It is one thing to say hypnosis can change how pain feels. It is a much bolder claim that it can make tissue heal faster. Two small studies from researchers at Harvard tested exactly that, with results that are still discussed twenty years on.
The fracture study
In 1999, the psychologist Carol Ginandes and the radiologist Daniel Rosenthal published a pilot study of twelve people with a broken ankle that did not need surgery.
All received normal treatment. Half also had a hypnosis session once a week for twelve weeks, with recordings to use at home. The healing of each fracture was assessed over time, including by X-ray.
The hypnosis group healed faster. At six weeks, they showed healing equivalent to what would normally be expected at about eight and a half weeks.
The wound study
A second study, published in 2003 with Patricia Brooks, followed eighteen women having breast reduction surgery. They were divided into three groups of six:
- Hypnosis: eight sessions with suggestions aimed at specific aspects of healing, such as reducing inflammation and repairing soft tissue
- Supportive attention: the same number of sessions with a psychologist, with no hypnosis
- Usual care only
Surgical wounds in the hypnosis group healed fastest. The supportive attention group came second, and the usual-care group third. The differences were statistically significant.
How could that happen?
Nobody knows, and no mechanism has been established. Suggestions include:
- Blood flow. Hypnotic suggestion can change skin temperature and local circulation, and healing depends on blood supply.
- Stress hormones. Stress is known to slow wound healing. Reducing it may remove a brake.
- Inflammation and immune activity, which are influenced by the nervous system.
- Behaviour. People who feel calmer and more hopeful may sleep better, move more and follow advice more closely.
The last of these is easy to overlook. Hypnosis might help healing without acting on tissue directly at all.
The finding that supportive attention alone came second fits this picture: simply feeling cared for seemed to help.
How much weight can these studies bear?
Not much. They are intriguing, and they have serious limits.
- They are tiny. Twelve people and eighteen people.
- They are pilot studies, designed to see whether a larger trial is worthwhile.
- They have not been confirmed by large, independent trials.
- Small studies often produce striking results that shrink or vanish when repeated at scale.
Researchers have since set up trials on related questions, including whether hypnosis speeds wound healing in children with burns. Until results like these are repeated, “hypnosis speeds healing” is a hypothesis, not a fact.
What is better established
- Stress slows healing. Studies have shown that wounds heal more slowly in people under chronic stress.
- Hypnosis before surgery reduces pain, nausea, fatigue and anxiety, and can reduce the drugs needed.
- Hypnosis reduces pain, which helps people move and rehabilitate.
So even if hypnosis does not speed tissue repair directly, it can make recovery more comfortable.
Claims to be wary of
Be sceptical of anyone who says hypnosis can:
- Heal fractures without proper medical care
- Replace surgery, antibiotics or wound treatment
- Cure serious disease by “directing the immune system”
- Guarantee faster recovery
These go far beyond anything the evidence supports.
A recovery routine
If you are recovering from surgery or an injury, there is little risk in trying this alongside your treatment.
- Relax with slow breathing.
- Bring your attention to the injured area.
- Imagine warmth and good circulation there, bringing what the tissue needs.
- Picture the repair in whatever way makes sense to you: new bone knitting together, the edges of a wound closing.
- Tell yourself: “My body knows how to heal. I rest, and it does its work.”
- Imagine yourself fully recovered, doing something you look forward to.
- Count from one to five and open your eyes.
Ten minutes a day is plenty.
What matters more
- Follow your surgeon’s or doctor’s instructions.
- Do not smoke. It slows healing markedly.
- Eat well, with enough protein.
- Sleep.
- Keep the wound clean and attend follow-up appointments.
- Do your rehabilitation exercises.
- Report signs of infection: increasing redness, swelling, heat, pus or fever.
The bottom line
Two small studies hint that hypnosis may help the body heal faster. They are too small to prove it. What is clear is that calm, comfort and hope are good for recovery, and hypnosis is one way to get them.
Next in the series: Mesmerism in Victorian London: The Doctor, the Sisters and the Scandal
This article is for general information and is not medical advice.