pain management, inspired by the approach of Dr. Milton Erickson, and that of Dr. Ernest Rossi.

In a brief preparatory meeting with the physician making the referral, I was informed that "Marge" had been a patient of his for some time, and that she suffered from frequent chronic headaches (including migraines). The doctor had had some limited success in treating Marge with acupuncture, and thought that stress management, and/or hypnosis would be worth exploring as an additional modality. An additional interesting piece of information was that Marge had just returned from a 10-day vacation in the Caribbean, where she had been headache-free for the entire period.

When "Marge" arrived at my office, I observed an attractive, well-dressed woman in perhaps her mid-forties. Facial musculature was tight, and there were references to how difficult it was for her to fit in our appointment, due to her busy schedule, but the doctor had strongly recommended it.

After some initial briefing about hypnosis and myself in general (the pre-frame), I asked how long the headaches had been going on. "Marge" informed me that she had been getting them ever since she was in grade school. When I asked what kinds of headaches, she said, "All kinds, including migraines." Asked how frequently, she replied, "At least once a week, and sometimes just about every day."

I dutifully jotted down notes as she answered my questions, then looked her in the eyes, smiled and said, "So, you're pretty good at giving yourself headaches." The patient appeared initially confused, not sure which direction I was going. I continued to emanate sincerity and care, so as to disarm any notions of my being sarcastic or unfeeling.

Next I asked "Marge" how she was feeling at that moment. She told me that she had just had an acupuncture treatment less than an hour ago and was actually feeling pain-free. I told her that was too bad, but that I would try to work with her anyway. At this point, the confusion technique was in second gear.

A simple, direct induction involving eye closure and attention to breathing was utilized. But before doing this, I asked the seated "Marge" to hold out her arm straight in front of her. She was directed to regard this hand as a lever that her unconscious would move to indicate how much pain she was experiencing at that moment; present position, straight out being 0 (complete absence of pain) on a scale from 0 to 100. Arm straight up 100 would indicate that she was experiencing pain equal to the worst headache she ever experienced.

Then I asked "Marge" if she would give herself a headache, now! Her eyes popped open and she started to laugh. She said, "You're crazy. I've been to dozens of specialists and they've all tried to make my headaches go away. You're the first and only therapist I've consulted who has asked me to create them."

I laughed along with her and then said, "That's right. And even though you've been to dozens of specialists and they've tried many different tactics to make your headaches go away, you still suffer from them. So, trust me and try something else."

"Marge" closed her eyes and returned to an inward trance state, still shaking her head slightly and mumbling, "I don't know how to do this." I encouraged her to think of other times when she had felt the beginnings of a headache. She nodded and after a couple of minutes her arm started floating up.

She said, "Okay, if I tighten the muscles in my neck and shoulders a bit, my head is beginning to hurt."

"What number would you say it is?" I asked.

"Oh, maybe 10 or 15...." she replied.

"Is that all?" I asked. "See if you can remember a really bad headache now, and bring that number up."

During the next ten minutes, "Marge" was able to get up to about 25 or 30. At one point, I said, "So, I understand you just got back from a vacation in the Caribbean." At that point her hand dropped noticeably. I pointed that out to her and gently brought her out of trance.

While she was still in the in-between state, blinking her eyes and trying to understand with her conscious mind what had been going on, I rose and walked over to a table lamp. "See," I said, pointing to the switch, "one switch turns it on and off. If you find where the switch is to turn it on, you can also turn the lamp off."

Subsequent conversations dealt with childhood and current life "secondary gains," i.e. what were the benefits that "Marge" experienced through her headaches. During childhood she was, not surprisingly, given preferential treatment from mother and allowed to stay home from school. Now, in her overly committed and frantic life as a mother and businesswoman, headaches offered a surefire excuse to take time off and rest.

Over the next two sessions, "Marge" was encouraged to practice brief sessions of self-hypnosis on a daily basis for purposes of relaxation and stress management, and b) to use those times to ask her unconscious to help come up with other ways that she could treat herself well and take time off without the headaches.

Although the presenting symptom never disappeared completely, as a result of the short series of sessions, "Marge" was able to reduce significantly both frequency and intensity of the headaches that had been a lifelong source of suffering for her.

Peter Blum, C. Ht., P.O. Box 1027, Woodstock, NY 12498 914-247-8839, www.Entranceways.com

Editors note: Peter Blum, C. Ht. and member of IMDHA will present a two-day Specialty Certification Workshop using Erickson's methods. Mr. Blum is one of the premier educators of Ericksonian Hypnotherapy in the USA. This is highly recommended for everyone and open to the public. Please see page I to obtain detailed information.