We could ask them what colour and shape their pain might be , then have them hypnotically watch the colour alter , the shape change , and the size shrink as the numbers go down .
Now , at first glance , the next technique may seem ... err ... painfully ineffectual . But bear with me !
Technique two : Distract from the pain
Distraction is enormously powerful . Soldiers distracted by the drama of an intense battle may not realize they ' ve been critically injured until later . They were so distracted by the intensity of the situation that focus on the self and the body was all but lost . Likewise , a boxer may not realize his jaw is broken until after the final bell .
You only have so much attention to give to your pain .
Say you ' ve hurt your right arm . If you squeeze your left arm , then some of your brain ' s attention will be taken up with nerve impulses from the uninjured arm , diluting your experience of pain from the injured one .
Likewise , if I stub my toe , I will feel more pain if I just stand still , close my eyes , and focus my attention on the injured toe . What I tend to do instead is shout , jump up and down , and possibly swear .
In fact , a study conducted at Keele University found that those who cursed in reaction to a painful event tolerated the pain almost 50 % better than those who didn ' t ![ 4 ] I ' m not suggesting you get your clients to swear , but it shows how distraction may help .
So how can you use distraction hypnotically with your pain clients ?
We can ask our clients to focus on non-afflicted areas of their body - or of their life . For example , we might regress them to a time before the pain was present - a form of ' remembered wellness '.[ 5 ] This also crosses over with dissociation , which I ' ll cover below .
We can distract people with ideas , images , expectation , and physical touch , such as massage , which can dilute the pain as the brain deals with sensory impulses unconnected with the pain itself .