Patients Get the Message

Patients recover more quickly from …. surgery when ….tapes with hypnotic suggestions are played to them on …. operating table, ….doctors at ….St Thomas's Hospital, London have found. While under ….anaesthetic, they were told: you will not feel sick. You will not-have any pain.' Those given such suggestions had fewer complications than others after ….surgery and left hospital sooner.

…. experiment was set up at St Thomas's after ….doctors found ….patients could sometimes recall ….things said during …..operations. In …. study at another hospital, many patients who were told during …. operation that they should touch their ears at …. later interview with …. doctor did so. ….. experiment at St Thomas's was conducted on 19 women having …. hysterectomy operation. …. women, who had consented to …. experiment, were played …. 12-minute recording repeated six times. Most of …. tape gave details of …. normal procedures following …. operation and how to cope with them. It said, for example: 'How quickly you recover from your operation depends upon you - …. more you relax, …. more comfortable you will be.

This was followed by ….two minutes of directly telling …. patient she would feel well after …. operation. Then came …. minute of third-person suggestions - for example: …. operation seems to be going very well and the patient is fine.

…. control group of patients was played ….blank tapes. ….Patients who received …. suggestions were discharged from ….hospital 1.3 days earlier on ….average. If this could be achieved as …. routine, …. health service could save millions of pounds …. year. Nurses rated …. patients, and almost all those who had been given ….suggestions did better than expected. They suffered from less fever and had …few stomach and bowel disturbances, which are common following …. abdominal operation.

The Independent (BrE)