Hypnosurgery Live

The history of hypnotism in surgery

During the early days of ether, surgeons often used hypnosis to accompany their crude anaesthetic. In the 21st century, these ideas are being re-visited.

Hypnotism in surgery is widely used in other parts of the world (eg Belgium), yet it remains at the outer margins of acceptance by the medical profession in the UK. However, an increasing number of healthcare professionals believe hypnotism can be an alternative to anaesthetic in surgery, aid mothers in childbirth and hypnosis in the dentist chair is on the increase.

In the past, hypnosurgery been practised rarely and by very few. The greatest proponent during the 20th century was the late Irish surgeon, Jack Gibson, who performed hundreds of operations in the 1950s and 1960s using just hypnosis, including setting bones, treating first-degree burns, plastic surgery and even leg amputations.

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