Hypnosurgery

[citation needed] There are occasional media reports of surgery being conducted under hypnosis,[1][2] but since these are not carried out under controlled conditions, nothing can be concluded from them.

James Braid who is credited for pioneering hypnosurgery, first observed mesmerism while he was attending a public performance on magnetism by Charles Lafontaine.

[8] It is claimed that hypnosis has been used in surgery for pain management, to control spasms in the alimentary canal, during rehabilitation, and as anaesthesia during an operation.

While stationed at the River Valley Road prisoner of war hospital in Singapore in 1945, with the supplies of chemical anesthetics severely restricted by the Japanese, Michael Woodruff and a medical/dental colleague from the Royal Netherlands Forces used hypnotism as the sole means of anesthesia for a wide range of dental and surgical procedures.

[11] At the present time, preparing a patient for hypnosurgery would include having several 50–60 minutes’ sessions of hypnotherapy done by a hypnotherapist.

A recent Cochrane review on the efficacy of various psychological therapies (including hypnosis) on post-surgical outcomes concluded that "the strength of evidence is insufficient to reach firm conclusions on the role of psychological preparation for surgery" and the quality of the evidence was reportedly "very low.