Lifestyle factors such as postmal habits - lengthy telephone use and video games - or environmental chemicals can all contribute to pain. And pain comes in varying forms. It may be aching, beating, caustic, grinding, hot, itchy, penetrating, sharp, tearing or twisting. It can be short or long lasting. Sometimes it is dominant, and at other times it will be sporadic. Whatever form it is in, pain has to be managed. Doctors are usually the first source of help. Alternatively the sufferer may seek alternative modalities. Hypno-therapy is one such source.

When a patient presents symptoms of pain, it is very important for doctors and dentists to evaluate more than the biophysical aspects of pain. Patients with chronic pain may require multidimensional assessment. This may even take into account the physical-sensory, behavioral, affective, interpersonal-environmental and cognitive components of pain experience.

Ethical practice requires that pain management therapists of varying modalities have sound technical knowledge in order to adequately evaluate patients' heeds. This means even non-physician therapists treating patients experiencing pain, must be familiar with medical evaluation and treatment alternatives. Hypnotherapy isn't child's play. And using hypnotherapy to combat pain must be facilitated by a detailed description of sensory aspects of the pain:

(a) thermal sensations

(b) kinesthetic sensations and pressure aspect

Certified hypnotherapists use these sensory descriptions of pain to establish important markers for hypnotic reinterpretation of the pain experience. In addition, many of the pain descriptors suggest imagery to both patient and therapist, which is used with the technique of imagery modification (lM). Using appropriate suggestions and lM, hypnotherapists can select to "anaesthetise" their clients by offering a substitution for a painful sensation. Clients can also use a dissociation tool to displace the pain. All of these techniques have proven very effective in managing pain. Hypnae Center also works very closely with referring physicians for structured pain management.