Can Hypnosis affect the outcome of a surgery?

In January of 2023, I underwent surgery to repair an aneurysm of the superior mesenteric artery. Here’s an article I co-wrote, which recently was published in Psychology Today that recounts my journey. It’s a 7 minutes read about how Dr. Ran Anbar of Center Point Hypnosis helped me determine my outcome by recommending to me what to do during surgery and recovery.

I loved writing the article and I think that anyone could try similar techniques on their own journeys to wellness. The article is written from Dr. Anbar’s point of view, but the words are mine. Enjoy the read!

An imagined control center in the brain can be used to deal with pain and discomfort.
Use of self-hypnosis can lead to a sense of empowerment.
By Ran D. Anbar, MD and Fran Caudron

Does hypnosis have the power to change physiology? Based on her experience, my friend believes that the answer is a resounding “Yes!”

In January of 2023, I was interviewed by Fran Caudron for her podcast “Hopenning.” Fran told me that our interaction may have changed the course of her life.

The interview was recorded from Fran’s hotel room in a city far away from her home, as she anxiously awaited her surgery the following morning. She told me she was under a lot of stress.

Previously, a large aneurysm (bulging of a blood vessel) was detected in her chest area and had reached a size that, if ruptured, would immediately cause life-threatening consequences.

During the podcast, we discussed how the mind can actually change bodily functions, and she asked what she could do during her surgery.

“This is what you do,” I told her. “Imagine there is a control center in your brain. This control center has all the mechanisms needed to control your comfort, the accuracy of the surgery, and your recovery rate.”

Fran later told me she took my advice literally “to heart,” and the next day, prepped and awaiting her surgery, she began to use these techniques. First, her anxiety needed calming.

Four weeks earlier, her doctor had explained the procedure of repairing the aneurysm. She would be awake during the two-hour-long surgery, and able to watch the entire process on a screen in front of her.

Through an artery in her groin, the surgeon would insert an appliance to deposit “coils” into the aneurysm in the artery located between her liver and heart. These coils were tiny threads of platinum that tended to “coil” when together, which would effectively plug the aneurysm as well as the artery.

Her blood flow would then begin to reroute itself through other nearby blood vessels. She said to herself that it sounded easy peasy.

Fran is a hypnotherapist, and an elementary school teacher with 34 years’ experience in the classroom. She is skilled in using the power of the mind to change attitudes and behaviors in both her students and clients.

However, as can be expected, she was understandably aware and anxious about the risks of coiled aneurysm surgery, which include stroke, bleeding, and kidney failure,

The Surgery
That next morning, she used her own methods of self-hypnosis to get into a calm state. Once she was wheeled into the operating room, a host of technicians, nurses, and other attendants again explained the procedure. At that point, she began to use the “control center” idea.

She told me that she knew it would be very difficult for her to stay still and not move, not only for the procedure, but also during the hours afterward in recovery. She was not to roll, move her arms, legs, or any other part of her body.

She said her control center immediately got to work. As the surgeon prepped, she envisioned her control center “people” inside her brain also prepping, and going on high alert. She imagined in front of her “people” were screens, so they could also watch the surgery, and with headsets to initiate comfort control, wherever needed.

An imagined “person” who she labeled a “technician,” would guide the surgeon’s appliance into the artery, up the long passage from the groin, and to the artery where the aneurysm was located. It was up to him to dictate, “Far enough, back up, a little to the left” and so on.

She felt as if it was her control center little people who were running the show of how her body responded to each and everything they saw on their screens. Though she consciously did not understand everything going on, she imagined the “little people” inside her brain and chest did, and knew exactly what to do.

If she felt a twitch or even intuition, she’d send an internal message to her brain, “people,” and they would change the “comfort sliders” and dials in front of them.

She was surprised that the procedure took less than 45 minutes. She heard the surgeon say several times, “Lovely, it looks great,” and when he was finished, she was finally allowed to speak.

She asked, “Are we done?”

Replying with a grin, he replied, “Yes, it’s beautiful,” and pointed to the screen, while explaining everything they could see together. He was more than happy with the results. Fran felt that her little “people” had done the job!

Recovery
After he left, Fran told me that her control center continued to be on high alert to monitor and keep her blood pressure regulated, her pulse at a normal recovery rate, and to stop any potential bleeding from the incision site, or any other irregularities. After an hour in the recovery room, she was good to go upstairs to her own room, where a nurse monitored her for the next four hours.

Fran said she knew the most difficult time would be then, needing to lay flat with only tiny sips of water through a straw. She said that this is where the “comfort control” team in her control center really did their job. Whenever she felt like she needed to roll over to relieve pain in her lower back, she’d send the message to her control center, and they turned up the comfort dial and turned down the movement dial.

During that whole time, she was given a single Tylenol, and although the nurse asked several times, there was no further need for comfort medications.

She was released on time, healthy, happy, and asking for a coffee with two creams as she drove with her partner through the closest drive-through.

Her daughter and partner, who are both firefighter paramedics, were amazed by the quick recovery time.

That night, she continued to have her control center monitor her during her stay at the hotel, which was a quick drive to the hospital as per doctor’s orders should something go wrong. She was fine, slept wonderfully, and obeyed orders to have someone else drive her the five-hour trip home.

Fran told me that thanks to more fully understanding the power of her mind, she felt much more empowered during the operation. Now, two years later, every subsequent CT scan shows that her blood has rerouted itself, and her risk for recurrence is low.

Takeaway
Fran shared with me her belief that with the skilled professionals in the hospital and her control center team that she envisioned through hypnosis, she helped create a miracle.

She said that based on her experience, “the power of the mind is never to be dismissed.”

Fran Caudron, B.Ed, M.Re, is a certified hypnotherapist trained in Rapid Transformational Therapy.

PS. I’ve included links to free previews of Dr. Ran’s two books below so you can get an idea of his wisdom and depth of understanding of how our thoughts affect our lives, and how they can be used both in the medical field, and in our everyday lives.

Happy Reading!

Ran D. Anbar, M.D., FAAP, is board-certified in both pediatric pulmonology and general pediatrics. He is the author of Changing Children’s Lives with Hypnosis and the new book The Life Guide for Teens.

Online: www.centerpointhypnosis.com