Mental training for pain

Description

Mental training for pain
In the 1960s, Lars-Eric Uneståhl founded the Department of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis at Uppsala University, a department where, over a ten-year period, some 50 studies were conducted on the effects of alternative states of consciousness on both physical and ”mental” functions.
One of these areas of research was pain, including how the experience of pain changed through hypnosis, self-hypnosis and mental training. As an example, Lars-Eric Uneståhl used ”loss of reaction to electric shock stimulation” as a criterion for ”spontaneous trance”.”

Clinical studies
This eventually led to the methods being tested in various clinical contexts. Lars-Eric Uneståhl began collaborating with Associate Professor Basil Finer, and a series of operations were performed at Samariterhemmet in Uppsala using self-hypnosis as the sole method of pain relief.
Eventually, self-hypnosis and mental training became common pain relief methods, for example in connection with antenatal care and childbirth. At the same time, we launched a number of studies to investigate the effect of these methods on chronic pain. Through systematic training, even patients with severe chronic pain conditions were able to learn to manage and control their pain. At the pain clinics that were established around the country, self-hypnosis and mental training became an important tool in the arsenal of methods, and in some places, special services such as ”mental trainers” were established.

Self-training
To facilitate the work at these clinics and to facilitate home training, which became an important part of the treatment, I created a number of self-instructional training programmes. Among the evaluations that have been made of these programmes are those carried out at Helsingborg Hospital, where Hans Olsson has been employed as a mental trainer since the early 1990s. In a number of research reports, Olsson has reported significant and lasting effects even on patients who have suffered from pain for many years. However, not everyone with pain problems has the privilege of receiving treatment at a pain clinic. I have therefore decided to make these training programmes available to anyone who needs and is interested in them. This is done, among other things, through this training programme.

Acute and chronic pain
This training programme includes two programmes for acute pain and two programmes for chronic pain. These programmes are not structured in a series but can be used independently of each other. However, each of these programmes will be significantly more effective if you first complete the training known as ”Basic Mental Training”. If you have not trained mentally before, I therefore recommend that you complete the four programmes in the training programme called ”Basic Mental Training” before starting this training programme.