Hypnotic Mirrors and Phantom Pain: a Single Case Study

Using hypnosis, two main approaches to modifying phantom limb pain experience can be identified: ipsative imagery, which makes use of the patient’s own imaginative interpretation of how the pain is generated, and a simulated movement approach. The latter approach shares many similarities with the ‘mirror’ technique recently advocated and used by Ramachandran (in non-hypnotic settings) to create the experience of movement and in some (but not all cases) relief from pain in patients with a phantom limb. In this case study, we report the use of a hypnotically induced ‘virtual’ mirror experience that modified long standing intractable phantom limb pain despite generating a qualitatively inferior experience of movement in the phantom limb compared to that produced with an actual mirror. These preliminary findings suggest that the use of hypnotic movement imagery for the management of phantom limb pain is worth further investigation both in terms of its comparative ease of use and because of its potential for informing discussion as to the possible neurocognitive mechanisms involved.