How does hypnosis work to treat fibromyalgia?

Yes, hyponosis is a complementary therapy that may help modulate burn pain. Coming from the Greek word meaning "sleep,” hypnosis is an intense state of concentration used to control pain, stress, sleep problems or alter negative behaviors. While even experts are unsure as to how hypnosis works to resolve pain, it is thought that hypnosis changes your expectations about how intense the pain will be, which alters the pain you actually feel. It may also be that when you focus your attention on a competing image, this helps to block your perception of pain. The ultimate goal of hypnosis is for you to be able to manage your own pain.  

With hypnosis, you concentrate deeply on a single thought. The therapist may also use role-play, imagination, motivation, and the power of suggestion in this therapy to enhance the session. Hypnosis requires that you truly desire to change a type of behavior. In fact, success might be greater in those who are more convinced that they can change behavior. If you consider hypnosis, it’s important to note that the success of your outcome depends greatly on the practitioner’s experience and expertise, as well as your willingness to change.

Hypnosis is an alternative therapy that may be used to help treat fibromyalgia symptoms. A hypnotic procedure uses a state of deep relaxation to promote changes in experiences, perceptions, sensations, or emotions, although researchers are still not sure how hypnosis works. Some people with fibromyalgia find alternative therapies effective for fibromyalgia pain or other symptom relief. Talk with your doctor about the benefits of various alternative therapies for fibromyalgia.

Hypnosis, along with guided imagery, is sometimes used to help people with fibromyalgia. The idea is to induce a deeply relaxed state, one that lets you suspend your critical ways of thinking and leaves you open to suggestion. The hypnotherapist may suggest that you practice turning down your pain, like the volume on a radio. That may help some people with the chronic, intense pain of fibromyalgia.