Chicago: According to U.S. scientists, women who had hypnosis before breast cancer operation wanted less anesthesia, and experienced less fallouts as compared to those who got counseling as a substitute.

Guy Monygomery of Mount Sinai School of Medicine on New York stated, “This is a randomized clinical trial of 200 patients that really showed beneficial effects for patients. It really works well.”

While hypnosis was used to control the amputations pain in India over 150 years ago, its use is still not routine.
"It has this baggage," Montgomery told in a telephone interview..

The hypnosis used in the study was not of the spinning watch variety popularized by carnival side shows. One hour before breast cancer surgery, 100 women received hypnosis for 15 minutes and the remaining had counseling session of 15 minutes with a psychologist.

The study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute shows that the women who underwent hypnosis needed less anesthesia during surgery, and also reported less pain afterward and their operations took less time. They spent 11 minutes less in surgery, amounting to $773 per patient in reduced surgical costs.

Montgomery said patients first needed to be debunked of any misunderstandings.
"We’re not going to make you cluck like a chicken or sing like Madonna. Hypnosis is not mind control. It’s more like focused attention,” he said.

"At the end, we make suggestions for reduced pain," Montgomery said the point was to set expectations for reduced pain. "It's not magic. But it will make you feel better," he added.

In a commentary section in the same journal, Dr. David Spiegel of Stanford University School of Medicine wrote, “You have to pay attention to pain for it to hurt, and it is entirely possible to substantially alter pain perception during surgical procedures by inducing hypnotic relaxation.”