Hypnosis for Minor Surgical Procedures.

Patients attending accident and casualty departments often present anaesthetic problems. They are usually unaccompanied, have recently had a meal and may be shocked. A full stomach means a delay of several hours before a general anaesthetic can be administered. Various measures have been used to overcome these difficulties, for example Pearson (1960) advocated the use of intravenous pethidine. Hypnosis has been used in the treatment of asthma (Edwards, 1960), skin conditions (Wink, 1961), in obstetrics and gynaecology (Perchard, 1960; Green-Armytage, 1960) and in general medicine (Hastings, 1961). Such treatment has taken place over a period, with many sessions with the hypnotist. In the present series of forty-one cases all patients were treated in one session, without previous conditioning. All patients suffered from conditions requiring minor surgical procedures. Four patients who refused hypnosis and fourteen patients who could not be traced are not included in the series. The cases were selected at random, patients being given the offer of hypnosis whilst waiting for a general anaesthetic which usually could only be given after a few hours delay, until the stomach had emptied.