There is mounting evidence that general anesthesia (GA) is not the benign procedure that most anesthetists would have us believe. Several studies have shown that GA seriously suppresses the immune system and that people who have had GA are more likely to develop Parkinson’s and  Alzheimer’s disease later in life.

British and Belgian doctors now report that hypnotherapy may be a viable alternative to GA. It is about time. As a qualified hypnotherapist I have been very disappointed to see the reluctance within the medical profession generally to adopt practices that have been successfully used by some members for decades.

According to reports in New Scientist, August 6, 2005, pp. 34-37, anesthetists in Liege Hospital routinely use a procedure they call "hypnosedation". This involves combining hypnosis with local anesthesia and a small dose of painkiller. They have found hypnosedation to be an effective alternative to GA and so far, have used it in over 4800 major and minor surgical operations.

They have found hypnosedation is also associated with much shorter recovery times. The Liege team compared the recovery times for 20 patients undergoing thyroid surgery under hypnosedation with the same number of patients undergoing the same procedure using GA. Whereas the hypnosedation patients returned to work an average of 10 days after their surgery, it took the GA patients 36 days to fully recover.

Neuroscientists who have studied the effects of hypnosedation on the brain estimate that the technique would be effective in as many as 80% of surgical patients. I would estimate that it should be at least that number.

Many years ago, during professional hypnosis training, I saw an excellent film produced by Upjohn, in which a cesarian section was performed with hypnoanesthesia as the sole pain relief. The surgeon was also the hypnotherapist and he recounted the mutitude of benefits associated with the approach. I won't list them all here; my point is simply that the many very real and substantial benefits offered by hypnoanesthesia over drug-based general anesthesia have been well known and thoroughly demonstrated for quite some time.

My wife vividly recalls being in a cardiothoracic operating room at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital assisting in an insertion of pacemaker procedure performed totally under hypnosis for pain relief. The important benefit here was that the patient was considered to be too ill for an anesthetic and would otherwise not have been offered the pacemaker. Hypnosis made this possible and it was in the late 1970s.

Yes, hypnotherapy is most definitely an effective alternative to general anesthesia. Unfortunately, I think you will still find very strong resistance to its use from both the wider medical profession and the drug companies.