Hypnosis reduces length of stay, drug use

Hypnosis may be more than just parlor tricks. New research from Belgium shows that hypnosis, combined with local anesthesia, can reduce length of stay and use of post-surgery opioid drugs in breast cancer and thyroid surgical patients, reports U.S. News & World Report. Compared to general anesthesia alone, the combined local anesthesia and hypnosis method sped up the healing process. "There is still a lot of debate around the exact mechanism that allows hypnosis to reduce pain perception," said study author and Professor Fabienne Roelants in an European Anaesthesiology Congress news release, "but what is absolutely clear is that it does so." Article