Hypnosurgery

Hypnosurgery is surgery performed while the patient is sedated using hypnotherapy rather than conventional chemical anesthetics. The technique dates to the 1840s and is associated with the surgeon James Braid, who developed it after watching public demonstrations of mesmerism and concluding that the effects being observed came from the subject own focus and concentration rather than any magnetic force. An early recorded case involved the French surgeon Jules Germain Cloquet, reported to have removed a breast tumor from a patient under hypnosis, and during the Second World War the surgeon Michael Woodruff and colleagues used hypnosis as their only anesthetic at a prisoner-of-war hospital in Singapore after occupying forces had severely restricted chemical anesthetic supplies. Modern use remains rare; a 2013 case at the University of Padova in Italy used hypnosis as the sole anesthesia for removal of a skin tumor in a patient with multiple chemical sensitivity. There is insufficient evidence to support the effectiveness of hypnosis for managing pain in most other clinical settings, including childbirth and recovery after surgery.