Pain & Hypnosis
by
Dennis K. Chong & Jennifer K. Smith Chong ©
(In
this paper, the male pronoun will to apply either gender. Where the plural
pronoun is used, it will apply to both authors. Where the nominal pronoun is
used, it will apply to the first author.)
A
patient recentlyJanuary 2000 came to me complaining of pain. This
was the distribution of her pain as she indexed it to me:
Pain – very sore & warm
like sharp knife
Pain, very sore & warm
like sharp knife
It
was and is very interesting for me to recall that when I had completed drawing
what she described and pointed out me, that I just blurted out spontaneously,
“It is all in your mind.” The oddest part of it was that she did not take
offense at this.
It
then hit home to me what I had said. It was not that it was in her mind but
that pain is ALWAYS in the mind. What is the logical basis for
this?
The
logical basis for this is based on what we know from Neuro-Anatomy and
Neuro-Physiology. Let us consider the relationship between two people:
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For A
to see B there has to be light. So let there be diffuse light. From the field
of Optics we know that A is now able to see B because of the cone of light from
B to A.
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The
photons will impinge on the retina from which the electrical impulse will
travel along the Optic Nerve to the visual cortex1. There it will be
registered. However, A does not see B
in his head. He does so “out there”:
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Therefore
what he sees “out there” is A’s perception of B:
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It
also follows since the perception can only be perceived in the cortex AFTER the electrical impulse has impacted on the visual
neurones, what A sees is a MEMORY of B.
Between
actuality and memory, between the reality and virtual reality, between the
territory and the map there is an interface:
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Let
us now suppose B speaks to A:
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The
ear drum will vibrate when the sound waves impinge on it. In turn, the three
little bones of the middle ear will move and increase the amplitude of the
sound waves. The last bone, the Stapes will pump the fluid of the Cochlear that
will in turn sweep its hair cells. This generates an electrical impulse that
will travel along the Auditory Nerve. The nerve impulses will be distributed to
the auditory cortex which we shall represent schematically below:
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By
the same logic, what was valid for vision the same applies for audition. A does
not hear B in his head. He hears B “out there.” What he hears is his perception
of what B says. And since it has to be registered in the auditory cortex first,
then what A hears is only a memory of what B had said.
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Let
us now consider the general sensorium3. B touches A as shown:
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From
the point of contact, X, the sensation travels up the spinal cord to be registered
in the sensory cortex of the brain as schematically represented.
However,
the touch it not felt in the brain but it is localized to the site of contact.
By the same logic, since it has to be registered in the brain first then what
is experienced is a memory.
All
sensory information are percepts and they are all memories. They are all
registered in the brain. However, they are localized outside of the brain. It
is “AS IF” they are sensed from their loci of origin.
“AS IF” is NOT
IT. If the logic of this holds
true then PAIN is not something that is out there. It is a thing of the brain.
It is in actuality felt in the mind.
It is
for this that what was once an incredible mystery has its explication. In 1968,
I was the Casualty House Officer in the Emergency Room of St. James’ University
Hospital in Leeds. A woman was brought in by ambulance. It was immediately
obvious by visual inspection that she had a right Potts fracture. However, this
woman was screaming in pain. I found her screaming so utterly distressing that
I issued the order that she receive a stat dose of Morphine 1/4 grain with
Phenergan 25 mg. She was wheeled to X-Ray screaming in pain. In due time she
returned to the emergency room, still screaming in pain. I was informed that
whilst she was in the X-Ray Department, she continued to scream in pain.
The
X-Rays were brought to me. There was NO
fracture!
I
felt such an idiot.
I
marched up to her with the X-Rays. In the most controlled way possible, I
showed her the X-Rays. I told her that the lump was a haematoma. She gradually
settled down in disbelief. She grudgingly stopped her screaming. I could not
wait to discharge from the Emergency Room. The entire complement of Emergency
Room staff was more than eager to see her go together with whatever soporofic
benefits the morphine might have had for her.
It is
all in the mind and it is a memory.
If
this is so then the memory can be manipulated.
We now show you a VHS video of such a
manipulation.
So
now, how is the pain to be managed? Is it to be by a continuing endless
prescriptions of powerful narcotics or by repeated and never ending spinal
nerve blocks.
We
know from our research and clinical work that we can take a person into surgery
and the person will feel no pain throughout the entire operation by the use of
Hypnosis (ref The Knife Without Pain C-Jade Publications, Inc. 1994).
We
have remitted the pain that was suffered by cancer patients by Hypnosis.
We
once attended a case referred to us by Dr. Gerald Fulton, a specialist in
Physical Medicine. The patient was a male age 35. He had fallen from a height
onto his left should. As a consequence he had a comminuted left shoulder
fracture. Following surgical repair the man complained of an intractable
ongoing pain in the shoulder. A final solution was applied to secure pain
relief for the man. It was to fuse his shoulder joint. When he recovered from
the operation he was left with a pain worse than before. It was then
subsequently decided to send him to see us.
We
extended the model of pain control by Hypnosis for surgery to his condition.
The man is pain free today.
However,
we know that the manouevre will not succeed if the person has a secondary
investment in having the pain, e.g. a litigation, a possible disability pension
or an insurance claim.
One
day, one Dr. Brain from MacMaster rang me to advise me that one Mrs. Ruth
Renpenning had come into MacMaster Hospital. She was now terminal from her
Multiple Myeloma. He told me that nothing they prescribed was doing anything
for her pain. He had been advised by her that Jennifer and I had worked with
her. He was wondering if there was anything we could do for her.
We
said we would come and see what we could do provided that from midnight she
would not receive any narcotic drugs even if she begged for it. After our work,
we quietly left as she was fast asleep.
It
was summer and it was my custom to rest in my backyard. About 5.30 p.m., Jack
her husband came by the house into our backyard to see me. He knew that I would
be there.
After
the initial greetings I asked her how she was. He said that she continued to
sleep for about another half hour. When she woke she rang for a nurse who came
rushing in asking if she wanted a needle. She said no. She said that ever since
she had been admitted she always had to use a bedpan. She wanted to go to the
bathroom. As she felt a bit unsteady she
wondered if the nurse would support into the bath room.
Ruth
Renpenning was pain free from that moment on. She was discharged from
MacMaster. She was never to require a narcotic pain drug again. She was to die
peacefully and quietly in her home.
I
was to receive a testimonial from her about my work. It was addressed: TO WHOM
IT MAY CONCERN.
So,
what is pain?
It
is a memory! Its true locus is in the kinaesthetic cortex of the brain. For
this it is in the mind. It can be remitted:
