Hypnosis and MRI's

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Permalink Reply by Patricia Reynolds Sorbye on September 23, 2009 at 6:45am

Hi Linda,

I had a two hour MRI a couple of years ago and found it fairly pleasant. I just rested and listened to the machine, which was fascinating. The sound changed and I could hear it moving around me as if I were the center of the universe. Sounded like a mechanical symphony. I found it restful and interesting. The sound was loud, but they gave me earplugs, so it wasn't bad. I had planned to listen to music, but between the interesting sound of the machine and my thoughts, I did not need anything else.

As a hypnotherapist, I'd probably give suggestions that time is a concept that always tends to distort, we think it will be months till vacation and then it's past -- a trip to the dentist seems to happen in high speed, etc. Before they know it, this experience will be behind them, so it's important that they pay attention to the experience -- and really get anything important from it. That's been my perspective, anyway. Good luck with it!

Take care,
-Patricia

Permalink Reply by Anne Mullis on September 23, 2009 at 1:53pm

I can easily recall having had an MRI of my head quite a few years ago - the tech handed me a pair of headphones, and asked me what my fav radio station was, then proceded to tune it in for me. The interesting thing is, though, in spite of listening to some of my fav tunes, I realized I had dozed off, while in the tube - in spite of the "jack hammer" going on around my head - I would suppose I may well have self-tranced, without knowing it....Annie

Permalink Reply by Pat Sonnenstuhl on September 23, 2009 at 2:20pm

What a great suggestion and contact. I certainly would follow up on this. I am also making contact with the nurse practitioners in my area that do woman's health care. Once they see how powerful hypnosis can be the sky is the limit...or maybe not...Pat

Permalink Reply by Melissa J. Roth on September 23, 2009 at 4:30pm

Closed MRI machines produce much better pictures than open MRI's. Sometimes, there is no alternative to a closed MRI. But, most patients experience some degree of anxiety with them and many have greater problems. Since these machines are expensive to buy and to run, the radiology dept must keep them going at a steady pace or they lose money. When a patient takes more time to calm down than the alloted few minutes the staff needs to do something to get the patient in the tube, get the pictures taken and then get them out. I've watched many times as they had to re-appoint a patient until after they had been sedated before they could keep them in the tube long enough to get a decent picture.

But, with hypnosis, this is usually a 1 session fix. Use hypnosis and NLP to alleviate the fear/phobia/panic then teach them self hypnosis. It almost always works. They can then have their MRI and the staff is very happy.

Permalink Reply by Henxy on September 24, 2009 at 2:49am

Oh, the irony of someone being more claustrophobic an MRI than an ETT!
This truly shows how irrational fears can be.
I'm all for patients being well prepared: give them a bit of fast phobia cure, and the relaxation skills and let them practise them (most emergency patients won't have all that much time to practice, and tend to be so sick that they're intubated anyway).
MRIs tend to be scarier than CTs due to the level of incessant noise at an unpleasant rate.

Permalink Reply by Henxy on July 14, 2010 at 7:25am

I've had a few patients report back that a 'ring of confidence' thumb & finger anchor I set up for them to access their 'perfect place' for use in IBS has worked wonders for them in MRI and CT scanners.
One lady said 'It was so effective, I wondered what I'd made all that fuss about!'.

Permalink Reply by Karena on September 14, 2010 at 1:18pm

Just found this thread after posting this thread last night.

http://www.hypnothoughts.com/forum/topics/claustrophobia-1

This looks like an excellent group I can learn lots from.

warmest wishes Karena.